Don't Stop

Let's get out of this week, shall we?

This mix - well, it makes no sense.  It's not of any time or place or sort.  Don't even know where I got some of it from.  It was going to be sort of club-heavy dance stuff - maybe it starts out that way - but then it became clear the important thing was to keep moving.  

Download:  Full Mix

1. Baaba Maal - Sidiki (mp3)(buy)
2. Femi Kuti - Beng Beng Beng (mp3)(buy)
3. Sir Victor Uwaifo - Guitar Boy (mp3)(buy?)
4. Professional Beach Melodians - Shake It (mp3)(buy?)
5. Franco et le TPOK Jazz - Limbisa Ngai (mp3)(buy?)
6. Tabu Ley Rochereau - Karibou Ya Bintou (mp3)(buy)
7. Gnonnas Pedro et Ses Dadjes - Dadje von O von Non (mp3)(buy)
8. Iftin - Haka Yeelin Nacabkeenna (mp3)(more)
9. Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo de Cotonou - Iya Me Dji Ki Bi Ni (mp3)(buy)
10. The Very Best - Valira (mp3)(preorder)
11. Angélique Kidjo - Tumba (mp3)(buy)
12. Bassekou Koyate & Ngoni Ba - Bassekou (mp3)(buy)
13. Staff Benda Bilili - Sala Mosala (mp3)(buy)

It's all African, but useless as either survey or an illustration.  It's less Pan-African than spotty.  Iftin's Somali funk doesn't belong at all (and one of the tracks seems to drop out for a bit, it's a cassette rip that seems to have come from the excellent Likembe), except that it's a scorcher.  And there weren't enough female voices here. 

It was meant to be fun and I think it is that.

Notes, quickly, quickly:  Don't worry if Baaba Maal and his background noises sound serious; the song itself is named for his bass player and dedicated to his griot family.  You have to love Femi Kuti's smooth frustration:  "I say everything in the correct order."  Uwaifo plays guitar from under the water.  That Professional Beach Melodians song (from Ghana?  1960s?) might also be called "Uhuru No. 2?"  But I think we all know what they're saying.

The Franco number is ten minutes of amazing; it burbles along under its verses, 'splodes in the sebene, guitars and percussion subtly shifting around each other.  Those must have been the most patient horn players in the world!  This is from the mid-80s, came closest to the U.S. on an out of print Stern's release; maybe it will be included in the follow-up to mind-boggling Francophonic retrospective.  Slow dance with his rival Tabu Ley, here (I think) with Afrisa International, 1974.

Heavy on the Benin, thanks to Analog Africa.  Pedro, later of Africando, from AA's Legends of Benin; Benin's most famous band from The Vodoun Effect; expat Kidjo brings us back into the 21st Century.

So new it's not even out yet:  The Malawi/UK band The Very Best won a lot of attention with their free album last year; their first proper record (on which they sample the above Uwaifo track) comes out in September is available now digitally, on October 9th physically.  Mali's Bassekou Koyate & Ngoni Ba - who according to their myspace have a new record, this track is from 1997's Segu Blue - rock the traditional instruments.  Closing us out is Staff Benda Bilili, a group of disabled Congolese street musicians that jam on tin can lutes.  Don't be leery of being sold a backstory, the music's better than that.  Crammed, the folks responsible for the Congotronics series, released the band's Trés Trés Fort this year.

*

tags: the very best  franco  tabu ley  baaba maal  femi kuti  angelique kidjo  staff benda bilili  baasekou koyate  sir victor uwaifo  mix  

links: digg this    del.icio.us    reddit