Funky Music From Around The World

The Funk Ark - El Beasto

Desaguou

11. Zimbabwenim Adubada (Buguinha Dub's Version)

Alton Ellis' cover of The Delfonics soul classic. Beefed up and layered with additional drums and percussion.
A free DL for all the lovers.

Free Download

Alton Ellis - La La Means I Love You (Waxwork Re-Bump)

From the upcoming album 'Jaiyede Afro' by Orlando Julius and The Heliocentrics, out September 8th on Strut. 
Pre-order now via iTunes and receive "Buje Buje" instantly: http://geni.us/JaiyedeAfro

Jake Ferguson of The Heliocentrics on "In The Middle:"
"We’ve all been big fans of James Brown since we’ve been involved in music and have played ‘In The Middle’ regularly on our live tours. It felt like a natural fit for the Orlando project, particularly as we have added an Afro swing to the track. We first played the track with Orlando at a London gig last year and he got into it in the studio straight away – his sax solo here was the very first take. James Brown and his band loved Orlando when they saw him play in Ibadan back in the ‘60s and the two of them met up and talked at J.B.’s hotel. So, for lots of reasons, this felt like a natural one to include.”

More from Strut:
https://www.facebook.com/StrutRecords
https://www.youtube.com/user/strutrecords
http://strut-records.com

More from Orlando Julius:
https://www.facebook.com/OrlandoJuliusOfficial

More from The Heliocentrics:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Heliocentrics/159461737458324

Jaiyede Afro

In The Middle

Orlando Julius & The Heliocentrics - "In The Middle"

Buy the single in all formats here:
BIG CROWN WEBSTORE: https://bigcrownrecords.com/store/bacao-rhythm-steel-band-love-like-this-45-edit-bw-was-dog-a-doughnut/

Taken from the Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band album "55" available here:

BIG CROWN WEBSTORE: https://bigcrownrecords.com/store/55-album/
BUT / STREAM: http://geni.us/BacaoRhythm55


Follow Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band:
https://www.facebook.com/BacaoRhythmSteelBand/
https://www.instagram.com/bacaorsb/
https://twitter.com/bacaorsb
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0sjhSgEkyVa8QRmkkuckJ0

Visit us at:
www.bigcrownrecords.com

Follow Big Crown Records:
https://open.spotify.com/user/bigcrownrecords
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https://www.facebook.com/bigcrownrecords
https://twitter.com/bigcrownrecords?lang=en
https://soundcloud.com/bigcrownrecords
https://www.mixcloud.com/BigCrownRecords

Buy at BCR

Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band - Was Dog A Doughnut - BC004-45 - Side B

Jorge Ben (now known as Jorge Ben Jor). 
Brazilian musician, vocalist and songwriter, born 22 March 1942 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

Origin: 1975 by Durium Label

Jorge Ben & Toquinho  - Carolina Carol Bela (George T Funky)

Around The World is proud to share with you their first rework. The original song "Hankuri" is interpreted by Mad Man Jaga, a Nigerian Afrobeat singer of the 70's.
We hope you will enjoy it !

Let's travel together : http://on.fb.me/1Gv3Jwj

Cheers,
The ATW team

Mad Man Jaga - Hankuri (ATW Rework)

With his stage name coming from his love of late 60s Jamaican deejay U-Roy and his light skin, U-Brown began his deejaying career as the 1970s dawned. In the mid-70s he began working with major producer Bunny Lee, and soon got a chance to deejay on King Tubby's Hi-Fi. U-Brown's hyped-up version of U-Roy jive-saturated talkover style sounded great over the heavy dubs mixed by Tubby, and he ended up deejaying many of the top sounds in Jamaica from 1970 to 1985. He's continued to deejay and produce ever since.

In-between a few gigs with French sound system Soul Stereo, he came to the Paris DJs studio in december 2014 to cut a few new tracks with producer Grant Phabao, starting with this neo-classic 'Mr. DJ Let The Music Play', recorded on one of Phabao's biggest riddims, the 'Honey' one he had build over the Erykah Badu's hit of the same name.

U-Brown's unmistakeable deejay flow with a stylistic debt to the deejay godfather is a delectation to hear voiced and mixed with Grant Phabao at the controls. Somehow echoing U-Brown's first production in 1977, the 'Please Mr Deejay' hit by Carlton Livingston, 'Mr. DJ Let The Music Play', with its dynamic skanking and shoutouts rocks the dance hall instantly with bubbles of joy exploding from the turntables!

Buy on Bandcamp http://bit.ly/1URYpv3
Info on Paris DJs http://bit.ly/1KQgPYl

Buy on Bandcamp

Grant Phabao & U-Brown - Mr. DJ Let The Music Play

Killer afrofunk bombs are dropping regularly with the Grant Phabao Afrofunk Arkestra project. After one limited (and sold out) 45, 'Ogun', two very limited t-shirt singles, 'Talking & Singing' and 'The Wow!', and two instrumental tracks released on the Paris DJs Soundsystem 'Massive Hits From The Grant Phabao Factory' LP, 'Ymoja' and 'Mazouglave', all featuring heavyweight musicians from the current worldwide afro/tropical scene, it was time to take a break, or more precisely, to get loose.

'The Fourth', composed by French producer Grant Phabao with Egypt 80 trumpet player Muyiwa Kunnuji is that kind of jam, an afrofunk joint where everyone's welcome - the more the merrier! With Franck Biyong (Massak) on tenor guitar & bass, Oghene Kologbo (Fela's Afrika 70 guitar player) and Alfred Sonou (Les Frères Smith) on percussions, Cedric Ricard (De La Soul, Grand Rateau Big Band), Ben Abarbanel-Wolff (Ebo Taylor, Pat Thomas), Valentin Pellet (Bim Bam Orchestra), Pierre Pierrot (Tarace Boulba), of course Muyiwa Kunnuji on horns, and Grant Phabao at the controls, this jam is really heavy shit, so fasten your earbelts!

ParisDJs http://bit.ly/1WA5sGi
Bandcamp http://bit.ly/1QMzMtm

Grant Phabao Afrofunk Arkestra - The Fourth feat. Muyiwa Kunnuji

Akalé Wubé are the hardest working band on the Ethio-Jazz scene in France today. For seven years they've been hitting the stage with an impressive regularity, all over Europe, Asia and Africa. Their music — half original songs, the other half covers of Ethiopian classics and traditional tunes from the 60s and the 70s — has been growing, expanding and maturing into a unique Ethiopian groove of their own. Next week they'll be playing at the Pan Piper in Paris, with famous Malian musician, vocalist, arranger and composer Cheick Tidiane Seck as their guest. French Ethio-jazz band Arat Kilo will be opening. It'll be on saturday, october 17th. We've said it before, but save the date!

Grant Phabao is the unstoppable producer behind the Paris DJs sound. Over nearly two decades of superb music-making, he grew to be a prime purveyor of Jamaican Soul, wether labeled "ska", "rocksteady", "reggae", etc. After releasing albums with reggae icons Carlton Livingston, The Lone Ranger, The Jays or The Silvertones, and remixes for the whole planet, from George Clinton to Alice Russell, from David Byrne to Shawn Lee, from Jurassic 5 to The Beta Club… he started producing African music, working with the likes of Ebo Taylor, Franck Biyong, musicians from Fela's Afrika 70 or Egypt 80, from Antibalas, from The Souljazz Orchestra, or from Brownout, just to name a few.
With the Paris DJs label, he managed to cross the rigid boundaries of music categorization with an astonishing quantity of high-quality productions and remixes in many styles, achieving a high-order mastery in reggae, ska and afrofunk…

While discussing the possibility of releasing Akalé Wubé's sax & flute player Etienne de la Sayette's solo recordings on Paris DJs, the idea of getting Grant Phabao to put to good use his reggae-remixing skills on one of Akalé Wubé's songs arose quickly. But what about the Ethiopian horn or vocal harmonies, would they fit on a reggae groove? Well you can't really know until you try, so that's exactly what happened.

The song picked is the delighful 'Alègntayé', extracted from the band's latest album, 'Sost'. It's a tune originally written by Ayaléw Abbèbè and Tesfayé Abbèbè, arranged by Mulatu Astatqé and made famous by Pan-Ethiopian singer Tlahoun Gèssèssè. Akalé Wubé covered it with radiant Ethiopian singer Genet Asefa on vocals. Now Grant Phabao takes the tune all the way to Kingston, Jamaica — via Addis-Abeba, Ethiopia and Paris, France. It's gonna be hard to make a groove more global than that. And guess what? The resulting blend, unheard before, works like a charm! Ethio-reggae. What's next?

Credits :
Written and composed by Ayaléw Abbèbè & Tesfayé Abbèbè
Etienne de la Sayette : tenor & baritone saxophone
Paul Bouclier : trumpet
Loïc Réchard : guitar
Genet Asefa : voice
Erwan Loeffel : percussions
Laurian Daire : Hammond Organ
All other instruments, additional production, mix and mastering by Grant Phabao at Paris DJs studio
© 2015 Akalé Wubé / Clapson / T.I.M.E.C. / Paris DJs
Illustration by Ben Hito

Paris DJs http://bit.ly/1WKvN4z
Bandcamp http://bit.ly/1OVD4wY

Akalé Wubé - Alègntayé feat. Genet Asefa (Grant Phabao Remix)

It's the beginning of a new year, new era, new day. Here is some funky and tropical LOVE for you all to get down with.

2016 Afrolicious Mixtape!

As the warmth of spring nudges winter in it's side, in turn the heat is rising from the Quantic studio, Sound Workshop. The new song 'Curuba' has us hanging up our snow shoes and folding umbrellas for a return to swampy dance nights in empty swimming pools with luminescent cocktails. Pulsing arpeggios weave with sultry drifting banjos, the crimson horizon is just in the distance; and even knowing our winter may return, this is a welcome tropical intermission.

Tropical Elevation Tour Dates (Live):

March 03, 2016	Atlanta, GA	          Aisle 5
March 04, 2016	Knoxville TN	          The International
March 05, 2016	Asheville, NC	          New Mountain
March 06, 2016	Washington DC	  Tropicalia
March 09, 2016	Boston, MA	          Mid East Upstairs
March 10, 2016	Philadelphia, PA	  The Ardmore Music Hall
March 11, 2016	Brooklyn, NY  	  The Hall at MP
March 12, 2016	Montreal, Canada	  Theatre Fairmont
March 13, 2016	Toronto, Canada	  Adelaide Hall
March 16, 2016	Grand Rapids, MI	  The Pyramid Scheme
March 17, 2016	Detroit, MI	          The Loving Touch
March 19, 2016	Chicago, IL	          Chop Shop 1st Ward
March 20, 2016	Minneapolis, MN	  Cedar Cultural Center
March 29, 2016	Phoenix, AZ	          The Rhythm Room
March 30, 2016	San Diego, CA	  Music Box
March 31, 2016	Los Angeles, CA	  El Rey Theatre
April 01, 2016	        Santa Barbara, CA	  Velvet Jones
April 02, 2016	San Francisco, CA	  Mezzanine
April 03, 2016	Berkeley, CA	          Freight & Salvage
April 07, 2016	Portland, OR	          Star Theater
April 08, 2016	Seattle, WA	          Nectar Lounge
April 09, 2016	Vancouver, Canada        Imperial
April 10, 2016	        Banff, Canada	 The Banff Center
May 10, 2016	        Rotterdam, Netherlands	Bird
May 11, 2016	        Amsterdam, Netherlands	North Sea Jazz Club
May 12, 2016	        Ghent, Belgium	                Dok
May 13, 2016	        Berlin, Germany 	                Gretchen
May 14, 2016	        Paris, France             	        La Bellevilleoise
May 15, 2016	        Camber Sands, UK      The Funk & Soul Weekender 
May 17, 2016	        Cardiff, UK	                        Ifor Bach
May 18, 2016	        Liverpool, UK	                        Constellations
May 19, 2016	        London, UK	                        Village Underground
May 20, 2016	        Manchester, UK	                Band on the Wall
May 21, 2016	        Dublin, IRL	                        Sugar Club


Curuba

Coming out 17 June on Awesome Tapes From Africa

Hailu Mergia & Dahlak Band’s Wede Harer Guzo is the third release on Awesome Tapes From Africa for Ethiopian keyboard and accordion maestro. In the years since Shemonmuanaye, Mergia has revamped his touring career, playing festivals and clubs worldwide, including a recent tour supporting Beirut. By 1978, Addis Ababa’s nightlife was facing challenges. The ruling Derg regime imposed curfews, banning citizens from the streets after midnight until 6:00 am. But that didn’t stop some people from dancing and partying through the night. Bands would play from evening until daybreak and people would stay at the clubs until curfew was lifted in the morning. 
One key denizen of Addis’ musical golden age, Hailu Mergia, was preparing a follow-up to his seminal Tche Belew LP with the famed Walias Band. It was the band’s only full-length record and it had been a success. But his Hilton house band colleagues were a bit tied up recording cassettes with different vocalists. Still Mergia, amidst recording and gigs with the Walias, was also eager to make another recording of his instrumental-focused arrangements. So he went to the nearby Ghion Hotel, another upmarket outpost with a popular nightclub. Dahlak Band was the house band at Ghion at the time. Together they made this tape Wede Harer Guzo right there in the club during the band’s afternoon rehearsal meetings, with sessions lasting three days.
Dahlak Band catered to a slightly more youthful, local audience, while Mergia’s main gig with the Walias at Addis' swankiest hotel had a mixed audience that included wealthy Ethiopians, foreign diplomats and older folks from abroad. Therefore, their sets featured lighter fare during dinnertime and a less rollicking selection of jazz and r&b. Meanwhile, Dahlak was known more for the mainly soul and Amharic jams they served up for hours two nights a week to a younger crowd. 
Mergia released Wede Harer Guzo (“Journey to Harer,” a city in eastern Ethiopia)  with Sheba Music Shop, which was located in the Piazza district but has long since shut down. His cassette copy is the only known source we could find. Jessica Thompson at Coast Mastering managed to restore the recording to clean up layers of hiss, flutter and distorted frequencies, made worse by years of storage. Although there are some remaining sonic artifacts of the era’s recording and cassette duplicating quality, this reissue captures the band’s inimitable vibe. 
Recalling the audience’s positive reaction to Wede Harer Guzo’s novel arrangements, he says it sold well and found many fans. However, as no trace of the tape can be found online, there’s no indication as to why the cassette appears largely forgotten until now. 


Wede Harer Guzo

Hailu Mergia & Dahlak Band — Sintayehu

In intercontinental affair from Family Atlantica, taken from their second album ‘Cosmic Unity’, released on May 13th via @soundway-records. 

Read more & buy: http://www.gillespetersonworldwide.com/gpww-premiere-family-atlantica-enjera/
Listen on Youtube: bit.ly/fam-atlantica-enjera

Listen on Youtube

Family Atlantica - Enjera (Worldwide Premiere)

Buy the single in all formats here:
BIG CROWN WEBSTORE: https://bigcrownrecords.com/store/bacao-rhythm-steel-band-love-like-this-45-edit-bw-was-dog-a-doughnut/

Taken from the Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band album "55" available here:

BIG CROWN WEBSTORE: https://bigcrownrecords.com/store/55-album/
BUY / STREAM: http://geni.us/BacaoRhythm55


Follow Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band:
https://www.facebook.com/BacaoRhythmSteelBand/
https://www.instagram.com/bacaorsb/
https://twitter.com/bacaorsb
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0sjhSgEkyVa8QRmkkuckJ0

Visit us at:
www.bigcrownrecords.com

Follow Big Crown Records:
https://open.spotify.com/user/bigcrownrecords
https://www.instagram.com/bigcrownrecords
https://www.facebook.com/bigcrownrecords
https://twitter.com/bigcrownrecords?lang=en
https://soundcloud.com/bigcrownrecords
https://www.mixcloud.com/BigCrownRecords

Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band - Love Like This (45 Edit) - BC004-45 - Side A

BIXIGA 70: THE COPAN CONNECTION - BIXIGA 70 MEETS VICTOR RICE
Release date: April 16th, 2016

This is Bixiga 70, an instrumental dance band from Sao Paulo, Brazil known for their high energy and mix of styles. They combine American funk, Colombian cumbia and Nigerian afrobeat, and it's made them really popular around the world. ---Banning Eyre, NPR 

Hot on the heels of their highly acclaimed Glitterbeat album “III” -- an album The Guardian called “imaginative, progressive afrobeat”-- Bixiga 70 returns with a limited-edition, vinyl-only release for Record Store Day: The Copan Connection: Bixiga 70 meets Victor Rice.

Whereas “III” was a highly contemporary take on the Afro-Brazilian, “Black Atlantic” musical conversation, The Copan Connection looks northward from Brazil to Jamaica, and embraces the repeat-echo history of dub music as its inspiration. On the album, Bixiga 70 producer Victor Rice applies shimmering, kaleidoscopic dub reinventions to tracks from “III” and the results are jaw dropping and ear opening. Rarely has the full arsenal of dub techniques and philosophies been applied to music that isn’t reggae, and while dub and Afro-Brazilian stylings do not immediately connect in one’s mind, once the album is heard pumping out of the speakers it is clear that this is both a natural fit and a ground-breaking idea. 

The music swells, ebbs, flows, deconstructs and then blissfully reconnects in completely unexpected ways. The result is not a mere companion piece to “III” but a completely new, stand-alone sonic experience. 

The dubmaster on The Copan Connection, Victor Rice is a transplanted New Yorker, now residing in Sao Paulo. His contribution to the Brazilian music scene in the last years has been massive. Besides Bixiga 70, Rice’s production skills have been sought out by a who’s-who of established and emerging Brazilian artists including the legendary Elza Soares and the recent Latin Grammy winner Tulipa Ruiz. But Victor’s discography is also chock-full of reggae, ska and dub productions including a contribution to the dubbed out, Pink Floyd remake album “Dubber Side of the Moon.” He is no dub dilettante that's for sure. He works his magic in an old skool, King Tubby style, on a mixing board, with just a couple of effects and an abundance of inspiration and ideas. 

Rice’s studio sits high above the megalopolis of Sao Paulo, in the famed Copan building, a classic of modernist architecture. His mixing board is pushed against a window and looking out one gets the sense they are floating above the beautiful madness of the city. It is a surreal setting perfect for the creation of shape-shifting, surreal sounds.

The Copan Connection: Bixiga 70 meets Victor Rice is a summit of equals. It is the music of a sensational band meeting the soundworld of a sensational producer. It pushes Afro- Brazilian music into a mind-blowing, alternate dimension. 


The Copan Connection - Bixiga 70 Meets Victor Rice

The Copan Connection: Bixiga 70 Meets Victor Rice

Bixiga 70 Meets Victor Rice - Machado Dub

Recorded at Care Free Studios in Brooklyn, NY by Ian Hersey
Mastered at Super Fine Audio in Brooklyn, NY by Rich Morales

Personnel: 
Ismael Kouyate: Vocals 
Walter Fancourt: Tenor Sax, Organ
Sean Smith: Trumpet, Keyboard 
Evan Frierson: Talking Drums, Candombe
Daniel Yount: Drum Set, Percussion
Doug Berns: Electric Bass 
Eric Burns: Electric Guitar 

N'diarabi (feat. Ismael Kouyate)

Download "El Rancho Motel" from The Funk Ark on ESL recordings, who's new release "High Noon" drops on 4/3.
Based in Wash DC, The Funk Ark is a world funk ensemble and draws influences from the African and Latin funk/dance music scenes of the 60s & 70s.  The result is a gritty and soulful mix of inspired afrobeat and big band funk. Keyboardist/songwriter, Will Rast is well known for his work as a sideman for a variety of artists (Mya, Federico Aubele, etc.)

The Funk Ark - Hey Mamajo

This swamp-y little piece of black witchcraft came to me via trade with Josh Davis aka DJ Shadow. I had the privilege of digging through Shadow's storage lockers last January and was absolutely blown away by the quality of the records he's dug up over the years. The world seems to be full of celeb DJs these days - very few, if any, who bring the knowledge, passion, and dedication that Josh carries. 

Boco - Running the Mardi Gras (Laughing Eye)

From forthcoming EP on Electric Cowbell Records. Cheick Hamala Diabate gets 'remixed-up' by some of the finest purveyors of groove on the planet who give their own unique spin to a Cheick Hamala Diabate original-'Prudence'-with the the addition of DC's Sol Power All Stars remix of another original 'Fatou Kounkoun Sissoko.' Destined to become a world-class burner EP pressed on high-quality vinyl and released April 2013-Cheick Mix highlights an ancient-to-the-future aspect of  Cheick Hamala's breadth as a genre-bending experimental artist who has one foot firmly planted in tradition and roots but also a keen focused eye on the limitless possibilities of cross-cultural exchange via global collaboration with artists outside of his legacy as a griot.

Cheick Hamala Diabate is a musician from Mali, West Africa who has been nominated for a Grammy award. Using Adelphi, Maryland as his home he travels all over the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. He has performed at the Kennedy Center, the United States Senate, and the Smithsonian Institution. Cheick Hamala was born into a griot family in Kita, Mali. From a young age he learned to play the ngoni, a stringed instrument related to the American banjo. In addition, Cheick has learned the history of Mali passed down for over 800 years. Cheick has performed internationally. He is recognized as one of the world's masters of the ngoni, a Malian traditional instrument and a West African historian in the Griot tradition.

NYC Trust http://www.nyctrust.com/
Whiskey Barons http://whiskeybarons.com/
Daytoner https://soundcloud.com/daytoner
Jon Kennedy http://www.jonkennedy.co.uk/
Sol Power DC http://solpowerdc.tumblr.com/


Prudence

Prudence (Whiskey Barons Remix)

I'm an American English teacher living in Thailand. I help people around the world who want to speak English more confidently, accurately & fluently in business situations. My goal is to help as many professionals as possible to improve their English speaking & writing skills for business. I also help university students who want to study abroad get higher scores on IELTS. In addition, I teach non-native English speakers to write fiction in English in order to improve their grammar, vocabulary, and word choice. I also conduct an English conversation course, Story Learning, where students can practice spoken English by discussing their favorite novels, movies, and series, as well as how the themes of stories relate to real life.
I like to write books on Kindle about subjects that fascinate me: ChatGPT, language learning, creative writing, personal development, and more on the way.

Funky Music From Around The World

Funkish