Inspired by scamartistry’s thread, could anyone point me in the direction of some great African music? It doesn’t matter if it’s South African, North African, whatever. I’m just looking for some good jumping off points.
My three favourites -
King Sunny Ade
Rossy
Justin Vali Trio
Looking forward to hearing what others recommend, too…
My standard recommendation: Orchestra Baobab, Pirate’s Choice. A Senegalese band playing Cuban dance music. Irresistable.
I’m a fan of compilations as exposing you to a variety of things so you can figure out what you like – Putumayo has some excellent ones, but my favorite is on a different label: Desert Blues 2. 1 and 3 in that series also very good.
There are samples of a variety of artists on The Africa Channel website.
http://www.theafricachannel.com/music.php You can sample some of the featured artists.
Comcast offers the channel in my area and there are two shows I recommend:
Soundcheck at Momo’s and Soundtracks at Red Kiva. A different artist is featured for each show.
Urban Massive plays a variety of contemporary videos - African Hip Hop and Jazz mainly.
Genius. My favourite African musician, amazing guitar player.
West African, from Timbuktu in Mali. I have 5 or 6 albums and I cannot recommend his work highly enough.
Excellent choice. I’m a big fan of west African music: try Salif Keita, Bassekou Kouyate, and Habib Koite. Keita is more traditional, but the other two will get your feet tapping. Check YouTube for some examples.
Tinariwen, a Malinese jam band with serious blues roots. Amazing, amazing stuff.
Nice! Hadn’t heard of this group before. It’s “Malian”, by the way.
This is one of my favorite World Music albums.
Forgot to mention Toumani Diabate, the kora master.
Cheb Khaled from Algeria is just wonderful!
Femi Kuti and his father Fela have lots of interesting music.
Femi Kuti - Truth Don’t Die
Fela Kuti - Water No Get Enemy (link leads to autoplay playlist, not all of which is Fela)
Vieux Farka Toure - Ali Farka Toure’s son.
Shiyani Ngcobo - very distinct driving guitar style.
The Moon and the Banana Tree - Sampler of guitarists from Madagascar
Try Freshlyground, they’re a South African group with a rather nice blend of styles.
Malian music is quite famous, and rightly so. There are suggestions in the thread already, and a quick youtube search will probably give you more. Senegalese is great, too.
I really like Ethiopian music. The Ethiopiques compilation series is really, really good. Youtube sample.
Tsegué-Maryam Guébrou plays hauntingly beautiful solo piano.
Angelique Kidjo is from Benin. Saw her as an opening act for DMB, and was fantastic. Of course, all the stoners didn’t think so…
Love her. What a crystal-clear voice!
Try to find the soundtrack for Broken Flowers, a Bill Murray movie from a few years back. It has a wonderful Ethiopian Jazz compilation; Mulatu Astatke is the one I recall most vividly.
I also kinda like Miriam Makeba,especially “Pata Pata.”
Try to find the soundtrack for Broken Flowers, a Bill Murray movie from a few years back. It has a wonderful Ethiopian Jazz compilation; Mulatu Astatke is the one I recall most vividly.
I also kinda like Miriam Makeba,especially “Pata Pata.”