It wasn’t a great BBC quiz week for me. Only 3 right. I guess that’s understandable considering I’ve been working long hours recently, preparing for something I probably won’t do anyway. (I was hoping to do a rugby series on Benn loxo like I did when I was working at the football world cup, complete with pitch-side African classics. We’ll see.)

Anyway, since my work plans for the next six weeks hang in the balance it’s appropriate that I do Benn loxo listener, Fabian, a favour and post a mystery song that he’d like to know more about.

If you know the composer, singer, language or any other detail about today’s song please leave a comment or send me an e-mail.

I’ll also include a second track by Jean Raph Loumbet sent my way by Fabian some time ago. I love the lyrics and the driving beat on this one.

Loumbet and his band, Les Zoulous, were apparently the first Ivoirians to produce Congolese soukous. The style had long been popular in the country, and mixing with a hint of post-Djedje Ivoirianess sounds great. Today’s track comes off his 1981 release, Renaissance Volume 1.

Speaking of Côte d’Ivoire, does anyone have a copy of Eba Aka Jerome’s single, Trahison?

Unknown - Patricia
Jean Raph Loumbet - Mbonge

Today we have a guest post from Zimfest by Benn loxo listener, DJ Earball:

“Maybe we’re special here, maybe not. For all I know, other regions of the world also may have events as stunning as Zimfest (www.zimfest.org ), the annual Zimbabwean Music Festival that rotates around cities on the upper left-hand edge of North America. This year, it was here in Olympia, leaving me no excuse for not attending.

The festival is really a living tribute to Dumisani “Dumi” Maraire, a Zimbabwean player and teacher who was largely responsible for bringing mbira and marimba music to this region in the years he spent teaching at the University of Washington in Seattle. The festival began in 1991, and has continued growing even since Dumi passed on in 1999.

The 16th festival featured mbira, ngoma, and marimba players from the Northwest and beyond. Along with Olympia’s own Mukana Marimba, groups came from Texas, New Mexico, California, Colorado, British Columbia, Sweden…and yes, Zimbabwe. Watching the youthful members of Mzungo Marimba Band sing (in Shona, of course) and play and dance on a sun-drenched Friday afternoon was blissful, if a bit culturally jarring. But it was the festival’s finale concert two days later that sealed the deal. With alternating groups performing from different sides of the stage, it was a non-stop party from early evening until well after midnight. There were the locals: Hokoyo, a youth marimba group from Eugene, Oregon, and Nyamuziwa Marimba from Seattle. There was mbira ambassador Erica Azim (who runs mbira.org) playing solo and with two of her teachers, Cosmas Magaya and Beauler Dyoko. Those two elder mbira players also played a beautiful set together.

And then there were some Zimbabweans pushing traditional instruments in new directions. Fafi (a.k.a. 3 Percent) is a NYC-based DJ/rapper who incorporates mbira into his music. The song Wantchito is from a recently released EP and features 4Fathaz on mbira.

The four young Zimbabweans who make up Bongo Love manage to combine the sounds of mbira, marimba, and drums into a revelation of modern sound. Their festival-finale show had even the most sleep-deprived all-weekenders up dancing past midnight. The track Ekhya (Kogae) is from their album Afrocoustics.

Enjoy! And come visit me at SoundRoots.org for more music.”

Thanks for the music, Scott.

Bongo Love - Ekhya (Kogae)
Fafi - Wantchito