Buster goes west

"World music" is a silly name for a genre.  To paraphrase Louis Armstrong, all music is world music -- I ain't never heard a Martian sing a song.  Anyway, it's not a genre at all, more like a point of view: That my culture isn't the sun around which everything else orbits.

 

Maybe my favorite definition of world music is this one from journalist and musician Ian A. Anderson: "Local music from somewhere else."  What does world music sound like from a Japanese perspective?  Global A Go-Go looks at that question on this episode through the eyes of three Japanese bands: Ajate, Minyo Crusaders and of Tropique (the latter is pictured above).

Also this week (Sunday March 12, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site): A repressing of the best gnawa album I've ever heard, the sci-fi psychedelia of Mexico City's Monstruos Del Mañana, the rediscovery of Helen Nkume, new Afropop from Kimi Djabaté and Black AD, and some post-Mas soca.

Charts Feb 27 - Mar 5, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 SON ROMPE PERA | Chimborazo | AYA

2 OGASSA | Ogassa Original (Vol. 1) | Acid Jazz

3 HELEN NKUME | And Her Young Timers Band | Dig This Way

4 EMMANUEL JAL | Shangah | Gatwitch

5 KALA JULA AND GANGBE BRASS BAND | Asro | Buda

6 KING AYISOBA | Work Hard | Glitterbeat

7 REGGADICTION | Ganja Harvest | NuFunk

8 DUR-DUR BAND INT | The Berlin Session | Out Here

9 JEMBAA GROOVE | "Sweet My Ear" [Single] | Agogo

10 DAVID WALTERS | Soul Tropical | Six Degrees

Cumbia is the new punk

I've seen Son Rompe Pera perform four times in the last year, and I'm here to tell you they're one of the most compelling live acts right now in any genre.  If you saw them at the Richmond Folk Festival last year, you know what I'm talking about.

 

Their second album Chimborazo (presumably named for the mountain in Ecuador not the hill in Richmond, although it's a nice thought) will be released on March 10.  It really captures what the band sounds like right now, although nothing can prepare you for seeing their mosh-pit marimba madness in person.  You'll hear two songs from Chimborazo on this week's edition of Global A Go-Go alongside other like-minded disruptors of cumbia orthodoxy.

Also this week (Sunday March 5, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site): reggae versions of the great American (and Canadian) singer-songwriters, Manu Chao's mestizo sound meets Cabo Verdean funaná, West African psychedelia, Colombia takes on Cuban songo and timba, and a little African dance party.

Charts February 20-26, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 KALA JULA AND GANGBE BRASS BAND |  Asro | Buda

2 SOLOMANE DOUMBIA | Segou To Lagos | Mieruba

3 FENDIKA AND K-SANCHIS | Gojo | 121234

4 PALENQUE RECORDS BEST OF PART 2: DESDE COLOMBIA HASTA NIGERIA - VIAJES TRANSATLANTICOS | various artists | Palenque

5 KING AYISOBA | Work Hard | Glitterbeat

6 POLOBI AND THE GWO KA MASTERS | Abri Cyclonique | Real World

7 MOUSSA TCHINGOU | Tamiditime [EP] | Sahel Sounds

8 SUNBORN | "Dancing In The Dusk" b/w "Mankind?" & "Night Sweats" [Single] | Tramp

9 ORCHESTRA GOLD | Medicine | self-released

10 MOONLIGHT BENJAMIN | Wayo | Ma Case

The Platonic ideal of a West African garage band

Here's a news flash: one of Africa's best (IMHO) bands is coming to Richmond this spring, and they'll be playing in a small club, probably their ideal venue.  The band is Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.  The place is the Get Tight Lounge, and the date is Wednesday May 24.  You might want to put that date on your calendar, just sayin' ....

 

Baba plays the traditional donso ngoni and sings like the brother of Howlin' Wolf or Captain Beefheart, guitarist Issouf Diabaté sounds like Mark Ribot meets Zani Diabaté, and the funky rhythm section propels the whole thing inexorably forward.  To me, they're the Platonic ideal of a West African garage band.

You'll hear one of my favorite Baba Commandant tracks this week (Sunday February 26, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site) on an all-Afro edition of Global A Go-Go along with new music from Niger's Moussa Tchingou, Fendika & K-Sanchis from Ethiopia and the Netherlands, Oakland's Orchestra Gold, Solomane Doumbia from Mali, Danish band Sunbörn and the team of Kala Jula & Gangbé Brass Band from Mali and Benin, plus much more.

Charts February 13-19, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 WHO WANTS SOME? | various artists | Gorgon

2 SOLOMANE DOUMBIA | Segou To Lagos | Mieruba

3 DUR-DUR BAND INT | The Berlin Session | Out Here

4 AYIZAN | Dilijans | Comet

5 JEMBAA GROOVE | "Sweet My Ear" [Single] | Agogo

6 LA BOA | La Bestia [EP] | Mambo Negro

7 KIMI DJABATE | Dindin | Cumbancha

8 TP ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO | Singles & EPs | Acid Jazz

9 MA STUDIO | Futuro Niche | Discos Pacifico

10 GRUPO KUAL | Konexiones | Discos Rolas

A Haitian version of Bitches Brew

"Dark, mystical, lyrical and abstract, with its otherworldly shifting rhythms, Dilijans came off like a Haitian version of Bitches Brew."  That's how journalist Uchenna Ikonne describes the one and only album by Ayizan, a Haitian-American band led by Alix "Tit" Pascal.

 

And that's no hype -- Dilijans, which has just been reissued by the French Comet label, is a remarkable listen, and you'll hear a track from it this week (Sunday February 19, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site) on Global A Go-Go's first hour alongside other mind-expanding sounds from the French Caribbean and West Africa.

In the second hour, we'll get into some Jamaican sounds circa 1968-70, when rocksteady was giving way to reggae and England's skinheads and suedes were turning on to it, followed by some more new cumbia from Colombia and México, and finishing with the funky sounds of Somalia including the first new studio album of this music since the golden days of Mogadishu more than 30 years ago.

Charts Jan 30 - Feb 12, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 KIMI DJABATE |  Dindin | Cumbancha

2 BIO RITMO | Salsa System [EP] | Electric Cowbell

3 BOZI BOZIANA | Desir Feminin | Naelis

4 MERAL POLAT TRIO | Ez Kî Me | self-released

5 M.A. STUDIO | Futuro Niche | Discos Pacifico

6 SEU JORGE | Carolina | Mr Bongo

7 T.P. ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO | Singles & EPs | Acid Jazz

8 OF TROPIQUE | Buster Goes West | Electric Cowbell

9 GOOD SAMARITANS, THE | No Food Without Taste If By Hunger | Analog Africa

10 OLDU O ZAMAN | "Sigarasi Yaldizli" b/w "Mastika" [Single] | Bongo Joe

Too much posing, not enough yoga

Global A Go-Go digs into some new Brazilian music this week, including a current song from Lucas Santtana whose title is an expression I'll be using in a lot of situations: "Muita Pose, Pouca Yoga" which basically means "too much posing, not enough yoga."  We also have the latest from João Selva and a reissue of one of my favorite Brazilian albums of the 21st century, Seu Jorge's Carolina.

 

Also this week (Sunday February 5, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site): Bio Ritmo's salsa boot camp, new Turkish sounds from all over, the best klezmer-surf-mambo band I've ever heard, Kimi Djabaté's Afro-Lusophone music, and soca from Trinidad and beyond with Carnival just around the corner.

Charts January 23-29, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 GOOD SAMARITANS, THE | No Food Without Taste If By Hunger | Analog Africa

2 GRUPO KUAL | Konexiones | Discos Rolas

3 BILL CLINTON KALONJI | No Stress | self-released

4 LOS INVASORES DE PROGRESO | Selva Mia | Discos Fantastico

5 BAABA MAAL | "Agreement" [Single] | Marathon

6 DON LETTS | "Outta Sync" [Single] | Cooking Vinyl

7 MIGMAFRICA | "Run Buffalo Run" | Nikamo / Disques Passeport

8 INSOLITO UNIVERSO | Ese Puerte Existe [EP] | Olindo

9 ORCHESTRA GOLD | Medicine | self-released

10 FALLY IPUPA | Formule 7 | Elektra France

Abuelita!

I've been listening to a lot of cumbia sonidera in the early days of 2023.  It's a style of music from Mexico, where the listeners and dancers want their cumbia played hard and slow: 80 to 90 beats per minute.

 

The genre got started when DJs accidentally or intentionally slowed down cumbia recordings from Colombia, Peru and other parts of South America.  The first Mexico City band to play cumbia sonidera live was called Super Grupo Colombia (SGC), which featured several members of the Pedraza family of San Juan de Aragón, a small town that's now part of Mexico's sprawling Distrito Federal.

 

Ángel Pedraza, the son and nephew of SGC's founders, has his own band called Grupo Kual? (yes, the question mark is part of their name) who have a new album out now.  You'll hear a track from it this week on Global A Go-Go, plus some more examples of cumbia sonidera.

 

Also this week (Sunday January 29, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site): three new reggae singles; more chicha from the Peruvian jungle; a tribute to Zimbabwean feminist pioneer Stella Chiweshe, who passed away on January 20; Afrobeat with a political bent; and some blazing Malian Wassoulou rock.

Charts January 9-22, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 LIRAZ | Roya | Glitterbeat

2 PERU SELVATICO: SONIC EXPEDITION INTO THE PERUVIAN AMAZON, 1972-1986 | various artists | Analog Africa

3 JUANITA EUKA | Mabanzo | Strut

4 BASSIDI KONE | Kaira | Remote

5 ORCHESTRA GOLD | Medicine | self-released

6 JOAO SELVA | Passarinho | Underdog

7 MASS KONPA | Sans Regret | self-released

8 FALLY IPUPA | Formule 7 | Elektra France

9 MAJID BEKKAS | Joudour | Igloo

10 ENEIDA MARTA | Family | Azziz

Global A Go-Go Classico: All about Moldova with Vlad Cuiujuclu

I'm on vacation today (Sunday January 15, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site) in New York City, where I'll be attending the annual Globalfest concert at Lincoln Center, with performances by a number of artists you've heard frequently on this show.

 

While I'm in New York, I'll also be getting together with Vlad Cuiujuclu, who was a frequent guest on this program when he was a high school and college student here in Richmond, and for a few years beyond that as well.  Vlad was one of my go-to sources for music from Eastern Europe and the Balkans, and he never failed to correct my pronunciations of both Romanian and Russian.

I haven't seen Vlad in a few years, so in honor of our get-together I've dusted off an episode he and I did together on August 26, 2015 in celebration of the 24th birthday of the country of Moldova, Vlad's homeland.  The show is more than 7 years old now, but it's more topical than ever as Russia's invasion of neighboring Ukraine enters a second calendar year.

Charts Dec 12, 2022 - Jan 8, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 LOS BITCHOS | Los Chrismos [EP] | City Slang

2 STAR FEMININE BAND | Star Feminine Band In Paris | Born Bad

3 VIEUX FARKA TOURE AND KHRUANGBIN | Ali | Dead Oceans/Secretly Group

4 BIO RITMO | Salsa System [EP] | Electric Cowbell

5 PERU SELVATICO | various artists | Analog Africa

6 CABRUERA | Sol A Pino | Polen

7 BALKA SOUND | Balka Sound | Strut

8 REDDY AMISI | Bailo Canto | Casa Do Canto

9 OLIVER NAYOKA | Oka Mmadu | Odogwu/Palenque

10 BABA COMMANDANT AND THE MANDINGO BAND | Sonbonbela | Sublime Frequencies

Top 10 compilations & reissues of 2022

 

This week on Global A Go-Go (Sunday January 8, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site), I'm wrapping up a 3-week-long look at my favorite recordings of 2022 by playing my favorite compilations and reissues of the year.

 

When every year begins, I think to myself "Well, this just might be the year when cratediggers start running out of worthwhile historical recordings to reissue and compile."  And when every years ends, I say "Well, it was another big year for compilations and reissues -- those cratediggers really found some great ones this year."

2022 was one of the best years for historic recordings yet.  I personally added more than 50 compilations and reissues to my own personal collection last year.  Narrowing those down to a top ten and ten additional honorable mentions required a sharp pencil.  Tune in this week and hear the results.

Without further ado, here are my top compilations and reissues of 2022: