In a post a couple weeks ago about my trip to Cuba I mentioned that I saw some good afrocuban jazz.

Percussionist Oscar Valdes has been on the Cuban jazz scene for a while. The Valdes family has been producing some of Cuba’s most famous musicians for years. Oscar is the son of bolerista Vicentico Valdés who produced a string of his in the 1930s-50s, gaining quite a lot of fame in the US as well as back home.

Along with Chucho Valdes, Oscar Valdes helped form Irakere who later went on to win a Grammy for best latin recording in 1980.

After several years with Irakere he formed a new band with his sons called Diakara. I was lucky enough to catch them at one of their regular gigs, La Zorra y el Cuelvo, a club in Havana’s Vedado neighbourhood.

Oscar Valdes y su grupo Diakara – Prisma

Ben Herson, aka Benny Beats, founder of Nomadic Wax, took his mobile studio down to Dakar a few years ago in search of unknown Senegalese MCs.

His African Underground and Mapito recordings are fantastic collections of Senegalese and Tanzanian hiphop. I’ve already featured some on Benn loxo, and I’m sure many of you had a listen. Nomadic Wax’s Democracy in Dakar project about hiphop’s role in the Senegalese elections was also really well put together.

Turns out Ben is a friend of a friend. Hopefully we’ll be linking up this week as he’s coming through Paris to explore the immigration issues surrounding next week’s French elections.. particularly amongst the Senegalese community here.

You can find today’s track, Ben’s mix of a previously unknown Senegalese rapper, Pato, on WorldMusic.NationalGeographic.com’s release, GeoRemixed: Big Beats for a Small Planet.

Pato – Keep It Real (Benny Beats remix)

Benn loxo listener and friend, Rob, turned me on to Aldo Romano, Louise Sclavis and Henri Texier’s jazz project, Carnet de routes.

The music is inspired by the trio’s travels around central africa, led by Magnum photographer and African travel veteran, Guy Le Querrec.

I liked Carnet de routes enough that I picked-up their third Africa-inspired release, African Flashback. This album comes with a beautiful 50-plus page booklet of Le Querrec’s photos from about 1969 until the 90s. He has taken photos all around Africa, though the central African countries seem to have caught his eye the most. I find his shots of CAR in 1970, Algeria in 1969 and of women of Mauritania particularly stunning.

Romano, Sclavis and Texier each picked four photos featured in the booklet to inspire a composition. Flipping through the photos while listening makes for great interactive listening.

You can buy all three recordings in the series, Carnet de routes, Suite africaine and African Flashback

ps- I just noticed a post last year on African Flashback on Undomundo.

Aldo Romano, Louis Sclavis, Henri Texier – Les petits lits blancs
Aldo Romano, Louis Sclavis, Henri Texier – Harvest
Aldo Romano, Louis Sclavis, Henri Texier – Bororo Dance

Paris is alive with concerts and patios. I love this time of year.

In the last couple weeks I’ve seen Tinariwen, Gotan Project and Sharon Jones. Upcoming shows include Cinematic Orchestra, maybe Marcos Valle, Ba Cissoko and Nuru Kane, maybe another Toumani Diabaté show, Cowboys Fringants, and more…

A couple nights ago I also went to see Julien Jacob and Gerald Toto at the New Morning.

Julien Jacob is great. He’s a good performer and I enjoy his music, plus he conveys a warmth on stage that makes you want to buy him a beer.

With only himself on vocals, a percussionist and an acoustic guitar he managed to really engage the crowd and create a full sound. Looking around the room I spotted several people totally lost in his music. A typically Parisian world music crowd, at that.

I wrote about Julien Jacob on this site before so you know the deal.. born in Benin, raised in France. He still lives in Brittany in the north of France.

Despite what it might sound like at first he’s not singing in a Beninese dialect – that’s no language at all, but rather sounds that he’s come up with to go with the music.

He has a new album coming out this year. You can hear clips already on his MySpace page. If you haven’t already be sure to pick-up his first album, Cotonou.

Gerald Toto took over for the second half of the concert. Let’s just say I left early. It’s a shame because in the past I’ve liked some of his other stuff such as Toto Bona Lokua. This night he just sounded too… polished and predictable. He should stick to his vocal sampling tricks and/or shake-up his rhythms and melodies.

Julien Jacob – Yacob
Toto Bona Lokua – Lamuka

This past Saturday I went to see Tinariwen at the Bataclan in Paris.

Lo’Jo, the French group who helped setup the Fesitval in the Desert with Tinariwen and others a few years back, were the openers. They were actually quite impressive. Normally I find their music a bit hit or miss, but they proved that they’re great live and that the ‘hits’ are solid. Definitely a unique sound.

By the time Tinariwen got on stage the crowd was ready to rockout. Their set was great and featured lots of songs, most of them extended and changed as live versions should be.

The only downside was Tinariwen’s lead singer, Ibrahim. I know he’s a chilled-out guy but he seemed really subdued.. like somebody had stuck him with a few shots of morphine before the show. There was something strange about having his band members dance around him and engage the crowd as he just stood there in the shadows, never cracking a smile, almost whispering into the mic.

Ibrahim did finally smile when Robert Plant and Justin Adams surprised us by showing up on stage. We were treated to a double-encore of Led Zeppelin hits.. surreal. Robert Plant is looking worse for wear these days but he can still hold it down, especially when he’s flanked by electric guitar playing Touaregs in robes and turbans.

And in case you’re wondering what the Plant-Tamashek connection is: they met at the original Festival in the Desert back in 2003. Plus, their music has a lot in common… hear for yourself below.

Tinariwen – Aldachan Manin (live at the Festival in the Desert)
Led Zeppelin – Whole Lotta Love