Nants ingonyama bagithi baba! It's been nearly two decades since that glorious savanna sunrise, and once again
The Lion King is
at the top of the box office. It's a good chance to revisit what made the original the capstone of the
Disney Renaissance, starting with the music. Not the gaudy show tunes or the Elton John ballads, but the soaring, elegiac score by Hans Zimmer which, despite winning an Oscar, never saw a full release outside of
an unofficial bootleg.
Luckily, it's unabridged and high-quality, allowing one to lay Zimmer's
haunting,
pulse-pounding,
joyful tracks
alongside the original video (
part 2,
3,
4), revealing the subtle leitmotifs and careful matching of music and action.
In addition, South African collaborator
Lebo M wove traditional Zulu chorals into the score, providing
veiled commentary on
scenes like this; his work was later
expanded into
a full album,
the Broadway stage show, and
projects closer to his heart. Speaking of expanded works, there were inevitable sequels -- all of which you can experience with
The Lion King: Full Circle (
download guide), a fan-made, three-hour supercut of the original film and its two follow-ups.
Want more? Look...
harder... [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Oct 1, 2011 -
22 comments
Sahel Sounds is the blog of ethnomusicologist Christopher Kirkley, a.k.a. MeFi's own
iamck. It's about the contemporary music of the Sahel, which is the Southern border of the Sahara, focusing on West Africa. It has long been a region of great musical ferment. The most famous musicians today are Tinariwen (
previously), but there's a great deal more out there. Kirkley travels around trading music, Western songs in exchange for Saharan, which he mostly receives off cellphone memory cards. Kirkley has made three compilations,
Sahelsounds, the Promo CD and
Music from Saharan Cellphones volumes
1 and
2 (the numbers link to downloads). Kirkley has also collected and recorded
videos. The Guardian
interviewed Kirkley on the subject of cellphones' effect on Saharan music,
which he has written about. Mark Richardson of Pitchfork was prompted by one of Kirkley's collections to write about
musical scarcity in today's infoglut society. Besides the collections, there are a lot of other songs on the blog, the entire archive is wonderful and worth reading through.
posted by Kattullus
on Dec 12, 2010 -
12 comments
When you think of African music, flutes may not be the first instruments that come to mind, but across West Africa there are some flute traditions that often involve a unique combination of vocalizing and blowing into the instrument, resulting in some amazing music that's a hella lotta fun to listen to. There are some nice examples on YouTube
here,
here,
here and
here.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on May 9, 2010 -
16 comments
The other day someone asked me "who's the most deeply grooving and truly exciting electric guitar player you've heard lately?" and I said
"this guy".
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Apr 10, 2010 -
82 comments
Condomise, sings Babsi! Babsi, born 1933, playing the song
Mabelete (Bitches) on the "Fenjoro" which he built from a plastic container, wood and strings from a handbrake cable of a car: it normally has 4 strings like the violin, but one broke.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Apr 5, 2010 -
10 comments
John Storm Roberts, 1936-2009. A magnificent scholar and record producer, and the author of great classics including
The Latin Tinge and
Black Music of Two Worlds,, and the founder of Original Music, John Storm Roberts passed away at the age of 73 back on Nov. 29. Few figures have had such a profoundly intertwined influence on both musical scholarship and popular musical culture.
[more inside]
posted by fourcheesemac
on Jan 8, 2010 -
4 comments
Just in case you were wondering, yes, indeed, it
is the people who dance to Zinli music in Benin who have the coolest, freshest dance moves on the planet. Once you get past the extended a cappella intro, and that delicious slow groove kicks in at the 3:26 minute mark,
this video will treat you to some of the most undulating funky moves EVAR. Now, whether you wanna try some of these gyrations yourself, or whether you just dig a nice, slow, cooly percolating West African groove for listening, go here for more from singer
Alekpehanhou the "Roi du Zinli Rénové".
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Aug 23, 2009 -
16 comments
Motownship, the combination of Cape Town township music, traditional African instruments and motown tunes, is the topic of
this Radio 4 documentary. While purists - both of the African music and motown persuasion - may think this is just a gimmick, it is hard not to have a smile on your face when you listen to the tunes on Abavuki's album
Africa Got Soul.
What is even more amazing is the background of these musicians - kids who grew up in one of the most deprived townships in South Africa,
Langa. To check out the band for yourself, see them playing at the legendary Mama Africa club, via
youtube (this is not a motown tune from the album).
posted by Megami
on Apr 11, 2009 -
10 comments
Clips from the BBC documentary, The African Rock n' Roll Years -
Part 1 l
Part 2 l
Part 3 l
Part 4 l
Part 5 l
Part 6 - a six-part series mixing interviews with key artists, concert footage and news archives, the series examines and explains the "styles that make up the continent's music, and the political and social pressures that led to their development."
BBC documentary details. Found in YouTube member,
Duncanzibar's, good collection of mostly African music videos.
[more inside]
posted by nickyskye
on Dec 30, 2008 -
9 comments
Fela: Music is the Weapon is a documentary film from 1982 featuring a wealth of live concert footage (from his club in Lagos, "The Shrine") as well as interviews with the legendary Nigerian singer, bandleader and social critic. Here's
part 1,
2,
3,
4,
5 and
6.
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Nov 5, 2008 -
22 comments
Soukous Radio is an online radio station that plays/streams this energizing, joyous, African fusion music, known for its bright guitar sound and rumba/salsa beat. The name, Soukous, is derived from the French word secouer, to shake. A popular, recent Soukous video by two Ivory Coast singers, DJ Eloh and DJ Mix,
The Bobaraba (which means “big bottom” in the local Djoula language), celebrates booty shaking.
[more inside]
posted by nickyskye
on Feb 21, 2008 -
25 comments
A day in the life of
Abdullah Ibrahim, South-African composer and performer who creates hypnotic and softly singing grooves.
To me,
his recent piano trios are the highlights of his work, because they are both swinging and soulful. But his compositions do not sound bad in a
big band setting -(or in an arrangement
for guitar). His music is quiet and meditative but powerful, and has sometimes been used as a banner for freedom and equality. Now he likes to withdraw
once in a while to the smallest scenes (french commentary with some english underneath), putting strong emphasis on necessary simplicity.
Written portrait.
posted by nicolin
on Nov 1, 2007 -
5 comments
The full-on, amped-up
sanza sounds of
Konono No. 1 have been celebrated here at MeFi not
once but
twice, and they are indeed wonderful.
Björk's been working with them a bit lately, too. But let's go back a few decades, and take a listen to the unplugged version of this type of music: mesdames et messiurs,
Papa Kourand, the grand old man of the sanza!
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Oct 10, 2007 -
11 comments
Spend a blissful 59 minutes and 7 seconds traversing the continent of Africa through her traditional music. This excellent
stream (featuring just the right amount of background info) from the folks at
Afropop Worldwide [previously] features plenty of the kind of effortlessly rolling, lilting rhythmic vibes that make African traditional music some of the most sublime in the world. "So don't expect over-the-top ethnography, just relax and enjoy acoustic Africa."
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Mar 19, 2007 -
11 comments
Bonofilter: Yesterday, May 16, U2 front-man Bono was a guest "editor" for the UK newspaper
The Independent. Called the
"RED Edition," half of this issue's proceeds went "to help fight HIV and AIDS among women and children in Africa." Highlights included US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice offering her take on
"The Ten Best Musical Works" and an
interview with Eddie Izzard on immigration in Europe. Is there a downside to celebrity editing, or is it a win-win-win for Bono, The Independent, and some people in need?
posted by bardic
on May 17, 2006 -
33 comments
Congotronics! Mawangu Mingiedi, 72, a musician and truck driver from Kinshasa, was simply trying to allow the music of his street band,
Konono No. 1, be heard over the traffic and street noise, but when he fashioned home-made amplifiers out of junkyard parts he created something raw and distorted with
a sound all its own (quicktime). (via
MonkeySARS, where an MP3 awaits you)
posted by Robot Johnny
on Nov 22, 2005 -
41 comments
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.
posted by klangklangston
on Nov 17, 2005 -
42 comments
'If I didn't save this music no one else would' Fascinating story of one man's fight to preserve to music of an entire continent. Imagine if the
American or British music of the 1940s and 1950s, so beloved by movie producers and commercial makers hadn't been available since then. 'Blue Velvet' stuck in a basement somewhere covered in dust. The only copy of 'Sixteen Candles' in a junk shop somewhere slowly warping in the sun. It really doesn't bare thinking about...
posted by feelinglistless
on Jul 29, 2001 -
6 comments
