I mentioned a couple posts ago about how I’ve been feelin the accordian sounds from the Indian Ocean islands off south-eastern Africa. You thought I was joking? René Lacaille plays a seriously mean accordian, and the musicians of the tiny Île Rodrigues bust it like today is their last.

Lacaille is a talented artist from the island of Réunion who has helped to spread the séga sound outside of the region. He sings and plays accordian, guitar and other instruments. I picked-up his 2004 release, Mapou, last week. Mapou translates into sugarcane, the most important crop on La Réunion.

The other two tracks on today’s post come from Rodrigues musicians who are featured on the Takamba compilation, Île Rodrigues Vol. 2. The recordings and tunes may be a bit primitive, but just imagine these guys sitting around in the sweaty heat, stomping their feet and working their accordians. I picture a cute Rodrigues local lifting her skirt just a touch as she pounds out a dance on a dusty floor.

In case you’re wondering where Rodrigues is (I was, anyway), it’s a small island many hundreds of kilometers east of Mauritius. It’s only 18km by 9km and is officially part of Mauritius, but it’s so far off my bet is that the inhabitants pretty much do their own thing.

Spring is here so kick off your shoes, get outside and bust-out that accordian.

René Lacaille – Titep
Le Groupe Kaskavel – Laval
Benoit Samoisy – Laval

I’ve been gushing lately about Zainaba, the beautiful voice from Grande Comoros island. Today we’ll hear another talented female vocalist from the Comoros, Nawal.

Nawal, like Zainaba and most of the inhabitants of the Comoros islands, is a devout Muslim. Nawal in particular is a direct descendant of an influencial marabout, or spiritual leader, of the sufi Islam community in Comoros. This comes out in her lyrics and singing style, and in fact today’s pick translates into “The All Powerful” – I think you know who she’s referring to.

Rich rhythms, nice guitar and bass and an overall cool sound (including a nice Jacques Brel cover – that’s for you, Ben) make this album stand-out. That and the fact that, yet again, we’re hearing music by a woman who normally, at least according to strict local customs, wouldn’t be allowed to perform music in public.

Today’s track comes off her 2004 release, Kweli. Apparently she’s coming out with a new album this year or next so keep an ear out.

Nawal – Al Djalilu

Hey, you thought I was done with the islands? I’m obsessed. My friends look at me with a sympathetic but somewhat uncomprehending smile when I enthusiastically go off about the political history of Mayotte or the untold story of Chikungunya on the Île de Maurice or the wonders of the accordian playing on Île Rodrigues. But Benn loxo listeners, I know you’re into it.

I just mentioned Rodrigues but that’ll have to wait for another day. Right now we got Réunion and the bluesy maloya of Granmoun Lélé.

The maloya style originated in the cane fields of Réunion during the slave days. At that time the island was called Île Bourbon. The word “maloya” from the Malagasy maloy aho, which roughly means “say what you gotta say.” It follows then the singing maloya songs was a way for cane harvest slaves to express themselves and speak their story. Maloya music is characterized by its prominent percussion and passionate, repetitive lyrics.

Granmoun Lélé is one of the maloya masters. He plays with a troupe comprised of several members of his family. Today’s selection comes off his 2003 release, Zelvoula.

ps- To quote MF Doom, “this one goes out to You Know Who You Are…”

Granmoun Lélé – Marie Louise

If Google Analytics is to be believed, then Benn loxo du taccu attracts listeners from pretty much all over the world. The orange dots on the graphic to the left represent people who visit the site.

Predictably most listeners come from North America and Europe, though I was pleasantly surprised to find out that quite a few of you live in Asia, South America and elsewhere.

There aren’t many African listeners aside from a few in Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, South Africa and the Great Lakes, though I think this mostly reflects that, for the most part, ex-pats like me are into different kinds of music than young, Internet-savvy Africans.

Anyway, I thought that those of you who visit this site might be curious to see who else is listening to the same tunes. For me, stats like this make Benn loxo feel alive and motivate me to keep on posting.

Benn loxo listener, Henri, sent me a video clip from the Ethiopian concert we both attended in Bobigny last week. We exchanged a couple e-mails on our thoughts about the show.. here’s what I think:

Overall I was quite disappointed. The first group, led by blind Ethiopian singer Jimmy Mohammad, was ruined by a Dutch drummer who acted like he was on peyote and played like he was the batteur for Megadeth. It was a real shame that his drumming and antics were distracting everyone from the good singing, Ethiopian percussionist and interestingly electric krar.

The second group featured classic Ethiopian saxophonist, Getatchew Mekuria, alongside the Dutch rock band, The Ex. I had read in Benn loxo comments and elsewhere that this seemingly strange pairing was actually really cool. It’s not. I have nothing against rock from The Netherlands or elsewhere. I listen to a lot of it. However, this mix just didn’t work. For starters I don’t think I’d listen to The Ex on their own and their style didn’t blend at all with Getatchew Mekuria’s sax. It sounded like a classic case of When World Music Goes Wrong.

After the second set many people started to leave, mostly because they had run out of beer and water at the bar and the metro was going to close. Let’s pause here to say that the venue and concert organization was pretty sub-standard. Luckily I hung in there for Mahmoud Ahmed, Tsèdènia Gèbrè-Marqos and the Either/Orchestra.

Slumped in our chairs, dreading the metro-less trek home, I think that I speak for most people there when I say we were not ready to like the Either/Orchestra, especially when they played sans-singer for the first few songs. Amazingly they were refreshingly talented, tight and creative. When Tsèdènia Gèbrè-Marqos finally did make it on stage the crowd had woken up and thus reacted well to her beautiful singing. Mahmoud Ahmed came out a few songs later and wowed the crowd with singing, dancing and amazing audience engagement. What a performer.

Remember what I said a few posts ago about African performers almost always being amazing showmen? This was yet another example.

Today’s selection comes from the Mahmoud Ahmed album, Live in Paris, released by Long Distance in 1998. I’ve also included the video of Getatchew Mekuria playing sax at the Bobigny show that Henri sent me – thanks!

Mahmoud Ahmed – Gourague Song
Getatchew Mekuria live in Bobigny on April 6th, 2006