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marzo 30, 2020

Freshlyground - Nomvula - 2004

Behind the famous "Wakawaka" by Shakira (official song of the 2010 World Cup) is Freshlyground, one of the South African fusion bands with more international projection, representative of today's multicultural South Africa. Nomvula (2004) was his second work, his most successful album together with Ma´cheri (2007).
Formed in Cape Town in 2002, the Freshlyground members are originally from South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Freshlyground incorporates traditional elements of South African music (such as Kwela and African folk), soul and jazz, as well as indie rock. The lead singer is ZolaniMahola, who with her distinctive voice contributes to the band giving a very personal sound; SimonAttwell (flute, mbira, harmonica and saxophone), Peter Cohen (drums), Kyla-Rose Smith (violin and choirs), SeredealSchepeers (keyboards and percussion), Julio "Gugs" Sigauque (guitars) and Josh Hawks (bass and chorus) They contribute to this cross-cultural proposal that celebrates the life and positive spirit of humanity, a universal pop of African roots.

Tracks list:
01. I Am The Man
02. Nomvula (After The Rain)
03. Manyana
04. Vanish
05. Zithande
06. I'd Like
07. Doo Be Doo
08. Things Have Changed
09. Buttercup
10. Human Angels
11. Father Please
12. Mowbray Kaap
13. Touch In The Night



marzo 27, 2020

Cheb i Sabbah - La Kahena - Les Voix du Maghreb - 2005

La Kahena is one of the most celebrated albums by Algerian artist and DJ Cheb i Sabbah that was a turn towards its North African roots (Arabic, Jewish and Berber - Amazigh-), masterfully illustrating the enormous cultural diversity of North Africa.

Cheb i Sabbah (or DJ Cheb i Sabbah), is the stage name of HaimSerge El Baz, a Jew of Berber descent (Amazigh) from Constantine, Algeria, where he was born. Having moved to Paris in the 1960s and subsequently settled in San Francisco, he became a DJ almost by chance. It was in his search for ways to find rhythms for dance floors when he dared to mix African, Asian and Arabic music, in a context in which the so-called "world music" began to have a wider diffusion, outside of the fields and specialized media.

Having published four CDs with great adaptations of traditional musicians and classical training to the new sounds of the dance floors, he decides to return to his homeland and collect new original materials for his most ambitious and original project, La Kahena (2005).

Recorded in Marrakesh, San Francisco, New York and New Delhi, with contributions from fusion musicians such as Bill Laswell, Richard Horowitz, KarshKale or Mercan Dede, eight artists from the Maghreb from diverse backgrounds participate in the eight tracks: Cheba Zahouania, B'Net Marrakech ("The Girls of Marrakech"), BrahimElbelkani, Ouled Ben Aguida, KhadijaOthmani, Michal Cohen and Nadia. Cheb i Sabbah adds his own "DJ science" making it an absolutely original and innovative project. A great mix of vocal and persuasive rhythms of the Maghreb.

Recently, in 2012, Samaya: A BenefitAlbumforCheb I Sabbah has been published, in which great artists of global music participate (KailashKher, Natacha Atlas, KarshKale, TransglobalUnderground, Mercan Dede, Azam Ali & Loga RaminTorkian ...) contributing themes and Exclusive remixes to raise funds and help Cheb and Sabbah in their fight against cancer. It can be obtained at Amazon and Amazon Spain

01. esh 'dani, alashmshit: whydid i followhim?
02. Sadats: saints of marrakesh
03. touratoura
04. I - alla al 'hbab: blessed be my friends II - hajti fi gurini: longing for my lover
05. madhassalhin: praising of the saints
06. I - alkherilladoffor: peace is found behind wounds II - ad izayanugass: what will happen will happen
07. imninalou: if the doors are locked
08. jarat fil hub: love'schalice

marzo 18, 2020

Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate - Monistic Theory

Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate Continue Their Musical Quest for Common Ground New album Monistic Theory released May 13th on Cumbancha. 

"African, funk and rap influences combine in an energetic performance that ends with a powerfully political surge. They have developed into a tight, attacking unit, in which the virtuoso kora work is integrated into sturdy playing from the band. Exuberant virtuosic fusion."- The Guardian 

Recently released in May, Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate’s electrifying second album, Monistic Theory, derives its title from the concept that reality is a unified whole and that all existing things can be ascribed to or described by a single concept or system. It's an apt philosophy for this boundary-crossing collaboration, one that brings together two musicians from vastly different backgrounds in search of the commonalities that are uniquely revealed by artistic expression. 

Joe Driscoll has gained fame over the last decade for his unique blend of folk, funk and hip-hop. Sekou Kouyate, from Guinea, is one of the most innovative and virtuosic players of the kora, the 21-stringed West African harp. When these two seemingly disparate artistic forces are combined, an incendiary musical reaction takes place. "Our styles are totally different but complementary," Driscoll explains, "It's like putting baking soda and vinegar together." 

Joe and Sekou first met in 2010 at a festival in Marseille, France and this explosive combustibility was evident in their jaw-dropping live shows and energizing debut album, Faya, which was released by Cumbancha Discovery in 2014. Performing as a quartet, backed by drums and bass, Joe & Sekou have performed at hundreds of festivals and venues across Europe, North America and Africa, earning rave reviews whenever they set foot on stage. 

It hasn't always been an easy ride. Music may be their common language, but that doesn't help much with the day-to-day communication needed for touring, recording and promotion. Visa issues have provided a harsh reality check to their utopian vision more then once. Add to that the fact that Sekou's homeland was a victim of the Ebola crisis for over two years, making anyone traveling with a Guinean passport a target of excessive scrutiny. Once, when driving across the border from Canada into the US, the band was detained by border agents in HAZMAT suits, refusing to let them enter the country until they were cleared by medical personnel. A group of spirited, creative people stuck together in a small van for long stretches of hard touring will do more then anything to put the unifying power of music to the test. 

Yet no matter what happens behind the scenes, the minute Joe &Sekou get on stage or in the studio, all of the travails of daily life in the music industry fall away and magic erupts. While their personal histories and personalities are quite different, there is an undeniable music-umbilical connection that connects these two brothers from another mother. When Joe &Sekou make music together, there is a chemical reaction that is impossible to explain and even more difficult to restrain. 

Joe & Sekou's sophomore album, Monistic Theory was recorded at the Cumbancha studios in Vermont during one of the coldest winters on record. While the weather outside was frightening, the studio was ablaze with Kouyate's scorching kora licks, Driscoll's lyrical acrobatics and the potent rhythmic underpinning of drummer Jimbo Breen and bassist John Railton. After years of presenting their high energy, broadly appealing show to stages across the world, the ensemble had settled into a deep groove. This dramatic evolution and solidification of their musical interaction is clearly evident on Monistic Theory, which features a selection of tight, catchy, and funky songs. 

The album opens prophetically with the sound of trickling water and the voice of Oren Lyons, a Native American author, activist and Faithkeeper from upstate New York, near Joe Driscoll's hometown of Syracuse. "Water is life, water is the foundation of life. It is life. We are water," muses Lyons. From there it's off to the races of the instrumental opener "Tamala," as SekouKouyate's fingers fly effortlessly across the kora like water trickling over rocks in a mountain stream. 

The album's second track, "Just Live" finds Joe Driscoll waxing poetic on his philosophy of life. "Now history's a mystery with the ages unsung / We've forgotten all of their myths, even our mother tongue / Some folks learn to compete, others love to create / Some could eat until content, and yet they leave a full plate … So keep your minds in the moment, the moment in the mind / Open the doors, raise the blinds, cause it's about time / Just live." Rarely has there been such a head-bobbing life lesson. 

"Tokira" is Monistic Theory's sing along anthem, the song that will have lighters held high at future concerts. With "Tokira" Sekou reveals he is not just a kora virtuoso, he's also a talented songwriter with a gift for crafting a great melody. Driscoll's lyrics give the song added poignancy, as he reflects on what his 10-year old self would think about where life has taken him so far. 

Other highlights on Monistic Theory include the jaw-dropping kora playing on "Barra" and the inspirational and timely call for unity on "Rising Tide," on which Driscoll sings over a children's chorus, "When we realize / There'll be nowhere to hide / They can't divide once they see we're all one tribe." Driscoll continues to provide words of wisdom on the dreamy jam "Badiya," reminding us "Whether you break or bend / Whether you fade or mend / The only true salvation is love in the end." 

The album ends with a live, instrumental cover of the Stevie Wonder classic "Master Blaster," although you've surely never heard it played quite like this before. Recorded in front of packed house at the Westcott Theater in Syracuse, New York on a hot summer night, the track demonstrates the remarkable musicianship and unstoppable groove of this astonishing pairing. 

There's been a lot of water under the bridge for Joe &Sekou after over five years of collaboration, and neither of them could have predicted that night they met in Marseille that they'd still be making music together this far downstream. "I met Sekou, and I said, 'Hey, man, let's work on this for a while.' It was one of those 'follow the river' things, and I went with it," Driscoll recalls. With Monistic Theory, Joe &Sekou reveal that their odyssey is far from over, and if their fans around the world have anything to say about it, it’s a voyage that will continue for years to come.

1. Tamala 03:31 
2. Just Live 03:29 
3. Tokira 04:16 buy track 
4. Monistic Theory 03:59 
5. Batafa 03:49 
6. Barra 04:21 
7. Rising Tide 03:33 
8. Wama 04:34 
9. Badiya 04:17 
10. Master Blaster (Live) 03:47

marzo 12, 2020

M´Barka Ben Taleb - Altocalore– 2005

Born in Tunisia but based in Italy since 1989, M'Barka Ben Taleb is an example of the sound transversality of the so-called world music. Altocalore, his first solo album, is an incandescent mix of sonorities and atmospheres of the South with current melodic sounds: Arabic, Neapolitan ... sweepingly Mediterranean.

M’Barka Ben Taleb has lived for a long time in Naples and has collaborated with many artists from the Neapolitan music scene such as Tony Esposito, Eugenio Bennato, PietraMontercorvino and the band Musicanova.
Inspired by Maghreb sounds and skilled in the absorption of Mediterranean sounds, in 2002 he founded Altocalore together with Erasmo Petringa and Marcello Vitale, a movement that emphasizes the multiethnic dimension of today's society.

From his participation in the prestigious "Carosone Prize" of the Italian Rai 1, his new artistic idea is born, "Melting Worlds", Neapolitan songs sung in Arabic and arranged with sounds from North Africa to highlight the musical peculiarities of the two cultures, only seemingly distant and yet deeply linked. And it is this idea that leads John Turturro to make her the protagonist of his film "Passione" (2010), musical postcard about a city, Naples, a great musical documentary about the history of the Neapolitan song and the way of feeling of the Neapolitan people .
M’Barka sings, dances and plays the darbuka, quanun and oud, mixing strength and delicacy, tradition and modernity. His musical project demonstrates the powerful union between Mediterranean cultures where they are also combined with ancient Arabic songs.

M´Barka also collaborates with other musicians such as AbdullahChhadeh, Lino Cannavacciuolo, Gigi De Rienzo and Gigi Finizio (with whom M’Barka Ben Taleb makes a duet on the song "ZeruZeruNapoli"), and who also participate in Altocalore.

Tracks list:
01. Al Fager
02. Yawi
03. Tozeur
04. Indifferentemente
05. Amra
06. Farah
07. Zeru Zeru Napoli
08. Festa Di Santi
09. Altocalore
10. Da Yirbik
11. Yasmar






marzo 09, 2020

Varios Artistas - La Música De Los Dioses Vol. I

Tracklist

CD1
01 Ypsillon - Ameno
02 Praise - Theme From Harry's Game
03 Kamar-Oun - Awa Awa
04 Pearl - Foolish Game
05 Siempre - Rose (Titanic Theme)
06 ArkaWhi - Indian Moods
07 Diferent World - Paradise
08 Omega - Mother
09 Aintone - Sadeness
10 Rainclounds - Darkness
11 Kaïnsook - Flight Of The Falcon
12 Royal Huggy - Prince Igor
13 Aicirtap - The Peacemaker
14 Fragance - Heyo (Nana Ae)
15 Catarata - Dinah Sings
16 Hydro 1 - Sunchyme
17 Tipi - Raindance

CD2
01 Hidden Wood - Sweet Lullaby
02 Highland Orchestra - Braveheart Theme
03 Moneille - Adiemus
04 Virgo - Frozen
05 Omega - Era
06 Ganymede - Return To Innocence
07 Faighyl - Women Of Ireland
08 The Gnome - Nocturne
09 World Of The Rain - Water For Circle Of Life
10 Galinqua - Amazone
11 Mystique - Voices Of Freedom
12 Franca Ploug - For Those Without Fear
13 Endless - Mystify
14 Kamar-Oun - Alane
15 LekiAje - Zanzibar
16 The Hymn - Children
17 Wild Flower - Drifting Pollen

marzo 06, 2020

Bako Dagnon - Titati - 2007

Bako Dagnon is one of Mali's living legends, griot de griots, living memory of the ancestral Mandinga culture. So much so that the great Ali Farka Touré consulted her regularly, praising her knowledge of the country's history. In Titati we can enjoy his keen sense of melody and one of the best voices of all time in Africa.

After 35 years of career, Titati (2007) was his discovery to the world, work that consecrated it among the great African artists. Inside we can hear 12 impeccable songs that show the tradition of the Mandinga culture, produced by the musician François Bréant and Ibrahima Sylla (SyllartProductions). The exquisite production is based on respect for the unmistakable acoustic sounds of the guitars (interpreted, masterfully, by Mama Sissoko and FantaMadyKouyate), flutes, string arrangements with Arab airs, beautiful women's choirs, a double bass and a djembe . But the powerful and refined voice of BakoDagnon is the true protagonist of the album, resulting in that magical atmosphere that the great masterpieces have. The freshness that oozes the entire work may be due to the direct recording technique, so used in Africa, with all the musicians in the studio at the same time.

Both in Titati and Sidiba (edited in 2009, a continuation of Titati) the stories that are told are from oral tradition, passed from generation to generation through the griots. A unique opportunity to know intimately the original melodies that are heard inside any Malian house. A privilege.

Trackslist:
01. Donsoké (con KerfalaKanté)
02. Toubaka
03. Lassidan
04. SansandoMinata
05. Noumou
06. Bounteni
07. Titati
08. Salimou
09. Saliya
10. Ikérifayé
11. Télemba
12. Bélébélé

marzo 03, 2020

M - Lamomali - 2017

Matthieu Chédid, also known as –M-, is a French composer, singer, producer, photographer and guitarist of Egyptian and Lebanese roots, raised as one of the most important, respected and admired musicians in French-speaking countries.
Chédid discovered Mali thanks to his friendship with the pair of Malian singers Amadou & Mariam and, over the years, the African country became his muse. His sixth album (2017), musical bridge with Africa, was born from another friendship. MathieuChedid created and recorded this project entitled Lamomali (contraction of "l´âmeau Mali", the soul of Mali) with two Malian legends of the kora: ToumaniDiabaté and his son SidikiDiabaté. In addition, it has the participation of an authentic who is who of singers and instrumentalists from all over the African continent (for example, YoussouN'Dour, Amadou & Mariam or FatoumataDiawara) and also with great international names such as Santigold, Jain, Ibrahim Maalouf, Seu Jorge , PhillipeJaroussky and the French rapper and poet OxmoPuccino.

Lamomali is a generous invitation to discover the energy and light of Mali. A kaleidoscopic, cosmopolitan and foreign work to any generic label that can be put on it.

01. Manitoumani - M, SidikiDiabaté, FatoumataDiawara
02. Bal De Bamako – M, FatoumataDiawara, OxmoPuccino
03. Cet Air – M, FatoumataDiawara
04. Interlude
05. UneÂme – M, FatoumataDiawara
06. Le Bonheur – Philippe Jaroussky, KerfalaKanté
07. Solidarité – Santigold, -M-, Hiba Tawaji, Ibrahim Maalouf, Seu Jorge, Nekfeu, YoussouN´Dour, Sanjay Khan, Chacha
08. ToiMoi – M, FatoumataDiawara, Louis Chédid
09. L´Âme Au Mali – M, Amadou&Mariam, Jain
10. Mama – Mamani Keita, MoribaDiabaté
11. Koman Le Héros


marzo 01, 2020

Ballake Sissoko - At Peace - 2012 - Mali



"Three years after those nights of diagram recorded on the march to Bamako with VincentSegal (chamber music), the virtuoso Kora has found peace near Angoulême, in the Charente field. Continuity in the change, since the cellist is still a climate of adventure always introspective, but this time for the production, also occasionally on the record, with other accomplices old griot, cello, guitars, balafon all complement ... wide and soft breathing inside his guest BallakéSissoko countries and in different configurations (solo, duo, trio and quintet), to decline in their twenty-one infinite chains variations of their inspiration: Mandingo simple sentences, often repetitive, modulated by subtle changes of rhythm or mode. Cultivate a sober serenity , touches the hue that contrast. Suddenly, his new book, less lyric, sometimes lacks brightness. Conversely, the tandem formed kora and the twelve-string guitar of Aboubaca r "Badian" Diabate works wonders, especially N'tomikorobougou a long trance (ten minutes), dense, extremely nervous when even crickets play their part. Following Asa Branca, strong recovery in a standard Brazilian trio brings a breath of fresh air.

Títulos:
1. Maimouna (3:34) 
2. Boubakala (4:43) 
3. Badjourou (4:01) 
4. Kabou (4:18) 
5. Nalésonko (5:54) 
6. KalataDiata (5:23) 
7. N'tomikorobougou (10:23) 
8. Asa Branca (3:12) 
9. Kalanso (3:18)