JAGWA MUSIC FROM DAR ES SALAAM

JAGWA MUSIC is seeping out from the concrete in Dar Es Salaam.   It's similar to what we've come to expect from new regional African urban music: trademark casios trumpet through old speakers a la Konono, traditional meets retro via the strange African time warp (i.e., people use what they can access -- probably the same "retro" instruments you're ordering on Ebay).  But no matter how you theorize, this music has grandeur and grit.  It's like a more dense juju with sweeping tides of sounds that wash against each other.  We haven't been able to find any tapes (yet!) but there are some live recordings made by a label in Germany.   Wash yourself in the track below and check the myspace.

01 Sumu ya Teja by outsidemusic

Africa's Alan Lomax: The Field Recordings of Hugh Tracey

In December and January, I spent time at Rhodes University in Grahmstown, South Africa where Hugh Tracey's archive is located. 

The place is unlike anywhere I've ever been -- old notebooks, thousands of recordings, a substantial instrument collection from throughout Africa -- all of this is available to study and explore.

I spent a week there with the staff and the collection, and I interviewed Hugh's son, Andrew Tracey, at least four times (that's him in the picture smelling a seventy-year-old mbira -- "this mbira must have been kept by a family's hearth" he explained.

The product of my work in SA was a radio show for Afropop Worldwide.  The show also features commentary from Esau Mwamwaya (The Very Best) and Tshepang Ramoba (BLK JKS).  Stream it here on the Afropop site:  Discover and Record: The Field Recordings of Hugh Tracey.   Pictures from trip are also available in that link on the Afropop online feature.

Fihavanana

Go to root strata and get this.

A MUSICAL ANTHOLOGY OF AFRICA : SUDAN II

Here's another out-of-print Barenreiter / Unesco LP, this one is Sudanese music, digitized just in time for the hot weather. Featured on this platter are two tribes from the Blue Nile province: the Ingessana and the Berta. Both are located near the Ethiopian border, and thus are similarly Arabized. Especially noteworthy are the polyrhythmic mono-flute ensemble jams on Side B, which appear to be 9/16 over 4/8!

A MUSICAL ANTHOLOGY OF THE ORIENT: TUNISIA

Out of print and rare volume from the Barenreiter Musicaphon/UNESCO series. Amazing.