Afrobeat groove in our Mandingo tongue

There's a lot of competition for this title, but I think Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band is my favorite African ensemble right now.  They're based in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, and as bandleader Mamadou (Baba Commandant) Sanou says, "we have chosen to make Afrobeat groove in our Mandingo tongue."

 

Baba plays donso ngoni, the hunter's harp, an instrument that until recently was only used for ceremonial music.  In combining traditional music and instruments with the modern, they're in alignment with the Authenticité movement of post-colonial Africa.  But they sound like 2022, not 1972: always aggressive, sometimes dissonant, they're like West African post-rock.

This week (Sunday September 18, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards on the wrir.org archive player, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site) you'll hear a track from Baba Commandant's brand new album Sonbonbela alongside a new reissue from one of the bands that inspire them, the Super Djata Band.  Also this week: Bomba Estéreo meets Manu Chao, outstanding new Afropop from DC's Dogo Du Togo, a deep dive into South African township music, mbalax thunder and Middle Eastern Afrofunk.

Charts September 5-11, 2022

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 DOGO DU TOGO | Dogo Du Togo | self-released

2 SON PALENQUE (KAINE SOUND BAND) | Es La Idea | Palenque

3 ORCHESTRE SOMO SOMO | "Molengo b/w Menga" [Single] | LAA

4 TIMPANA | "Pajaro" [Single] | Sounds & Colours

5 VIEUX FARKA TOURE AND KHRUANGBIN | "Tonga Barra" [Single] | Dead Oceans / Night Time Stories

6 LEE SCRATCH PERRY | King Scratch: Musical Masterpieces From The Upsetter Ark-ive | Trojan

7 VIEUX FARKA TOURE | Les Racines | World Circuit

8 AFRODELIC | Dusunkun Hakili | self-released

9 DEATH BY DUB | Abundance | Color Red

10 KOKOROKO | Could We Be More | Brownswood

Rally round the red, gold, black & green

Living legends of reggae music Steel Pulse play the National in Richmond on Friday September 16.  Founded in Birmingham, England, they were one of the first British reggae bands to break out in the late 1970s, with a political message that naturally allied them with punk and new wave acts like the Clash, the Police and XTC, among other bands they've shared bills with.

 

Recordings like Handsworth Revolution and True Democracy are in the reggae pantheon, and ongoing touring (which never stopped even when they didn't have a new album) and their first new release in 15 years, 2019's Mass Manipulation, shows they still have it.  You'll hear two Steel Pulse tracks that bookend their career on Global A Go-Go this week, and I'll give away a pair of tickets for the National show as well.

Also this week (Sunday September 11, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards on the wrir.org archive player, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site): Noori & His Dorpa Band stretch out, Vieux & Khru channel Ali Farka Toure, two generations of Malian songbirds, Andean-Amazonian futurism from Bolivia by Timpana, and champeta classics from the 70s and 80s.

Charts Aug 29 - Sep 4, 2022

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 AYAHUASCA VOL. 2: CUMBIAS PSICODELICAS PERUANAS | various artists | Repsychled

2 LOS PAO PAOS | Los Pao Paos | Devil In The Woods

3 BALIMAYA PROJECT | "Season Of Baraka" [Single] | Jazz Re:freshed

4 SUPER DJATA BAND DE BAMAKO | Authentique 80 | Numero Group

5 SONIDO GALLO NEGRO | Paganismo | T-Vox

6 JOAO SELVA | Se Acabou [EP] | Underdog

7 PEDRO LIMA | Recordar E Viver: Antogolia Vol. 1 | Bongo Joe

8 BKO | Djine Bora | Bongo Joe

9 SAM REDMORE | Universal Vibrations | Jalapeno

10 SESSA | Estrela Acesa | Mexican Summer

Se acabou

Autumn is election season here in the USA.  And it's really election season right now in Brazil, where Jair (Bozo) Bolsonaro, "the Trump of the tropics," is running in October for a second term as president against Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (known to all simply as Lula), who was jailed after a 2018 show trial that prevented him from running against Bolsonaro.  No doubt about it -- it's a grudge match.

 

Singer João Selva has chosen his side: he released an EP in July called Se Acabou ("It's Over") that's more like a pamphlet aimed at Bozo.  You'll hear the title track this week on Global A Go-Go, which will lead us into a whole set of Brazilian carnival sounds.

Also this week (Sunday September 4, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards on the wrir.org archive player, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site): Latin psych and garage, spoken word Afrobeat, stinging Wassoulou rock from Mali, a larger-than-life new single by Balimaya Project, and danceable sounds from Lusophone Africa.

Charts August 22-28, 2022

WRIR World's NACC Top 10

1 VIEUX FARKA TOURE | Les Racines | World Circuit

2 CELESTINE UKWU | No Condition Is Permanent | Mississippi

3 LEE SCRATCH PERRY | King Scratch: Musical Masterpieces From The Upsetter Ark-ive | Trojan

4 SONIDO GALLO NEGRO | Paganismo | T-Vox

5 SUPER DJATA BAND DE BAMAKO | Authentique 80 | Numero Group

6 MOVERS, THE | Vol. 1: 1970-1976 | Analog Africa

7 GNAWA MUSIC OF MARRAKESH | Night Spirit Masters | Zehra

8 CROSSROADS KENYA: EAST AFRICAN BENGA AND RUMBA, 1980-1985 | various artists | No Wahala Sounds

9 SABABA 5 AND SHIRAN TZFIRA | Rali [EP] | Batov

10 ROBERTO LOPEZ | "Solo Tu Vibra" [Single] | Curura

Summer singles roundup

Well, I deserve a D for attendance this summer.  First there was the Chicago weekend, then the two-week European vacation.  Subtract another week for traveler's disease and two more for COVID, and I've been absent from the airwaves as often as I've been present since June.  Then factor in the two special programs (Madagascar independence day in June, Joe Strummer's birthday last week) and it's a wonder I've played any new releases at all this summer.

 

I'll remedy the latter situation this week (Sunday August 28, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards on the wrir.org archive player, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site).  I'm spinning nothing but new material and new reissues, no track released before May, only one track from an album I've played anything at all from in past shows.

 

And most of what I'll play will be singles, either stand-alones or pre-issues from albums coming out in the fall.  Seems appropriate -- I've always thought 45s were the premiere summer format.  Tune in and mark the unofficial end of summer with Global A Go-Go's Summer Singles Roundup.

Charts August 15-21, 2022

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 NOORI AND HIS DORPA BAND | Beja Power! Electric Soul & Brass From Sudan's Red Sea Coast | Ostinato

2 ROMAN STEWART | "Never Too Young To Learn" [Single] | Pantomine

3 MONTE AND DINASTIA TORRES | El Duende | Palenque

4 AKAE BEKA | Ride Tru | Before Zero

5 HOLLIE COOK | Happy Hour | Merge

6 CLINTON FEARON | Breaking News | Baco

7 CAREY JAMES, THE | Self Fulfillment | Morelove

8 TIKEN JAH FAKOLY | "I Can Hear" feat. Winston McAnuff [Single] | Chapter Two/Wagram

9 KABAKA PYRAMID AND DAMIAN MARLEY | "Red, Gold & Green" [Single] | Ghetto Youths International/Bebble Rock

10 BARRINGTON LEVY | "Black Heart Man" [Single] | Jah Guidance

The future is unwritten

John Graham Mellor was born in Ankara, Turkey on August 21, 1952.  Who's that, you say?  Well, you might know him better by his stage name: Joe Strummer.

 

Strummer was, of course, the co-founder, front man and principal lyricist for the Clash, a band that, when I was younger, some people called "the only band that matters."  After the Clash disbanded in 1986, he spent the next 13 years being whatever the opposite of a rock star is: he worked on projects that appealed to him as a musician, songwriter, producer and actor, but mostly stayed out of the limelight until he founded the second great rock band of his career, the Mescaleros.

One of those projects was an radio show that Joe occasionally hosted for the BBC World Service called London Calling, where he got to explore all of the wide variety of music that inspired him: early rock 'n' roll, reggae, blues and jazz, music from Africa and Latin America, anything that pushed his buttons.

Joe and London Calling are among the primary inspirations for this radio program (which is named after one of the Mescaleros' songs; that song has kicked off this program every week for 18 years).  So it's only appropriate that Global A Go-Go celebrates Joe Strummer's 70th birthday today (Sunday August 21, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards on the wrir.org archive player, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site) with a 2-hour tribute.

 

P.S.  You can listen to all 7 hours of Joe Strummer's London Calling BBC radio shows here: exchange.prx.org/series/27024-joe-strummer-s-london-calling

 

And here's a Spotify playlist that includes almost all the songs that Joe played on that radio show: open.spotify.com/playlist/0PWMzSdWNHNOESR912xQmg?go=1&sp_cid=33ef6cb3fc38155b67d61a8333e5df54 

One more thing -- a complete tracklisting for each episode of Joe Strummer's London Calling:  rateyourmusic.com/list/Zed/joe_strummers_london_calling_from_bbc_world_service

Charts August 8-14, 2022

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 STAR FEMININE BAND | "Le Mariage Forcé" [Single] | Born Bad

2 CUMBIAMUFFIN | Cumbiamuffin | Peace & Rhythm / Hyperopia / Sounds & Colours

3 RAY PEREZ Y EL GRUPO CASABE | "Lamento Del Campesino" [Single] | El Palmas

4 LOS CALVOS | Estos Son Los Calvos | El Palmas

5 PEDRO LIMA | Recordar E Viver: Antogolia Vol. 1 | Bongo Joe

6 BKO | Djine Bora | Bongo Joe

7 LUCIBELA | Amdjer | Lusafrica

8 JESUS PAGAN Y SU ORQUESTA | Salsa De La Mata 'From The Roots' | Peace & Rhythm

9 ORQUESTA LA JUSTICIA | Salsa Con Nostalgia | Numero Group

10 FERRE GOLA | Dynastie | Sony East Africa

Charts Jul 25 - Aug 7, 2022

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten, July 25-31

1 CUMBIAMUFFIN |  Cumbiamuffin | Peace & Rhythm/Hyperopia/Sounds & Colours

2 SHAOLIN AFRONAUTS, THE | "Broken Flowers" b/w "Sun Spiral" [Single] | Freestyle

3 LUCHO BERMUDEZ | The Coastal Invasion: Cumbia, Porro, Gaita And Mapalé From Colombia's Caribbean Coast (1946-1961) | Radio Martiko

4 JOAO SELVA | Se Acabou [EP] | Underdog

5 PEDRO LIMA | Recordar E Viver: Antogolia Vol. 1 | Bongo Joe

6 EZRA COLLECTIVE | "Victory Dance" [Single] | Partisan

7 LUCIANA DEMINGONGO AND DESOUZA SANTU MONGONGO ELENGI | Let's Go! | Une Plume Une Voix Une Guitare

8 PAHUA AND TERROR/CACTUS | Amuleto | Nacional

9 IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE | Electricity | Merge

10 S.E. ROGIE | Dead Men Don't Smoke Marijuana | Real World

 

 

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten, August 1-7

1 VIEUX FARKA TOURE AND KHRUANGBIN | "Savanne" [Single] | Dead Oceans

2 PEDRO LIMA | Recordar E Viver: Antogolia Vol. 1 | Bongo Joe

3 MADE KUTI | "No More Wars" [Single] | Partisan

4 OMAR PENE AND SUPER DIAMONO | Direct From Dakar | Real World

5 FERRE GOLA | Dynastie | Sony East Africa

6 SON ROMPE PERA AND GIL GUTIERREZ | "El Saleroso" b/w "Proteus" [Single] | Barbes

7 LOS CALVOS | Estos Son Los Calvos | El Palmas

8 BORGA REVOLUTION!: GHANAIAN DANCE MUSIC IN THE DIGITAL AGE, 1983-1992 (VOLUME 1) | various artists | Kalita

9 LEYLA MCCALLA | Breaking The Thermometer | Anti-

10 GWENNO | Tresor | Heavenly/PIAS

Global A Go-Go Classico: Top reissues & compilations of 2014

Well, the COVID finally caught up with me this week.  Seems to be a mild case so far, but I certainly couldn't come into the studio and I really didn't have the energy to put together a whole new program.  So I've dug into the Global A Go-Go archives and found you a gem of a show from all the way back on December 19, 2014, back in the days when I was on the air on Friday evening.

 

This edition (Sunday August 7, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards on the wrir.org archive player, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site) pulls together tracks from my favorite reissues, compilations and historic recordings that came out in the year 2014.  The music spans 19 different countries, with songs originally recorded in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90, oughts and right through the 20-teens.  Each selection has stood the test of time, both before 2014 and subsequently.  I think you're going to enjoy this program.

 

I'll be out again next week on August 14; WRIR super-sub Sean Kennedy, who definitely deserves his own show, will be sitting in for me then.  And I have something very special planned for you when I return on August 21.  I'll see you then!

What I did on my summer vacation

I'm psyched to be back in the studio for the first time since early July, after a big vacation followed by a brief but annoying case of traveler's disease.  Big ups to Albert Green, Enzo Adimari and Josh Bearman for holding down Global A Go-Go in my absence.

 

One of the things I did on my summer vacation was see two great concerts in Paris: Fat Freddy's Drop at the legendary L'Olympia and Goran Bregović's Wedding & Funeral Band at Cabaret Sauvage.  I'll regale you with stories of the shows and music by both bands.  Sunday night brings The Budos Band and Brazilian samba-soul star Rogê to Richmond's Broadberry, and you'll hear both of them as well on this week's show.

Also this week (Sunday July 31, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards on the wrir.org archive player, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site): João Selva sings "get out Bolsonaro," Cumbiamuffin revives the sound of Colombian big band porro cumbia, and a new compilation of Pedro Lima's music brings the puxa fire from São Tomé.

Charts Jun 27 - Jul 24, 2022

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 NOORI AND HIS DORPA BAND | Beja Power! Electric Soul & Brass From Sudan's Red Sea Coast | Ostinato

2 LOS BITCHOS | Let The Festivities Begin! | City Slang

3 HOLLIE COOK | Happy Hour | Merge

4 DELGRES | "Mwen Vlé Maché" [Single] | Le Label/PIAS

5 AFRODELIC | Dusunkun Hakili | self-released

6 SHAOLIN AFRONAUTS, THE | "The Simien Fox b/w Rumba Cyclique" [Single] | Freestyle

7 SALTPOND CITY BAND | Boko A Ko | Meet Me There

8 IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE | Electricity | Merge

9 AFRIGO BAND | Ensi Eno | Olila

10 OLIVER NAYOKA | Oka Mmadu | Odogwu/Palenque

Dead men don't smoke marijuana

I'm leaving for a summer vacation later this week, will be back to Global A Go-Go on July 24.  In my absence, you'll enjoy two of my favorite WRIR selectors: Albert Green returns on July 10, and Enzo of Pop Goes The World takes the chair on July 17.  Before I hit the road, I wanted to make sure you get to hear some of the new releases I've been digging lately while they're still new.

 

So this week (Sunday July 3, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards on the wrir.org archive player, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site) tune in for Delgres' Caribbean creole; Son Rompe Pera, the band everyone will be talking about at this fall's Richmond Folk Festival; highlife from Oliver Nayoka and Saltpond City Band; a reissue of S.E. Rogie (pictured above), the king of palm wine; Shaolin Afronauts' spiritual jazz; Afrodelic from Mali via Lithuania; and of course much more.