Comments on: Champeta Mondays

By: Scott Shuster

Scott Shuster — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 02:48:55 +0000

“It’s a collaboration between Colombian champeta musicians and several well-known West African musicians, including members of Kékélé and Bembeya Jazz, Diblo Dibala, Rigo Star and others….” — Hey, I LOVE to see ANYTHING about Champeta, may its fame grow and grow! HOWEVER: Kékélé, Diblo, and Rigo Star are Congolese, not West African. Americans have a tendency to refer to most anything African as “West African”, probably because western Africa was the source of most of the African slaves brought to North America. West Africa is indeed the musical sourceland of the Blues, Jazz, R&B, and the American gospel sound, and West Africa has also had significant influence on Congolese music, just as the music of Congo has had impact across West Africa. But West Africa is not the source of Champeta, Cumbia, Mambo, Salsa, or other “Latin” forms: Those musics trace back to Angola, which includes the countries today named Congo (and which is 100% in Central and Southern Africa, not West at all). This is why Champeta sounds so much like Soukous (it basically IS soukous!), and why Congolese musicians in the 1940s were so enamored of the Cuban music that reached them on 78rpm records at that time: The Congolese musicians recognized their own sound ‘bouncing back’ from America Latina. Bla bla bla…to make a long story short, it’s time for us all to use greater care when we are making reference to the African roots of both North American and South American music. It’s time for us all to know which music comes from which area in Africa, and to make those references with greater accuracy.

By: Benn loxo du taccu » Blog Archive » Small islands, new nations

Benn loxo du taccu » Blog Archive » Small islands, new nations — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 14:10:12 +0000

[...] islands are nowhere near Africa, but hey, neither are Belize or Colombia. Plus they do share something in common with many African islands: good music, turbulent politics, [...]

By: Matt Yanchyshyn

Matt Yanchyshyn — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:33:00 +0000

ooh.. I disagree! That singer on Sambangole is killer!

By: ben

ben — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:55:24 +0000

the sambangole singer is really bad, sad because the music is great !!

By: Matt Yanchyshyn

Matt Yanchyshyn — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:04:14 +0000

I just realized too that the Dogardiscs track is based on a sample from Orchestra Super Mazembe’s Shauri Yako..

By: Matt Yanchyshyn

Matt Yanchyshyn — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:02:37 +0000

Nick, I’m flattered! Thanks for pointing that out. I got confirmation that it is in fact Dogardiscs..

By: Nick

Nick — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:59:49 +0000

Actually you posted “Quedo en las Tablas” last year: http://bennloxo.com/archives/2006/10/06/listener-all-stars/ listed as artist “Dogar Dis” which seems to get some google hits as opposed to “dogardiscs” which google finds only at bennloxo.com (not that I have any actual non-intuitive facts about the artist’s name).

I guess more than anything that just goes to show how long I’ve been reading the site (which by the way is wonderful).

By: ubulujaja

ubulujaja — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:47:19 +0000

I just got this cd last week and liked it. I also read that Palenque records is coming out with a new release. does anyone know anything about it?

By: Fabian

Fabian — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:37:52 +0000

Greetings
Matt & Farid,

Matt,

The song Echale Tierra, is interpreted by the artist, Charles King.
The instrumentation to this melody, was influenced by a track from the Album “Carambola” El Conjunto Africa Negra of Sao Tome Principe”

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/2617/p10101048hy.jpg

Thanks for all the great music, that samples in your blog!!

Fabian–

By: Farid Martinez

Farid Martinez — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 13:37:23 +0000

Hi alls..

The interpreter Quedó en las Tablas is Dogardiscs, this song speaks of a person who had it all before and now lost, and ths friends left him alone

Best Regard’s…

Farid Martinez Acosta
Barranquilla Colombia