Yet another fusion cd, the music of mali and this time fused with latino music as the name suggests.This cd is the brain child of british born pianist alex wilson and it was a labur of love after his trip to mali and meeting up with madou sidiki diabate who introduced him to multi instrumentalist ahmed fofana.
I had actually read about this cd in the bible of world music 'songlines' and thought why not give it a try and it turned out to be as good as the review in the magazine it was given 4 stars
Alex wilson's latin piano playing, madou's kora and ahmed guitar/balafon playing really really works and like one reviewer said this would certainly be on my top ten world music cds for 2010.There must be something about african music that alot of western musicians wanting to collaborate especially mali musicians.Hopefully one day i will take a trip to bamako mali and dakar senegal to have a feel of their music .
Lets hope western musicians would take a trip and collaborate with nigerian music masters like sunny ade, ebenezer obey, 9ice etc
highly recommended you can't miss with this cd
stand outs
ankaben(sounds so music like an afrobeat song like fela's look and laugh)
sangre mandinga
donkan
Bamako 2000 (reminds me of mory kante's yeke yeke)
joie au village (masterclass)
ankan tolon (happy)
voyage(three masters)
bomba bambara
remercier les trailleurs (where it all started)
enjoy!!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Lokua Kanza's NKOLO.... Congo got soul
I can't believe i slept on this cd!! it was released in the spring of 2010 and i this almost passed me by and i would have been really sad.Lokua's voice is near heavenly, it really hard for me to explain,all i can say is, to really appreciate this cd, you need a really really good pair of headphones like i have on as i write or Bose wave music system and If this guy's voice does not touch your soul, then you are either dead or need a medical check up and real quick.
This is another cd that i will surely file under classique!! You dont need to understand a word of what he's saying but you will feel it... guaranteed.This cd should come with a money back guarantee bacause thats how good i think it is
Outstandings Famille, Nakozonga infact all tracks!!! There is dance, rumba, afrobeat, soul acapella you name it... Congo really got soul. Really up lifting and feel good music
you tube it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfHa7alvSJk&NR=1
This is another cd that i will surely file under classique!! You dont need to understand a word of what he's saying but you will feel it... guaranteed.This cd should come with a money back guarantee bacause thats how good i think it is
Outstandings Famille, Nakozonga infact all tracks!!! There is dance, rumba, afrobeat, soul acapella you name it... Congo really got soul. Really up lifting and feel good music
you tube it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfHa7alvSJk&NR=1
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Music of Senegal.. Cheikh Lo Jamm
There's no need to review this cd
All i can say is put in this cd and press play sit back,relax and enjoy the ride
Probably, the best cd i have listened too, in a very long while
From the 1st to the last track ...all classics
STIMELA -Music of Hugh
hello world
long time no write no hear
I haven't blogged in a long while and i was just in the mood to write and to start me off is the album of one of africa's finest instrumentalist, freedom fighter Hugh Rampolo Masekela's Greatest hits album released in the year 2000(one of the many in the market).I bought this one because it was cheap £3 to be exact and never had any thing by him in my collection outside grazing in the grass, fela and Don't go
I played it while watching Man United vs Liverpool today 19th September 2010 which we won 3-2 ,thank God ,after giving away a 2 goal Lead.Firstly, I wasn't really feeling it, except for a few songs but after a couple of repeats , it quite a really good collection, the song that stands out is STIMELA, track 14 and what a song to close this collection with, you can actually hear the pain in the song. Its basically about the longing for family and the suffering under apartheid that black miners went through at the hands of their white oppressors after they travelled from mozambique to south africa to look for work.
They are 14 tracks in total with liners with gives you brief history of all the songs(this is what is missing in the new music now), we do not get the historical background and how songs can together, call me old school but nothing makes me happy than buying a cd and it have liners and storys about the songs, which makes me appreciate the songs the more.
Of the 14 Songs,8 were written by Hugh and they are mainly freedom songs and one dedicated to his ex wife called mama and also one dedicated to nelson mandela,all in all a very strong cd which i highly recommend if you want to know about the pre free south africa music.Feel the power of his flugel horn !!!
Hugh Africa salutes you and thanks you for your contribution to music especially african music
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Pon Pon Pon
It really sad to hear that Da grin, Barrack O'grin is no more at the age of 24 (i hope i am right about that) or should i say he was really young but that's life.
Like they say 'no one knows the day nor the hour' we will have to cash that one cheque which never bounces or when you get that 'call' you can't say you are not ready!!
When that final call come thru it never goes to voicemail.. you pick up and go !! ......end of!!
What will you be remembered for ? well ... it's whatever you did, didn't do or should have done or could have done but that doesnt matter to you.. as you wouldn't be around to listen to it...... GOOD OR BAD (thanks to j martins)
Enough of the philosophy lesson this should be all about DA GRIN... for me i think i started to take notice of him when he had this collaboraton with kenny st brown 'turn around' then saw his 'pon pon pon video which i feel was really nice !! then my bruv folabi sends me his cd CEO (thanks bruv for keeping in tune with the naija music scene!!) Listening to it, production and beat wise really tight and would probably stand the test of time and also as one of the best cds of the year 2009 but credit should goes to sosick (naija have some really really good beatmakers who can stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the best beatmakers worldwide, kanye, pharell, timbaland, wyclef etc watch your backs naija man dey come
After a few listens i liked the stand outs like ghetto stories, everyday and pon pon pon and kondo (though i feel he bite off candy stick by M and M ) but when i heard he passed,i went back (like you do when you heard a musician dies) you tend to go back to their back catalogue and re listen to their music ...case in point michael jackson.. then after that re listen, i rediscovered da grin and said ...wow... if he did this tight an album at 24, then ....one wonder what he would have done on album 3 ,4 or 5 but i guess that what life does to you, we get to the what if... phase !!
Though not the first to rap in yoruba/ pidgin english i think that should go to the king of yoruba rap, the lord of the manor... ajasa!! but DaGrin probably took it to anotha level, took it to the streets and put a bit of sawgga and street talk to it
While ajasa keeps his rap mainly funny, DAgrin was more tupac and he and sosick created a real masterpiece in the cd CEO 'chief executive omoita'
I am sure people would start to compare him to tupac... i just hope we dont start getting dozen of songs featuring post humus DAgrin or people trying to cash in after his sad passing.
ACTUALLY there is no need to review his cd CEO just listen and file under CLazzic!!
RIP akogun !! Barrack O'grin.. Kondo Master... sun re o
ps.. for a good listen to any cd i recommend STRONGLY the bose wave music system
Like they say 'no one knows the day nor the hour' we will have to cash that one cheque which never bounces or when you get that 'call' you can't say you are not ready!!
When that final call come thru it never goes to voicemail.. you pick up and go !! ......end of!!
What will you be remembered for ? well ... it's whatever you did, didn't do or should have done or could have done but that doesnt matter to you.. as you wouldn't be around to listen to it...... GOOD OR BAD (thanks to j martins)
Enough of the philosophy lesson this should be all about DA GRIN... for me i think i started to take notice of him when he had this collaboraton with kenny st brown 'turn around' then saw his 'pon pon pon video which i feel was really nice !! then my bruv folabi sends me his cd CEO (thanks bruv for keeping in tune with the naija music scene!!) Listening to it, production and beat wise really tight and would probably stand the test of time and also as one of the best cds of the year 2009 but credit should goes to sosick (naija have some really really good beatmakers who can stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the best beatmakers worldwide, kanye, pharell, timbaland, wyclef etc watch your backs naija man dey come
After a few listens i liked the stand outs like ghetto stories, everyday and pon pon pon and kondo (though i feel he bite off candy stick by M and M ) but when i heard he passed,i went back (like you do when you heard a musician dies) you tend to go back to their back catalogue and re listen to their music ...case in point michael jackson.. then after that re listen, i rediscovered da grin and said ...wow... if he did this tight an album at 24, then ....one wonder what he would have done on album 3 ,4 or 5 but i guess that what life does to you, we get to the what if... phase !!
Though not the first to rap in yoruba/ pidgin english i think that should go to the king of yoruba rap, the lord of the manor... ajasa!! but DaGrin probably took it to anotha level, took it to the streets and put a bit of sawgga and street talk to it
While ajasa keeps his rap mainly funny, DAgrin was more tupac and he and sosick created a real masterpiece in the cd CEO 'chief executive omoita'
I am sure people would start to compare him to tupac... i just hope we dont start getting dozen of songs featuring post humus DAgrin or people trying to cash in after his sad passing.
ACTUALLY there is no need to review his cd CEO just listen and file under CLazzic!!
RIP akogun !! Barrack O'grin.. Kondo Master... sun re o
ps.. for a good listen to any cd i recommend STRONGLY the bose wave music system
LAGOS
Hello
This is about the second blog for the year 2010
musically for me it more about naija and african music
I have now actually had a good listen to 9ice new joint 'TRADITION' though not as strong as 'GONGO ASO' after a proper 'Alejo' listen, i feel its a wicked album ,production wise i still feel Gongo Aso is better, as it sounds clearer and well balanced sonically, whereas Tradition sounds muffled , unclear in general and not as polished as Gongo Aso. This could be due to the fact that he used varied producers and not mainly Id Cabasa .
But to be fair to 9ice i don't think in a singer's life you can make two classic albums, those days and age have long gone (The days of the chief priest Baba 70, King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey Oliver de Coque Chief Osadebe,Bright Chimezie,Orlando owoh ayinde barrister kollington ayinla salawa abeni etc.. (men i am really showing my age ) writing classics after classics over time though they did have a few dud albums but they were consistent over time because they were proper music men/women and had bands and not programmed sounds so they had to sit and not only write the song but write the music to the songs ) but these days it all about 'party music' and i dont think longetivity is part of the game any longer or if it is ...that has probably been pushed to the background .it's all make money,bling bling and the champange lifestyle
His word play and use of idioms and yoruba proverbs is commendable, according to 9ice he grew up with his granny who spoke to him in proverbs and yoruba wise word which put him in good stead.
STAND OUTZ
Energy-for the beats, flow and use of proverbs
Liquor- for the beats and world play
Alapomeji anhem-wow!! seriki's verse is the bomb
Pete Pete with ASA- over time classic
Gbamu gbamu-nice joint/video
Anytime-moving !!
overall really good effort
he will probably win a grammy someday
Ps is 9ice trying to carve a niche for himself?
As i feel there seems to be some chink in the coded tunes/alapomeji camp cos ID didn't have full production and it showed!!
But we all try and grow and move on !!
alapomeji for life
This is about the second blog for the year 2010
musically for me it more about naija and african music
I have now actually had a good listen to 9ice new joint 'TRADITION' though not as strong as 'GONGO ASO' after a proper 'Alejo' listen, i feel its a wicked album ,production wise i still feel Gongo Aso is better, as it sounds clearer and well balanced sonically, whereas Tradition sounds muffled , unclear in general and not as polished as Gongo Aso. This could be due to the fact that he used varied producers and not mainly Id Cabasa .
But to be fair to 9ice i don't think in a singer's life you can make two classic albums, those days and age have long gone (The days of the chief priest Baba 70, King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey Oliver de Coque Chief Osadebe,Bright Chimezie,Orlando owoh ayinde barrister kollington ayinla salawa abeni etc.. (men i am really showing my age ) writing classics after classics over time though they did have a few dud albums but they were consistent over time because they were proper music men/women and had bands and not programmed sounds so they had to sit and not only write the song but write the music to the songs ) but these days it all about 'party music' and i dont think longetivity is part of the game any longer or if it is ...that has probably been pushed to the background .it's all make money,bling bling and the champange lifestyle
His word play and use of idioms and yoruba proverbs is commendable, according to 9ice he grew up with his granny who spoke to him in proverbs and yoruba wise word which put him in good stead.
STAND OUTZ
Energy-for the beats, flow and use of proverbs
Liquor- for the beats and world play
Alapomeji anhem-wow!! seriki's verse is the bomb
Pete Pete with ASA- over time classic
Gbamu gbamu-nice joint/video
Anytime-moving !!
overall really good effort
he will probably win a grammy someday
Ps is 9ice trying to carve a niche for himself?
As i feel there seems to be some chink in the coded tunes/alapomeji camp cos ID didn't have full production and it showed!!
But we all try and grow and move on !!
alapomeji for life
Friday, March 12, 2010
africa's new music
Happy new year through its rather late, i havent blogged for about 6 months now, all sorts been happening but personally and musically
I have been lately listening to a lot of naija(nigerian for the un initiated) music and also music from mali.From nja there's new stuff from one of nija most prolific producers id cabasa (in my opinion ) 'ID entity',(6 stars)- 9ice's nu thing 'tradition',(a slow burner) not as good as gongo aso but grows on you after a few listen- p square 'danger' -ay.com 'pass me yur love' banky w 'the w experience' (a cracker of an album)-Da grin (real good and ghetto)- darey's un.darey'ted (classy) -terry g(hmmm),-wande coal 'mushin to mo hits (okay has a few good tracks but i have to confess i havent really given it a good listen ,so i really cant comment )-j martins 'elevated (cant really comment too )-kel 'the investment' but on the whole nija music has really come of age, not only the music but the videos which are almost comparing to mtv standard videos.
Let me start with id cabasa's ID entity personal i think its a really good album
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