Look to the sea

Richmond's own Miramar are building a worldwide audience for their highly personal, very groovy approach to bolero, the quintessential Latin American romantic song of the 20th century.

 

They've played at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, globalFEST and the Secret Planet Showcase, they've collaborated with the Richmond Symphony, and their brand new album Entre Tus Flores on the taste-making Los Angeles label Ansonia is going to introduce them to listeners in the USA, Europe and Latin America.  I'll start the show this week with two tracks from Entre Tus Flores.

Also this week (Sunday January 19, 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): Long tracks I didn't have time for on my best-reissues-of-2024 show by South Africa's Tete Mbambisa and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan of Pakistan; new global rock from Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, Al-Qasar, Şatellites and Jupiter & Okwess; Santrofi leaps into the future of highlife; and some Nigerian Afro-disco.

Charts Dec 9 2024 - Jan 5 2025

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 JUNIORE | Trois, Deux, Un | Le Phonographe

2 ANGELICA GARCIA | Gemelo | Partisan

3 BONGO HOP, THE | La Pata Coja | Underdog

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

5 KARANTAMBA | Galgi | Teranga Beat

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

7 MDOU MOCTAR | Funeral For Justice | Matador

8 CONGO FUNK! SOUND MADNESS FROM THE SHORES OF THE MIGHTY CONGO RIVER | various artists | Analog Africa

9 ABOUBAKAR TRAORE AND BALIMA | Sababu | Zephyrus

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

El heredero de la cumbia

Yeison Landero, from San Jacinto in Colombia’s Montes de María province near Cartagena, is called el heredero de la cumbia – the heir to cumbia, the inheritor of cumbia.  He’s from the birthplace of that style of music, a style that’s now enormously popular all across Latin America and increasingly in the USA as well.

 

Yeison, the grandson of Andrés Landero, el rey de la cumbia (the king of cumbia), brings his band to Richmond for the first time ever on Friday January 17 at Révéler Experiences for two shows, at 7:30 and 9:30 PM presented by Secret Planet Richmond.  Yeison and his band will also be playing live at WRIR on Head Empty Radio, on the afternoon of January 17 between 1 and 3 PM.  This week on Global A Go-Go, I'll introduce you to the festive and deeply culturally significant music of Yeison Landero.

 

Also this week (Sunday January 5, 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): A set of reggae for the upcoming Marijuana Justice Lobby Day at the General Assembly; new music from Brazil via Los Angeles by Rogê; new Afropop from Bakk Lamp Fall, Vaudou Game and Fely Tchaco; four very different takes on the cumbia tradition; and the sound of West Africa's ancient culture of hunters and spiritual guardians played on the donso ngoni.

Top 10 compilations, reissues & historic recordings of 2024

This week on Global A Go-Go (Sunday December 29, 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), I'm wrapping up a 3-week-long look at the top releases of 2024 by playing tracks from my favorite compilations, reissues and historic recordings of the year.

 

I admit to spending a lot of time keeping up with what's new in the world of world music.  At the same time, there's so much older music that I'm still unaware of and that I'd like to know more about.  How to work on both simultaneously?  That's precisely where compilations, reissues and historic recordings come in.  I make sure to pay special attention to this category every year -- it's one of the primary ways I backfill my own musical knowledge.

 

Without further ado, here are my favorite compilations, reissues and historic recordings of 2024:

Top 10 new singles & EPs of 2024

I've been recapping my favorite singles and EPs of the year for each of the last six years.  In the current era of home studios, direct-to-consumer distribution, mobile listening and streaming, the music industry has become more singles-focused than it's been since before 1967.  Singles aren't just for Top 40 any more -- whatever styles of music you like, if you're ignoring singles you're missing some of the best music being released today.

 

This year's edition (Sunday December 22, 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) once again has killer material, every bit as good as what you heard on my best albums of 2024 episode last week.

 

Without further ado, here are my favorite singles and EPs of 2024:

Top 10 new albums of 2024

It's the most wonderful time of the year, the time to find out who's been naughty and who's been nice.  No, I'm not talking about the holiday season; I'm talking about when everyone's Best Of The Year lists come out.

 

I'll be rolling out my own lists over the next three Sundays on Global A Go-Go.  On this week's program (Sunday December 15, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen and any old time at my podcast site) I'll present my top ten new albums of 2024 plus ten honorable mentions.

 

Next week on December 22 I'll play my favorite singles and EPs of the departing year.  And in two weeks' time on December 29 you'll hear selections from my favorite compilations, reissues and historic recordings of 2024.

 

Without further ado, here are my favorite new albums of 2024:

Charts December 2-8, 2024

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 LAST POETS, THE AND TONY ALLEN | Africanism | Africa Seven

2 FLORENCE ADOONI |  "Vocalize My Luv" [Single] | Philophon

3 DJEUHDJOAH AND LIEUTENANT NICHOLSON | "Sarah Solo" [Single] | Hot Casa

4 SUPER DISCO PIRATA: DE TEPITO PARA EL MUNDO 1965-1980 | various artists | Analog Africa

5 JULIAN MAYORGA | Chak Chak Chak Chak | Glitterbeat

6 JUNIORE | Trois, Deux, Un | Le Phonographe

7 ORCHESTRE TOUT PUISSANT MARCEL DUCHAMP | Ventre Unique | Bongo Joe

8 NIGERIA 70: THE DEFINITIVE STORY OF 1970'S FUNKY LAGOS | various artists | Strut

9 TOGO SOUL 2 | various artists | Hot Casa

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

Charts Nov 25 - Dec 1, 2024

WRIR World's NACC Top Ten

1 JOAO SELVA | "Banho De Mar" [Single] | Underdog

2 AL-QASAR | Uncovered | Wewantsounds

3 HEPCAT | Scientific | Trust

4 FEMI KUTI | "Politics Don Expose Them" [Single] | Partisan

5 U BROWN | Still Chanting Rub-A-Dub | Irie Ites

6 WIZKID | Morayo | Starboy/Sony International/RCA

7 JAH 9 | "Match" [Single] | VP

8 BONGO HOP, THE | La Pata Coja | Underdog

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

10 SONGHOY BLUES | "Gara" [Single] | Studio Mali/Transgressive

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.