BBC Sound System are a Senegalese hiphop group based in Paris, France. Their 2003 release, Na Banko, resurfaced in my collection lately thanks to a random shuffle.

Once again I’m reminded how Wolof is a great rapping language.. so angular, filled with rhyming sounds.

Unfortunately it’s not much more than a collection of sounds to my ears; with every passing day my Wolof disappears, word by word. I can still make a Senegalese person laugh when I hear the accent in Paris and respond with a Wolof joke, but that’s about it these days.

Anyway, just a quick post this morning.

BBC Sound System - Kalama

I mentioned in my last post that I’d seen a Julia Sarr and Patrice Larose concert recently. In continuing with my promotion of the excellent No Format releases I’ll post some music from their album today.

Julia Sarr used to be a backup singer for Youssou N’Dour and is now embarking on a solo career. She lives in Paris with her teenaged son who she, very cutely, describes as being in his “yo yo” phase.. but she still loves him.

I admit to not knowing her music before I saw the show. My friend, Olivier, invited me to the Satellit café for the show. Since I had been so impressed with Mamani Keita on the No Format sampler I immediately agreed to come. I finally got to meet Laurent there, the No Format label creator. Nice guy.

Right from the start Julia Sarr put on an excellent show. She was relaxed on stage, cracking jokes between songs and acting generally cute overall. Her voice is what really did me in, though. Not only is her Wolof slowly and smoothly spoken (so I can understand bits!) but I find her tone sounds just right to my ears. Beautiful stuff.

You can hear it for yourself. I’ve included two tracks: my favourite, Yitte, and another that better features Sarr’s stunning voice. I also love the references in the second to Dakar neighbourhoods.. la nostalgie, tu vois.

All No Format albums can be bought online on their website: http://www.noformat.net/

Patrice Larose & Julia Sarr - Na mana
Patrice Larose & Julia Sarr feat Leity M’Baye - Yitte

I’ve been seeing some great African music concerts in Paris lately. Aside from upcoming Ethiopiques and Kekele shows I’ve been all over town seeing things these last couple weeks.

This is largely thanks to the work of Laurent who runs the No Format label pretty much single-handedly. He’s been actively promoting his new albums that include, among others, Mamani Keita, Toto Bona Lokua and Julia Sarr and Patrice Larose.

Today I’ll feature some music from Toto Bona Lokua. The group name stands for Gerald Toto, Richard Bona and Lokua Kanza. Many of you probably already know Richard Bona - he’s huge in France, anyway - but the others are relatively well-known and talented musicians as well.

Their No Format release is one of the more creative African albums to come out of the huge Paris African music scene in a while. Combining modern and traditional instruments with great harmony.. and an overall impression that they’re just having a lot of fun in the studio.. makes for a truly original work.

Make sure to listen to the end of today’s track for the little bonus. And thanks, Laurent, for continuing to release great stuff. I’ll see you at the next show..

Toto Bona Lokua - Lisanga

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

The beaches of the French Atlantic coast left me tanned and wanting more. I was definitely not ready for a multiple crisis-filled workday. Only one thing can get me out of this funk and through this mound of paperwork: West African psychedelia.

It occurred to me this morning that I’ve never posted any Manu Dibango. While today’s selection may not be the conventional pick, it comes by way of yet another gift from a Benn loxo listener.

Cameroonian by origin, mainly French at this point, Manu Dibango is one of Africa’s most well-known musicians. He’s still playing big gigs and releasing albums fairly regularly - you can catch him almost monthly in Paris and he plays in a few of the European festival circuits. He’s most famous for his saxophone-based jams that helped popularize the African soul-funk sound on a global level.

Today’s track is from the 3rd and latest release from the World Psychedelic Classics series: Love’s a Real Thing, The Funky Fuzzy Sounds of West Africa. And no, it’s not Soul Makossa.

Manu Dibango - Ceddo End Title

I’ve posted quite a few West African hip-hop tracks but I don’t think I’ve posted any Afro-French or Afro-American hip-hop collaborations. There are loads but two that stick out in my mind are 113’s “Voix du Mali” with Oumou Sangaré off their 2003 album Dans l’urgence (thanks, sufi, for reminding me about this track) and Tony Allen’s Jekalewa off the Nu Afrobeat Experience compilation.

OK, you probably know all about Tony Allen. Pioneer of afro-beat along with Fela Kuti, drummer and one of the main forces behind the Africa 70 band, &c &c &c. His trademark rhythm is timeless and instantly recognizable. You still hear it on great albums such as the Allenko Brotherhood Ensemble compilation and those by Antibalas. Allen is especially cool since he hasn’t stopped trying new things- he continues to release a wide variety of tunes with rnb, soul, hip-hop, jazz and even house musicians and DJs. He may be a little age-ed but the guy manages to stay cutting edge.

113, named after the Parisian banlieue 113 (think lower-class French suburb), are most famous outside of France for that unfortunate but oh-so-catchy tune “Tonton du bled” that came out when I was living in Paris a few years back. I promise they’re more than that, though, and even though I’m not a super-fan they have some solid tracks. Today’s pick is, in my opinion, one of them. Sangaré’s singing is beautiful and the rapping/rhythm works well. Listen especially to the last minute and a half or so.

Tony Allen - Jekalewa
113 - Voix du Mali feat. Oumou Sangaré