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Thread: Current African Music recommendations

  1. #1
    Member thedunno's Avatar
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    Current African Music recommendations

    In the late 80ies, early nineties i followed the west African music scene a bit. Favorites were Youssou N'Dour, Baaba Maal, Franco (the Congolese musician, not the Spanish dictator) and Fela Kuti.

    Lately I've been replaying some of those albums and enjoying most of it. But what are the relevant current musicians today that keep the artistic flame alive of the artists mentioned? I sometimes hear African music heavily influenced by western hiphop. Not interested in that.

    Recommendations please.

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    Boo! walt's Avatar
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    The sons of a couple of giants of African music are continuing their fathers musical legacies.Seun and Femi Kuti, sons of Fela Kuti,are gifted musicians.I saw Seun Kuti a couple of years ago in Central Park,NYC.Outstanding.

    Vieux Farka Toure,son of Malian great Ali Farka Toure, is also following in his fathers footsteps.

    I like what i've heard from a band from the DRC(Democratic Republic of Congo) called Konono No.1.

    Tinariwen,from Mali.

    Enjoy.
    "please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide

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    Member thedunno's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by walt View Post
    The sons of a couple of giants of African music are continuing their fathers musical legacies.Seun and Femi Kuti, sons of Fela Kuti,are gifted musicians.I saw Seun Kuti a couple of years ago in Central Park,NYC.Outstanding.

    Vieux Farka Toure,son of Malian great Ali Farka Toure, is also following in his fathers footsteps.

    I like what i've heard from a band from the DRC(Democratic Republic of Congo) called Konono No.1.

    Tinariwen,from Mali.

    Enjoy.
    I didn't know about these 'sons of'. Will check them out. thnx.
    Konono no.1. I also never heared of.

    Tinariwen I saw live about a year ago and really enjoyed them.

  4. #4
    Well, I know this isn't "current", but I've always liked King Sunny Ade. I had a couple of his albums back in the 80's (Aura and Synchro System, I've actually still got the latter), but most of his better records were hard to come by in the US. Or at the very least, they were hard to come by when you don't have an import store that specializes in "world music", as they were only released in Nigeria.

    But a few years ago, I found a website that had a bunch of his albums in mp3 form. Many of them were quite obviously needle drops, and from what I can gather, a lot of his 70's era albums have never been out on CD. Anyhow, since then I've been enjoying listening to those.

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    Member thedunno's Avatar
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    Femi Kuti!!



    I also enjoyed that rawer sound of Konono nr.1.
    Last edited by thedunno; 07-04-2017 at 02:50 PM.

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    Progga mogrooves's Avatar
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    Boo! walt's Avatar
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    Fatoumata Diawara



    Orchestra Baobab.This isn't new,but it is wonderful,imo.

    Last edited by walt; 07-05-2017 at 02:00 PM.
    "please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide

  11. #11
    Not completely current (crikey, it's been more than a decade), but the album from Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra is a killer.



    In semi-recent memory I've been getting the most play out of Habib Koite (Malian guitarist in the griot tradition) and Vusi Mahlasela (known as "The Voice" in South Africa for reasons that are immediately apparent).




    Quote Originally Posted by walt View Post
    Orchestra Baobab.This isn't new,but it is wonderful,imo.
    Their newest is pretty fine too.
    Last edited by Spiral; 07-05-2017 at 04:31 PM.

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    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Walt, good call on Fatou. I was trying to remember her name to post her myself. The African continent is such a limitless wealth of great music that sometimes I lose artists.

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    Member thedunno's Avatar
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    Some great recommendations there. Keep them coming!

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    Boo! walt's Avatar
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    Amazing what i forget i have in my collection.My own fault for not organizing my cds.Must post this,even though it's not new.From Senegal.Check it out.



    https://terangabeat.bandcamp.com/album/aw-sa-yone-vol-1
    Last edited by walt; 07-06-2017 at 07:08 PM.
    "please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide

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    Member hippypants's Avatar
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    I can't embed vids on my phone, but there is a new Congolese group who make electronic music with (amongst other things) typewriters! You can watch "We are KOKOKO!" on YouTube.

  17. #17
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by thedunno View Post
    In the late 80ies, early nineties i followed the west African music scene a bit. Favorites were Youssou N'Dour, Baaba Maal, Franco (the Congolese musician, not the Spanish dictator) and Fela Kuti.
    I suppose you don't need to be reminded of Mory Kante from those years as well.

    Couldn't stand Franco and consorts, though

    Quote Originally Posted by walt View Post
    Seun and Femi Kuti, sons of Fela Kuti,are gifted musicians.I saw Seun Kuti a couple of years ago in Central Park,NYC.Outstanding.
    Vieux Farka Toure,son of Malian great Ali Farka Toure, is also following in his fathers footsteps.
    Tinariwen,from Mali.
    Yup, those

    (Mali is probably the high point of the continent along with Nigeria

    Cameroon (Makossa music) and Senegal are good scenes as well)

    Quote Originally Posted by thedunno View Post
    Some great recommendations there. Keep them coming!
    I thought you wanted recent/current stuff, coz a lot of the stuff presented here is dating from a fair while ago.

    It seems that even in Africa, the 70's were most magical

    From Nigeria: Ofege



    old stuff from South Africa: Batsumi



    they had a second album (couldn't find it in full)

    Last edited by Trane; 07-11-2017 at 04:57 AM.
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  18. #18
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    For other 70's stuff, I suggest you look at page 2 of this thread

    http://www.progressiveears.org/forum...hlight=osibisa

    ====================

    Newer afrobeat with Heliocentrics colaborating with both Orlando Julius





    And Heliocentrics and Mutatu Astatke (Ethiopia)




    And if you want other music from Ethiopia , Steve F should be able to help you, because he's very much into it.
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

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