On Eve, her highly anticipated Savoy Records debut named for her own mother as well as the mythical mother of all living, the Beninese born, Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter builds on this ever-evolving legacy with a 13-track, three interlude set of melodically rich, rhythmically powerful expressions of female empowerment. These songs become all the more intimate and emotionally …
Traveling to exotic lands is nothing new for Tinariwen. The Saharan blues band have performed the world over bringing their signature mix of hypnotic rock guitar with the traditional instruments and vocal stylings of their native Tuareg roots to their adoring fans. But this night in Paris would be different, and this live recording captures the …
Cesaria Evora did not begin to record in earnest until she was forty-seven, but to hear her sing is to hear the voice of Cape Verde, her people and her history. Called “the barefoot diva” by the Parisian fans who propelled her to international celebrity in the late 1980s, Evora performs in the traditional Cape Verdean musical styles …
Ali and Toumani is the second and final album pairing the late Malian guitar virtuoso Ali Farka Touré and kora master Toumani Diabaté . Recorded over three afternoons at London’s Livingston Studios in 2005, with contributions from the lateOrlando ‘Cachaito’ Lopez (Buena Vista Social Club) on bass, Ali and Toumani is the follow-up to the duo’s Grammy Award-winning …
Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Rokia Traoré’s Beautiful Africa was produced by English musician John Parish (PJ Harvey, Eels, Sparklehorse) and recorded at Toybox Studios in Bristol, UK. Its lyrics are sung in the Malian-born Traoré’s native languages of French and Bambara, as well as some English. Pitchfork described Traoré’s 2009 record Tchamantché, as “a guitar album of a …
The blues has long been about storytelling, about raising a voice from the margins and edges of American life. As it spread from the Deep South to Chicago and beyond, the blues incorporated a powerful musical groove which has influenced music around the world. Now, musicians are reaching across the Atlantic and finding that they have a common …
By 1972, when Music Of Fela: Roforofo Fight was originally released (on two vinyl albums, Music Of Fela Volume One and Volume Two), Fela was becoming one of the most avidly followed musicians in West Africa. His audience came from among the region’s urban poor, the “sufferheads” living in the shanty towns around the major cities, along with …
Throw Down Your Heart, Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3: Africa Sessions
Full title: Throw Down Your Heart/Tales From The Acoustic Planet Vol. 3/Africa Sessions. 2009’s Throw Down Your Heart chronicles banjo virtuoso and 18 time Grammy award winner Bela Fleck’s musical journey to Africa to explore the little known African roots of the banjo. Bela’s boundary-breaking musical adventure takes him to Uganda, Tanzania, The Gambia, and Mali, and provides …
Graceland (25th Anniversary Edition CD/DVD) (Featuring Under African Skies Film)
In 1986, Graceland sold 14 million copies worldwide and garnered both the Album and Song of the Year Grammy in 1987. Simon and the members of Ladysmith Black Mambazo performed on Saturday Night Live and appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone. It generated three hit singles and it kept Paul Simon and the Graceland tour on the …
The title of the album says it all. Centuries ago, when the djinns, African bush spirits, gave the first ever kora to the griot Jali Mady Wuleng (Jali Mady The Red) it had 22 strings. When Jali Mady died his fellow griots took one string away in his memory. But in its southern Senegal and Guinea Bissau birthplace …