2 June 2010, World Cafe

1 TP Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou – Les djos (Soundway)

TP Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou palpably demonstrates their affinity for James Brown and the JBs by turning an introductory bridge typical of the JBs into a whole song. Lorhento Eskill shows off his James Brown imitation shouts and screams – which he admitted he spent an inordinate amount of time honing. Check out the downloadable Poly Rythmo mix that Jam Magica put out in the second half of May.

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2 Hedzoleh Soundz – Omusus da fe m’musu (Soundway)

Hedzoleh Soundz was the house band of the Napolean – a massive, labyrinthine and notorious nightspot in Accra in the 1970s, set up by a Ghanaian of Lebanese extraction – Faisal Helwani – who introduced all kinds of innovations into nightlife culture in Accra. Hugh Masekela would eventually play with Hedzoleh and re-record their 1973 LP, simply called Hedzoleh, adding trumpet tracks he produced in the US. The tune comes off the original Hedzoloh LP which has been recently reissued by Soundway.

3 African Brothers International Band – Oyonko brebo (Happy Bird, 1970)

The African Brothers International Band were one of the best known and most profilic and longest lived highlife bands of all time. “Oyonko brebo” is not strictly highlife – it’s a style they called Karakara on the LP’s sleeve notes. That tune was recorded in 1970, after they had already been going for 7 years.

4 Franco & TPOK Jazz – Youyou (Ndombe Opetum) (VISA)

In the 1960s and 70s both sides of the Congo River had an active music scene – the Brazzaville side being active largely due to members of TPOK Jazz crossing over the river and getting things going there.

Franco often stepped back and let the vocalists and guitarists from his completely fantastic band take centre stage. The singer Ndombe Opetum wrote that song, “Youyou”, and that terrific arrangement comes off the LP “A Paris volume 1”, which came out in 1980. The whole of this LP can be downloaded from the World Service site.

5 L’orchestre Congolais Les Bantous – Paris-Brazza (Papa Noel) (SV 13001) – Soukous - Vogue

Les Bantous were probably the best known band from the Congo Republic and a large amount of the reason for their fame was their wizard guitarist, Papa Noel. Noel adds more than a dash of twist and twang to the Congolese rumba here. Also available on the World Service blog. The LP was recorded in Paris, although it’s not clear when, and came out in the mid 70s.

6 Mulatu Astatke – I faram gami I faram (Strut) (Ichabod Music)

Mulatu Astatke is probably the most commonly played musician on this programme. He’s been a mainstay of Ethiopian music for decades, even during the reign of the Durg, which held power from 1974 for 18 years and crushed the extremely fertile Addis scene which had started in the mid 60s. But he had not really led a band or made recordings for more than 20 years.

Over the last two years we’re been extremely lucky as he’s given us two treasures – one with the British collective the Heliocentrics and now one under his own name, with the album “Mulatu Astatke Steps Ahead” - featuring the Heliocentrics and the Either/Orchestra from Boston which he’s played with over the years.

The tune which we’ve just heard is a reworking of something he put together with Puerto Rican musicians in NYC in the mid 60s – “I faram gami I faram”. It’s based on a traditional warrior song – the gist of which is the refrain “the youth are not afraid”. We’ll listen to the original 1966 arrangement, which is on the LP “Afro-Latin Soul”, sometime soon.

7 Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba – Segu Tonjon (Outhere Records)

Off Kouyate and Ngoni Ba’s 2006 CD, “Segu Blue”. The song is about a 19^th century Bamana ruler’s slave army, the Tonjon, a bunch who because of the slave status were unconstrained by the niceties of Islamic custom and got up to all kinds of weird stuff.

8 Tartit – Tabey Tarate (Crammed Disc)

Before all the recent hype about Tenariwen, well deserved it has to be said, Tartit, a Touareg band from Northeastern Mali, put out a fabulous CD in 2006, “Abacobok”. Like Tenariwen, Tartit met in a refugee camp, in Burkino Faso. They allow many more sides of Touareg tradition to filter into their music.

9 Jah Wobble’s Chinese Dub Orchestra – L1 (30 Hertz)

Jah Wobble’s frantic funky Chinese dub.

10 The Congos - La la bella (Cedric Myton and Rhoyde Johnson - publishers)

The Congos are another great spiritual reggae band. Remarkably, “La la bella” was recorded only four years ago despite its ultra-rootsy, murky sound.

11 Tommy McCook – Mandella (Clinch Records)

From the b side of the Abyssinians’ “Tenayisstillin” that I spun last month, here is an instrumental version of the Abyssinians’ signature tune, “Satta Masa Ghana”, arranged by the veteran reggae sax player, Tommy McCook. If you know the original, his slight shifts in timing slight give “Satta” a much more swinging feel, albeit a regal swing.

Tommy McCook was an original member of the Skatalites, a ska-rock steady band of star musicians set up in the mid-60s. Ernest Ranglin was probably the Skatalites’ most famous member.

12 African Head Charge – Treatment for a septic horn (On-U Sound)

Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah of African Head Charge has been exploring the outer edges of psychedelia, space rock and jazz, dub and nyabingi drumming since the mid 80s, aided and abetted by producer Adrian Sherwood. “Treatment for a Septic Horn” comes off their 2005 album, “Vision for a psychedelic Africa”, which was finally given an international release last year.

13 Sunny Ade & his African Beats – Ja fun fi (Strut)

A classic from the early 80s by Sunny Ade and his African Beats: the dub version of “Ja fun fi”. The original is on the LP “Juju Music”. After the death of Bob Marley, Island Records tried to market Sunny Ade as the next great thing. He was great, and came up with brilliant sounds and what he called rhythmic “systems”– but alas he didn’t have the same mass appeal, his songs being long, rhythmically complex and in Yoruba. Like Marley he was strongly rooted in his tradition. See below for another track.

14 Lura – Sukundida (Orlando Pantera) (Lusafrica)

Besides singing in Portuguese, the slick superstar of Cape Verde, Lura, and the Brazillian veteran Gal Costa, have something else in common – the musical melting pot of Bahia in Northern Brazil. “Sunkundida” was written by Orlando Pantera, a Cape Verde songwriter who formed his musical vision in Bahia, attracted there in part by Tropicalia and by its tradition of percussion playing. Quite a compelling MPB and tango fusion – you might agree.

15 Gal Costa – Vou recomecar (Sound Jazz Records)

Gal Costa was a pioneer of the Tropicalia scene in the late 60s – the scene was basically incubated in multicultural Bahia. That was her 1969 version of a song by Gilberto Gil, “Vou recomecar”. Costa went on to become a massive MPB star.

16 Seyfou Yohannes – Metche dershe (Buda Musique)

The Ethiopiques series have just brought out volume 24 – a round up of the a and b sides of singles brought out on Amha Records, the label integrally linked with the Addis scene in late 60s/early 70s. The ubiquitous Mulatu Astakte provides Seyfou Yohannes’s backing track of the single “Metche Dershe”. No infomation on who the guitarist is in the sleeve notes, which is a pity!

17 Sunny Ade and his Green Spot Band (African Songs Ltd)

The track is probably from about the 13 years before Ade’s juju dub rebirth, and is a fusion of highlife and juju. It comes from a “best of” series of four LPs on the African Songs label released in the mid to late 60s.

18 Mahotella Queens – Ihlokohloko

Electric Jive have put up a number of fabulous downloads of late.

19 The Mellotone Sisters - Jabulani Bazali

Mahlatini provides background growls to the Mellotone Sisters’ single from 76.

20 Theodore Bikel & Socalled – (Rock the) Belz (Label Bleu) – trad arr SoCalled

Theodore Bikel is a British actor, who had his heyday in the 50s and 60s. For instance, he played Zoltan Karpathy, the dialect expert, in My Fair Lady. In this tune he teamed up with the hip hopster Socalled. The tune comes from a brilliant Rough Guide collection, “The Rough Guide to the Klezmer Revolution” (World Music Network), well worth getting.

21 Don Byron --- Paisach in Portugal (Elektra Nonesuch)

Okay, so I’m two months too late, but that’s such a great song and fitted so well after Theodore Bikel, that I had to give it a whirl. Don Byron’s tribute to comedian and musical pasticher Mickey Katz – the song is Katz’s take on the Raul Ferrao and Jimmy Kennedy chestnut “April in Portugal”. The backing band is completely fantastic and you shouldn’t be surprised to hear that it includes NYC jazz musicians Mark Feldman, Dave Douglas and Uri Caine, all John Zorn collaborators. Jay Berliner guests on mandolin – the same Berliner who played the very distinctive chamber folk-jazz guitar on Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks”.

22 Dirty Projectors – Two Doves

Perhaps abandoning our world music mission for a moment with the Dirty Projectors. This is “Two Doves”, at a stretch perhaps it has shades of renaissance troubadour balladry – a lovely tune none the less, and one with suitably opaque lyrics, in keeping with this show. Dave Longstreth of the Dirty Projectors is known for his interest in African guitar music – and often that inspiration shines through, although not much on that tune.

23 Joanna Newsom – One (Drag City)

Another young upstart from the American folk scene who claims African inspiration is the harpist and singer-songwriter of mind-boggling ability, Joanna Newsom, although not very much African influence on this track – there’s more of an Irish harp here.

24 Pentangle – Springtime Promises (Shanachie)

Bert Jansch’s unmistakable warble – just this side of tunefulness, and all the better for it. That’s an early classic from Pentangle, “Springtime Promises”.

25 Les Triaboliques – Shine a light (World Village)

Staying on in Blighty – but with a mighty yearning for the Big Easy – this is probably the only supergroup of world music producers in the firmament, Les Triaboliques. It’s Ben Mandelson, Justin Adams and Lu Edmonds.

26 Nass Marrakech – Mash q’mani (World Village)

Moroccan Abdelaziz Arradi’s version of a traditional song.