The Whole Thang

Welcome to the second episode of this podcast!!

That's 2 exclamation marks right there. If the fun I had putting this mix together is of any measure, might as well have put in 10 instead.

Since the early passing of the Black President Fela Kuti there has been some sort of surge in the worldwide interest for West African music. It got to me too, and in a rather bad way. Superb labels such as the classic Soundway, Afrostrut and - more recently - Oriki Music & Analog Africa (get these!) opened my eyes and ears to a whole host of wonderful sounds I never realized even existed. Sounds to make your nyaash bend in ways banned in several countries...
The tunes here range from pretty straightforward Afrobeat to "haoussa Funk", "Pop" and the slightly less straightforward Jerk & Dindi styles... I actually have almost no clue where to draw the lines between genres or tendencies here (those names come from the 45 labels), so I usually just end up calling it heavy afro!!

00'00 - the Black Santiagos - Ole
03'05 - Ahouangnimon Sebastien Pynasco et l'Orchestre Discafric-Band de Cotonou - Mi hlin migan
07'10 - Clement Melome et l'Orchestre Poly-Rythmo - Zoun mi bo
12'17 - Clement Melome et l'Orchestre Poly-Rythmo - Ma savo home (Ne te plains pas)
16'45 - Orchestre Picoby-Band - Ye houe deou
20'09 - Orchestre Anos Band - Boro non andou nan
23'12 - Clement Melome et l'Orchestre Poly-Rythmo - Nougbo vehou (La verite blesse)
27'57 - Nestor Hountondji accompagne par les Volcans de Porto-Novo - Emalon ni hokowo
32'25 - Eskill Lohento & Poly-Rythmo - Iya me dji ki bi ni
36'23 - Orchestre Super Borgou - Ya bara
41'52 - Orchestre Super Borgou - Wegne'nda m'banda
45'06 - Daga H. Georges et l'Orchestre Black Santiago- Ayi e non Akome ye
50'23 - Leon Keïta - Dakan sate, korotoumi

Some of these sounds have already been featured on some truly superb music blogs. Unlike those folks, I'm only a beginner in this vast territory of african grooves. So, if you want some proper background info, please take more than a cursory look at the links in the right column. The blogs they link to, such as Voodoofunk, Analog Africa, Matsuli - I'm only mentioning a few here but there are many more - all cast a much deserved spotlight on all too often forgotten but vibrant and uniquely diverse scenes across Africa. They all deserve your attention. My 2 cents here is but a drop in the bucket - but definitely one I'm very happy to add. Enjoy!

Feel free to drop comments, remarks, suggestions, ask questions etc: it's all very welcome!

UPDATE: a few months ago podomatic changed its policy, and as a result free users such as myself can no longer host files with a bitrate in excess of 96. So, if you like this mix and would like to download a (slightly) better version, here's one at 320 kbps

http://rapidshare.com/files/199577908/West_African_Soundz_320kbps.mp3.html

Enjoy