Aug 10/07
No friends in Chad
Every few months I like to dig around the Google Analytics statistics for this site and see who visits and from where.
Apparently I have no friends in Chad.
Not surprisingly, the US, France, Germany and England dominate the charts. I have friends in Senegal, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Egypt so those countries have decent stats. South Americans apparently love African music so they’ve always had a presence. East Asia is weak, Central Asia almost non-existent.. but once and I while I get that lone visitor from Kyrgyzstan. That hit from Bishkek was much appreciated.
People (or, more likely, spam bots) from 187 countries have visited Benn loxo over the 365 days. But unless the following countries don’t have an ISP, as far as I can tell I’ve never had any visitors from Papua New Guinea, Suriname, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, North Korea, Laos (not a fan, Julie?) and Chad.
So what’s up, Chad? Even one or two people from Equatorial Guinea and the CAR have dropped by. Niger is a hotspot compared to you guys. (Ok, two visits over the past year, but who’s counting.)
Not enough Chadian musicians, maybe? Ok, fair enough, even though Les Jaloux Saboteurs counts for at least ten amazing songs. Can anyone suggest other good music by Chadians?
Well, MC Solaar is sort of Chadian, right? Better yet, I found this great music video by Chadian family group, H’Sao, now based in Montreal.
Most other stuff I found was either too poppy or religious for my taste, so I’m all ears for suggestions.
In the meantime, a little classic French-Senegalese-Chadian hiphop.
Tags: chad, hiphop, rap
The first hiphop song in French that I got to know, was Caroline by MC Solaar.. Probably because of the name of the song
Maybe I should contact my hostfamily in Dakar – one of their sons lives in Chad – and tell him about BennLoxo and ask for suggestions.
Hey Caroline. That’d be great if you could..
Hey Matt – I’m with you on the paucity of music from Chad — one of the few artists I know from Chad is Ganga Clamoungou of the Seattle-based group Kalass. They have more of a general Afropop sound than specific Chadian roots, but still enjoyable.
And if it makes you feel any better, Soundroots doesn’t appear to have had any visitors from Chad either. Nine visits from Niue, even three visits from Cocos (Keeling) Islands, but nobody from Chad.
Thanks for the link. I sent Kalass an e-mail.. let’s see if they send me a promo to feature on Benn loxo. Unless you’re up for a guest post (or cross-post?)
Good to know that I’m not the only Chad-less site, too…
Here a link to a site with music clips from Chad
http://www.ialtchad.com/musique.htm
Great link, Roland. Thanks!
Yo Yo Yo Matty!
I’m her in Canada listening to you!
from the wet coast …
hey matt
you might not ba a fan of ‘poppy’ stuff and i know youre not a fan of modern coupe decale, etc.
do you know any music blogs dedicated to modern african pop and dance music? not just galsene rap, but cheesy modern african pop music in all its glory?
i feel like most blogs are either rap or folkier influenced. i like a lot of the music you post, but i dont feel like its exactly what youth across africa are listening to…
the students i knew from chad listened mostly to ethiopian pop..
Hey Rachel,
All too true. I’ve touched on this issue a lot on Benn loxo, especially in the earlier posts when I was still living in Senegal. That’s why I try to feature a mix once and a while, with the occasional sprinkling of hiphop or pop. There are a few coupe decale posts in the past, many about hiphop galsene, and even some featuring modern (and, to my ears, nearly unlistenable) fuji, but those posts will never dominate Benn loxo’s pages.
Truth is, you’re right, it’s not what I prefer and, you’re right, it’s what the “youth” usually listen to. But the “youth” in Canada and France also listen to mostly horrible music. Britney Spears, for example, far, far, outsells the music I personally prefer from Europe and North America.
There are loads of locals from the African countries featured here who listen to the same kind of “good” music here at Benn loxo, but they’re not in the majority. Old-school highlife, classic rumba or even quality contemporary pop and hiphop will never be as popular as the cheesy mainstream stuff. All the more reason to promote it here.
That said, I don’t know any many music blogs that feature a lot of modern African pop, but there are definitely 1001 online radio stations that stream it 24/7!
Cheers,
Matt
Of course you are right. In southamerica our love for african music is as deep as our love for Africa itself. Thank you for the beautiful music, my firend!
kind regards
Celeste, from Argentina
You have fans in Canada, eh!