One night on earth

Derek Gripper is a guitarist from Cape Town, South Africa who has made a specialty of playing the kora music of West Africa on the classical guitar.  To give you an idea of how good he is at it: Producer Lucy Durán played Gripper's recording of Toumani Diabaté's song "Jarabi" for Toumani (who's probably the world's most famous kora player).   His response, paraphrased: "Did you actually see him play this music on one guitar?"  Yeah, he's that good.

Anyway, Derek Gripper is visiting Richmond this week to play at the Robinson Theater in Church Hill on Thursday.  He calls this concert "Music from the Strings of Mali" and he's joined by Irish guitarist Redmond O'Toole; more details can be found here: concerts.derekgripper.com.  You'll hear Derek Gripper's music this week on Global A Go-Go, and Toumani Diabaté's as well.

Also this week (Sunday November 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): New throat singing from Mongolia by Batsükh Dorj, rocksteady from the mid 60s and the current Jamaican sounds of Samory I and Stephen Marley, after 44 years finally the first studio album by Senegal's Dieuf Dieul de Thiès, and more Ghanaian burger highlife.

Charts November 13-19, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 DIEPKLOOF UNITED VOICE | Harmonizing Soweto: Golden City Gospel & Kasi Soul | Ostinato

2 SUPER BITON DE SEGOU | Afro Jazz Folk Collection Vol. 2 | Mieruba

3 BOUNALY | Dimanche A Bamako | Sahel Sounds

4 PROTOJE | In Search Of Zion | In.Digg.Nation Collective/RCA

5 NOVALIMA | La Danza, Pt. 2 [EP] | Six Degrees

6 ALPACAS COLLECTIVE | Big Words | Catalpas

7 LONDON AFROBEAT COLLECTIVE | "Topesa Esengo Na Motema" [Single] | Canopy

8 SANTROFI | Deep Into Highlife | Out Here

9 FERRE GOLA | Dynastie 2 Vol. 1 | Sony East Africa

10 MUKAMBO PRESENTS GLOBAL AFROBEAT MOVEMENT VOL. 4 | various artists | NYP

Harmonizing Soweto

Choral singing has long been a major thing in South Africa.

 

For example, Solomon Linda's "Mbube" (also known as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight") is an international standard that children around the globe learn in their first music classes.  Urban vocal "hep harmony" groups like the female Skylarks (featuring Miriam Makeba) and the male Manhattan Brothers, and musical theater productions like King Kong and Wait A Minim! brought South African singing to the world in the mid-20th century.  More recently, Ladysmith Black Mambazo's a cappella style called isicathamiya became and remains popular all over the planet.

 

Kasi soul and Diepkloof United Voice (DUV) are South Africa's latest contribution to choral singing.  DUV is a nine-member vocal group from the Diepkloof neighborhood in Johannesburg's Soweto suburb who rehearse in an abandoned elementary school classroom with broken windows.  Their debut album, recorded in their rehearsal room and released on November 10, is one of the most exhilarating pieces of music I've heard all year.

The first hour of Global A Go-Go this week is focused on South African choral music.  You'll hear a set of historic recordings from the 1930s through the 80s, three selections from Diepkloof United Voice and examples of how vocal choirs are used in contemporary South African dance music.

In the second hour this week (Sunday November 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): A previously unreleased recording of one of Mali's greatest post-independence orchestras, Super Biton de Ségou, and new Afrobeat from Eparapo, Alpacas Collective, London Afrobeat Collective and The Blassics.

Charts November 6-12, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 SUPER BITON DE SEGOU | Afro Jazz Folk Collection Vol. 2 | Mieruba

2 IPHUPHO L'KA BIKO | Azania [EP] | We Are Busy Bodies

3 JEWEL ACKAH | Electric Hi-Life | BBE

4 THOMAS FREMPONG | Anansi Shuffle | BBE

5 HAILU MERGIA | Pioneer Works Swing (Live) | Awesome Tapes From Africa

6 EL CLAN ANTILLANO | El Clan Antillano | Vampisoul

7 CHICOCHICA | "Dame De Ese Amor" [Single] | Negromayo

8 SANTROFI | Deep Into Highlife | Out Here

9 PAT KALLA ET LE SUPER MOJO | Belle Terre | Heavenly Sweetness

10 SUPER DJATA BAND DU MALI | Zani Diabate Et Le Super Djata Band Du Mali, Volume 2 | Numero Group

Biko's dream, Fruko's bands

South Africa jazz musicians have a long tradition of blending improvisation, their own folkloric and popular music, and political expression.  From the Jazz Epistles and the Blue Notes to Abdullah Ibrahim and Hugh Masakela, the best of South African jazz has always been simultaneously cutting edge, deeply in the tradition and politically charged, either implicitly or directly.

 

The band iPhupho L'ka Biko ("Biko's Dream" in Zulu) are following in the footsteps of these artists.  Now in their eighth year, this flexible cooperative centered around founder, composer and bassist Nhlanhla Ngqaqu released their first EP earlier this year.  It is now being internationally distributed so listeners worldwide can hear this exciting, dynamic band.  I'll play you a track from this album, one of my favorite songs of the year in fact, on this week's edition of Global A Go-Go.

Also this week (Sunday November 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): groovy electro-cumbia from Chicochica, Fruko's four salsa bands (and he had some other bands at the same time!), BBE Records' new series of burger highlife reissues, the sound of cadence from Guadeloupe, and the Super Djata Band rocks out.

Charts Oct 30 - Nov 5, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 SANTROFI | Deep Into Highlife | Out Here

2 DENGUE FEVER | Ting Mong | Tuk Tuk

3 HAILU MERGIA | Pioneer Works Swing (Live) | Awesome Tapes From Africa

4 LO POLOKO | Living La Covida Loca | AudioMaze

5 NANA BUDJEI | Afrikaman | BBE

6 TOOFAN | Stamina | Universal Africa

7 LOS GAITEROS DE SAN JACINTO | Fanny Rosa [EP] | Llorona

8 CHICOCHICA | "Dame De Ese Amor" [Single] | Negromayo

9 DORIAN | "El Temblor En El Liceu De Barcelona" [Single] | Nacional

10 ALPACAS COLLECTIVE | "Movefeze" [Single] | Catalpas

Deep into highlife

If you listen to Global A Go-Go, you may have figured out that there's nothing I like better than a large ensemble.  The interplay between real musicians is one of the things I love most in music, so for me the bigger the band the better.  You don't hear a lot of laptop bands on this program.

 

Unsurprisingly, the new album by Deep Into Highlife by Santrofi, the young band from Accra that's updating Ghanaian highlife music for the 21st century, is right up my alley.  They went on tour in 2021 and 2022 with the 14 piece Berlin group Omniversal Earkestra backing them up, which means they were more than 25 strong when they recorded this live album.  You'll hear two selections from this excellent new recording on this week's show.

Also this week (Sunday November 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): Lo Poloko's tropical big bang, the sound of the Colombian gaita, new rock en español from Barcelona's Dorian, Nusantara Beat's hipster Dutch-Indonesian rock and a slice of creole Afrobeat from Alpacas Collective.

Charts October 16-29, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 KULTUR SHOCK | Acoustic Live | Old Age

2 LADANIVA | Ladaniva | Le Label/PIAS

3 PAT KALLA ET LE SUPER MOJO | Belle Terre | Heavenly Sweetness

4 FERRE GOLA | Dynastie 2 Vol. 1 | Sony East Africa

5 CREATION REBEL | Hostile Environment | On-U Sound

6 CANTARES DEL PACIFICO | Aguajes De Mar Y Manglar | Chaco World

7 SUPER DJATA BAND DU MALI | Zani Diabate Et Le Super Djata Band Du Mali, Volume 2 | Numero Group

8 IF YOU ASK ME TO: VICTOR AXELROD PRODUCTIONS FOR DAPTONE RECORDS | various artists | Daptone

9 MUKAMBO PRESENTS GLOBAL AFROBEAT MOVEMENT VOL. 4 | various artists | NYP

10 DELE SOSIMI AND THE ESTUARY 21 | "For The Love Of It" [Single] | Wah Wah 45s

God is busy, may I help you?

Kultur Shock is the "other" pioneering American gypsy punk band, the one you might not have heard of yet.  They were founded three years earlier than Gogol Bordello, in Seattle in 1996 by Bosnian immigrant Gino Yevdjevich.  They've released eleven albums so far plus a boatload of singles; their latest 45 is for the Alternative Tentacles label, whose founder Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedys said "Kultur Shock is what punk rock should sound like."

 

Kultur Shock's brand new album is called Acoustic Live, recorded at Seattle's Town Hall.  Even unplugged, this band rocks harder than just about anybody, which you'll hear this week when I play two songs from the new album on Global A Go-Go.

Also this week (Sunday October 29nd, 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): New Brazilian samba-soul from Rogê and Toco; Ladaniva's Balkan beats via Armenia, Belarus and France; Victor Axelrod's rocksteady has soul; the East African jazz and funk of Nègarit Band and The Scorpions; and the My Sahel Initiative brings six of that region's top musical acts together to raise awareness and funding.

Musical chairs

WRIR's Fall 2023 Fund Drive is now underway -- we're working to raise $45,000 by Saturday October 28th to power "the tower of low power" in Richmond for another six months.  Thank you for your previous donations to Richmond Independent Radio and for your continuing support if you're a monthly donor!  I'm writing to encourage you to make a contribution once again this fall, if you can.  Become a monthly donor by clicking this link: https://bit.ly/3QnrP5H.  Or make a one-time donation to WRIR here: https://bit.ly/3FnagN1.

Charts October 9-15, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 PACHYMAN | Switched-On | ATO

2 LEON KEITA | Dance Edition No. 16 | Analog Africa

3 ALOGTE OHO AND HIS SOUNDS OF JOY | O Yinne! | Philophon

4 MAHLATHINI AND THE MAHOTELLA QUEENS | Music Inferno: The Indestructible Beat Tour 1988-89 | Umsakazo

5 KING AYISOBA | Work Hard | Glitterbeat

6 SHIKAMOO JAZZ | East African Legends Live | RetroTan

7 RUUT | Kirikuut | Nordic Notes

8 INNA KOVTUN | Burning Fires | Alchemy

9 PRINCE FAR I | Under Heavy Manners | 17 North Parade

10 TONY ALLEN AND ADRIAN YOUNGE | Tony Allen JID018 | Jazz Is Dead

Global A Go-Go Classico: Felabration

I'm out at the Richmond Folk Festival today (Sunday October 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), so this week you'll hear a Classico edition of Global A Go-Go.

 

Today would have been the 85th birthday of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the man who carried death in his pouch (and played ping-pong in his briefs), the Nigerian troublemaker, superstar and founder of Afrobeat, a style of music that's guaranteed to live for as long as people are rebelling against something.

Global A Go-Go joins the annual worldwide Felabration with a 2-hour look at the life and music of Fela Kuti.  This episode was originally broadcast way back on January 1, 2010, but it has stood the test of time and still sounds good to me.  I hope you feel the same way about it.

Charts October 2-8, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 LARRY AND JOE | Nuevo South Train | SideHustle

2 VICTOR AXELROD | If You Ask Me To: Victor Axelrod Productions For Daptone Records | Daptone

3 MLDVA AND CINAR TIMUR | MLDVA & Cinar Timur | Shapes Of Rhythm

4 IBRAHIM HESNAWI | The Father Of Libyan Reggae | Habibi Funk

5 FRANDER | Frander II | Nordic Notes

6 VENEZONIX | "Ponsigue (feat. Carlos Talez)" [Single] | Nacional

7 GENTICORUM | Au Coeur De L'Aube | self-released

8 KAVITA SHAH | Cape Verdean Blues | Folkalist

9 STEPHEN MARLEY | Old Soul | Tuff Gong Collective/UMe/Ghetto Youths

10 SOUL OF CONGO, THE: TREASURES OF THE NGOMA LABEL | various artists | Planet Ilunga

My favorite weekend of the year

Every year, it's my favorite weekend of the year.  It's the first thing I put on my calendar.  You know I'm talking about the weekend of the Richmond Folk Festival, which this year is next weekend, October 13-15.

 

The Festival seems to get more international with each passing year, and this week on Global A Go-Go (Sunday October 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'll highlight a number of global artists that I'm looking forward to seeing at the 2023 Richmond Folk Festival.

You'll hear Stanley & The Ten Sleepless Knights from St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Grupo Mono Blanco from Veracruz Mexico, Lutchinha from Cabo Verde (via Massachusetts) and the amazing Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso.

 

And let me put two others on your list: Genticorum from Quebec Canada and Bio Ritmo from right here in the RVA.  Both were played on this show within the last two weeks, so I'm skipping them today but you shouldn't skip them at the Festival.

Also on this week's program: New Scandinavian folk-rock by Rüüt and Fränder, new Anatolian rock from Poland (no lie) by MLDVA and a reissue of one of West Africa's finest: Léon Keïta & Les Ambassadeurs Internationaux.

Charts Sep 25 - Oct 1, 2023

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 IDRISSA SOUMAORO | Diré | Mieruba

2 BLASSICS, THE | Sounding Times | Odd Funk

3 IDRIS ACKAMOOR AND THE PYRAMIDS | Afro Futuristic Dreams | Strut

4 VUMBI DEKULA | Congo Guitar | Hive Mind/Sing-A-Song Fighter

5 LURA | Multicolor | Produtores Associados

6 FRUKO Y SUS TESOS | El Violento | Vampisoul

7 ALPACAS COLLECTIVE | "Gunkali" [Single] | Catalpas

8 MARIA RAQUEL | "Cumbia Del Presente" [Single] | Chulo

9 BATSUKH DORJ | Ogbelerim: Music For My Ancestors | Buda

10 LOS ASES DE LA TIMBA | Mano A Mano | Envidia