Today we’ll hear a couple tracks off Original Music’s compilation of Zambian miners’ songs, From The Copperbelt. The recordings were all made by the amazing Hugh Tracey.

I’ve always had a thing for southern African, mid-20th century music. George Sibanda and The Forgotten Guitars of Mozambique compilation were early favourites.

From The Copperbelt covers a range of styles present in the Zambian mines in 1957, all based around the European acoustic guitar. Most of the musicians are bards who traveled from mine to mine, entertaining the miners. Others are by the miners themselves. All are great, if you’re into this kind of thing.

Zambia occupies an interesting part of the continent. Its geography influenced its inhabitants’ music, especially at this early stage of “modern” African musical development, such that some music sounds distinctly South African, while much of the rest sounds very Congolese.

You might have already heard some John Lushi, who appears on this compilation, on Original Music’s Africa Dances release.

Isaac Matafwani - Eko Bali Mukanina Bamayo
William Siwale - Mayo Mayo
Four Pals - Nifwe Ba Four Pals

Wow, busy week. Feeling a bit tired this morning. A little Zambian “you’ve done me wrong” acoustic by George Kazoka lifts me out of bed and into my mug of coffee.

Today we’ll hear music from yet another Original Music release that explores the various forms of music that were spawned by the acoustic guitar as it spread across Africa: Guitar Songs From Tanzania, Zambia & Zaire.

You know, I never was good at the guitar. Something about stringed instruments has always eluded me. Piano, percussion, horns, no problem. But for whatever reason my fingers could never quite work the frets the way they should. It’s a shame, really, because it’s such a portable and almost universal instrument. In my next life, I guess.

George Kazoka - Ulayinda Kubota

One of my favourite strands of music from across the African continent is a variety of styles that employ the European acoustic guitar. Original Music’s compilation, African Acoustic: Sounds Eastern and Southern, as the name implies, explores just that in eastern and southern African countries.

My two favourite tracks are both from the East so we’ll hit some southern acoustic another day.

The first is by the Kikuyu Kenyan duo, Peter Kimuri and Patrick Roy Roger. The track’s title apparently translates into “Kirinyaga is Our Good”, refering to a legendary tribal founder.

The second track is by Somalian steel guitar player, Amin Xaaji Maxamed. We don’t get to hear Somalian music too often, and Maxamed’s oud-like guitar playing and Arab-influenced singing is great.

Patrick Roy Roger & Peter Kimuri - Kirinyaga Ni Igai Retu
Amin Xaaji Maxamed - Dakhtar

Nacio Makanda’s growling on the track Kerestina sounds like I feel this Monday morning. A pinch of grumpy, a dash of missing the weekend, with its beer, fish and wine.

Another Original Music post today on my quest to post it all. Today’s tracks come from the 30th OM release, Kerestina: Guitar Songs Of Southern Mozambique 1955-1957. It doesn’t get much more niche than that.

I’ve always liked music from Mozambique and the songs on this release are no exception. Easy going and jangly, plus I love the sound of the languages spoken in that part of the world.

Mozambique is on my places to visit short list so hopefully I’ll be able to bring you more Mozambican music first hand sometime in the future. In the meantime, five bucks to anyone who can pronounce the first track’s name five times fast.

Mahikwani Makhuvele - Hayilolosa Amale Ye Matshangana
Nacio Makanda - Kerestina

Bob Brozman released a great album a few months ago called Lumière.

Every piece is based on an improvisation - he starts with a simple melody and builds on the idea, adding layer upon layer of various forms of stringed instrument. Styles range from classic American blues to calypso to music from the far east.

Normally I wouldn’t like such an ambitious fusion of styles, but he pulls it off on this record. He’s an amazing guitar player for starters, and if you’re at all into instruments the album is a great showcase of a variety of stringed sounds.

As we know here at Benn loxo, no “world music” tour of guitar music would be complete without a nod to Malian blues. I’m left wondering, however, why soukous was left off the list. I guess Bob is too laid back for that arpeggio wall of sound of Congolese electric guitar!

Bob Brozman Orchestra - Bamako Blues

I’m not too tired tonight.. might stay up late. Slept well after days in the sun in Marseille last weekend.

This song from Sublime Frequencies’ Bush Taxi Mali album is perfect for the mood.

From a review at Dusted Magazine,

“Bush Taxi Mali: Field Recordings From Mali is an aural tour through this West African country, a series of audio snapshots, made by Tucker Martine during 1998 as an attempt to capture one of Africa’s greatest cultural legacies. Martine has also been responsible for documenting the sounds of broken-hearted dragonflies in Southeast Asia, which appeared on the same label.”

Thanks again, Alex.

Autorail

Benn loxo listener and frequent behind the scenes contributor, Henri, introduced me to Sara Tavares the other day. It’s been raining drizzle as only Paris can lately.. plus I have a nagging cold. This calm, Luso-guitar couldn’t have come at a better time.

Sara Tavares is a Portuguese Cape Verdian from Lisbon. She’s been getting a lot of attention lately, including a nomination for the BBC’s 2007 World Music Awards.

Tavares’ voice reminds me of The Sundays’ Harriet Wheeler. Remember them? Their 1992 album, Blind, is a classic of the rainy-day-indie genre.

Today’s track comes off her second album, 2006’s Balancê. Tavares wrote, arranged and produced the whole thing.

As Henri pointed out, the rest of the album isn’t quite as strong as this track but it’s still worth a listen. In particular, “Lisboa Kuya” has a nice sound but I’ll leave that for you to discover.

Sara Tavare - Guisa

Yesterday I realized that in 322 posts about African music we’ve never heard any Bonga on Benn loxo. For the sake of completion and out of respect for Angola’s most famous musician, here you are.

One thing I just learned about Bonga is that after exiling himself from Angola following his role in fighting for independence, he became a professional football/soccer player for Lisbon’s Benfica club and also a champion 400m runner. Talk about multi-talented. His status as professional athlete allowed him to travel easily throughout Europe.

What most would consider his best recordings were made in Paris during the early 70s. He recorded several solo albums and performed with high-profile African musicians living in Paris at the time like Manu Dibango. He’s still recording today having released successful albums right up to 2005, though they sound a bit too polished for my taste.

You can find today’s track on Bonga’s legendary 1972 recording re-released by Lusafrica ten years ago.

Bonga - Balumukeno

I was wading through the mediatheque a few weeks back and stumbled upon a re-issue of a 1973 record by Cabo Verdian guitarist, Humbertona. Great find. The music immediately transports you to the Cabo Verde islands, and the original recording’s sound has been nicely cleaned-up.

The people behind this release are Morabeza Records, a label devoted to promoting Cabo Verde’s musical heritage, both old and new. Morabeza is actually a revival of a great label that existed during the 1960s and 70s in Portuguese-speaking Africa. Most of Morabeza’s recordings were bought or re-released by the more famous Lusafrica.

You might not know Humbertona directly but he played with Bonga (who, strangely, I’ve never featured on Benn loxo) on celebrated recordings in 1972 and 1974. The man was also a prominent figure in the struggle for Cabo Verdian independence. They didn’t get their independence until 1975 so albums like this, released in 1973, were part of an effort to assert an independent culture. Needless to say, when originally released this album was confiscated in his country by Portuguese authorities.

If you’re curious you can find some more info and clips here.

Humbertona - Tchop Tchop

Let’s ease into February with some instrumental music…

Diely Moussa Kouyaté is a Guinean guitarist most famous for his work with Salif Keita. He’s also recorded with Mama Sissoko, Kante Manfila, Souad Massi and other big name African artists.

He’s one of those musicians who quietly holds it down in the background, strumming beautiful melodies in the shadows on stage. You can hear some nice examples of his playing on Keita’s latest album, M’Bemba.

It was a great pleasure to discover that he has a 2002 solo release entitled Sebe Alaye. I came across it quite by accident at a Paris médiathèque. If you want to hear more you can grab a copy at the Fnac.

Diely Moussa Kouyate - Bamananke

eMusic has a surprisingly great collection of early Kenyan recordings, thanks in large part to the Orchard re-releases of music belonging to the Music Copyright Society of Kenya. You heard some already in that ever-popular post about Juma Muhina about a month back.

eMusic has always positioned itself as a spot for young, DRM-unfriendly listeners who are mainly into “indie” music. Their homepage features music by people like Sufjan Stevens, Damien Jurado and Tom Waits, as opposed to iTunes’ Westlife and Beyoncé. It’s nice that a company like eMusic is exposing the Pitchfork generation to some jewels of early African recordings.

Fadhili William is one such Kenyan treasure in the eMusic collection. The collection of his songs recorded between 1963-67 is just the kind of simple, guitar-jangle music that I’m into after a nice weekend in Amsterdam. The dialogue in the middle of Big City Blues is particularly amazing.. cracks me up every time.

Fadhili Williams Mdawida - Big City Blues
Fadhili Williams Mdawida - Wee Jane

Many of you wrote comments and e-mails praising the music from August 21st post on Momo Wandel Soumah. Thanks to several offers, I got my hands on a copy of his 1990 release, Matchowé.

The whole album is fantastic. Wandel’s West African-infused jazz sextet handles the fusion of musical styles perfectly, and his strange but lovely voice ties it all together. Among others, their cover of John Coltrane’s Afro Blue and the first recording of the song I featured last time, Toko, are gems.

I have a million things to do today so I can’t say much more, but if you’re curious about Wandel or his music check-out this article over at Afropop.

Momo Wandel Soumah - Bokme
Momo Wandel Soumah - Afro Blue
Momo Wandel Soumah - Toko

After a rather riotous weekend it’s definitely time to take it down a notch. As many of you already know, some of my favourite music coming out of West Africa at the moment is acoustic guitar folk blended with local rhythms, languages and musical styles. Omar Pene’s Myamba, Cheikh Lô and Pape et Cheikh come to mind. Today’s track is right up that alley, and appropriately soothing given my heavy head tonight.

Les Frères Guissé are Haalpular folk musicians originally from the Fouta in north-eastern Senegal. They now live in Dakar and have recently toured in Europe and the States. Today’s track comes from the Acoustik M’balax compilation now available at your local Sandaga market CD stand.

Thanks and a shout-out to Astrid for the fresh, nice-sounding import.

Frères Guissé - Démocracie

A long time ago some of you asked for some more Namibian music. While browsing in a Parisian world music store I spotted a compilation I’ve been meaning to grab for a while, A Hand-Full of Namibians. The album was put together in 2004 and released in 2005 by On The Corner records with the help of Papa Wemba, among others.

As with all these kinds of compilations, it’s a mixed bag. However, three or four really solid tracks make the album a good buy. Most of the artists are young and not very well known outside of Namibia adding to the appeal.

I picked two tracks off the album for today’s post. The first reminds me of a Namibian Dave Matthews (in a good way), and the second is more what you might expect to hear from Namibian modern folk/pop music. Enjoy.

ps- slight screw-up with the e-mail notification. It’s fixed now, but if you’re not getting notification e-mails for new posts please sign-up again. The unsubcribe feature works again, too.

Ras Sheehama - Inotela
Sebulon Gomachab - !Uri Piris

Readers of this site will know that I have a soft-spot for afro-cuban salsa (and the sweaty, whisky-tinged nights that I associate with it.) Many a long workday has been made right by an evening of salsa, either on the stereo or the dancefloor.

The rhythm brings back memories of the ever-lovely K in a sundress, Ed striking a culturally shocking breakdance move, and of out of tune bands at Fouquets, Hotel de la Poste and various nightspots in Dieupeul and Castor. Ah, Dakar, tu me manques.

Today I’m yet again working late, watching the sun cheekily set outside my office window. Let’s turn to Djeli Moussa Diawara for salvation, yeah?

Diawara is a Guinean kora player who used to play in the Rail band during the 1970s and later recorded some stuff with Mory Kanté. Does this guy have any solo albums? None that I have/could find, so please educate me in the comments if he does.

I grabbed today’s track off an easy to find (to offset all the recent rather obscure posts) and well put together compilation, Salsa Africa. The album is worth buying, especially if you don’t already have a copy Bantous De La Capitale’s El Coco.

Djeli Moussa Diawara - Salda Hora

Number one seller at Stern’s? This album is hot hot.

From the master of the Malian blues, Ali Farka Touré, and the master of the Mande kora, Toumani Diabaté, comes a beautiful, acoustic instrumental album called In The Heart Of The Moon.

I’ll write more about Ali Farka Touré tomorrow and you might have already read about Diabaté here. For now, just relax and enjoy the music.

Great for my mid-workday coffee break when I close the door to my office for an oh-so-sweet 15 minutes of peace.

Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabeté - Simbo

When I was in Boston a few weeks ago K surprised me with a great gift: Celestine Ukwu. Now, if you’re a big music guy like myself I don’t think there’s anything sexier than a cute girl with good taste in West African highlife. Thanks, Kate.

During the 1960s Rex Lawson and a host of other Igbos popularized highlife music before it fell out of favour during the civil war of 1967-70. By the mid-1970s, however, the Nigerian highlife scene had started up again with bands like the Oriental Brothers, Prince Nico and perhaps most importantly, Celestine Ukwu.

Ukwu’s style is slightly different from that of his contemporaries; he was apparently a soft-spoken, relaxed kind of guy and this is reflected in the music he plays. You’ll hear slower rhythms and even things like steel slide guitar poking up from beneath the palmwine acoustic. Even the name of his band is pretty chilled-out: Professor Celestine Ukwu and the Philosophers National. Why don’t bands give themselves names like that anymore?

You can pick-up today’s track at Stern’s on Celestine Ukwu Best Collection Volume 1.

Celestine Ukwu - Ife Sina Chi

Fatai Rolling Dollar, the ex-highlife music legend from Lagos, Nigeria, is staging a comeback at the tender age of 78. His recently released album, Won Kere Si Number, is enjoying great success in Nigeria. Dollar, whose real last name is Olagunjo, suddenly finds himself playing loads of gigs and getting some media attention from major Nigerian publications.

Fatai Rolling Dollar, like so many other highlife musicians of the 60s and 70s, was largely forgotten during the 1970s when Nigeria entered its sketchy phase of multiple military dictatorships, corruption and violence. For years he worked as a security guard and did some gigs as a church guitarist. It wasn’t until 2003-2004 that anyone remembered his music or he recorded anything new. Jazzhole put out three new albums in two years and suddenly he was a household name again.

Unfortunately his albums’ success didn’t make him any money. He still lives in a dusty one-bedroom in Mushin, Lagos. To quote Lagos’ Sun News, he “doesn’t even have a car” and until recently had to play his guitar on the street for smokes. Not surprisingly, Fatai feels that Jazzhole, the label/store that released his album, is ripping him off. If you’ve ever been to Lagos you’d understand that this is entirely possible, even though Jazzhole has a great reputation and is one of the better West African music stores.

Following the success of his latest release he’s now split from Jazzhole and is putting together an album for wider global release with a guy named Barry White (no, not the dead, smooth talking master.) Look for it soon and in the meantime here’s some music from Won Kere Si Number. Sorry for no purchase links but I think you can only buy this in Nigeria.

ps- thanks again to Didier for this CD. I’m very jealous that he got to see all this great music in Lagos last week.

Fatai Rolling Dollar - To Ba Fe Mo Dollar (acoustic version)

Continuing with the Mali theme, today we’ll hear some old Salif Keita and Kante Manfila music. This year they released The Lost Album on the French label, Discovery. It’s an interesting collection of previously hard-to-find tracks recorded in 1980 in the Ivory Coast. Most of the songs were only available on Nigerian vinyl until they were found and polished up by Discovery.

What makes this collection cool is that it pre-dates the traditional music renaissance amongst West African musicians. While the track I posted today isn’t maybe the greatest example of this (even though it’s my favourite), most tracks are kora, balafon and guitar-based tunes with traditional melodies and rhythms. This kind of return-to-your-roots sound wasn’t in fashion in 1980. Instead, reggae, funk and pop dominated West African music. The fact that Keita and Manfila were producing this kind of album at the time further proves their status as true visionaries for the West African world music sound that has emerged in recent years.

Salif Ketia & Kante Manfila - Wara

The trick worked. I got to the Malian concert at the New Morning last night and found someone almost immediately who sold me a ticket outside at face value. I got in with enough time to snag a good seat facing the stage - most people were left standing, craning to see the musicians.

What a show, and in general what a great week for live music - Saturday at Konomo, Sunday at the Parc Floral, last night for the Malian soirée and hopefully tomorrow for some Daara J. I’m still bummed I couldn’t get into Prefuse 73 on Monday, but I guess you can’t have it all.

I’d never seen Djelimady Tounkara nor Boubacar Traoré in concert before. They were both really impressive and a lot of fun. Djelimady started out, strumming through mostly newer songs off his last two albums. I was wrong yesterday, by the way - I’ve been so out of it with his move that I failed to notice that Djelimady has recently released a new album, Solon Kôno, that I’ll feature tomorrow.

Today I’m going to post something off Boubacar Traoré’s new album, Kongo Magni. Traoré has mellowed out over the years, moving from a rocking Malian guitarist style to a more subdued, bluesy feel. He dresses and dances like a friendly grandfather - full of smiles, good tunes and a raspy voice with a seldom used belting potential.

Something that adds a lot to the album is the addition of Vincent Bucher’s harmonica. This along with calabash percussion, kora played like an electric guitar, and acoustic guitar Malian-style all melds nicely into an original blues fusion. It’s so interesting to me how contemporary Malian blues has emerged. It now counts among my favourite sounds on the continent.

Boubacar Traoré - Horonia