Notes:Abigail Washburn and The Village (USA), Afrocubism (Mali/Cuba), Alejandro Toledo and The Magic Tombolinos (UK), Alpha Blondy (Cote D’Ivoire), Aurelio (Honduras), Axel Krygier (Argentina), Baaba Maal (Senegal), Bajah and the Dry-Eye Crew (Sierra Leone), Ballake Sissoko & Vincent Segal (France/Mali), Bellowhead (UK), Bomba Estéreo (Colombia), Booker T Jones (USA), Brassroots (UK), The Boxettes (UK), CW Stoneking (Australia), Danyel Waro (Reunion Island), Dhol Foundation (UK), Dhols of Jaipur (India), Donso (Mali/France), Dub Colossus (Ethiopia/UK), Easy Star All-Stars (USA), Ebo Taylor (Ghana), Gogol Bordello (USA), The Gotipuas, young dancers and acrobats from Orissa (India), Hassan Erraji’s MoRoccan Rollers (Morocco/UK), I Am Kloot (UK), Jamie Smith’s Mabon (Wales), Khaira Arby (Mali), Lau (UK), Le Trio Joubran (Palestine), Mahala Rai Banda (Romania), Majorstuen (Norway), Mungo’s Hi-fi (UK), Nathalie Natiembe (Reunion Island), The Nextmen & MC Wrec (UK), Nidi D’Arac (Italy), Nomfusi & The Lucky Charms (South Africa), Pacific Curls (New Zealand), Penguin Café (UK), Rodrigo y Gabriela (Mexico), Samuel Yirga (Ethiopia), Shunsuke Kimura & Etsuro Ono (Japan), Submotion Orchestra (UK), Susheela Raman (UK), Taraf de Haidouks (Romania), 9Bach (Wales)
Forget the Buena Vista Social Club. If you want a heart warming tale of musical success despite extreme adversity then buy this CD and listen to the sound of these paraplegic street musicians from Kinshasa, Congo and their rhythm and blues, funk inflected rumba
The Lafayette Afro-Rock Band are one of the most well known unknown funk bands of the 70s as they seemed only second to James Brown as a source of samples and breaks for the hip-hop community; so well worth getting back to the roots so to speak.
Roberto Fonseca’s most recent album, Zamazu, grooves seamlessly from start to finish as his sound at once nods to his musical roots and speaks in the original voice he set out to find many years ago
This new album IM is dedicated to tragic events in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and of one particular victim, Zawadi Mongane who Bugge heard interviewed on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme last year
You’d have thought from the ad in Thursday’s Metro, the Big Chill have gone all mainstream: The Big Chill 2006 on Channel 4, The Love Inn Valentine’s Ball at the Big ChillHouse and the plug for Mr. Scruff’s compilation on their own Big Chill Recordings label.
Niwel Tsumbu Duo have so many roots it’s difficult to know where to start – funk, jazz, central african guitars, Irish percussion, and packed with energy and soul it immediately stands out.
Musician Johnny Finn takes you behind the crumbling fascades of tourist Havana (La Habana), to reveal a city where the very streets themselves have rhythm (with or without slide guitar)
If you’re interested in the musical development of the popular music of this vast, troubled, yet joyously vibrant country during the golden years of the early pre- and post-independence era from the mid ’50s to the mid ’80s, you’ve been more than well-served these last eighteen months or so
