Okayafrica.

Video: Somalia’s Faarrow Mash Up Gotye & J. Cole

mike rosen — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:56:37 +0000

From Somalia by way of Toronto by way of Atlanta comes Faarrow a pair of singing and songwriting sisters with a taste for vocal mash-ups. Check out the debut video of the sisters covering Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” (no, you’re not tired of that song yet, trust us) seasoned with some of J.Cole‘s “Can’t Get Enough”. You’ll be singing along in no time.

Revivalist Review: Hugh Masekela & Larry Willis ‘Friends’

okayafrica — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:30:46 +0000

Like most jazz musicians, Hugh Masekela and Larry Willis were also students outside of the classroom, jamming for hours on end at landmarks like Jazz Gallery, The Village Gate, even Birdland. Most recently, during last year’s performance at The Cape Town International Jazz Festival, Masekela and Willis devoted almost an entire live set to his 2005 album Almost Like Being in Jazz, revisiting the standards that gave them their musical bearings. After performing to the sold-out crowd in Cape Town, friends and family (including Willis) urged Masekela to record these songs once again. Reuniting with Willis, their latest album is aptly titled Friends, a 4-disc box set containing 40 songs—38 are American standards while two are from the French composer Michel Legrand. Masekela gives Willis credit for bringing the “jazz” out of him on this album. “Larry taught me all of these songs because he knew them better than I did. All I had to say was ‘I like that song.’ ‘You like it?’ ‘We’re gonna play it!’”

Willis kicks off the second set with a quiet, contemplative piano on Randy Weston’s “Hi Fly.” After a subtle pickup of the tempo, while he steadily taps his foot in rhythm, Masekela creates an ebb and flow on flugelhorn with his notes as he starts off powerful and high, and then comes down in a soft, breathy staccato. Applying a bit too much force in the opening, especially when he tackles the melody line, Masekela finds his way back quite nicely during his improvisation with a tidal wave of punctuated notes before handing it back to Willis, who creates a few waves of his own with a strong, lyrical piano. To see (and hear) Masekela and Willis “dance” together during their call and response as they close out the number shows both the intimacy and trust that these musicians share.

Words by Shannon J. Effinger

>>>Read the full piece at Revivalist

NYC: Bez Croons Solo In Soho

Swank — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:23:56 +0000

Alt-Soul singer Bez is notorious for a charismatic stage presence. Catch him in NYC this Thursday May 17 at 7pm @ The Apple Store in Soho. For more info go here. Peep his latest album Super Sun here (don’t expect to leave the store without copping that shit on Itunes). Above, watch Bez’s “That Stupid Song,” which premiered on 106 & Park earlier this year.

Video: Seun Kuti ‘The Good Leaf’ Live in NOLA

Liberian Girl — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:51:02 +0000

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 recently brought their tantalizing show to New Orleans’ Jazz Fest 2012. Live audio/video blog Funk It captured the calmest part of the 2-hour set that they best describe as the “eye of the storm in the middle of… a political diatribe bookended by bombastic intensity on both ends.” Watch Seun and crew performing “The Good Leaf” — recently remixed by Spoek Mathambo — above.

(H/T FunkIt)

Interview: The Intergalactic Republic of Kongo

killakam — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:11:02 +0000

The Intergalactic Republic of Kongo are a London-based afro-punk experiment meshing haywire electronic sounds driven by Africa ’70-influenced percussion, a Sex Pistols aesthetic and found-footage video/commentary on modern society. We chatted with Moroccan band leader Mike Title to delve into the, self-described, “violent psychotropic” work of I.R.O.K.

I.R.O.K sounds part-electronic experiment, part-British punk with about a million other themes in there. How would you describe the music? What are some of I.R.O.K’s influences?
Prince made my face sting from hot tears when I saw him play for the first time last summer. It was like being in the presence of God. And Seun Kuti playing with his father’s band at another festival made the place go wild but also connect. Everyone was smiling; It was a joy. I was lucky enough to speak with George Clinton recently and his take on simply ‘existing,’ let alone making music, blew my mind. I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard Crass. I have spent many lost nights raving in clubs, warehouses and fields to DJ’s playing songs I will never know the names of. I could keep going on but you get the picture. It’s about creating energy.

The found-footage visuals in your music videos are pretty striking. Do you see them as a direct furthering of I.R.O.K’s sounds? The videos, like the music, feel like a global collage — visiting everything from boxing fights, English supermakets, to images of the Arab spring.
Yes, well as you can see we prophesised the Arab Spring, The English Summer of riots, the Wall Street Bumps and Google invading China with a terrifying battalion of modified attack-baboons. Oh no, that is yet to pass. Beware of false prophets.

What’s the idea/theme behind the track and clip to “All My Children” (above)?
The idea that runs through ‘All my Children’ is that this is where the apocalyptic meets the mundane. How we can all of us be at once great but totally meaningless. There are threats and warnings that the oceans will be covered with water; that the discontent and murmurings from those cuddled for comfort in tunnels can manifest. That the security of our every day lives is an illusion. That there is real pain in being stuck in a supermarket queue or standing at a bar drinking your life down the drain. Imagine your superhuman power was that you could call upon every moth around you to attack your enemies. They would smother every pore of their skin. Block out their eyes, their nose and go down your throat.

Can you expand on the name The Intergalactic Republic of Kongo?
Imagine the future where the Space Race is being won by Africa. The Democratic Republic of Kongo has now become Intergalactic. Colonies on lunar landscapes, sex with aliens. Now stop imagining that and realise that other dimensions exist only millimeters from your subjective world. That shit you see from the corner of your eye is your potential. It your dreams. Its lucid, it’s real … you can make anything you want happen. Not just good stuff.

You’re originally from Morocco, do you feel a North African identity plays part in I.R.O.K.’s work?
My mother was born in Casablanca, her family are Berber, Sephardim from the South. To be part of any ancient culture is a blessing, a source of comfort. To appreciate or be subsumed within anyone’s culture is the same but to be part of it is magical right? Morocco is so magical because it’s so paganistic. You get to live in the moment but in another time. Islam and Judaism have come about only a few hundred and a few thousand years ago. The Sun, the moon, the ocean. Thats what i’m talking about. The breeze caressing you just right. You can go deep to traditions and cultures that go back to the dawn of our consciousness. There is nothing like it. It’s a purity that Modern corporations that sell us computers and stuff are dying to extinguish from our minds.

How does it feel playing an I.R.O.K. show in Morocco?
Well I dreamt up I.R.O.K. in Morocco so to go back and play there feels great. It’s life affirming. From an idea that gives you goosebumps to something thats real and screaming at you. The kids went nuts last January man and that’s why we are going back. We are only doing P.A’s right now rather than a full band experience but, even so, it feels like tuning into something bigger than you. It’s like receiving power from a mystical source. Playing shows by the ocean hearing your music bounce off the hills where your blood is from. What you think?

Anything else you’d like to add?
Well we will be coming to America in October so if you hear what i’m saying you should come lose your shit with us. It will be an adventure for the whole band, a real trip, so let’s hang out and party but ’til then let’s all have a fucking awesome summer.

All videos and .gifs from I.R.O.K.’s tumblr.

— @TAMBINO

LargeUp Exclusive: Cutty Rank Meets the Gambian Cassette Vendors

Liberian Girl — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:10:22 +0000

In the latest installment of his storytelling-n-illustrations column Field Trips with Spliffington, Herbert Spliffington tells the story (with an assist from his Field Trip World colleague, Victor Kerlow) of how he discovered the music of Cutty Ranks while crossing into the Gambia from Senegal in the ’90s. Isn’t that how we all first heard “Limb by Limb”? With Cutty having just returned from hiatus with new music last week, what better time to pay tribute to this most uniquely vicious dancehall bad bwoy?

Dancehall was everywhere in the ’90s, even in West Africa. If you had the right antennae you could catch the occasional rap and dancehall videos on MCM Afrique and on the US Military’s AFRTS channel (which played Snow’s “Informer” a lot.) Being interested in music, I started noticing a sample popping up all over the place: “Six million ways to die, choose one.” Jungle producers were also chopping up the same sample.

I was too young to have heard when Cutty Ranks first dropped his monster hit ‘Who Seh Mi Dun (Wake De Man)’ in 1992. The bootleg cassette tape vendors in Dakar’s Sandaga market didn’t have much dancehall (although plenty of hip-hop, soukous and Dire Straits), and only my friends from the UK even knew what jungle was. Luckily for me, on a trip to the south of Senegal, I passed through the Gambia. While waiting for the ferry to take me across the river, I saw the usual array of people selling cassette tapes but, unlike Dakar, they had lots of dancehall. Being a former colonial outpost of Enlgand in which English was widely spoken, the Gambia was much more up to date with dancehall and reggae. I purchased a sketchy copy of Ragga Ragga Ragga 6 and another tape (see below) with a voice I recognized from the hip-hop and jungle cassettes: Cutty Ranks. When I heard that voice on the original riddim, I had to hear more.

>>>READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON LARGEUP

AFRICA IN YOUR EARBUDS #18: DJ MOMA

killakam — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:02:52 +0000

DJ MOMA pulls the strings in this NY-meets-the-diaspora episode of Africa In Your Earbuds. The New York native’s mix glides through classics from Fatoumata Diawara and two members of the Kuti family, placing them alongside modern joints from Janelle Monae, Neo Project #2 & Alsarah, Wunmi, and plenty more. MOMA put it best when explaining his mix to us:

This mixtape is an attempt at reconciling my Sudanese roots with my New York musical and dance culture upbringing. Half of the tracks are by African artists fusing elements of funk, soul and house in their production; and the remaining are by Western artists borrowing from African music or collaborating with African musicians and singers.

The overall texture is somewhat soulful and groovy, which is pretty consistent with my DJ “comfort zone” of classic New York house, disco, 80s/ 90s R&B and modern soul. I actually had fun crafting this mix and I really dig the end product: here’s hoping the listener feels the same!

Stream and download DJ MOMA’s AIYE #18 below! You can keep up with dude over at his official site to catch him spinning at a number of downtown spots. Big up to Underdog for the space-age cover art!

TRACKLIST
Al Salam Alena – Mounira Mitchala [CHAD]
Bissa – Fatoumata Diawara [COTE D'IVOIRE / MALI]
My Kinda Girl – Keziah Jones [NIGERIA]
Salam Nubia – Neo Project #2 & Alsarah [SUDAN / USA]
Filaw – Isaa Bagayogo [MALI]
Slave Masters – Seun Kuti [NIGERIA]
Funky Nassau – Orgone [USA]
Faster – Janelle Monae [USA]
Mista President – The Souljazz Orchestra [CANADA]
Beng Beng Beng – Femi Kuti [NIGERIA]
Oya O – Raw Artistic Soul feat Wunmi [NIGERIA / GERMANY]
Cantos a Ochun et Oya – Osunlade (Juan Valentine ReWork)[USA / NIGERIA]
Coro (The Colonial Mentality) (Kaos 6:23 Dark Mix) – Kerri Chandler [USA]
… Sahr Outro … [SIERRA LEONE]

Previously on Africa In Your Earbuds: AWESOME TAPES FROM AFRICA, PETITE NOIR, OLUGBENGA, RICH MEDINA, VOICES OF BLACK, LAMIN FOFANA, CHICO MANN, DJ UNDERDOG, DJ OBAH, SABINE, BROTHA ONACI, DJ AQBT, JUST A BAND, STIMULUS, QOOL DJ MARV, SINKANE, CHIEF BOIMA.

Video: VIP ‘Pampanaa’ feat. EL

Juan Gomez — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:14:12 +0000

Okayafrica recently caught up with Promzy and Prodigal, two of the founding members’ of Ghana’s VIP (Vision In Progress), as they performed in California. Among other things, the two were excited – and thoroughly surprised – to see azonto in various places, including dance studios in Norway where most of the participants were non-African.

The group’s 2010 album, Progress, produced two major hits – “I Think I Like Am” (below) and the monstrous “Away.” The latter, with its infectious open snare intro and sing-along chorus, managed to evolve from mere club anthem to a colloquial staple ingrained into the local lexicon in Ghana. The resulting success further solidified their status as hiplife royalty at home, but for the group, it only aggravated an eagerness to reach new audiences abroad.

“We’re still spreading our wings. The sky’s still the limit,” said Prodigal.

He and fellow group member, Promzy, see the azonto craze as an opportunity to spread their musical message and are enthusiastically waving the azonto flag throughout their travels. Above all else, it’s a proud moment to see a local product being embraced worldwide. “The azonto thing is by us,” said Promzy. He’s happy to see Ghanaians and Africans worldwide embracing their own music alongside their European counterparts.

But azonto does owe partial credit to the outside world. Ghanaian pop music has always been, in part, a result of the syncretism with western influences. Highlife – that nation’s oldest musical export – owes as much to big band jazz and gospel as it does to palm wine music. Azonto is no exception. Its warm reception in Europe may result from the UK Funky ‘s influence on the production. But to VIP it’s all hiplife. And as one of hiplife’s premier ambassadors, they plan on seeing azonto as another tool in their ever-growing arsenal to spread their message. VIP returns to the states June 16th for a show in New York (details to come) alongside fellow countrymen Castro and Tiffany.

Stream an excerpt from our interview and their take on azonto below:

Video: Chief Boima And Venus X Interview + DJ Sets At Open Arti

killakam — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:43:40 +0000

Our friends at Italian-based blog Palm Wine are curating Open Arti — a series of talks on the mutation of art and music as a result of technological development. The overlaying thesis of the workshop being that “the idea of ’scene’ is no longer inextricably linked to a city or a piece of urban space.” In its first week, Open Arti hosted global bass producer/DJ Chief Boima and uptown NY underground dance princess Venus X for an extended talk on the shifting genre identities and that whole Diplo blow-up. Watch their interview above and stream two snippets of their DJ sets below.

(H/T Palm Wine)

Audio: D’banj ‘Oliver Twist’ (Don Jazzy Remix)

killakam — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:11:58 +0000

Here’s a peculiar pairing after the well-publicized split of Mo’ Hits Records‘ main-men D’banj and Don Jazzy, which saw the Koko Master release the official clip for “Oliver Twist” without his longtime partner. In this newly surfaced track Don Jazzy tackles the massive Naija hit, adding waves of layered house synths and looped chorus vocals to ready the tune for the warehouse club. Our guess is this track was waiting in the vaults long before the feud. The “Oliver Twist” single is available now, featuring remixes by Sneakbo and others, but notable not this Don Jazzy rework. Listen to “Oliver Twist (Don Jazzy Remix)” below:

>>>Stream: D’banj “Oliver Twist” (Don Jazzy Remix)