The Rail Band’s Belle Epoque Vol. 1 is another compilation that arrived in the Stern’s box last week.

Mali’s famous Rail Band is the name given to the many groups who worked at the Buffet Hotel in Bamako, Mali, situated in an old colonial building just off the railway. The band was initially made famous by the singing of Salif Keita, but over the years included other great Malian musicians like Mory Kanté, Tidiani Koné and Djelimady Tounkara.

The track you’ll hear today is from the Rail Band’s “second period” in the mid-70s. At this stage Salif Keita had left the band and one of my favourite Malian musicians, guitarist Djelimady Tounkara, had just joined. Magan Ganessy was the new singer. The track also features some great drumming by Pacheco.

The lyrics translate to, “Mali, our dear country, is now independent. We have to enforce democracy, power cannot rest in the hands of a single party.”

Rail Band - Fankanté Dankélé

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

Today we break from our Original Music series while I’m away with a guest post from first time Benn loxo contributor, Gerben:

“Some time ago i saw the movie Va, Vis Et Deviens which features the Mahmoud Ahmed song Yaselame Lalo. I had actually forgotten i have it on his album Live In Paris. But i did remember i have a very nice 20 minute live recording from him playing in Amsterdam that i recorded years ago from Dutch radio.

I later digitized the tape, the quality is not very good but the music is great. Apparently the Dutch radio station that broadcast it received the tape from someone who went to this concert.

There are two songs there, the first one is Yaselame. This version is more traditional than on Live in Paris (no saxophone but flutes) and very dynamic. No idea what the other song is but I am curious to find it out and I am also very curious if more if these live recordings of him exist, it tastes like so much more.

The other recording is also a tape transfer from a Dutch radio broadcast and features Super Biton de Segou with I.R.I. and Tere, equally great. Both recordings are somewhere between 15-20 years old, don’t remember exactly when i recorded them.”

This Mahmoud Ahmed track is truly amazing. I would’ve loved to be at that show. I can just see his shoulders rocking out to the rhythms. Thanks for the music, Gerben. If someone can help him out with identifying the music I’m sure he’d appreciate it. -Matt

Mahmoud Ahmed - Yaselame (Live)
Super Biton (Live)

I’ve been scanning hundreds of albums for the last 30 minutes desperately trying to remember the name of a 1960s American rock band. It’s on the tip of my tongue.. I can hear the song.. I can even see the song- an awkward, mid-1960s southern American singer with a high-pitched voice. It’s just not coming to me.

Luckily, Ibrahim Hamma Dicko’s voice also reminds me a lot of Neil Young. (And, by extension, My Morning Jacket, but I’ll leave that for the indie blogs.)

I’m always on the look-out for good mixtape pairings. You know what I mean- when that song slips into the next “like a bee to the motherhive.” Back when I used to take the time to properly mix it was all about levels, style and BPM.. less so now. But the order of the tracks is still very important. I remember a particularly successful mix many years back where The Zombies slid effortlessly into the Thievery Corporation which then fed some French female rnb. Suddenly someone from my father’s generation is grooving to downtempo that they’d otherwise never think to touch.

Similarly, I love the mental transition that happens when, say, I’m listening to Ibrahim Hamma Dicko and feeling like I’m on a bus in the middle of Mali. Suddenly, Heart of Gold comes on and I’m back in my parents car on a 24hr road-trip to the Atlantic for a camping trip. Both great road trips, both now part of my travel memory soundtrack.

What are your favourite African roadtrip tunes? Aside, of course, from “Youssou N’Dour: Live at Bercy”: the unofficial Only Tape Allowed in Senegalese taxis and buses.

Ibrahim Hamma Dicko - Badi Tiba
Neil Young - Heart Of Gold

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

From the good people over at Creative Commons, Modiba Productions, Global Beat Fusion and Rock Paper Scissors:

“Vieux Farka Touré–son of the late great African blues guitarist Ali Farka Touré–is doing a remix contest with Creative Commons.

Would you consider announcing this remix contest using Vieux’s song “Ana” (online, in an enewsletter, in print, or on the air)?

Audio elements for remixing are available for download starting today at http://ccmixter.org/vieux. Uploads of finished masterpieces can start on February 7th; contest ends March 7th.”

Ana Remix Contest Sources

James Brown died today. He was 73.

Benn loxo listener, Henri, sent me this Sekouba Diabaté track to post as a tribute. I’ll also post a track by “Ethiopia’s James Brown”, Alemayehu Eshete, to show how far his influence spread.

I can’t say anything positive about James Brown the person, but his music and style influenced multiple generations and forever shaped soul and funk. RIP.

 
Sekouba “Bambino” Diabaté - It’s a Man’s, Man’s World
Alemayehu Eshete - Hirut Beqele

Hey Jozef, thanks for your comment on the last post. You woke me up. It’s been a while since I last wrote - sorry, people. I’ve been busy sorting out a move, working, traveling and fighting back the cold, Parisian rain. If any of you live up around Canal Saint Martin I’m your new neighbour. And hey, if you live in Amsterdam keep an eye out for me this weekend.

I was at a Sarah Harmer and Kelly Joe Phelps show last night. After the show we bumped into Ms. Harmer at the back of the club so I introduced myself and told her the story about how I spent many hours in a car with my Kenyan friend, Aki, listening to her album, I’m A Mountain, on repeat. It was the only disc we had with us at the start of the trip aside from a Kenyan hiphop mix featuring the Xplastaz. I’ll forever associate the tunes on that album with Aki rapping in Swahili, the German autobahn and large crowds of red-faced English and Dutch football fans.

Anyway, all the acoustic guitar put me in the mood for some solid strumming so I dug up a great disc of Malian kora and flamenco, Songhai Vol. 2. The album features the new flamenco stars, Ketama, and Toumani Diabaté. The fusion of guitar, Gypsy-Spanish singing, kora and other Malian elements works wonderfully. I prefer this second volume to the first since I find the recordings much richer.

The disc’s title, Songhai, refers to the Songhai empire. It was one of Africa’s largest and most powerful empires that, at its height in the 16th century, spanned from modern-day Senegal all the way to central Nigeria.

For today’s post I picked my favourite two tracks plus a third, De Jerez à Mali, since it brings back great memories of sipping sherry on a hot day in Jerez this summer with blue and Annie.

…plus a couple bonuses to add some context.

Ketama, Toumani Diabaté & José Soto - De la Noche a la Manana
Ketama, Toumani Diabaté & José Soto - Sute Monebo
Ketama, Toumani Diabaté & José Soto - De Jerez à Mali
X-Plastaz - Msimu kwa msimu
Sarah Harmer - I Am Aglow

When your car is stopped by a corrupt cop on a Thursday or a Friday in Lagos, Nigeria, they’ll ask you for a bribe by saying, “something for the weekend?” If you make a quick joke and have a good handshake you can usually make a new friend and get away with a full wallet.

In Abidjan, a similar exchange usually involves some talk about the cop wanting a “cup of coffee” before he gives your passport back. Again, if you pull a joke about how you only drink tea, your passport’s back in your hands.

In Senegal and Mali, where bribes aren’t as much the norm, the occasional corrupt cop is much more direct: “donnes-moi 10000 francs, boy.” On these occasions I usually just blurt out a Wolof proverb like, “su ma amoon xaalis, tabax keur” (if I had any money I would have built a house) and hope he’d laugh enough to let me pass.

I thought of these expressions today as I was sipping my coffee, waking up from a good weekend during which I found a great, new appartment. Music-wise, I needed something calming to ease me into the Monday while celebrating my good mood. Thankfully, Benn loxo listener, Henri, sent me just the tune last week.

Nahawa Doumbia is a singer from the Wassoulou region of Mali. Her style is similar to the other famous Wassoulou musician, Oumou Sangaré, except that her music tends to be a little more uptempo.

I love the guitar work on today’s track and that singing style is amazing. I find this kind of music both soothing and refreshing. Great Monday Morning Music.

Nahawa Doumbia - Sifolo

I stumbled upon a nice compilation by the Parisian label and production house, Arion, yesterday. It features a few artists and songs from various Senegalese and Malian communities, notably some nice kora by Lamine Konté and great vocal work by Mariam Diakité that accompanies Soungalo Coulibaly’s djembe drumming.

Compilations like this are good in the sense that they seamlessly mix Senegalese and Malian music, showing how the political borders have nothing to do with the cultures they enclose. The Peul, Mandingue, Fulani and even Wolof communities and their music span much of West Africa.

Both Konté and Coulibaly have had long and successful careers as ambassadors for their respective instruments and styles. Thanks to an active new generation of kora players like Toumani Diabaté, the instrument has become quite well-known outside of West Africa. It’s thanks to big-name griots like Konté and others, however, that the musical and playing styles were preserved over the years. Similarly, Soungalo Coulibaly’s djembe playing has brought it to a wider audiance, though I’m pretty sure the Baye Falls I can hear hammering away at their sheep skins right now would’ve kept the tradition alive and well for many years to come.

You can buy several of Coulibaly’s albums from Arion, and much of Konté’s music can be found at Sonodisc.

Lamine Konte - Telephonista
Soungalo Coulibaly - Jina Musa

Yesterday I featured a Rock Paper Scissors project, Bole 2 Harlem, so today I’d thought I’d explore another of their chosen groups, Tartit.

Tartit is a Tuareg group of female musicians belonging to the Kel Tamashek society. Their music sounds a like a toned-down, more rootsy Tinariwen. I love the rythms and singing style.. plus they can produce sounds in their throats that would tie mine in knots.

Like Tinariwen, Tartit has its origins in the refugee camps of northern Mali. Tartit roughly translates into union, which refers to the cultural union of the Kel Tamashek society, now spread throughout Algeria, Libya, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso.

Tartit’s only US release, Ichichilla, was put out by Network in 2000. You can see some cool photos of Tartit in Essakane, Mali, here. The album can be bought online at cdRoots.

One of these years I’m going to make it down to the Festival In The Desert in Tombouctou and Essakane, way up in northern Mali. Have any of you been? Maybe a few of us could split the rental cost of a 4×4 and head there for January 2008.

Tartit - Buloululba
Tartit - Holiyane Holiyana
Tartit - Hamoye

Not all Dutch-African musical ventures are a bad idea!

Fra Fra Sound are a cool Kora Jazz Trio-esque fusion band who’ve been around since the early 1980s. They started by fusing Surinamese kaseko, kawina and winti (music from everyone’s favourite Dutch ex-colony) with traditional Western jazz, but recent work has been more West African sounding, in particular their 1999 release, Mali Jazz.

They usually play as a seven-piece ensemble. While some of the tracks get a little too jazz-traditional for me, I enjoy a lot of their music. The track featured today featured a particularly good example of their command of both the instruments and rhythms of Mali.

I haven’t yet seen them live but they seem to be pretty active on the tour scene. If you’re interested, check-out their up-to-date concert listing.

ps- After much delay it’s time for some re-posts. If you have any requests for old posts that you’d like to hear please send me an e-mail or leave a comment.

Fra Fra Sound - Sosomali

Live and direct from the media center at the World Cup in Berlin, I’m back with a quick post. In a couple weeks I’ll try to do some posts from the pitch during matches involving African teams.

I remember when War Child’s first Help compilation came-out 10 years ago. I had bought it shortly before a family camping trip in eastern Canada. Amidst the beautiful mountains of Gros Morne national park in Newfoundland, I first fell for the original version of Radiohead’s Lucky, chilled-out to Portishead’s Mourning Air, and fueled my love for The Boo Radleys. What a great album.

10 years later the Help compilations are still great and still raising money for a good cause. Originally Help was brought-out by War Child to raise money for war-town Bosnia-Herzegovina. It’s amazing that the Bosnia conflict was only 10 years ago, especially when you consider that some of the countries involved are now vying for EU membership.

To quote Wikipedia, “The concept of the album was inspired by John Lennon’s comments about Instant Karma, that he wanted records to be like newspapers and be released as soon as they are recorded. Help was recorded on the Monday (4th September), mixed on the Tuesday and in the shops on the Saturday.” 2005’s Help release was recorded, produced and released in 30 hours!

Tinariwen, the Tuareg band I’ve featured at least once on this site, appears on this release. The track is typical of their style with smooth Sahel guitars, Tuareg/Western fused rhythms and laid-back singing. More on Tinariwen here and here.

ps- if any of you live in Stuttgart or Munich get in touch and we’ll meet for a weissbier.

Tinariwen - Cler Achel

I installed amaroK the other day and it’s changed my home music listening life. I’d used previous versions before, but this one integrates a musical “mood” scanner, last.fm, lyrics from multiple sources, band information from Wikipedia and much more.

I know I sound like an ad here, but I really love that I can pick a genre, say West African funk music, sort the playlist by mood and then have it auto-populate the list with new tracks it’d think I’d like. And it usually gets it right. If you use Linux and have a large music collection then give amaroK a try.

…so I was listening to Nuru Kane this morning and an album was “suggested” to me from some forgotten corner of my collection.

Lobi Traore is a Malian who plays that style of Malian blues that I’ve always liked. There’s something about the Bambara language and rhythms that mixes so well with electric guitar and that driving blues sound. The repetitive nature of Bambara music with slight changes in melody over time, scattered snare/calabash hits and occasional talking sections mid-song are all musical elements familiar to the ears of the blues listener.

Both of today’s tracks come of Traoré’s 2004 release, Mali Blue, on World Village.

Lobi Traoré - Sadiourou
Lobi Traoré - Anun ka ben

Hey, sorry I haven’t been writing lately. May is busy with all the special events at work, visitors to Paris and terasse apéros. That plus a rather depressing computer crash. Didn’t lose any music but my photos took a slight beating. Oh well, I’m over it. And none of this means that I’ve been slacking on concerts or music. Lots of good stuff to share your way in the next few weeks.

I went to the Toumani Diabaté and The Symmetric Orchestra show at Cabaret Sauvage in Paris last night. While it was a touch heavy on the extended Mande shout-out ballads, the show was great overall. I like Cabaret Sauvage as a venue, even if the acoustics aren’t the best. Good crowd, easy access to the bar, enthusiastic performance. I’d never seen Toumani Diabaté live, too, so I was in a great mood.

Toumani Diabaté is the last artist to record with Ali Farka Touré before his death and was at his deathbed three hours before he passed away. He told us last night that the last album Touré ever listened to was the Symmetric Orchestra. That’s some pretty serious praise, West African musical master-wise. That and Diabaté and Touré’s last release, In The Heart of The Moon, was one of my favourite West African releases in the last couple years. Everything this guy touches is gold as far I’m concerned.

Before the release of Boulevard de l’Indépendence, The Symmetric Orchestra had never played outside of Africa as a group. It’s comprised of several well-known solo artists from across West Africa. If you’re ever in Bamako they play every Friday at the Hogon. Was anyone else there?

Two songs today picked by none other than my brother, Ben, who’s visiting Paris this week. Africa Challenge is a Senegalese-Salsa styled “fetish” piece, the second a slow-jam about “accepting death as we do birth.”

Both of today’s tracks are off the recent Symmetric Orchestra album available all over the place.

Toumani Diabaté & The Symmetric Orchestra - Africa Challenge
Toumani Diabaté & The Symmetric Orchestra - Tapha Niang

Ali Farka Touré, one of the most internationally acclaimed artists in West African music, has died today after a long illness. He was 67.

You can read the many obits floating around the web for yourself, but personally his music had a huge influence on me. Way, way before I ever even thought of moving to West Africa - or even out of Canada - I was into Touré’s albums Talking Timbuktu, Radio Mali and Niafunké. They were a gateway into the rich world of contemporary African rock and blues, and ultimately helped shape my musical taste for the region.

Talking Timbuktu, Niafunke and In The Heart of the Moon remain some of the best West African albums in my collection. Red/Green, The River, The Source and Radio Mali are also on that shelf and get routine play on the African shuffle.

If you can believe it I was still in high school when Talking Timbuktu hit Toronto record shops in 1995. At the time I would’ve been rocking to whatever hiphop, pop, etc was cool in the mid-nineties. I’d always been into music a bit out of the norm, but Ali Farka Touré really helped me break-out of the North American sound and explore folk, blues and rock from other countries, notably Mali, Brazil, Senegal and South Africa.

I can thank Touré’s albums along with some Nigerian funk compilations I picked-up in the late-nineties for what is now nearly a 10-year obsession with world music, African in particular.

Rest in peace, grand Touré.

Ali Farka Toure - Allah Uya
Ry Cooder & Ali Farka Toure - Gomni

I picked this album at random yesterday. I figure you can never go wrong with contemporary malian acoustic guitar. As it turns out, the album is gold. Good score.

N’Gou Bagayoko recorded this album, Kulu, in Bougouni, Mali, in 2002 with the help of Frikyiwa’s “nomad” studio. This French travelling sound system has helped loads of musicians in Senegal, Guinea and Mali record quality albums in their home towns. The result is a series of albums called La musique des maquis.

Bagayoko plays his acoustic guitar as if it were a n’goni, creating a cool sound for his Didadi musical style. I also like the way they’ve incorporated ambient sounds like faint footsteps, birds, wind rustling leaves, etc, into the production. This can often sound cheesy in other contexts, but on this album it really adds to the overall feel of the music.

The track I picked features vocals by Nahawa Doumbia (his wife) who records music of her own over at French/Malian label, Mali K7. Anyone have any of her albums by any chance?

N’Gou Bagayoko - Bakari Bamba

A few weeks ago at 2005’s last poker night Olivier passed me a good mix from Vibrations magazine featuring music from No Format, a small, high-quality label out of Paris, France.

One track in particular caught my ear for African sounds. It’s appropriately by another Keita, given yesterday’s post, but with quite a different sound. Mamani Keita is a little-known female vocalist from Mali who works with musicians both at home and abroad. She has a cool fusion sound of Mali-West-Electro-Folk that I quite like.

You can buy her last album at Calabash. Or, if you can wait, you can find today’s track on Keita’s soon to be released album that will be available at the No Format site in a month or so.

Mamani Keita - Djekafo

I know that many of you probably already have this album and that there have been a million reviews on the web, but I don’t care. It’s great stuff and today’s selection fits quite nicely with the Cap Verdian selections from yesterday.

I’ve posted Salif Keita a bunch of times on this site but his latest album is still worth mentioning.

Like many big-name West African musicians, lately Keita has been sticking more to his acoustic roots and less to the casio synth. While the album still may be overproduced in my opinion there are still some great tracks that highlight much that is great about contemporary West African acoustic guitar music, particularly that coming out of Mali.

A little more raw, a little less echo and fade effect, and Keita’s album would be even better. It’s still one of the year’s better mainstream West African releases.

Today’s track comes off Salif Keita latest album, M’Bemba, released in 2005 on Universal. It’s the first time in his musical career of over 35 years that he recorded an album in his native Bamako, Mali.

ps- see an interview video with Salif Keita by Benn loxo listener, Diego, on Excite.it here.

Salif Keita - Yambo