I went into HMV Bond Street as i usually would do browsing around on the upper floor looking through the world music section and this cd caught my eyes, initially i just pick it up because the album cover is jet black and the guy appears aborigine, held it but didnt make much of it and walked away and look to the mali music section picked up amadou and mariam's new cd 'welcome to mali ' which was what i actually came to buy. I was about paying for the cd when i asked what the lady at the till thought about guruumul cd and she is quite good so i paid for both and keep the receipt with the mind of returning it if i didn't like it.
On my way out, i happenend to notice that gurrumul was on the cover of the latest edition of songlines magazine,so i bought the magazine to read on the way home. I discovered he was blind since birth and painfully shy and rarely gave interviews .
He sounds like eva cassidy and has that kind of pain and sorrow in his voice like he know he is dying and singing for a place of pain,peace and sorrow at the same time .
I don't think i want to review this cd but would paste lnks of varying reviews by other people but for me all i can say is it was worth every penny i spent on it
A few reviews
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/feb/27/geoffrey-gurrumul-yunupingu-review
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gurrumul-Geoffrey-Yunupingu/dp/B0013NFQ8O
enjoy
Friday, July 31, 2009
T. I. A ....This is Africa
Friday 31st July 2009 time 7.55pm
Mali's Rokia Traore's new cd Tchamantche,which is both comtemporary and distinctively african and winner best new artist 2009 http://songlines.co.uk/awards2009/index.php and which
Mojo magazine calls it 'arguably the most adventurous african artist around, strikes gold.
The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/sep/05/worldmusic.
The Independent on Sunday called it 'exceptional'. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/rokia-traor--the-natural-ascent-to-global-superstardom-1749557.html
Mali's Rokia Traore's new cd Tchamantche,which is both comtemporary and distinctively african and winner best new artist 2009 http://songlines.co.uk/awards2009/index.php and which
Mojo magazine calls it 'arguably the most adventurous african artist around, strikes gold.
The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/sep/05/worldmusic.
The Independent on Sunday called it 'exceptional'. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/rokia-traor--the-natural-ascent-to-global-superstardom-1749557.html
The new york times says
This is African music at its very best mainly sang in her native bambara dialect, it is guarantee to move and stir the soul, and is what i call 'feel' music and for english speaking listeners she covers gershwin's 'The man i love' giving it an african twist that George and Ira Gershwin would be proud of .
Stand out tracks are Dounia, Zen, kounandi and the last track 'a o ni sou', which is simply stripped down AFRICAN SOUL.... Just Rokia,percussions that creates sweet sweet soul, the african way .This CD comes highly recommended.
Next stop...... Australia's Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu...and his new cd GURRUMUL
This is African music at its very best mainly sang in her native bambara dialect, it is guarantee to move and stir the soul, and is what i call 'feel' music and for english speaking listeners she covers gershwin's 'The man i love' giving it an african twist that George and Ira Gershwin would be proud of .
Stand out tracks are Dounia, Zen, kounandi and the last track 'a o ni sou', which is simply stripped down AFRICAN SOUL.... Just Rokia,percussions that creates sweet sweet soul, the african way .This CD comes highly recommended.
Next stop...... Australia's Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu...and his new cd GURRUMUL
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Realmusicworld AFRICAN Listening Post
- Buena Vista Social Club - Live at Carnegie Hall
- Oumou Sangare -Seya
- Oumou Sangare- Oumou
- Baba Maal-Television
- Rhythm Del Mundo-Cuba
- Tony Allen-Secret Agent
- Rokia Traore-Tchamantche
- Amadou & Mariam-Dimache a Bamako
- Amadou & Mariam-Welccome to Mali
- Richard Bona-Bona make you sweat
Please visit www.amazon.com for reviews and samplers of these great cds
Africa Returns
Hello, it's been about 3 years since i have written on this page, well, a lot has happened both personally and on the music front.
I have been listening to a lot of 'world' music because i am getting tired of listening to 'now' music, every thing seems to be and sound the same, even the videos. Personally, i think music especially black music which i frankly think has lost it soul, everybody now seems to want to be a gangster .
Its all about cars, women, sex ,moneyand drugs produced by the same old set of 'hot' producers .Once a producer, produces a hot track, everybody want a piece of that sound, nobody seems to take a chance and sing from the soul or try something different. Every thing is controlled, the music, the singers, what they say, what they do, how they dress, you name it.
So i am taking a trip back to the source of real music.... AFRICA!! Listening to music from Africa, were at least we still have people that play live music and put some passion into their music and not just programmed beats, but real music and real people, not were you have one person play all instruments.I have also pick up a passion for music from Mali, Congo and and its environ especially music of Mali's Oumou Sangare, Amadou & Mariam , Rokia Traore and Senegal's Baba Maal.I had known of them over the years , but never really checked out their music like i am these days , Rokia's guest vocalled on Daara j's (Senegalese hip hop trio) album Bomerang ,i think the song's called hip hop civilization ( please forgive me if i am wrong cos i am writing off the top of my head ) I recently got Oumou Sangare new cd 'Seya' just to have a feel of Mali and i must confess, didn't particularly like what i heard at a first listen, but just before i went to bed i put the cd in my bose player and let it play from the 1st track to the end and was i blown away boy, can the lady sing no wonder she's called KONO, songbird.
If you want an introduction to Mali music, i think oumou's cd 'seya' is a good place to start your african music journey. I now have a new appreciation of live music and music played using mainly African traditional instruments, Oumou sings in her native language wasaalu which i don't understand a word of but all i can say is that is GOOD music. we have the added bonus of have the human drum machine and co-creator of afrobeat Tony Allen playing drums on 'koroko'.For the outstanding tracks on the album listen to Koroko, Seya(the title track)sounsouma, and donso. Please if you get the chance, go out and get the cd .Highly recommended
As i write, i am listening to Baba Maal's new cd called televison, its a slow burner and it's also a good cd Also worth checking out are Tony Allen's Secret Agent, Amadou & Mariam's 'Welcome to Mali' and Diamache a Bamako , Rokia Traore's 'Tchamantche', Rhythms del mundo Cuba ( a compilation cd ) features covers of popular songs. We have singers as diverse as Dido, Coldplay,Kaiser Chiefs playing music with Cuban feel, i guess they too are all tiring of all the programmed music, we all listening to at the moment and need some soul in their music .
Ps RIP Michael JacksonReviews of the albums above coming shortly.It all started with the music of Cameroun's Richard Bona, and like Bob Marley once said one good thing about music when it hits you, you feel no pain, african music is good music and you sure will not feel any pain
I have been listening to a lot of 'world' music because i am getting tired of listening to 'now' music, every thing seems to be and sound the same, even the videos. Personally, i think music especially black music which i frankly think has lost it soul, everybody now seems to want to be a gangster .
Its all about cars, women, sex ,moneyand drugs produced by the same old set of 'hot' producers .Once a producer, produces a hot track, everybody want a piece of that sound, nobody seems to take a chance and sing from the soul or try something different. Every thing is controlled, the music, the singers, what they say, what they do, how they dress, you name it.
So i am taking a trip back to the source of real music.... AFRICA!! Listening to music from Africa, were at least we still have people that play live music and put some passion into their music and not just programmed beats, but real music and real people, not were you have one person play all instruments.I have also pick up a passion for music from Mali, Congo and and its environ especially music of Mali's Oumou Sangare, Amadou & Mariam , Rokia Traore and Senegal's Baba Maal.I had known of them over the years , but never really checked out their music like i am these days , Rokia's guest vocalled on Daara j's (Senegalese hip hop trio) album Bomerang ,i think the song's called hip hop civilization ( please forgive me if i am wrong cos i am writing off the top of my head ) I recently got Oumou Sangare new cd 'Seya' just to have a feel of Mali and i must confess, didn't particularly like what i heard at a first listen, but just before i went to bed i put the cd in my bose player and let it play from the 1st track to the end and was i blown away boy, can the lady sing no wonder she's called KONO, songbird.
If you want an introduction to Mali music, i think oumou's cd 'seya' is a good place to start your african music journey. I now have a new appreciation of live music and music played using mainly African traditional instruments, Oumou sings in her native language wasaalu which i don't understand a word of but all i can say is that is GOOD music. we have the added bonus of have the human drum machine and co-creator of afrobeat Tony Allen playing drums on 'koroko'.For the outstanding tracks on the album listen to Koroko, Seya(the title track)sounsouma, and donso. Please if you get the chance, go out and get the cd .Highly recommended
As i write, i am listening to Baba Maal's new cd called televison, its a slow burner and it's also a good cd Also worth checking out are Tony Allen's Secret Agent, Amadou & Mariam's 'Welcome to Mali' and Diamache a Bamako , Rokia Traore's 'Tchamantche', Rhythms del mundo Cuba ( a compilation cd ) features covers of popular songs. We have singers as diverse as Dido, Coldplay,Kaiser Chiefs playing music with Cuban feel, i guess they too are all tiring of all the programmed music, we all listening to at the moment and need some soul in their music .
Ps RIP Michael JacksonReviews of the albums above coming shortly.It all started with the music of Cameroun's Richard Bona, and like Bob Marley once said one good thing about music when it hits you, you feel no pain, african music is good music and you sure will not feel any pain
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Richard Bona
I just got back from the radio 3 london jazz festival where richard bona played at the queen elizabeth room of the royal festival hall @ the south bank.
The show started at about 8.20pm and lasted for about an hour and a half.It was my first time of seeing him live, though i have known about him and his music for about 4 or 5 years and happen to have all his cds from 'Reverence, Scenes from my life, Munia-the tale and the latest 'Tiki' not forgetting his collaboration 'toto bona lokua'.
The room was made for 'live' music, acoustically prefect. His band was made up of ernesto simpson from cuba on drummers, Samuel torres (colombia)on percussion, etienne stadwijk (holland)Tom haskins trunpet (USA) and lastly john Coban( USA) on guitars.Richard himself on bass (he's from cameroun). Seeing him live was a dream come true cos he's such a show man and gave us all our money's worth!!The high point of the show was his solo preformance were he sang in his native tongue(douala which he normally does anyway) and over dubbed himself live right there, he sang a part ,recorded it there, played that part back, sang another part, stood back listen and played another, in short it was like 3 or 4 richard bonas playing different part of a song ,like you would have an acapella group play.. it was magic ....!!.he runs such a tight band and he highly recommended for those that want and love live music.
It's such a big shame that we had must more white than black people in the house!! is it me or we, as black people seem not to appreciate 'ours'! Same thing i noticed when i went to see john legend(another good show) @ the royal albert hall, we were so out numbered it was unbelievable!! like 75 to 25 percent !!maybe it's the environment or we just dont appreciated good music !!Finally all i can say to you is, if you haven't 'discovered' richard bona please go out and get all his cds, forget that he sings in a 'foreign'language, just enjoy his music and let it take you places. if you don't enjoy his music i will refund the cost of the cd to you !!
The show started at about 8.20pm and lasted for about an hour and a half.It was my first time of seeing him live, though i have known about him and his music for about 4 or 5 years and happen to have all his cds from 'Reverence, Scenes from my life, Munia-the tale and the latest 'Tiki' not forgetting his collaboration 'toto bona lokua'.
The room was made for 'live' music, acoustically prefect. His band was made up of ernesto simpson from cuba on drummers, Samuel torres (colombia)on percussion, etienne stadwijk (holland)Tom haskins trunpet (USA) and lastly john Coban( USA) on guitars.Richard himself on bass (he's from cameroun). Seeing him live was a dream come true cos he's such a show man and gave us all our money's worth!!The high point of the show was his solo preformance were he sang in his native tongue(douala which he normally does anyway) and over dubbed himself live right there, he sang a part ,recorded it there, played that part back, sang another part, stood back listen and played another, in short it was like 3 or 4 richard bonas playing different part of a song ,like you would have an acapella group play.. it was magic ....!!.he runs such a tight band and he highly recommended for those that want and love live music.
It's such a big shame that we had must more white than black people in the house!! is it me or we, as black people seem not to appreciate 'ours'! Same thing i noticed when i went to see john legend(another good show) @ the royal albert hall, we were so out numbered it was unbelievable!! like 75 to 25 percent !!maybe it's the environment or we just dont appreciated good music !!Finally all i can say to you is, if you haven't 'discovered' richard bona please go out and get all his cds, forget that he sings in a 'foreign'language, just enjoy his music and let it take you places. if you don't enjoy his music i will refund the cost of the cd to you !!
Friday, November 10, 2006
rocky dawuni
I just received my copy of rocky dawuni's book of changes' and boy is it a brilliant album.It's a mix of afrobeat, roots reggae, hip hop and a bit of everything.apparently he's been around since 1996 and this is his fourth cd .The more i listen to it ,the more i am amazed at his songwriting and musically arrangement.The stand out so far for me is the 'africa for learn' wake the town and shesemane (the last two were played and licensed to the american hit series 'ER').In this days of computerized music rocky is a breathe of fresh air, maybe i am too old skul but i really enjoy reading credit on a song and love see that we still have people that still believe in music and have bass player guitarist,drummer and the whole nine and not just written and programmed by timbaland.This album comes highly recommended and for all music lover please do yourselves a favour and add this to you music collection. you can read more about him @ www.rockydawuni.com
Saturday, November 04, 2006
old skul fela anikulapo kuti
Got back from hmv to shop for old skul fela cds, got myself 'stalemate/fefe ne efe, confusion/gentleman
and just reminising about the good old day back in lagos nigeria.That guy was a musical genius, how many musicians do you know ,that their music still stands the test of time 20 to 30 years later ? not too many.
He rates with people like robert nesta marley, john coltrane, duke ellington,marvin gaye,monk etc were you listen to music played way ,way back and its still relevant to today.Fela sang 'shuffering and shmiling' i think it was 1980's and we all thought, he was smoking too much marijuana, but check naija too day,
what he said is all there!!, that is the mark of a genius, a man with foresight.... Take 'gentleman', the opening arrangement is nothing short of 'classic'.Fela's music was all about 'mountains and valleys, he takes you up there, bring you down gently and lifts you up once again and in the mix of it all is 'baba 70' .
For those that want to research fela i personally feel a good starting point is zombie, mr follow follow, teacher dont teach me nonesense would be a good starting point.
I think he was at his creative best in the 70's were he created classics like lady, shakara, kalakuta show.Tony allen(afrobeat co-creator & drummer )tony allen was the only person in the whole of afrika 70 fela didnt write a part to play.when tony allen left the band fela kept on changing drummers and at a time had two drummers to recreate the 'tony allen afrobeat'
Fela has created a genre that has been copy, chopped or recreated from as far a field as canada, america and europe ...Nu afrobeaters to check out are Mr Something Something, Ultra Magnus, Chicago afrobeat project, akoya afobeat ensemble, antibalas . All these nu groups come highly recommended and also not forgetting the Princes Femi & Seun kuti still keeping the flag flying!!Seun is leading his dad's old band and femi's doing his thing at the new africa shrine in ikeja lagos nigeria
and just reminising about the good old day back in lagos nigeria.That guy was a musical genius, how many musicians do you know ,that their music still stands the test of time 20 to 30 years later ? not too many.
He rates with people like robert nesta marley, john coltrane, duke ellington,marvin gaye,monk etc were you listen to music played way ,way back and its still relevant to today.Fela sang 'shuffering and shmiling' i think it was 1980's and we all thought, he was smoking too much marijuana, but check naija too day,
what he said is all there!!, that is the mark of a genius, a man with foresight.... Take 'gentleman', the opening arrangement is nothing short of 'classic'.Fela's music was all about 'mountains and valleys, he takes you up there, bring you down gently and lifts you up once again and in the mix of it all is 'baba 70' .
For those that want to research fela i personally feel a good starting point is zombie, mr follow follow, teacher dont teach me nonesense would be a good starting point.
I think he was at his creative best in the 70's were he created classics like lady, shakara, kalakuta show.Tony allen(afrobeat co-creator & drummer )tony allen was the only person in the whole of afrika 70 fela didnt write a part to play.when tony allen left the band fela kept on changing drummers and at a time had two drummers to recreate the 'tony allen afrobeat'
Fela has created a genre that has been copy, chopped or recreated from as far a field as canada, america and europe ...Nu afrobeaters to check out are Mr Something Something, Ultra Magnus, Chicago afrobeat project, akoya afobeat ensemble, antibalas . All these nu groups come highly recommended and also not forgetting the Princes Femi & Seun kuti still keeping the flag flying!!Seun is leading his dad's old band and femi's doing his thing at the new africa shrine in ikeja lagos nigeria
Saturday, October 14, 2006
realmusicworld
realmusicworld
Today the 14th October 2006, just got back from atlanta on tuesday, was good fun, musically got myself the new fourplay & boney james cds 'X' & Shine respectively.Starting with the fourplay album 'my love's leavin' ( i think it's a cover of an old song) and kid zero for me are the stand outs!! all in all i think the album is wot you expect from them, polished,smooth & classy. It's a grower, the more you listen, the more you like it . i must confess i didn't like it after a couple of listens!! but after repeated play it grew on me. Last word ... RECOMMENDED. As for boney james, i still can't place it yet, so i will post a review later!!Ps i got my self the new bose noise cancelling headphone QC3, though expensive, to me, it's a music lover's dream put it on, 'cancel' out the outside interference and listen to pure music (listening to songs off my ipod i even hear nuance in song i didnt even know exsited) safety advise!! do not wear on the street
Today the 14th October 2006, just got back from atlanta on tuesday, was good fun, musically got myself the new fourplay & boney james cds 'X' & Shine respectively.Starting with the fourplay album 'my love's leavin' ( i think it's a cover of an old song) and kid zero for me are the stand outs!! all in all i think the album is wot you expect from them, polished,smooth & classy. It's a grower, the more you listen, the more you like it . i must confess i didn't like it after a couple of listens!! but after repeated play it grew on me. Last word ... RECOMMENDED. As for boney james, i still can't place it yet, so i will post a review later!!Ps i got my self the new bose noise cancelling headphone QC3, though expensive, to me, it's a music lover's dream put it on, 'cancel' out the outside interference and listen to pure music (listening to songs off my ipod i even hear nuance in song i didnt even know exsited) safety advise!! do not wear on the street
Friday, September 08, 2006
tribute show to fela
hi to all fela lovers!! i will be putting together a showcase of afrobeat music plus a bit of everything.this show would take place at a newly refurbished eatery in south east london. it would mainly be past, present and future afrobeat from various artistes from all over the world. u will surprised and amazed as to howfar AFROBEATER have taken fela's music... it will be a good 1-2 hrs of pure afrobeat,smooth jazz plus a bit of this and that .... should be a good night out all in all
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