In the twenty years since Malian guitar legend Ali Farka Touré won his first Grammy, a whole spectrum of African Blues has become hugely popular with a global audience. The shades of Blues on this Rough Guide range from the deep indigo of the Saharan nomads to a vivid Madagascan cobalt.

For more information, visit www.worldmusic.net/africanblues

Africa is considered by many to be the home of the Blues, both musically and spiritually. Musically the connection is particularly evident in the music of Ali Farka Touré and other artists from Mali and Saharan West Africa. Elsewhere, the link to the Blues can be described as more spiritual – the intensity of the emotion comes across in the passion of the voices and the rawness of the music.

West Africa provides the first few songs on this Rough Guide. Ali Farka Touré himself said that he was ‘an absolute fool for the guitar’ in the 1970s when ‘Yer Mali Gakoyoyo’ was recorded for Mali’s national radio station, while ‘Dani Dou’ by his acolyte Samba Touré hints at the loping gait of a camel-train.  Tamikrest and Bombino represent further variations of the blues of the Sahara.

Senegalese artists Nuru Kane and Amadou Diagne are joined by musicians from their adopted communities in France and the UK and it’s English guitarist Ramon Goose who provides the springy electric riff to accompany Modou Touré’s vocals in the West African Blues Project.  Meanwhile, Zambian-born Dominic Kakolobango is joined by American Elijah Wald on the dual finger-picking guitars of ‘Gueza Tabiya’ (Change Your Habits) and an international band, including oud and piano, provides a lush backing for Amira Kheir’s jazzy exploration of her Sudanese heritage.

The complex traditional music of their native Madagascar influences the blues of both Nogabe Randriaharimalala and Lala Njava, while Menelik Wesnatchew’s ‘Teteza’ is a beautifully swaying version of ‘Ethiopia’s majestic hymn to the blues’. 

Dilon Djindji, from Mozambique, made his first guitar from an oil can when he was twelve years old, 63 years before his first solo album was released. The final track on the album is a unique unaccompanied vocal piece by La Reunion’s greatest maloya artist, Danyèl Waro.

Nuru Kane: Niang Balo (taken from The Rough Guide To African Blues)

Black Mango: Naked Venus b/w Soft Kicks
(10” single/limited edition of 500)
Get the album here: http://glitterbeat.com/glitterbeat_store/

A mysterious two-song release, licensed directly from a group of Bamako musicians who, with the exception of the Souku master Zoumana Tereta, choose to remain anonymous. 

In the last years, the political turmoil in Mali has caused many of the cities clubs to shutdown and dried up other sources of musician income like weddings and festivals. With less work and more downtime, small recording projects like this one have been given more of a chance to happen. The situation continues to be desperate, but the music remains a powerful force: both a refuge and a medicine.

These two Black Mango tracks are ethereal, hard to classify artifacts, seemingly influenced in equal parts by Ali Farka Toure and Lou Reed. In fact, the titles of the songs name check compositions by the recently passed Rock & Roll legend, though they are clearly not cover versions, as much as explorations on themes. The backstory of how and why these two tracks came into being remains untold, and we are left to purely enjoy them as moments captured.

The one credited musician Zoumana Tereta is a legend of Malian music, having played his Sokou, a single-string, horse-hair violin, on albums by Oumou Sangare, Bassekou Kouyate, Samba Toure, the National Ensemble Instrumental du Mali and many others. 

We can only hope that this is not the last musical transmission we will hear from Black Mango.

Black Mango - Naked Venus

Go Buy Luzmila Carpio Meets ZZK:
➜ http://zzkrecords.com/luzmilaremixed
➜ http://zzkrecords.com/album/Luzmila_Carpio_Meets_ZZK 
➜ Bandcamp: https://zzkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/luzmila-carpio-meets-zzk
➜ iTunes: hyperurl.co/m6pjum

Watch on YouTube:
➜https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4puoVGx62n4&list=PL97ISVilOoYAtLanUD-vdjDgI82UvDUm3

“…And all of a sudden, as the sun set on a Sunday, I felt the song of a bird, an extraordinary beautiful song.  You can believe me or not.  And it said to me:  Look, listen to Luzmila singing to the mothers, her songs of Bolivia…  We’re all irreplaceable, we’re unique, even though we are alone; the song protects us, it comes from wherever it comes and it rests in the soul, like this time with Luzmila…”  - Mercedes Sosa

Luzmila Carpio Meets ZZK		

Timeless songs meet digital vanguard in a cosmic explosion of LatAm beauty.
At the crossroads of the traditional and the modern, the folkloric and the futuristic, herein lies ZZK Records.
ZZK is incredibly honored and excited to announce the release of the Luzmila Carpio meets ZZK EP. Honored because we’ve had the opportunity to work with the most famous indigenous singer on the South American continent. Excited because the collaboration turned out really beautiful.  
Born in Qala-Qala, Potosi, Bolivia, Luzmila has been singing since the mid 1960’s of her homeland, of the Pachamama, of nature and her people in Quechua, a language thought to be more than 2,000 years old. The power of her stories transcends the boundaries of language; even without understanding the words, the listener can feel its beauty. Sit back and take a trip with Luzmila, remixed by some of the most innovative and creative producers experimenting with the new Latin music genre today.

"... The voice of Luzmila Carpio awakens the supernatural world of the Andes mountains...she is the heiress of an ancestral art…"  - Le Nouveau Quotidien, Switzerland

Almost Musique and Squirrel Thing Recordings are pleased to announce the international release of Luzmila Carpio's "Yuyay Jap'Ina Tapes," the source material behind this ZZK remix EP. 17 original Quechua songs by this singular voice from Bolivia.  Available worldwide on CD and double LP later this year.  It’s available now on digital and CD on Almost Musique. 

Amaotayku Avelino Sinani  (Chancha Via Circuito Lullaby Remix)

Night sessions in the SAE Institute in Berlin, June 2014

This is a remake of a song of the catalan band 'Manel' of us, people who miss the sound of the mediterranean sea.

Al Mar (Habla de mí en presente Remake)

After listening to many of my new favosites here at soundcloud I decided to record a writing session.. which is basically , for me, taking a few of the new pieces im working on ( in the same key ) and playing them together as a medley while weaving them together and a little improv to stretch the existing boundaries and either combine them or keep them seperate. The tuning on this session is DADGAE... There is NO MELODY added to any of these.. its just the basic theme. I have been in discussion endlessly with other artists as to what constitutes an actual melody as opposed to riffing with some flourishes within the chord progression. To me... A GOOD melody is a MEMORABLE melody. Even accomplished pianists seem to get a bit lazy when it come to developing melody even though they have all the keys of the instrument at the ends of their fingers.Yeah.. I know .. shut up... fine LOL...
This was spur of the moment.. no warmup... so i'm not playing clean all the time..  Some musicians here post improv tracks and they are totally clean and precise.. I don't know if i'll ever achieve that...

But ... here it is... there's at least 4 different pieces being worked on here. Yes.. they wash together a bit.. But ultimately.. if I work hard enough the melody will create distinct differences between them. If... I work hard enough.

Writing Session 26 Dec. 2024

instrumental.  Medative night magic !

Majid Bekkas , Joachim Kuhn et Ramon Lopez

Uplifting and emoional track based one a one-note bass line with a moving chord progression. A pentatonic melody on top. all sounds are made from samples with my Yamaha slb-100 that I processed in Ableton Live. 
Written, produced, arranged and mixed by Andy Benz
Recording engineer and additional mixing Bo "dr subs" Boye
Mastered by Nikolaj Vinten at Superzonic Copenhagen
Recorded at Arbolis Studios, Christiania, Copenhagen


Disciples

"En Afrique, quand un vieillard meurt, c’est une bibliothèque qui brûle." 

"In Africa, when an old man dies, it's a library burning." Amadou Hampate Ba" 

...quote with thanks to Ben Mandelson and Lucy Duran
credits
released November 10, 2015 

Recorded and Mastered by Simon Ratcliff at Sound and Motion Studios 
Guitar arrangements by Derek Gripper 
Guitar by Hermann Hauser III 
Cover by Twoshoes 
Produced by Derek Gripper 

Lampedusa and Miniyamba by Toumani Diabate and Sidiki Diabate 
Duga by Sekou Batourou Kouyate 
Salama, Bafoulabe, Korobali by Toumani Diabate and orig. performed with Ballake Sissoko for "New Ancient Strings" 
Maimouna by Ballake Sissoko 
Si Naani by Toumani Diabate 
Alfa Yaya by Amadu Bansang Jobarteh 
Anna Magdalena by Derek Gripper

01 Duga

Adiós Morena is the first single off of Afro-Pacific super group, Rio Mira's forthcoming album, Marimba del Pacifico. Composed by Esteban Copete, the single also features remixes by Nicola Cruz, Kaleema & Chancha Via Circuito, Midnight Ravers and M. RUX. 

In 2015, UNESCO added the marimba to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, observing that "Marimba music and traditional chants and dances are musical expressions integral to the family and community fabric of people of African descent in the Colombian South Pacific region and Esmeraldas Province of Ecuador." 

In celebration of this cultural heritage, and with a main goal of creating an intergenerational meeting between the sounds of Afro music from the Pacific, Rio Mira was founded. The project has a fundamental mission of revitalizing and strengthening bonds between the members of the Afro community from each side of the Colombia-Ecuador border. 

Rio Mira is co-produced by Ivis Flies (Co-Director and Creator of the musical and social heritage recovery Project "De Taitas y Mamas", nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2013. "Smile Ambassador" in 2010) and Ivan Benavides (Producer of Carlos Vives, Sidestepper, Chocquibtown, Grammy Winner Gaiteros de San Jacinto) and features a number of well known Cali and Esmeraldeña artists including Esteban Copete and Karla Kanora. Rio Mira's first album, Rio Mira - Marimba del Pacifico, will be released in 2017 on AYA Records.

Adios Morena

Rio Mira - Adios Morena

On its fourth studio album "World Massala", Terrakota keeps on mashing up frontiers to bring together music and people from around the world. With the help of some surprising special guests, the ambassadors of Portuguese multiculturalism keep on expanding their musical horizons, to Rajasthan, Angola, classical India, urban Cuba, and beyond.

01 Duga

derekgripper

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