Cumbia del polvo

First of all, let me start by thanking the approximately 430 donors who have contributed over $45,000 so far during WRIR's Spring 2022 Fund Drive.  You are putting the power in "the tower of low power"!

 

Even though the drive is officially over, if you haven't donated yet you can still get involved and earn some cool premiums until May 8.  Just visit wrir.org to make that donation.  And you can visit us in person at 1621 W. Broad Street in Richmond this weekend (April 30-May 1) and next weekend (May 7-8) between 11 AM and 5 PM if you'd like to pick up your premiums in person.

Now, on to the music.  This week Global A Go-Go features an American band for a change: Calexico, whose unique sound combines the flavor of the Mexico-USA border with indie rock.  Their 13th album El Mirador was released last month and it might be my favorite in their catalogue.  You'll hear a couple of songs from it this week, plus several Calexico side projects.

Also this week (Sunday May 1, 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): cumbia electronica both slow and fast; the Afro-coffeehouse sound of Jason Tamba; and two sets of 70s-80s African classics, one from Benin and one from central Africa.

Charts April 18-24, 2022

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten

1 SOMI | Zenzile: The Reimagination Of Miriam Makeba | Salon Africana

2 CONGOTRONICS INTERNATIONAL | Where's The One? | Crammed

3 LEYLA MCCALLA | "Dodinin" [Single] | Anti-

4 GILI YALO | Einsof | Universal Israel

5 RUDY MILLS | Greatest Hits | Rebel Sound

6 SATELLITES | Satellites | Batov

7 JAAKKO LAITINEN AND VAARA RAHA | "Lapikatsa Lattiaan" [Single] | Playground Music Finland

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

9 SURE FIRE SOUL ENSEMBLE | Step Down | Colemine

10 NOORI AND HIS DORPA BAND | "Al Amal" [Single] | Ostinato

We play a lot of crap ... but that's what you want

This week on Global A Go-Go (Sunday April 24, 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), it's WRIR's Spring 2022 Fund Drive, where we're looking to raise $45,000 or more to keep Richmond Independent Radio in the pink for another six months.

 

Most non-commercial radio fund drives are as much fun as root canal.  So we'll take the opposite tack this week -- it will be my most amusing show of the year, where I play nothing but some of my favorite novelties, errors in judgment, inexplicable covers and other one-offs.  Plus Bill Murray will instruct us in how not to do a fund drive.  Not in person, sorry to say, but Midtown Swing's DJ Ginger will be with me in Studio A to share in the levity.

For something more serious and for some donation inspiration, follow me below the fold to read my semi-annual fund drive letter.

Charts April 11-17, 2022

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten

1 CLUB D'ELF | You Never Know | Face Pelt

2 KING JAMMY | Destroys The Virus With Dub | Greensleeves

3 SATELLITES | Satellites | Batov

4 KANDY GUIRA | Nagtaba | Vlad Production

5 AGUANEDO NNEWI BIG BROTHER'S BAND INTL | Onyemaechi | Upright / Palenque

6 DOGO DU TOGO | "Soke Wo (Sol Power All-Stars remix)" [Single] | Sol Power Sound

7 ORCHESTRE MASSAKO | Orchestre Massako [EP] | Analog Africa

8 FRANCISCA VALENZUELA | "Hola Impostora" [Single] | Sony Chile

9 AFRICA NEGRA | Antologia Vol. 1 | Bongo Joe

10 ADRIAN QUESADA | "Mentiras Con Cariño" feat. iLe [Single] | ATO

Hello imposter

I'm happy to be back in WRIR's Studio A this week for the first time since the first week of January, doing radio the way the good Lord meant for it to be done: live and in person. Don't worry, it will still sound fine as a podcast too.

 

Once again I'm catching you up on lots of new music.  This episode's finds include an Israeli band playing Turkish psych, a song about imposter syndrome that channels garage rock and rock en español at the same time, a reissue of Brazilian samba-funk that was way ahead of its time in 1969, what happens when a jazzy jam band plays Moroccan gnawa, one of the best Afropop tracks I've heard in a long time, and yet more new Igbo highlife from eastern Nigeria.

Got your curiosity up?  Good, then join me this week: Sunday April 17, 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.

Charts April 4-10, 2022

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten

1 AFRICA NEGRA | Antologia Vol. 1 | Bongo Joe

2 LESPRI KA: NEW DIRECTIONS IN GWOKA MUSIC FROM GUADELOUPE 1981-2010 | various artists | Time Capsule-Seance Centre

3 PAPE NZIENGUI | Kadi Yombo | Awesome Tapes From Africa

4 LA PAMBELE | La Pambele | Names You Can Trust

5 LE SUPER DJATA BAND DU MALI | En Super Forme, Vol. 1 | Numero Group

6 DOGO DU TOGO | "Soke Wo (Sol Power All-Stars remix)" [Single] | Sol Power Sound

7 ORCHESTRE MASSAKO | Orchestre Massako [EP] | Analog Africa

8 BIO RITMO | "Piraguero/Asia Minor" [Single] | Merge

9 VIVIANO TORRES AND ANE SWING | Joyas Champetuas De Todos Los Tiempos | Palenque

10 OUMOU SANGARE | "Samara" [Single] | World Circuit

Global A Go-Go Classico: Everybody on the floor

This time on Global A Go-Go it's nuthin' but a global dance party: two continuous hours of music, spanning 30 countries and six decades, that will put your hands up in the air. To paraphrase my WRIR colleague Mr. Jazz, it's all platter and less chatter. And as my WRIR colleague DJ Graybeard always says: Crank it up and share with your neighbors. Are you with me?

 

This week's program (Sunday April 10, 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) was inspired last year by my sister-in-law, who became the first woman (also the first American) to serve as president of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Court of Arbitration.

 

To kick off her term as president, and to introduce herself to the arbitrators, attorneys and staffers from over 100 countries that make up the Court, she asked me to create a two-hour mixtape that would get a wide variety of people up and dancing.  That's the basis for this program, which was so much fun last year on the day after the 4th of July that I wanted to give it a second spin.  Everybody on the floor!

Charts Mar 27 - Apr 3, 2022

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten

1 ORCHESTRE MASSAKO | Orchestre Massako [EP] | Analog Africa

2 KIKO VILLAMIZAR | Todo El Mundo | Wepa

3 KABAKA INTERNATIONAL GUITAR BAND | Led By G. Kabaka Opara | Palenque

4 BONGO HOP, THE | "La Napa" [Single] | Underdog

5 CONGOTRONICS INTERNATIONAL | "Where’s The One?" [Single] | Crammed

6 REGGAESTA | "Cocaine (feat. Earl 16)" [Single] | Echo Beach

7 STEPHANIE SANTIAGO | "Alma Carnavalera" [Single] | Movimientos

8 LOS CALVOS | "Salsa Y Sandunga" [Single] | El Palmas

9 VIBRO SUCCESS INTERCONTINENTAL ORCHESTRA | Drunkard | Dig This Way

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

Vibro success

The folks at Milan's Dig This Way Records have a reminder for us: all the crates will never completely be dug.  The latest evidence is their reissue of Drunkard by the Central African Republic's Vibro Success Intercontinental Orchestra.

 

Vibro Success were the first band to use a drum kit in Congolese-style rumba.  They were Bangui's biggest band in the 1970s, became the toast of Yaoundé and N'Djamena due to their constant touring of neighboring Cameroon and Chad, and recorded a series of albums in Aba, Nigeria for the Ben Limited record label, hence the "Intercontinental Orchestra" moniker.

I can't speak to all of their recorded output, but I can tell you that 1978's Drunkard is on par with the best music of Africa's post-independence era.  And that's saying something, since they're a band I had literally never heard of under a few weeks ago.  Hear them for yourself this week on Global A Go-Go.

Also this week (Sunday April 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): a boatload of excellent new releases from artists who, like Vibro Success, you have probably never heard before -- Stephanie Santiago, Kiko Villamizar, The Bongo Hop, The Bogie Band featuring Joe Russo, Reggaesta and Congotronics International.  And plenty of Global A Go-Go classics to balance the scales.

Charts March 21-27, 2022

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten

1 VIVIANO TORRES AND ANE SWING | Joyas Champetuas De Todos Los Tiempos | Palenque

2 GOOD ONES, THE | Rwanda ... You See Ghosts, I See Sky | Six Degrees

3 JEMBAA GROOVE | Susuma | Agogo

4 ORCHESTRE LES VOLCANS DU BENIN | Vol. 1 | Albarika Store

5 BIO RITMO | "Piraguero / Asia Minor" [Single] | Merge

6 LOS CARAMELOS DE AUCAYACU | El Sabor Dulcissimo | Discos Fantasticos

7 COCO LAGOS Y SUS ORATES | Descargas | Vampisoul

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

9 CHICHA POPULAR: LOVE AND SOCIAL POLITICAL SONGS FROM DISCOS HOROSCOPO 1977-1987 | various artists | Rebel Up

10 JUANITA EUKA | Mabanzo | Strut

Anne zwing

Some of the world's biggest fans of African, Latin and Caribbean music are from Colombia -- specifically from the Caribbean port cities of Cartagena and Barranquilla.  That's where LPs imported from overseas found their way into the hands of DJs who manned the picós, the sound systems that are coastal Colombia's popular, mobile and very loud discos and radio stations.

 

It didn't take long before Afro-Colombian musicians began recording their own versions and adaptations of the picó hits.  And no one did it better than Viviano Torres, aka Anne Zwing.  Our friends at Palenque Records have just released a compilation of Viviano's greatest tunes, and they're a master class in refracting African popular culture back onto itself.

This week on Global A Go-Go (Sunday March 27, 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 three tracks from Anne Zwing alongside the African and Caribbean hits they reference.  Plus Sister Helen Prejean (of Dead Man Walking fame) in a West African setting, the irresistible sound of Cameroonian makossa, and more chicha from Peru and beyond.

Charts March 14-20, 2022

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten

1 AFRICA NEGRA | Antologia Vol. 1 | Bongo Joe

2 BURKINA AZZA | Wari Bo | Social Joy

3 IMARHAN | Aboogi | City Slang

4 VIBRO SUCCESS INTERCONTINENTAL ORCHESTRA | Drunkard | Dig This Way

5 OUMOU SANGARE | "Sarama" [Single] | World Circuit

6 ETRAN DE L'AIR | Agadez | Sahel Sounds

7 MARCOS | Saudade | Comets Coming

8 JUCARA MARCAL | Delta Estacio Blues | QTV-Mais Um

9 MDOU MOCTAR | Afrique Victime | Matador

10 HAMID EL SHAERI | Habibi Funk 018: The Slam! Years (1983 - 1988) | Habibi Funk

Global A Go-Go Classico: From the campfire to the arena

Well, we had some technical difficulties with Global A Go-Go's February 27 episode.  As a result, WRIR listeners didn't get to hear that show's ending.  We're remedying the situation this week (Sunday March 20, 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 under the weather, so it's an ideal time to rebroadcast this program in its entirety.  Here's what I originally wrote about it:

 

Imarhan, a band from Tamanrasset, the Sahara Desert oasis city in southern Algeria, are masters of the warm, organic, luminous subtleties of the style of music called desert blues, tishoumaren, assouf or, even more simply among the Tamashek people, la guitare.  Their beautiful new album Aboogi is one of the best I've heard in the genre.

 

But the dynamic span of Toureg desert blues is as broad as that of any music today.  It ranges from the fireside intimacy of Imarhan all the way to the coliseum-scaled guitar rave-ups of six-string warriors like Mdou Moctar and Bombino.  This week Global A Go-Go presents a deep dive into desert blues, an hour that takes you from the campfire to the arena.

It's an all-African show this week, with new music from Malian songbirds Oumou Sangare and Rokia Koné, the sounds of the Mande balafon and a quick tour of Lusophone Africa on the bill as well.

Charts March 7-13, 2022

WRIR's NACC World Top Ten

1 BUBE DAME KONIG | Von Der Quelle Bis Zur See | CPL

2 COCO LAGOS Y SUS ORATES | Descargas | Vampisoul

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

4 FATOUMATA DIAWARA | Maliba | 3eme Bureau/Wagram

5 UC HUREL | 3 Hur-El | Turkofon

6 GOOD ONES, THE | "The Darkness Has Passed" [Single] | Six Degrees

7 AMARU TRIBE | "Candela Viva" [Single] | Vibrating Planet

8 OUMOU SANGARE | "Wassulu Don" [Single] | World Circuit

9 RICHIE SPICE | "Shootie Shootie" [Single] | Riddim Force

10 SATELLITES | "Yar Oi" [Single] | Batov

The darkness has passed

I've done a bunch of thematic programs in recent weeks: an all-Ghana show for that country's birthday last week, deep dives into desert blues, Nigerian highlife and Zimbabwean sungura, and a re-airing of my hour-long interview with Taj Weekes.

 

So this week (Sunday March 13, 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) is kind of a return to form: music from 17 different countries and seven different decades in two hours' time.

 

I'm featuring the new single from Rwanda's The Good Ones, and also new music from a band named Bube Dame König -- the first time I've ever played German folk-rock in this program's 18 year history.  Plus reggae songs about the po-po, descargas from Peru, Colombian vallenato via Australia and Turkish psych-rock made in Israel.  You know, your basic Global A Go-Go radio show.