African music
CD: Amadou & Mariam - FolilaTuesday, 03 April 2012
With the subject of the legitimacy of the label “world music” having just had another airing in The Guardian, it seems fitting that Mali’s favourite musical couple should be releasing their least “world music” album to date. For essentially, ... Read more... |
The Arts Desk Radio ShowThursday, 29 March 2012
Welcome to theartsdesk's first radio show with Peter Culshaw and Joe Muggs, recorded with the extremely able help of Brendon Harding at Red Bull Studio London.In the course of this show, Peter and Joe take a look at the depth and breadth of music... Read more... |
2011: The Triumph of AuthenticityMonday, 02 January 2012
In a year of mounting turmoil and uncertainty, it was easy to fall back on safe bets and comfort-zone reassurance. Addictive TV series offered a welcome haven from the angst of financial meltdown: Sarah Lund’s melancholy airs in The Killing offered... Read more... |
Getatchew Mekuria and the Ex, Rich MixSunday, 11 December 2011
“It’s cultural imperialism,” a middle-aged gentleman felt compelled to say to me, presumably because I was the bloke with the notebook. “Then all pop music is cultural imperialism,” is what I should have fired back at him, had I not been so immersed... Read more... |
CD: Baloji - Kinshasa SuccursaleFriday, 02 December 2011
Some critics have lazily compared Baloji to Somali rapper K’nann: both are African rappers who had lucky childhood escapes from countries about to descend into war and chaos, but beyond that they seem to have quite different approaches to what they... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Khartoum: English folk songs in SudanSunday, 20 November 2011
I’m stood in the dusk in front of the tomb of Sheikh Hamid al-Nil as the sun sets on Khartoum, reddening in the exhaust-filled air as it deflates over a receding jumble of low-rise blocks spreading down the banks of the Nile and out towards... Read more... |
Toumani Diabaté, St George's BristolThursday, 03 November 2011
Toumani Diabaté is the world’s greatest and best-known kora player. Plugged in deep to a musical tradition that goes back over seven centuries, this griot or jali takes his custodial role very seriously, but he is also an adventurer who has... Read more... |
Fatoumata Diawara, Jazz CaféFriday, 14 October 2011
When I first saw this Malian singer-songwriter a few months ago at a showcase gig in a grimly carpeted basement bar in Clerkenwell it was hard to imagine a less appropriate space for such a regally beautiful woman to be found in. Yet within a couple... Read more... |
Imperial Tiger Orchestra, Boston DomeMonday, 03 October 2011
There’s more than one way to reinterpret or simply embrace the extraordinary wealth of Ethiopian music that Francis Falceto has given us with the still growing Ethiopiques CD series of 1970s Ethio-jazz (as the style has been inadequately labelled).... Read more... |
Orchestre National de Barbès, Queen Elizabeth HallMonday, 19 September 2011
I love the fact that under the “genre” tab on their Facebook page, Orchestre National de Barbès have opted for “Other” from the dropdown menu. Obviously in Facebookland “Other” simply means not rock, soul, hi-hop, jazz, reggae, classical etc.... Read more... |
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