Mahmoud Ahmed, the Johnny Carson of Ethiopia and George Lowe

 

For 30 years, George Lowe has been a fan of (some might say "obsessed with") Ethiopia's Golden Age of Music: the 1960s and 70s, the last years of the Haile Selassie monarchy and the time when "Ethio-jazz" was invented.  George's band, the Afro-Zen Allstars, feature a large number of his arrangements of Ethio-jazz classics, and the band has been recognized as among the foremost interpreters of this style of music in the USA.

 

The audience for Ethio-jazz in America is admittedly a niche market, but in Ethiopia it's a little different story.  And all of a sudden last week, George and Afro-Zen became household names in Ethiopia.  The photo above is a screenshot from the Zoom interview George did with Seifu Fantahun, who hosts the most popular show on Ethiopian broadcast TV.  That episode has been viewed over 350,000 time on YouTube, which is certainly not the main way the show is watched.

How did this happen?  When George explained it all to me, my comment was "This whole story reads like the plot summary of a particularly implausible movie."  I'm not going to give you any spoilers here -- I've invited George to join me this week on Global A Go-Go so you can hear the whole story direct from the horse's mouth.  And we'll play some of the music in question, by Afro-Zen and by the original artists, as well.

 

Also this week (Sunday December 1, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, and any old time at my podcast site): Songhoy Blues and the music of Mali's Songhai people, The Bongo Hop's Afro-Latin groove and new samba-funk from João Selva.

Charts November 18-24, 2024

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 KIN'GONGOLO KINIATA | "Lisekite" [Single] | Helico

2 JULIAN MAYORGA | Chak Chak Chak Chak | Glitterbeat

3 CEM KARACA | Bekle Beni | Turkishvinyl

4 MULATU ASTATKE AND HOODNA ORCHESTRA | Tension | Batov

5 FAT FREDDY'S DROP | Slo Mo | The Drop

6 DOGO DU TOGO AND THE ALAGAA BEAT BAND | Avoude | We Are Busy Bodies

7 ABOUBAKAR TRAORE AND BALIMA | "Gnani" b/w "Turamagan" [Single] | Zephyrus

8 LEENALCHI | Lesser Gods And Chimeras [EP] | Hike

9 ZANZIBARA 11: CONGO IN DAR | various artists | Buda

10 MAGNIFICO BOOGALOO | various artists | Vampisoul

The sound that crushes

The teeming metropolis of Kinshasa is home to the music some folks call Congotronics, although that name is a bit too reductive to describe what's going on.  The artists in question may or may not be using electronics, but they are tapping into traditional rhythms from all across their vast nation, as did the founders of Congolese rumba more than a half century ago.

But it's a new era for better or worse (for many in Kinshasa, a lot worse) and bands like Kin'Gongolo Kiniata ("the sound that crushes" in Lingala) with their MacGyvered homemade instruments fabricated from trash and their thoroughly punk-rock attitude are what Kinshasa sounds like in 2024.  You'll hear Kin'Gongolo Kiniata's new single this week on Global A Go-Go, along with a couple of their predecessors.

Also this week (Sunday November 24, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, and any old time at my podcast site): An all-African first hour featuring new music from Aboubakar Traoré & Balima and Dogo Du Togo & The Alagaa Beat Band, plus a new compilation of the best of Benin's Albarika Store record label; Leenalchi's post-modern take on Korean pansori; more Anatolian rock with Aylin's Soulgarden's debut album and a vintage reissue of Cem Karaca; and some Macedonian brass madness including a band from Indiana from the 1940s.

Charts November 11-17, 2024

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 MIRAMAR | "En Mis Suenos" [Single] | Ansonia

2 BONGO HOP, THE | La Pata Coja | Underdog

3 DOGO DU TOGO AND THE ALAGAA BEAT BAND | Avoude | We Are Busy Bodies

4 MULATU ASTATKE AND HOODNA ORCHESTRA | Tension | Batov

5 FAT FREDDY'S DROP | Slo Mo | The Drop

6 MAX ROMEO | Every Man Ought To Know | Gorgon

7 CHEO | Refresco Vol. 2: Cheo Goes Funk [EP] | Nacional

8 ORQUESTA LA MURALLA | Como Me La Pides [EP] | Hyperopia

9 SCIENTIST MEETS HEPCAT | Scientific Dub Special | Trust 

10 KEITH AND TEX | "Righteous Man" (feat. Inna De Yard) [Single] | Kebar/Rebel Sound

It's really not as bad as it sounds

Lance Koehler arrived in Richmond's Oregon Hill neighborhood in 2001 from New Orleans; soon thereafter he opened a studio, Minimum Wage Recording.  For more than 20 years, Minimum Wage has been a fulcrum of Richmond's DIY music scene -- an affordable, congenial place where musicians of all genres could make a quality recording.

 

Now Lance is moving out to Staunton where he plans to rebuild a Shenandoah Valley version of Minimum Wage.  Lance's clients and friends (and when you do good work at a fair price, lots of your clients become your friends) are sending him off with a celebration at the Broadberry on Sunday night, where a few of them will perform: Bio Ritmo, Justin Golden and Lance's own band No BS! Brass are on the bill, and special guests are expected.

 

Many of my favorite Richmond recordings of the last 20 years were made by Lance at Minimum Wage, and a few of them will make up the whole first hour of this week's program.  You'll hear Afro-Zen Allstars, Bio Ritmo, Hotel X, Miramar, No BS! Brass, Oregon Hill Funk All-Stars, Rattlemouth, Yeni Nostalji -- basically a who's who of Richmond's global-facing music scene, all from Minimum Wage sessions.

Also this week (Sunday November 17, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, and any old time at my podcast site): Nobody expects unexpected reggae versions, including Max Romeo vs. The Partridge Family and Paketo Wilson vs. Marty Robbins; new funk from Fat Freddy's Drop and Cheo; and the late 60s/early 70s Nigerian sounds of Afrobeat being born.

Charts November 4-10, 2024

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 ZANZIBARA 11: CONGO IN DAR | various artists | Buda

2 JUSTIN ADAMS AND MAURO DURANTE | Sweet Release | Ponderosa

3 LA RUEDA | Calentando La Nevera | Mambo Negro

4 ROMPERAYO | Insurgentes Carismaticos | Elgozo/Girando

5 WAAJU FEAT. MAJID BEKKAS | Alouane | BBE

6 KARANTAMBA | Galgi | Teranga Beat

7 SAULO DUARTE | "Cancao Do Povo" [Single] | YB

8 MILTON NASCIMENTO AND ESPERANZA SPALDING | Milton + esperanza | Concord

9 PASSEPARTOUT DUO AND INOYAMA LAND | Radio Yugawara | Tonal Union

10 MERIDIAN BROTHERS | Mi Latinoamerica Sufre | Ansonia/Bongo Joe

These strings / This drum / From another world they come

British guitarist Justin Adams and Italian drummer-violinist Mauro Durante might seem to inhabit entirely separate musical universes.  Adams is Robert Plant's right-hand man, produced Tinariwen and Rachid Taha, and has worked with Brian Eno, Sinéad O'Connor and Jah Wobble.

 

Durante leads Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino (who have now played twice at the Richmond Folk Festival), who have reinvigorated the Southern Italian music and dance tradition of pizzica or tarantella, and is a virtuoso of the tamburello frame drum.

 

When they met, they quickly figured out what they had in common -- trance music and the blues.  That became the framework for their duo, which has toured the world and has now released one of the most fully realized albums of 2024, Sweet Release.  You'll hear two songs from it this week on Global A Go-Go.

Also this week (Sunday November 10, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, and any old time at my podcast site): Back to Colombia for bullerengue, cumbia (including Yeison Landero, who will be playing Richmond in January) and Bogotá tropical prog; new jazzy gnawa from Waaju featuring Majid Bekkas; the killer Afro-Manding groove of The Gambia's Bai Janha; and the latest in Buda Musique's Zanzibara series of the historic sounds of Tanzania.

Charts Oct 21 - Nov 3, 2024

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 ABOUBAKAR TRAORE AND BALIMA | "Sabubu" b/w "Sonfo" [Single] | Zephyrus

2 MANU CHAO | Viva Tu | Because

3 NYBOMA | Double Double | No Wahala Sounds

4 KOG | Don't Take My Soul | Pura Vida/Heavenly Sweetness

5 LA SONORA MAZUREN | Magnetismo Animal | Barbes

6 SISTER NANCY | "Bam Bam" b/w "Stalag" [Single] | VP

7 KAMPIRE PRESENTS A DANCEFLOOR IN NDOLA | various artists | Strut

8 SWEET POISON VICTIM | Ringgold Avenue Highlife | self-released

9 PENI CANDRA RINI | Wulansih | New Amsterdam

10 REYNA TROPICAL | Malegría | Psychic Hotline

I need some money

WRIR's Fall 2024 Fund Drive is now underway -- we're hard at work toward raising $45,000 by Saturday November 2nd to power Richmond Community Radio for another six months.  It's supporters like you who have made WRIR possible for the last 20 years, and now is the time that we ask you to donate what you can afford, and what this marvelous, successful experiment in community-built media is worth to you.

 

You can become a monthly supporter at this link: https://bit.ly/3QnrP5H.  Or make a one-time contribution here: https://bit.ly/3FnagN1.  Or simply go to wrir.org to donate and to find out more about the Fall 2024 Fund Drive, including the premiums available to donors and the events happening during the fund drive.

Global A Go-Go is here this week (Sunday October 27, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, and any old time at my podcast site) giving you some extra incentive to make that contribution.  The first $500 donated during Global A Go-Go will be doubled because I will personally match your gift.  Let's raise $1,000 and more for Richmond Community Radio on this edition of Global A Go-Go!

The background music for your generosity will be a South African dance party: two hours of bubblegum, kwaito, Shangaan electro and gqom from the 1980s through today for your listening, and especially your dancing, pleasure.  As it is every week, it's all free to anyone who tunes in via radio or internet.  But this week is special: it's one of just two weeks out of the year where we ask you to donate what you can to keep WRIR powered up.  Thank you for making Richmond Independent Radio's first 20 years possible, and we're counting on you once again in Fall 2024!

Loboko takes over Cause & Effect

Cause & Effect (Saturday 1-3 PM) is WRIR's weekly program focusing on a single artist and exploring in detail their work, their influences and their peers.  We don't often have the artist in question here in person for their own Cause & Effect.  But that's what's happening this week.

 

I will be hosting Cause & Effect this week (Saturday October 26, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, and any old time at my podcast site), and my in-studio guests will be the New York City-based Congolese band Loboko, who are performing Saturday night at Révéler Experiences.

 

David Noyes of WRIR's Ambiance Congo (alternate Sundays 3-5 PM, the only Congolese broadcast radio show in the USA) and The Motherland Influence (Sunday 5-7 PM) and I will interview the band.  And the band will take over the selector chair, spinning sounds they love, music that's influenced them, other artists working in related spaces, and maybe some of their unreleased recordings.

 

You can participate too by making a donation on Saturday, the first full day of WRIR's Fall 2024 Fund Drive, which is raising money to make programming like this show possible, powering "The Tower of Low Power" to keep Richmond Community Radio in the pink for another six months.  Just visit wrir.org, click the Donate button, and you're almost done!  Thank you for your support!

Charts October 14-20, 2024

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 DOGO DU TOGO AND THE ALAGAA BEAT BAND | "Enouwo Lagnon" [Single] | We Are Busy Bodies

2 ABOUBAKAR TRAORE AND BALIMA | "Sabubu" b/w "Sonfo" [Single] | Zephyrus

3 SUPERFONICOS | Renaceré | Spaceflight

4 SECKOU KEITA | Homeland (Chapter 1) | Hudson

5 ROGER DAMAWUZAN AND LE AS DU BENIN | Tropicana Souvenir Vol. 2 | Hot Casa

6 SONGHOY BLUES | "Toukambela" [Single] | Studio Mali/Transgressive

7 NOVALIMA | "Exodus" [Single] | Six Degrees

8 ORIENTAL BROTHERS INTERNATIONAL BAND | Onye Rie Ibe Ya Erie | Odogwu/Palenque

9 NFALY DIAKITE | Hunter Folk Vol. 1: Tribute To Toumani Kone | Mieruba

10 META AND THE CORNERSTONES | "Lively & Up" [Single] | Metarize/Rebel Sound

The next Baba Commandant?

It seems like much of Richmond fell in love with the music of Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band when they played here last spring at the Get Tight Lounge and last fall at the Richmond Folk Festival.  And we all mourned the tragic passing of Mamadou Sanou, aka Baba Commandant, of complications from malaria in November of 2023, just weeks after his last appearance here.

 

If you, like me, are missing Baba Commandant, let me recommend Aboubakar Traoré & Balima to your attention.  He's from Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, the town where the Mandingo Band formed; he plays kamale ngoni (youth harp), a smaller cousin of Baba's donso ngoni (hunter's harp); and his music draws from the same Wassoulou groove, based on Mande hunters' traditional songs, as Baba's.  To me, Aboubakar Traoré & Balima are the next best thing to Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band.  Hear them for yourself this week on Global A Go-Go.

Also this week (Sunday October 20, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site): More sounds coming out of Malian tradition including new music from Songhoy Blues and Nfaly Diakité, the latest DC-via-Lomé release of Dogo Du Togo, the reunion of Nigeria's legendary highlife stars the Oriental Brothers, some old-fashioned Colombian big band porro cumbia, and the Latin hyphenate sounds of Superfónicos and La Mambanegra.

Charts October 7-13, 2024

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 CELIA CRUZ AND JOHNNY PACHECO | Celia & Johnny | Fania

2 PRABIR TRIO | Long After The Empire | self-released

3 MIRAMAR | "Un Astro" [Single] | Ansonia

4 MARTIN LOPEZ Y SUS ESTRELLAS | Cocinando | Vampisoul

5 NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN | Chain Of Light | Real World

6 NYBOMA | Double Double | No Wahala Sounds

7 BONGO HOP, THE | "Dekonekte" [Single] | Underdog

8 ELISEO GOMES AND JOAQUIM VALERA | Chuma Lopes | Arabusta

9 ORQUESTA AKOKAN | Caracoles | Daptone

10 ROLANDO BRUNO Y EL GRUPO AREVALO | Cosas Raras | Peace & Rhythm/Electric Cowbell/DJ Cajon

Who is Loboko?

New York City-based Congolese band Loboko are coming to Richmond's Révéler Experiences on Saturday October 26.  You'll hear Loboko's music this week on Global A Go-Go, alongside other bands playing the awesome contemporary Congolese guitar-driven dance music called sebene.

 

(Just as a heads up, Loboko will also be my in-studio guest on WRIR's Cause & Effect program on the afternoon of October 26, during WRIR's Fall 2024 Fund Drive.  I'll be interviewing the band members at that time, and they'll also take over the show, spinning some of their favorite recordings, Congolese and otherwise, and maybe playing their own unreleased recordings too.)

As for the rest of what I'm playing this week (Sunday October 13, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site), you'll hear more great African guitar music including a reissue of classic 1980s Congolese rumba by Nyboma and some smoking funaná from Cabo Verde by Eliseo Gomes & Joaquim Valera, plus a newly discovered qawwali recording by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the new single by Richmond's own Miramar, and The Bongo Hop's hot new French Caribbean-style track.

Charts Sep 30 - Oct 6, 2024

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 MANU CHAO | Viva Tu | Because

2 AMADOU AND MARIAM | La Vie Est Belle | Because

3 MULATU ASTATKE AND HOODNA ORCHESTRA | "Tension" [Single] | Batov

4 CIMAFUNK | Pa' Tu Cuerpa | Terapia

5 SEUN KUTI AND EGYPT 80 | Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head) | Record Kicks

6 KIT SEBASTIAN | New Internationale | Brainfeeder

7 VOILAAA | C'est Tout | Favorite

8 LOS DUTIS | Surreal [EP] | Matachin

9 MIGHTY DIAMONDS AND TETRACK | Trouble Backstage | Reggae Library

10 TAJ WEEKES AND ZION ALBERT | "Cornerstone" [Single] | Jatta/Skank