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.

Musiques Urbaines a Kinshasa

Check that cover! Out of print Ocora cassette(!) which has four 30 minute Congolese jams, including a 1970s recording of Konono No. 1 (listed as Orchestre T.P. Likembe Konoko!).

This is the Orchestre Bana Luya track.

When you listen to this, please focus your energies towards the healing of the Congolese peoples.

JANKA NABAY PLAYS MONSTER ISLAND

Janka plays the TRUE PANTHER PARTY on March 5th in Brooklyn at Monster Island.  INFO here: http://www.truepanther.com/2010/02/march-5th-lemonade-tanlines-janka-nabay.html#links

Field Recording with CARE in Justicia, SA

A few days ago, I traveled north from Johannesburg with Tshepang Ramoba (drummer from BLK JKS) to make field recordings of traditional Shangaan music in the Limpopo region of South Africa.

Our trip was coordinated through CARE International as a part of an going project (CARE Music), which uses field recordings (and samples) of regional music to help fight global poverty.

We drove north from Johannesburg for nearly six hours, through the mountains of Limpopo -- Biggie on the radio, rondavel huts by the roadside and green as far as the eye could see.

Our destination was simple: a community garden supported by CARE in the outskirts of a small village.  Mama Grace (pictured above, far right) was in charge, she explained to us how her vegetables were delivered along with medicine and water to people with AIDS.

Under the shade of a tree in their garden, the women shared many songs with us for the CARE Music project -- traditional songs, songs about their collective, songs for the rain, sad songs, religious songs, welcoming songs.   Between songs, the women turned their fingers in the dirt, pulled weeds and seemingly plucked new melodies from the field.

CARE MUSIC - WHELL PROJECT - JUSTICIA, SOUTH AFRICA by outsidemusic

After having lunch with Mama Grace -- hot pepper sandwiches + cold coke -- we traveled farther into the village.  Beside a few rondavel huts, Tshepang noticed a set of small drums laid out on the dusty ground.   I asked Mama Grace who they belonged to.   Moments later, a traditional healer emerged from her hut.   Someone cut the radio that was blaring house music and the healer started to play.

She was exuberant, talking to me in Shangaan like I understood every word.   Others emerged to play other drums.  We danced with the kids and played more drums.  Some were made from ceramic pots, some from tin oil drums.  The goat skin heads were tight and tuned.  We stayed for a bit, then took the long road back to Johannesburg.

Photos from Justicia by Wills and Tshepang 

BLK JKS in JOZI

Last night was my first night in Johannesburg and I headed straight from the airport to see BLK JKS.

"We've come to you all the way from South Africa," Mpume joked with the crowd between songs.

The JKS are back in Soweto after touring for six months in support of their Secretly Canadian release, After Robots.

Here at ground zero, the boys sound different from when I heard them last at Santo's in New York.  The songs are mutating.   Each tune has its own goals, logic, paranoia.

After only a day in Johannesburg, I don't see exactly how BLK JKS are a by-product or a reflection of "life in South Africa".   But maybe that is what's being celebrated here -- the surprises, the disconnect, the self-determination of the art itself.