Autonomous Africa III

Autonomous Africa return for the third edition of the afro-grooving, beat crunching, border crossing music project curated by Glasgow’s legendary DJ and producer, JD Twitch. This series of small run, independently released 12″s and the accompanying fundraising nights are raising money for the Mtandika Mission, a charity working to offer education and improve conditions in the village of Mtandika, Tanzania.

Musically, the EPs are distinctly dancefloor orientated, the producers taking the kick vs snare 4/4 structure and splicing it with grooving African infused samples and rhythms. Volume III features tracks from Midland (who grew up in Tanzania), Glasgow stalwarts Auntie Flo and General Ludd, alongside a tack by rather special track from JD Twitch himself.

The project also has a sharp political edge and a message to get across, best explained by Twitch himself

“An autonomous Africa run by the people for the people, where African land is predominantly used to feed African people and Africa’s vast wealth of resources is used to benefit the people of Africa seems the only logical way forward. Autonomous Africa’s goal is to highlight this message and here presents to you 4 tracks of African inspired grooves….Individually we have little power but collectively, the power is ours”

Volume III will be released in July / August. There are also plans afoot to release a full Autonomous Africa compilation featuring music made in Africa itself.

Afro-House Explorations

After a welcome winter hibernation, Rhythm & Roots is back and what better way to start 2013 than with the soulful, fresh, warm sound of Afro-House. Over the past month or so my playlists have been dominated by mixtapes, bootlegs and soundcloud sessions pouring over the offshoots of house music that are flourishing in Angola and South Africa. After a lot of digital crate digging I have put together a mix that celebrates some of my favourite Afro-House tunes, whilst also incorporating some influences from further afield akin to the sound and rhythm. So, a bit of context…

South African House

Unlike other parts of the world, in South Africa, house music is not confined to the dancefloor but has become one of the country’s dominant sounds, leading sales and making stars of its biggest names. Resident Advisor recently celebrated the SA House (centring on Johannesburg) as part of the “Real Scenes” mini-documentary series – a great introduction to the scene.

South Africa has not only become a global mecca of house music but has also managed to formulate its own diverse scene with its own diversity of sound. There is the upbeat, snare driven house sound epitomised by DJ Mujava‘s international breakthrough Township Funk, the deeper, soulful style from producers like Black Coffee, Black Motion and Culoe de Song and then the smash hit, lyrical, Kwaito-hereditary sounds of big name producers Professor, Oskido & DJ Clock.

Angolan House

Meanwhile, the past few years have also seen a house music explosion in Angola, drawing inspiration from the South African scene and offering stiff competition to the Kuduro sound that has, historically, dominated the country’s electronic music scene. As Benjamin Lebrave, who offers a fascinating insight into the rise of Angolan house via This Is Africa, noted in July after a visit to Angola:

“A genre that was practically absent just three years ago during my last visit can now be heard virtually anytime, anywhere.”

Many Angolan producers such as DJeff and DJ Silyvi lean towards the deeper side whilst also emphasising rhythmic richness and incorporating traditional vocals samples. New producers are constantly appearing on Soundcloud with fresh sounds in a genre that continues to spread and diversify. It will be interesting to see two how these scenes now evolve and how they will feed back into electronic music globally.

Songs For Desert Refugees

Over the past few months Mali has faced one of it’s worst crises since the 1960s. In January secular Tuareg rebels rose up against the national army calling for a separate Tuareg state. The uprising was quickly seized upon by foreign backed Islamist factions and Al Qaeda fighters who since pushed out the rebels and now control the biggest cities in the north.

According to a recent Al Jazeera report (a good background on the current situation)

“Northern Mali has imploded from a mix of poverty, drought, guns, corruption, marginalisation – and destabilisation following the fall of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi – while the primary vector of this chaos remains the long-suffering Tuareg populace.”

After nearly six months of conflict, the north faces further destabilisation and violence while the Islamist factions are now imposing Sharia law across the region. In a worrying report by the great Sahel Sounds blog the northern town of Gao is nearly empty while Sonrai percussionist said this of the Islamist control over Gao:

“They’re redefining the city and changing the past, destroying historic sites as idols and burning instruments they consider harem. The electricity is out, food is expensive, and there is hardly anyone left.”

These events have inevitably led to mass Tuareg exodus from the area with families fleeing to refugee camps in neighbouring Algeria, Mauritania, Niger and Burkina Faso. The people have lost the little they already had, provoking the area’s worst humanitarian crisis for years. According to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, at least 280,000 people have been driven from their land. As always, it is the local people, the poor Tuareg nomads and families, already impoverished by drought and overlooked by the national government, who will suffer most from this conflict.

Tomorrow Glitterhouse Records will release “Songes for Desert Refugees” a benefit compilation of unreleased Tuareg music from across Mali, Niger and Algeria including names such as Tinariwen, Tamikrest, Bombino, Faris and more. It also features sleeve notes from UK journalist (and former Tinariwen manager) Andy Morgan. All proceeds from the album will go to two NGOs TAMOURDRÉ  and ETAR who are working directly with refugees from North Eastern Mali.

Mali’s strife does not seem likely to end soon and while the international community decides what steps to take, regional African coalition ECOWAS is already readying military intervention in the north while experts have warned the country could become the “next Somalia”.

Punk in Africa: A selection (DJ Zhao)

Punk in Africa is a documentary currently touring cinemas and film festivals which looks at the history of punk rock music in South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia and Kenya from the 1970s to the present. The film examines the fascinating social and political context behind the music’s emergence in the different countries and it subsequent evolution to today’s scene.

To coincide with the film’s promotion, worldy-wise DJ Zhao has put together a really great and rather lengthy (75 minutes) mix journeying across the different interpretations of punk music “demonstrating the connectedness between Rock and Roll and its African roots, between power chords and dance beats, between decades past and today, between defiant youth in London and defiant youth in Zimbabwe.” The mix is nicely put together and features some cheeky edits and mash-ups along the way and even includes a few contemporary global bass sounds for good measure. The film offer a great insight into a previously under exposed piece of African musical history and DJ Zhao’s selection is the perfect accompanying soundtrack.

DJ Zhao – Punk in Africa Selection

 Tracklist after the jump:

Awesome Music from Africa

A little look at a handful of exciting music released this week which concentrates on new and forgotten music from the African continent. First up Awesome Tapes from Africa‘s first official release as a label. The blog has been uncovering obscure music from across Africa for over five years now but this week heralds its first ‘official’ release. The cassette chosen for such recognition is Malian singer Nâ Hawa Doumbia’s La Grande Cantatrice Malienne Vol 3. This album was originally released in 1982 before the singer became well-known via her collaborations with French musicians and producers such as Frederic Galliano and her appearances outside of Mali. ATFA001 will be available on MP3, CD, Vinyl and will also be re-released in its original format through a limited edition cassette version.

Next up some more music from the ever-reliant Akwaaba Music who have recently re-located to Ghana. This release is put together by Akwaaba and Chief Boima and concentrates on the ‘hipco‘ (Hip-Hop) and ‘gbema’ (indigenous influenced electronica) styles from Liberia. These two styles are at the heart of Liberian popular music and Akwaaba’s Benjamin Lebrave first came across the country’s bustling and youthful music scene while visiting the Buduburam refugee camp:

There is a great little introduction to the styles via the label but for some more in-depth comments read Chief Boima’s various pieces on the musical and political context of the compilation on Cluster Mag and Africa is a Country. Very interesting reading, especially relating to the recent Liberian elections and the awarding of the Nobel peace prize to President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. You can download the Liberian summer anthem ‘Damyarea’ (area song) taken from the album via Soundcloud, check out Boima’s celebratory hipco/gbema mix below and purchase the whole compilation from the usual suspects (Itunes, Bandcamp, Amazon).

Junior Freeman & African Soldier – “Damyarea” (area song)

Chief Boima – Lone Stars Mix

Last but certainly not least, the Saharan Cellphones project we looked at earlier this month returns this week with a special remix package called Music For Saharan Cellphones. The idea was to get a host of producers to remix the original tracks, these remixes would then be transferred onto tiny SD cards before being released back into Kidal’s cellphone community, where the music was first discovered. Luckily for those who do not live in Kidal, the remixes are also available for a ‘name your price’ download via Sahel Sounds’ Bandcamp.

The next step for the project will see Sahel Sounds and Boomarm Nation release Mdou Moctar’s “Tahoultine” with the Gulls remix via 7″ vinyl in November. This will be followed by a vinyl pressing of the original ‘Music from Saharan Cellphones’ album on vinyl.

Afrographique – Charting Africa

Thanks to okayafrica for this one, which, though not strictly musical…is well worth writing about. Afrographique is a Tumblr site run by Ivan Colic, art director/information designer at the South African advertising agency Zoom Advertising. The blog focuses on what is labelled as ‘visual literacy’: presenting data in ‘exciting and digestible format’. The well-designed and engaging ‘info-graphics’ show data such as mobile phone usage, Sino-African trade and internet penetration across Africa. Here is Colic talking about the project at a Tedx Stellenbosch event and some examples of the graphics:

 

For more, go to http://afrographique.tumblr.com.

Label Showcase: Out Here Records

Out Here Records was set up with a simple purpose: to introduce the world to another side of African music. Since its inception, the Munich based label has promoted and showcased urban music scenes from Dakar to Cape Town which, despite being hugely popular in their native countries, have been totally overlooked outside of Africa. We speak to founder and label head Jay Rutledge about the label’s beginnings, localised global sounds, the state of African urban music and what is to come for Out Here.

RnR: Describe the label’s beginnings and its broad vision.

JR: ‘I started out as a journalist travelling a lot and interviewing a lot of musicians. I realised that what was really happening on a local level in the countries I visited was not reflected in the so-called ‘world music’ that reaches Europe. This was especially true in regards to the globally connected genres of Hip-Hop, Reggae, Dancehall and House with local adaptations like Hiplife or Bongo Flava, that are huge in Africa but literally unknown in the rest of the world. I felt that needed to be changed.

I decided to go to Dakar and put together a compilation (‘Africa Raps‘). I bought all the cassettes from stores in the Sandaga market and called people, met the guys I knew, discussed the releases and started sorting out the stuff I liked. There was a real Hip-Hop boom in those days because young people were listening to rap and the elections were coming up. So many tapes were released commenting on what was going on in the country…really interesting, creative stuff .. exciting.’

Three years after Rutledge put out ‘Africa Raps‘, he went on to found his own imprint and Out Here was born. Seven years and over 20 releases later, the label continues to meticulously research, compile and release a huge range of music from across the African continent and beyond encompassing everything from Nigerian Hip-Hop to Tanzanian Bongo Flava, from African Reggae and Dancehall to Angolan/Brazilian fusion.

Cassettes for sale in Tanzania

RnR: How do you research for the releases?

JR: ‘Well, we travel. We normally meet someone and start getting into a style or the music of a certain country. I.e. For our first South Africa compilation ‘Mzansi music’ we worked with Rage.co.za, a group of journalists from Johannesburg. For lagos stori plenti we travelled to Lagos with Ade Bantu from Cologne. We stumble across something / someone and start getting involved.’

When Rutledge stumbled across the overlooked Malian ngoni master Bassekou Kouyate in Bamako, it led to the release of two of the label’s most critically acclaimed albums, ‘Segu Bleu‘ and ‘I Speak Fula‘, introducing a new star of Malian music to the rest of the world.

Bassekou Kouyate and band Ngoni ba

RnR: How did the Bassekou Kouyate releases come about?

JR: ‘A coincidence. I was in Mali to do an interview with Toumani Diabate. Lucy Duran, an English producer who I had previously met in Istanbul happened to be there as well. We met at a Pizza place in Bamako where Bassekou Kouyate was playing. It was beautiful. Lucy said: ‘Jay, you should record an album with this guy. He really deserves it.’ I answered: ‘if we do it, lets do it together!’ So, five months later we were back in Bamako to record the first album. A year later the album was awarded Best album of the year 2009 by BBC3. Uuups. When I go to Bamako now and see that this record really changed the life not only of Bassekou, a musical genius, but also that of many people around him – I feel really happy.’

2-Pac Saloon, Tanzania

Many of Out Here’s more urban releases have focussed on the appropriation and unique evolution of global styles by local scenes such as African Dancehall and Reggae, and the various incarnations of Hip-Hop across Africa.

Dala Dala – African Reggae Mix

RnR: How important is the interplay between the local scene and the global influence on contemporary African urban music?

JR: ‘I think global influences often trigger a new scene. At the beginning there is a lot of copying, then the style gets more local, vernacular languages are used and the scene becomes more and more unique. But there are also styles that don’t really localize and hey, they don’t have to. It only becomes problematic for us when what is an obvious imitation to our ears is seen as real cool locally….For example, we wouldn’t release a mainstream oriented R ‘n’ B act from Sambia: it is a boring imitation. A Hip-Hop head from the Cape Flats called Emile once told us that local Hip-Hop died when at a freestyle jam, some guys started rapping in English. They were not good rappers but the other kids were so impressed by them using English (which they themselves could not speak so well) they just went silent.’

RnR: This interaction has been two-way with genres such as Angolan Kuduro and South African Kwaito influencing international producers, DJs and musicians. Do you feel this interplay will continue?

JR: ‘This is a great time for African urban music. There is a lot of attention nowadays. People are really looking for something new and the direction they are looking is Africa. There is still a lot out there that really deserves to be produced in a way that allows its potential to surface.’

(Interview continues after the jump)

The Very Best Super Mom Remixes

Afro-UK Collaborative extraordinaries The Very Best are offering up a  couple of free remixes taken from their Super Mom mixtape which was released back in May. The two remixes of the track Ndekha ft. Moroka come from the ever impressive Swiss producer WILDLIFE!:

The Very Best & Moroka – Ndekha (WILDLIFE! Remix)

and from UK Garage/House master Wookie:

The Very Best & Moroka – Ndekha (Wookie Remix)

There are also some t-shirts co-designed with the organisation Invisible Children available here:

Sudan Votes Music Hopes vs Akwaaba Music

Sudan Votes Music Hopes is a project initiated by Berlin based M.!.C.T. (Media In Cooperation and Transition), a media development organisation who ‘focus on the interplay between conflict, media coverage and reconciliation in crisis regions’, in particular the Middle East and Northern Africa. The Sudan project began back in 2010 when a casette compilation was distributed throughout the country on of eve of last year’s monumental election (the first since the end of the civil war in 2005). The compilation brought together some of Sudan’s most respected artists in an attempt to encourage political participation and let people know that they could have a say in their country’s future.

After another monumental vote, this weekend Southern Sudan became the world’s newest nation, gaining independence from its northern neighbour. Coinciding with the elections, Sudan Votes Music Hopes releases the third of its remix EPs, this time in conjunction with Akwaaba Music, again promoting and celebrating free and fair elections and political participation in Sudan. SVMH Remixed 003 takes tracks by two Sudanese artists (Salam Nubia ft. Alsarah & Yousif Elmosley) and offers them up to two remixers, this time Neo Project #2 (AKA Tyler Pope from !!!, LCD Soundsystem…) and German producer/DJ, Edward. It is a really interesting project and well worth supporting:

Batida – Mamã Africa

I got to know Batida while I was in Portugal and caught their fantastic live set at the Sines festival. The band actually started as a radio show called Rádio Fazuma in Portugal but evolved into a live act which mixes African styles and rhythms, in particular from Angola, with electronica and MCs. In a similar vein to Buraka Som Sistema but using more samples from popular Angolan music.

There new EP, Mama Africa, is released through Akwaaba Music this week and available for free download from the label’s bandcamp. The EP is to celebrate Africa Day which occurs on May the 25th, celebrating the foundation of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963. The release takes Batida’s ‘Rap Semba’, which incorporates classic Angolan ‘semba’ samples and electronica, and offers it up to three of the groups favourite MCs (Karlon, Izé Teixera and Ikonoklasta) to rap their own versions over the instrumental.

Download: Batida – Mamã Africana EP