In the week when Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in Burma, Ireland came to the brink of Bankruptcy and a Royal Engagement was announced over here, we cannot hope to come up with any news on this scale ….however, we do have something to share with you, although not strictly music, it is cultural of sorts….
Whilst in London we found a bilingual cash machine with instructions in English and Cockney…I kid you not. The machine asks you to put in your Bladder and Lard in order to get your Sausage and Mash. Well you may be familiar with your monkies, ponies and your bags of sand but to preserve our overdraft we only withdrew speckled hens and the odd horn of plenty.. what a laugh..
Friday December 3rd the Frozac collective are throwing one of their renowned parties at Penelope’s. This time they’ll be raising funds for Sheffield Live and I’ll be there playing a tail shaking, foot moving tropical disco mix…hope to see you there, more details to be posted on the website over the weekend.
As we continue to be inspired by the film Benda Bilili, screened at this year’s doc fest, we start the show in Kinshasa, the zoo to be specific, the main rehearsal and meeting place for Staff Benda Bilili. Plug in your electric guitar and get those shakers ready for our album of the week, the ninth in the Analog Africa series, raises the bar yet again for retro compilations. It’s an amazing musical treasure.
Last week Dave Eyre played Jackie Oates’ remake of the Sugarcubes classic Birthday, so we treat you to the original version in Icelandic sung by Bjork. We have a cut from the new Fela! soundtrack to the musical launching in London which takes the audience back to the days of the shrine, the music, the politics, the struggle. Throw in some new releases form Souad Massi, Mahmoud Ahmed and the Imperial Bodyguard Orchestra, Etta James and our where in the world track and…whoopee another eclectic round the world music adventure.
Baaba Maal is sharing a previously unreleased track with us, Woh woh woh, to celebrate the start of his tour and 25 years with the Daande Lenol orchestra. [ http://www.gondwanasound.co.uk/node/1303 ]
There’s news on the opening of Fela! the Musical in London on 16th November plus Wrasse are releasing the whole catalog of Fela’s music on a 3 box 9 cd set or on a limited run in vinyl of 27 discs…
[ http://www.gondwanasound.co.uk/node/1304 ]
Hassan Erraji has been busy on tour with his new album Awal Mara, we’re looking forward to catching him at Musicport and you have the chance, thanks to World Village to win a copy of his album.
[ http://www.gondwanasound.co.uk/node/1301 ]
Ebo Taylor – Love and Death
One of the true greats of Ghanaian music, Ebo Taylor, has been in the studio and the result is a new studio album, Love & Death out on the Strut label. His first international release for over 20 years. Taylor says, ” “For the new album, I wanted to advance the cause of Afrobeat music. Fela started it and we shouldn’t just abandon it. We should push it so it is a standard form of music.“ Read the press release in the full article. [ http://www.gondwanasound.co.uk/node/1314 ]
Femi Kuti Africa for Africa [ http://www.gondwanasound.co.uk/node/1316 ]
Angola Soundtrack – Analog Africa 9 – you can preview a couple of tracks on the
GondwanaSound website [ http://www.gondwanasound.co.uk/node/1315 ]
You can listen to the podcasts via the website
[ http://www.gondwanasound.co.uk/playlists ]
Author: Jill Turner
Jill Turner contributes to Songlines Magazine, World Music Central and is on the fRoots critics albums of the year panel. Her radio show GondwanaSound broadcasts on Sheffield Live! 93.2FM to the fourth largest city in the UK and is carried on both Radio Groovalizacion and African Internet Radio.
