Jump to content

African Music


baptizum

Recommended Posts

  • 2 months later...
  • Replies 550
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • 2 months later...
  • 4 months later...

Live African music in Dallas is a pretty rare event, but on September 19, Youssou N'Dour will perform at the Winspear Opera House in the Arts District. It's part of a subscription series, so tickets are not yet separately available. I saw him perform once in New York and am really looking forward to this concert.

Edited by kh1958
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Live African music in Dallas is a pretty rare event, but on September 19, Youssou N'Dour will perform at the Winspear Opera House in the Arts District. It's part of a subscription series, so tickets are not yet separately available. I saw him perform once in New York and am really looking forward to this concert.

Wow! I thought he'd given up music as he's now Senegal's Minister of Tourism and Culture.

He lights up the stage. Have a good time.

MG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Teranga Beat has a new release upcoming, Dexter Johnson & Le Super Star de Dakar, Live at L'Etoile. Reviewed here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/arts/music/new-releases-by-optimo-anita-wilson-and-dexter-johnson.html?_r=0

Oh, I bet that's nice. Dexter Johnson was a very important (though not all that great) saxophonist from Nigeria who made his name in Senegal at the time when the music scene was not quite as developed as it later became. He wanted to hip the Senegalese to Highlife but the Senegalese at the time were very hooked on Latin American stuff and didn't want to know about Highlife. So he played Latin stuff with Guinea Jazz, which eventually morphed into the various incarnations of Star Band (and into Youssou Ndour's Super Etoiles de Dakar) and played one of the key roles in the development of mbalax.

But this isn't mbalax; this is Latin stuff. Usual vocalist was the great Laba Sosseh, who was a Gambian and didn't speak Spanish. It's said, somewhere, that he learned all the songs phonetically and they all came out of his mouth as rubbish, but no one cared, because he sang so nicely :)

MG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

51HX5%2B5jZML._SL500_AA280_.jpg

Yinka Ayefele - Everlasting Grace (Yoruba Christian music)

Is this something you picked up in Nigeria a short while back?

I see Sterns are out of stock of all 10 of his albums they reckon to have sometimes. What's the music like?

MG

MG- Yes. Yinka Ayefele is currently very popular in Nigeria. The music is high powered for the dance floor with fast beats, as is the current rage in the country. Bui the arrangements are more traditional than most contemporary Nigerian pop and, with the exception of one track, distinctly Yoruba. Some of it is similar to Juju. Ayefele's voice is heavenly. I love dancing to it, although it may be a bit too popular / contemporary for the tastes of most people on this thread.

Edited by John L
Link to comment
Share on other sites

51HX5%2B5jZML._SL500_AA280_.jpg

Yinka Ayefele - Everlasting Grace (Yoruba Christian music)

Is this something you picked up in Nigeria a short while back?

I see Sterns are out of stock of all 10 of his albums they reckon to have sometimes. What's the music like?

MG

MG- Yes. Yinka Ayefele is currently very popular in Nigeria. The music is high powered for the dance floor with fast beats, as is the current rage in the country. Bui the arrangements are more traditional than most contemporary Nigerian pop and, with the exception of one track, distinctly Yoruba. Some of it is similar to Juju. Ayefele's voice is heavenly. I love dancing to it, although it may be a bit too popular / contemporary for the tastes of most people on this thread.

Thanks. Is it a departure from his earlier work, or a similar kind of thing?

MG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I'm listening to Lemzo Diamono's album "Marimbalax" for the first time. It's interesting. If I were to describe the music to someone else, it sounds like:

1) It was recorded at 33 1/3 but played back at 45

2) A beat drops out every so often like a skip on a record

3) The record is playing backwards.

All at the same time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm listening to Lemzo Diamono's album "Marimbalax" for the first time. It's interesting. If I were to describe the music to someone else, it sounds like:

1) It was recorded at 33 1/3 but played back at 45

2) A beat drops out every so often like a skip on a record

3) The record is playing backwards.

All at the same time.

One of my favourite bands. I have 17 of their albums (I think that's all of them).

I KIND OF recognise your description but don't think of it that way. Mbalax is rhythmically very complex and Lemzo DIamono's is the densest of the ways of playing it. 'Marimbalax' is a Sterns compilation of stuff from a few of their albums (and is the only album that ever was released on CD) and, in order to grab the western market, included the most dance-friendly stuff.

If you look around the web, you can probably find a few K7 rips of the band, including a 2 K7 live set from about '97.

I don't think they've made any recordings since about 2001.

MG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

By the end of the record, I was enjoying it more. But it definitely sounds "foreign" to these ears.

It's SUPPOSED to sound foreign :D It's from a very foreign country. (OK, not as foreign as Indian, Chinese, Japanese or other oriental music, which I've never liked, but still very different.)

MG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...