Café Arabia: Rai Roots and Mint Tea
Album Description
Subtitled – Rai, Roots & Mint Tea. Budget-price compilation featuring the brightest stars in Arabian composition, Cheikh Meftah, Cheikh Djelloul Remchaoui, Cheb Khaled, Malik, Cheb Tati, Raina Rai, & many more. Ten tracks. Metro. 2002.
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Best of Nass el Ghiwane
Album Description
2008 compilation from the seldom-heard yet highly respected band. Nass el Ghiwane is a musical group that appeared in the late 60’s in Morocco. When mentioned in the Western literature, they are referred to as The Rolling Stones of Africa, as American producer Martin Scorsese once place it. They are living legends who merged the rich repertoire of traditional composition of Morocco with modern subjects. EMI.
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En Concert
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Barbes, The Africanised suburb of Paris, could well declare its sovereignty on the strength of En Concert, an stimulating live recording from this 17-passionate conglomerate of French, Algerian, Moroccan, and Portuguese musicians. Traditional Rai, Andalusian, Moroccan, and Maghreb instruments and cultures mesh seamlessly with electric bass, keyboards, and horns to make an incendiary multicultural rave up that is nevertheless propelled by the spiritual vehemence of tradition. Fusing Gnawa Trance, Reggae, Rai, jazzy grooves, and intelligent lyrics, the Orchestre National rip through 12 dramatically paced songs, at times mixing the canniness of Weather Report, the passion of Flamenco, and the exuberance of a chorus at a soccer match. Already hailed as one of the best live world composition albums of all time, En Concert is an earthy celebration that evokes a tangible sense of place from the sum of its parts, happily liberated from intellectual or colonial posturing. –Derek Rath
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African Rhythms
Album Description
Strut take up again their re-issue program of the ’70s catalogue with Oneness Of Juju, one of the most groundbreaking bands of their time. From ahead of schedule avant-garde jazz work on the Strata East mark to their later fusions of Afrobeat, funk and spritual jazz, Oneness stand as a huge influence for today’s jazz scene. Released in 1976, The African Rhythms album is Oneness Of Juju’s masterpieces. Bandleader J. Plunky Branch had went back to his hometown of Richmond, Virginia from New York and introduced R&B, funk and African percussion into his composition to appeal to the local market. Topped by the soaring vocals of Jackie Holoman-Lewis, the Oneness sound became a tight, supremely soulful outfit. Includes the bonus tracks ‘Liberation Dues’ (instrumental) & ‘African Rhythms’ (45 version). 2002.
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Anthology Of World Music: Africa: The Dan
Product Description
No Description Available.
Genre: World Composition
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Relief Date: 10-FEB-1998
Lullabies from Mama Africa
Product Description
An enchanting collection of gorgeous, soothing melodies!
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Singing in an Open Space: Zulu Rhythm and Harmony, 1962-1982
Album Description
The exciting sequel to the first Homeland album, which was nominated for a Grammy. Sixteen tracks of the hottest contemporary sounds in South Africa. The rhythms and melodies of grass-roots Africa, from mbaqanga (township jazz) to choral composition.
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Donia
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On Donia, Sawt El Atlas deliver 12 odes to like. Many members of the band are of Moroccan origin but grew up in France, giving the group a cross-cultural perspective both musically and lyrically (the lyrics here are in French or Arabic, dependent upon the song). Fronted by vocalists and songwriters Kamel El Habchi and Mounir Mirghani, who are only in their ahead of schedule 20s, the group combines elements of Middle Eastern, reggae, Latin, funk, and dance composition into a lively pop mix together that is continually upbeat. Here are many fascinating moments surrounded by Donia–Egyptian string orchestra over pulsating bass and beats (“Ne me jugez pas”), the soulful vocals of Natacha Atlas paired with live dumbek and programmed rhythms (“Ness”), and flamenco guitars woven into a pop setting (“Andalucia”). Some may find Sawt El Atlas a small too mainstream in its fusion, but this group performs its peppy world pop with zeal. It may be hard to resist the urge to groove along. –Bryan Reesman
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Saba Saba!
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Two all-acoustic, fiery-hot scratch bands with unique approaches and instrumentation recorded this CD in Mozambique in 1989, in a makeshift studio (a movie house, really). Mil-Quinhento ‘1500′ and Conjunto Popombo use a zither known as a pankwe (strings across a board, with a tin can and a gourd for resonators) as their central sound. The addition of shakers, a brake-shoe bell, voices, and a tea chest with a gut string (which sounds like a wash-tub bass) make a thin but driving sound. The band also adds unusual vocal work to make its mark. A call and response between the singers makes a blizzard of rhythmic notes. Conjunto Nimala focus on the accordion of Nimala Carlos. They add vocals, percussion, another brake-shoe bell, and a bass drum. A droning single-chord structure leaves it all up to the rhythm, which they have in abundance, as the singers dance, sing, shout, and whistle these songs. In both bands you will hear a taste of Indonesia and the Caribbean, but only as an echo. This composition is really its own, and you have heard nothing like it. –Louis Gibson
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Spirit of Cape Verde
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This second of the Tinder mark’s Cape Verde collections starts out predictably with a morna by the inimitable Cesaria Evora. Familiar names abound, like Tito Paris, Maria Alice, and the island’s latest pop diva Fantcha, as well as local superstars Simentera (whose single track here shows how much they deserve even wider recognition), but here are surprises to be had as well. From the lesser-known discourse we get treated to the raw and rootsy Voz de Cabo Verde, who sound like a Portuguese brass band on parade in New Orleans. These inadequate two minutes are nearly worth the entire price of the record. Here are jazzy grooves from Mobafuco, some flamenco-inspired guitar riffs from Mindel Band, and full-blown gypsies-in-the-Atlantic pop from Katchupa Rica. The very Brazilian all together of Luis Morais offers clarinet, cavaquinhos, percussion, and bass in a lively dance tune. The album follows the folk-pop of the island in all its variety, but what it lacks is some of the more truly traditional sounds to round out the view. –Louis Gibson
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