Comments on: The Dark Continent

The Dark Continent

klangklangston — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 15:17:06 -0800

No Condition is Permanent. World music, and African music in particular, often falls into two categories: pleasant and inoccuous, or the fetishized other. Even speaking of "African" music is misleading. Senegalese mbalax doesn't sound that much like Camaroonian makossa. And I don't say this as some great authority; I'm still just at the beginning of the learning curve. So come along with me. There's the broad Benne Loxo du Taccu, the sidebar of Mudd Up!, the great (and self-explanitory) African Hiphop, Stern's Music (this link going to a more accessible Thione Seck), Aduna (for Francophones— my middle-school French gets me by, but I'm really there for the music), Du Bruit (more Francophones, with an emphasis on vinyl sharities), and Worldly Disorientation (which covers all sorts of world music, but has some excellent African stuff). Have I missed anything great? Recommend it in the thread. I tend to prefer the psychedelic and dubby stuff more than straight folk styles, but that's me.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 15:18:03 -0800

Oh, and try not to download everything all at once folks, some of these people are running slow servers and we don't want to bust 'em or their links...

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 15:19:10 -0800

Ach! And the first link, the No Condition is Permanent, is kinda what sent me off into this direction. It's got amazing writing, clear and clean, with passion. Apparently, the writer also does things for The Wire in the UK as well.

By: docgonzo

docgonzo — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 15:38:00 -0800

"The Dark Continent" ?

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 15:59:17 -0800

Seeking explanation or attempting snark?

By: FYKshun

FYKshun — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 16:00:21 -0800

The public radio station in Seattle associated with the Experimental Music Project runs a show on Monday evenings called Ambiance which features a collection of African music. They can be accessed over the internets at www.KEXP.org, and they have archived shows going back several weeks, and other streaming content available. Ambiance starts at 6:00 pm Pacific Time, so you should be able to get to the streaming archive for the last two or three shows. My link fu is poor, so forgive the lack of a live reference. Fair Warning: This is pledge week, so the most recent edition will probably contain a heaping helping support requests (a worthy cause for a great radio station). (PS. I've always wondered whether I should think of you as Klangk Langston or Klang Klangston? I kinda prefer the former but suspect the latter.)

By: well_balanced

well_balanced — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 16:00:52 -0800

I stumbled onto Sali Sidibe at the library once and was immediately hooked even though I don't know much about African music styles. She has what sounds like an extremely powerful voice and the wassoulou style music is, to me, wonderfully melancholic...something I never traditionally associated with African music I had heard prior to discovering her.

By: docgonzo

docgonzo — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 16:05:44 -0800

Seeking explanation -- if there's another meaning other than the imperialist, racist one I'm missing it.

By: Mr T

Mr T — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 16:06:35 -0800

I'm a fan of Sam Mangwana [downloads].

By: fenriq

fenriq — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 16:10:16 -0800

My son falls asleep to an African lullaby album published by The Thula Project. Its beautiful and very soothing. I'm also a fan of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Johnny Clegg and Savuka and Ismael Lo (Dibi Dibi Rek is sonically stunning to listen to and it knocks kids out cold!). There's also Miriam Makeba (highly recommend Holilili Tula Baba Lullaby) and Mbube sings my favorite version of Wimoweh (unusual and addictive).

By: thirteenkiller

thirteenkiller — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 16:20:26 -0800

I like Salif Keita. Also: Afropop.org.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 16:23:13 -0800

"Dark" as in "unexplored." As in "Through the Dark Continent," a book from the late 1800s that (as far as I know) popularized the phrase. Your milage may vary on imperialist, but the racism you see is a shade in your imagination.

By: Substrata

Substrata — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 16:23:31 -0800

Habib Koité Ma Ya is one of my all time favourite records

By: docgonzo

docgonzo — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 16:34:28 -0800

My imagination? I don't think so.

By: thirteenkiller

thirteenkiller — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 16:44:17 -0800

If "The Dark Continent" refers to the inhabitants' skin tone, is it a racist term? And, if it's racist, so what?

By: puppetclause

puppetclause — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 16:47:57 -0800

david byrne's record label put out a good sampler http://www.luakabop.com/africa/cmp/album.html

By: mygothlaundry

mygothlaundry — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 16:49:00 -0800

Tinariwen, who are Tuaregs from Mali. Here's the concert that turned me onto them - I listen to their CD Amassakoul almost every day and have for months now. Wikipedia entry, huh, I never saw that before, cool.

By: afroblanca

afroblanca — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 17:00:15 -0800

Ever since I first heard Fela and Antibalas, I've been looking for music that sounds similar. Can you make any recommendations?

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 17:25:14 -0800

Afroblanca: Try Nomo. They're like Antibalas meets Coltrane's large ensembles. Thirteen: Well, except that it doesn't refer to the skin tone.

By: Edgewise

Edgewise — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 18:20:23 -0800

klangklangston, This is great. I haven't heard any yet, but I'm always interested in trying something new. Good linkage.

By: thirteenkiller

thirteenkiller — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 18:20:31 -0800

klangklangston: Oh, that's good.

By: ramix

ramix — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 18:23:52 -0800

No one has mentioned the Ghanaian highlife or its modern offshoot, hiplife (which is a fusion of the traditional highlife with modern day hip hop elements). I have tons and tons of Mp3s, about 50gb worth, and would be willing to share, but really not familiar with how (don't know how to bittorrent and dont have anywhere to host.)

By: ramix

ramix — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 18:29:49 -0800

...oops, hit post too quickly. For a taste, try http://www.ghanamv.com/vids/hiplife/akdwamena.htm (comes with video too).

By: dougny

dougny — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 18:36:40 -0800

Leaving to go see Konono 1 right now. I've heard great things. More here. And a bit more info from Amazon.

By: dougny

dougny — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 18:43:44 -0800

Oh, and here is a MeFi link from 2003, before the album was released. Sorry I missed it the first time around.

By: kozad

kozad — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 19:09:14 -0800

Just speaking generally, I used to be a purist about African music. The real thing, or forget it. The only collollaborations with Western music/musicians I heard were annoying. But in the last ten or fifteen years there have been more and more genuine, organic, even inevitable fusions of different musics from different continents, Dark, Light, Mideastern...a lot of them produced in Paris. New music. And many of us had almost given up....when jazz started sounding like pointless noodling after Coltrane, and pop music had been recycled a few too many times. There's really too much to listen to. I know I'm missing most of the good stuff. (Sorry I can't be more helpful in linking or specifying.)

By: rodii

rodii — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 19:33:25 -0800

I like benga, originally the (electric) music of the Luo of Western Kenya, especially DO Misiani and Shirati Jazz and Dr. Collela Mazee's Victoria Jazz. Benga's kind of a mix of the Congolese finger-picking guitar that developed into soukous and the Luo nyatiti, a kind of lyre that's played by bard-like musicians. Old-style benga had its day in the 1970s, but it's undergoing kind of a renaissance in Nairobi and Kisumu, I think. All down the east coast, in fact, there's really interesting offshoots of soukous mixed with local styles. There's a great sampler of Zimbabwean music called "Viva Zimbabwe" (from 1983 but still available) and it just kills. The contrapuntal, thumb piano-based guitars are amazing to hear. If you like the psychedelic side, check out track 6, "Shirley." But my favorite Zimbabwe musician has to be Thomas Mapfumo, who must be one of the greats anywhere (downloads). More here. And eventually you make your way down to Soweto, which was just bursting with great music back in the day, way too much to even begin on. Sub-Saharan Africa is a bottomless well of music. The variety of styles, from chimurenga to railband to soukous to morna to highlife to mbalax to juju, can be bewildering but you just have to immerse yourself and let it wash over you. If anyone knows any online sources, please speak up.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 19:46:41 -0800

OH MY GOD THANKS FOR LINKS! I'm still finding offshoots of my main links and you guys are tossing in more and more and more. I'm *tear* all choked up. A good way to share is with You Send It. For example, here's no 1 de no 1 by Guajira Van. If anyone has anything else off this album, I'd love to hear more...

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 19:58:43 -0800

The "Dark" in "Dark Continent" refers to the unknown element. The blank space on the map. Here there be dragons and lions and whatnot. The phrase isn't racist, just archaic, and well-used in this context. I know I'm venturing into the unknown as far as this music is concerned.

By: Miko

Miko — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 20:17:31 -0800

Nice one. Such a wealth of music & culture links lately. More!

By: ramix

ramix — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 20:33:53 -0800

Ghanaian Highlife

By: afroblanca

afroblanca — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 21:17:55 -0800

Klangklangston - thanks for the link and the suggestions! And rodii - thanks for the info on Zimbabwean mbira music! I was actually just going to post a comment asking for mbira music suggestions, but you totally beat me to it.

By: muckster

muckster — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 21:33:15 -0800

FWIW, the old Trey Anastasio Band included elements of afro pop with the hippie noodling. See also: Femi Kuti and King Sunny Ade. And now I'll start digging through the links. Looks yummy.

By: huzzahhuzzah

huzzahhuzzah — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 22:46:10 -0800

Just got back from the Konono No. 1 show myself. Reminded me of riding buses in Botswana, which is to say that the show was fun and grooving.

By: Kwanzaar

Kwanzaar — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 01:38:29 -0800

Lots of good links here, if people are genuinely interested in the music. The temptation to appear superficially diverse is great in some. Props to klang² for daring to think outside the Eurocentric mould. Just don't let me see white kids performing this music to the tune of million dollar contracts next week.

By: thatwhichfalls

thatwhichfalls — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 01:48:09 -0800

Calabash Music is a good "world music" MP3 blog that often carries music from the African continent. Worth checking out. Thanks everyone for the links!

By: johnny novak

johnny novak — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 04:06:26 -0800

Stop trying to foist your shitty music taste on us.

By: johnny novak

johnny novak — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 04:09:35 -0800

ok this is a great thread, but you take my point kk

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 05:29:51 -0800

Great thread. Thanks for all the links.

By: mike3k

mike3k — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 13:20:15 -0800

I've been a fan of Youssou N'dour since I first heard him with Peter Gabriel. When I heard Paul Simon's "Graceland" I became a fan of Ladysmith Black Mambazo and almost all South African music. I love Thione Seck's new album "Orientation", which is sort of on the style of Youssou N'dour's "Egypt", another album I love. If you like Youssou N'dour, check out the new solo album Yaye Digalma by his band's lead guitarist Jimi Mbaye.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 00:10:24 -0800

It's kind of beautiful and odd to think of artists from around the world being heard and appreciated without any knowledge of their language or context. Pure music wins hearts; film at 11.

By: dougny

dougny — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 17:45:58 -0800

Moistworks is presenting "a few pieces of music rendered on mbira and likembe, referred to often as thumb piano." They are including a number of mp3s for a short time.

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 07:22:02 -0800

Great post, and great pointers in the comments - thanks all. One more recommendation: Lagos Chop Up, a compilation of Nigerian Highlife, Afrobeat, juju, fuji, etc. on the ever-reliable Honest Jon's.