Los Camaroes | Resurrection Los

ARTIST: Los Camaroes
TITLE: Resurrection Los
LABEL: Analog Africa
With all the recent years’ crate-digging activity, one might think that he’d heard all the great African records of the 60s, 70s and 80s.

The Expanders | Old Time Something Come Back Again, Vol. 2

ARTIST: The Expanders
TITLE: Old Time Something Come Back Again, Vol. 2
LABEL: Easy Star
The Expanders are a Los Angeles-based reggae quintet that seems entirely uninterested in the reggae-rock hybrid that dominates the current West Coast sound.

Kries | Selo Na Okuke / Village Tracks

ARTIST: Kries
TITLE: Selo Na Okuke / Village Tracks
LABEL: Riverboat
Folk music played differently can be the most radical act there is. Kries (“Bonfire” in a Croatian dialect) plays traditional music from their country and region in a manner like no one else.

Program October 4, 2017

Gumboot (pictured above), a dance style originally developed by gold miners, is one of the true symbols of the black working class experience in South Africa.  Gumboot dancers stamp, slap, clap and kick their heels in perfect synchronization while wearing wellingtons.

Jazz musician Darius Brubeck described a gumboot dancer as "looking and sounding like Fred Astaire only with 10 pairs of shoes on!"  If you've seen African-American stepping, that's a dance derived from gumboot.

The Festival of South African Dance is bringing gumboot and pantsula (another South African vernacular dance style) to Richmond's Carpenter Theatre on Thursday.  On this week's program, you'll hear a gumboot performance recorded by Janet Topp Fargion, lead curator for world and traditional music at the British Library (my summary for this week's show is adapted from her liner notes).  You'll also hear maskanda, the music that usually accompanies gumboot.

Also this week: the music of Mdou Moctar, who's performing at the University of Richmond on Friday; Central African dance hits from the 70s and 80s; and Balkan folk-rock with the emphasis on "rock."

Charts October 1, 2017

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 BETSAYDA MACHADO & LA PARRANDA EL CLAVO | Loé Loá - Rural Recordings Under the Mango Tree | Odelia
2 LOS CAMAROES | Resurrection Los | Analog Africa
3 SON PALENQUE | Kutu Prieta Pa Saranguia | Palenque
4 CHOPTEETH AFROFUNK BIG BAND | Bone Reader | self-released
5 GOGOL BORDELLO | Seekers and Finders | Cooking Vinyl
6 RIO MIRA | Marimba Del Pacifico | AYA
7 SWEET AS BROKEN DATES: LOST SOMALI TAPES FROM THE HORN OF AFRICA | various artists | Ostinato
8 RUBEN GONZALEZ | Introducing... Rubén González | World Circuit
9 OM ALEC KHAOLI | Say You Love Me [EP] | Awesome Tapes From Africa
10 BUYEPONGO | Tumbalo | self-released

Program September 27, 2017

I'm digging deep into older Cuban music on this week's program -- we're talking charanga, cha-cha-cha, son montuno, tumbao; recordings from the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s.  Plus a track from the recently reissued debut as bandleader of Ruben Gonzalez (pictured above), whose career went all the way back to those days.

Also this week: percussion from South America's Pacific coast; now that Chad has been added to Trump's travel ban, let's hear some music from that threatening (?) country; and more dancefloor gems from South Africa.

Charts September 24, 2017

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 MEKLIT | When the People Move, The Music Moves Too | Six Degrees
2 TRIO DA KALI AND KRONOS QUARTET | Ladilikan | World Circuit
3 JOEY LE SOLDAT | Barka | Tentacule
4 LA MISA NEGRA | La Misa Negra | NAM Entertainment
5 OUMOU SANGARE | Mogoya | No Format!
6 EMETERIANS | The Magic Touch | Stingray
7 ANTIBALAS | Where the Gods Are in Peace | Daptone
8 MACKA B | "Wha Me Eat" [Single] | Greensleeves
9 J-P PIIRAINEN | Twined | Bafe's Factory
10 PABLO MOSES | The Itinuation | HS Roots

La Misa Negra | La Misa Negra

ARTIST: La Misa Negra
TITLE: La Misa Negra
LABEL: NAM Entertainment
Cumbia is probably more popular today than it’s ever been, and that’s saying something since it’s been around for nearly 200 years.

Trio Da Kali & Kronos Quartet | Ladilikan

ARTIST: Trio Da Kali & Kronos Quartet
TITLE: Ladilikan
LABEL: World Circuit
Classically-trained Western musicians like the Kronos Quartet are schooled in centuries-old tradition. Mande musicians like Trio Da Kali are heirs to a practice that dates back to Europe’s medieval period; this album’s track 10, the story of the Malian empire’s founding, is about 800 years old.

Program September 20, 2017

Cumbia is probably more popular now than it's ever been.  And that's saying something when you're talking about a style of music almost 200 years old.

La Misa Negra (pictured above) from Oakland CA is part of the latest generation of musicians to embrace the idiom.  You'll hear a track from their brand-new album this week on Global A Go-Go, alongside sounds from the 1950s that inspire them.

Also this week: the best reggae songs I heard this summer; when Meklit says "I want to sing for them all," who's she talking about?; and a beautiful new recording from Mali's Trio Da Kali and the Kronos Quartet.

Charts September 17, 2017

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten
1 GWYNETH GLYN | Tro | Bendigedig
2 ZAIRE '74: THE AFRICAN ARTISTS | various artists | Wrasse
3 RUMPUT | Rumput | self-released
4 SON PALENQUE | Kutu Prieta Pa Saranguia | Palenque
5 LEILA GOBI | 2017 | Clermont
6 GOGOL BORDELLO | Seekers and Finders | Cooking Vinyl
7 OFFA REX | The Queen of Hearts | Nonesuch
8 ANTIBALAS | Where the Gods Are in Peace | Daptone
9 TRIO DA KALI AND KRONOS QUARTET | Ladilikan | World Circuit
10 BANDA MAGDA | Tigre | GroundUP / Verve

Banda Magda | Tigre

ARTIST: Banda Magda
TITLE: Tigre
LABEL: GroundUP / Verve
Magda Giannikou is a Greek-born composer who’s had a unique group of collaborators already in her young career: Snarky Puppy, Kronos Quartet and Louis CK.

Rumput | Rumput

ARTIST: Rumput
TITLE: Rumput
LABEL: self-released
Rumput is certainly one of Richmond’s most unique bands: they seem to be the only group in the USA (for now, at least) playing keroncong, the traditional string-band music of Indonesia.

Son Palenque | Kutu Prieta Pa Saraguia

ARTIST: Son Palenque
TITLE: Kutu Prieta Pa Saranguia
LABEL: Palenque
Champeta resulted from the head-on collision of modern Congolese and Antillean pop music styles like soukous and zouk with the wellspring of Afro-Colombian music found along Colombia’s Caribbean coast and especially in the cities of Cartagena and Barranquilla.

Program September 13, 2017

Terapia (therapy): that's what Colombians call the urban dance music of Cartagena and Barranquilla which is based on African, Antillean, indigenous and Afro-Colombian styles.  It's good for what ails you -- find out why this week on Global A Go-Go, and hear a track from the brand-new album by terapia masters Son Palenque (pictured above).

Also this week: folk-rock with Indonesian and Greek seasoning; new Afrobeat from Professor Wouassa and Antibalas; and more of la guitare from the Sahara Desert.