Afropop Worldwide
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Umm Kulthum has been called the greatest singer in the Arabic speaking world in the 20th century. Born in 1904 the humble daughter of an Egyptian village imam, she went on to become a glamorous Cairo celebrity in her 20s, and soon after that, a cultural icon whose monthly live radio broadcasts brought much of Egypt to a standstill. She turned high poetry into popular culture. She extended musical forms with her virtuoso, extended vocal improvisations. Combining historical, religious, literary and musical passions, she inspired an enduring sense of national pride and left a legacy for the ages. Millions gathered for her 1975 funeral. With Umm Kulthum biographer Virginia Danielson as guide and guest, this program explores the life and music of a musical legend. Produced by Banning Eyre. APWW #465
This program focuses on four female artists whose music is full of challenging messages for a challenged world. Climate change, womens’ empowerment, police brutality, official corruption… All that and more in new work from Angelique Kidjo, Dobet Gnaore, Fatoumata Diaouara and Shungudzo, plus a dive into Octavia Butler’s prescient cautionary tales with Toshi Reagon. Produced by Banning Eyre. APWW #827
Afropop Worldwide took 24 adventurous listeners to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, and Zanzibar in February. In this episode, Dar music veteran and aficionado John Kitime takes us through highlights, including the frenetic and risqué singeli music-and-dance craze currently electrifying the country. We also get Kitime's unique insider perspective, and some deep history, on Swahili rumba, still going strong in Dar Es Salaam nightclubs. PA #014
In West Africa, women are on the cutting edge of musical and cultural progress. This program looks at four singer/composers with roots in tradition and unique ideas about how to keep them current in the fast-changing milieu of today’s African music. Mali’s Fatoumata Diawara keeps her focus on messages, mixing traditional sounds and rock idioms to reach young audiences. Senegal’s Aida Samb is finding new avenues for that country’s trademark mbalax sound, including collaborations with Afrobeats stars like Wizkid. Elida Almeida of Cape Verde has emerged as a freewheeling composer, able to draw on whatever influences she likes, and it’s working for fans of all generations. And Benin’s Angelique Kidjo, never one to sit back on her many successes, has covered Talking Heads’ 1980 album Remain in Light, in its entirety, re-Africanizing a rock classic for a new time. We’ll speak with all four artists, and hear their latest music. Produced by Banning Eyre
Cheikha Rimitti was certainly a queen. For some, she was the queen of raï (pronounced RYE), which means “opinion" in Arabic. For others, she was the queen of freedom, an Algerian Statue of Liberty wielding the fire of independence, as she sang daringly and frankly about love, sexuality, poverty, drinking and oppression. She defied taboos and her music was often banned. She used to say that "misfortune was her teacher” but she became an international star who died at 86, two days after a sold-out show! However, it might be too simple to portray Rimitti only in this iconic role. She was even more than a musical and cultural queen, and she still lives on in many hearts. Rimitti would have been 100 in 2023 - and yet the Algerian diva is still praised and remixed by a young new generation of artists. In this episode, we’ll journey through Rimitti’s rocky life and we’ll meet her musical progeny. Produced by Elodie Maillot. APWW #870
Bongeziwe Mabandla is a maverick South African singer-songwriter whose music draws on many of his country’s rich styles, but cannot be reduced to any of them. Along with his Mozambican producer Tiago Correira Paulo, he has developed a unique, keyboard-driven sound with deep, meditative textures. Planet Afropop’s Mukwae Wabei Siyolwe calls it “music you can dance to, pray to, cry to, and celebrate to.” In this episode Mukwae speaks with Bongeziwe and Tiago as they are about to embark on a world tour. The episode concludes with Graceland bassman Bakithi Kumalo, talking and playing from his home studio in advance of his participation in Camp Afropop in May 2024. PA #013
To kick off Women's History Month, DJ Kix returns with Georges Collinet to take us on a musical journey across Africa, showcasing some of the continent’s formidable women who are quickly rising in the industry and making their presence known. In this episode, we’ll hear from: top Namibian MC, Lioness; Zimbabwean Afro-fusion artist, Gemma Griffiths; as well as Kaleo Sansaa from Zambia with her “sun-drunk” sounds and “solar-based” hip-hop; alongside Hibotep’s experimental East African electro vibes and Rhita Nattah’s Aissaoua-influenced Moroccan tunes. We’re delving deep into what it’s like being a woman in the ever-evolving and fast-paced contemporary African music scene. All this plus an incredible playlist of music by women who are breaking the mold in their own way, and inspiring all. Produced by DJ Kix APWW #852
There’s been a lot of speculation about the chain of musical events that link the blues back to Africa. Most of that chain is unrecorded and shrouded in mystery. But there is one chapter, just before the blues, that we do know quite a lot about. That’s the history of African-American string bands. This program explores the history, with music and memories from a special guest: the late string maestro Howard Armstrong. Along the way, we hear music from Canray Fontenot, Blind James Campbell, Hobard Smith and other legends of this little-known chapter in American folk and popular music. Produced by Banning Eyre. APWW #326
The season of Carnival in Guadeloupe brings the unmistakable sounds of music from the local culture clubs to the streets like no other carnival in the world. Every Sunday from the new year to Ash Wednesday, The islanders take turns showing off their cultural traditions. Enslaved Africans, were prohibited from assembling because of Article 16 of the “Code Noir” promulgated by the King of France, Louis XIV, in 1685. After the abolition of slavery on the islands in 1848, They have been reorganizing by marching the streets with displays of traces of pre-colonial Arawak sounds of conches and the drumming and the singing of chants of their traditional folk music called Gwoka. In Pointe-à-Pitre “Ben Démaré" or in the sea, is a purification ritual for the “skin clubs”, which kicks off Carnival. Young men take to the streets with traditional whips used on their ancestors during enslavement and have created a counter-culture in their display of whipping the ground - reconciling the past present, and future. Mukwae Wabei Siyolwe was a special guest of Harry Durimel, the environmental lawyer and Mayor of Point a Pitre, and she experienced the Carnival, or Mas as it is called in Guadeloupe, from a unique perspective. She was at Place de la Victoire on Dimanche Gras the biggest gathering of the islands, bringing thousands onto the streets of Pointe-à-Pitre in the run-up to Lent. Produced by Mukwae Wabei Siyolwe. PA #012
This program traces the history of this most American of instruments from its ancestors in West Africa through the Caribbean and American South and into the present, as a new generation of Black women artists reclaim the banjo as their own. Rhiannon Giddens, Bassekou Kouyate, Bela Fleck and more talk claw-hammers, trad jazz, Appalachian folk, African ancestors and the on-going story of American music, which would be woefully incomplete without a Black history of the banjo. Produced by Ben Richmond.
Foundational for Broadway and the movies, intertwined with jazz, tap dancing is a Great American Art. Strap on your shoes and shuffle along as we trace the history of tap and celebrate the Black artists and innovators who built--and continue to build--this art form. From its murky origins melding African percussion and Anglo-Irish step dancing, to tap's golden age and its ongoing evolution. Produced by Ben Richmond.
Every winter, starting in February, the organizers of the annual Nuits D’Afrique festival put on a battle of the Afropop bands. Bands face off, three a night at Club Balatou, and the audience votes a winner for the night. Eventually, the field comes down to nine finalists, and that’s when we at Afropop are asked to pick the winner of the Afropop prize from those nine acts. So as the festival is about to kick off again this year,we thought it would be great to honor the 2023 winners. The big winner of the entire contest was an awesome Afro-Latin band called Team Salsa Quintet. We'll also feature a visit with a group of young Algerian immigrants in Montreal - the band is called Afirka. And we'll wrap up with a report from correspondent Harrison Malkin on the recent Artist for Aid event in Newark, New Jersey. It was a star-studded evening aimed at raising awareness and funds for the victims of violence in Gaza and Sudan.
This Hip Deep episode presents the stunning radio premiere of "Oh, David," the traditional song of the annual Easter Rock in Winnsboro, Louisiana. The Easter Rock is in fact a surviving ringshout—the oldest known form of African American music—but it's about 600 miles west of the ringshout's heartland in Georgia. It's located across the Mississippi River from Vicksburg in the Louisiana Delta, where they don't call it a "ringshout," but a “rock.” And it totally rocks. Producer Ned Sublette attends the Easter Rock ceremony and talks with Dr. Joyce Marie Jackson, a scholar and Louisiana native, who has been working with the Rockers for almost 20 years and confirms their tradition as a direct musical link to slavery days. In Athens, Georgia, Sublette visits Art Rosenbaum, producer of recordings by Georgia's McIntosh County Shouters, and more. Produced by Ned Sublette. APWW #734
In today’s pop music, everybody is a composer. But what about the classics? The songs that last? In this program we survey African musicians reinterpreting each other’s songs, as well as songs from far outside their traditions. And we hear foreign takes on African diaspora music. From Louis Armstrong’s “Skokiaan” to Alpha Blondy’s “Whole Lotta Love,” it’s a journey of discovery and rediscovery. Produced by Banning Eyre. APWW #854
Moh Kouyate is a Guinean guitarist/singer/songwriter descending from a line of griots (jalis) in West Africa. As listeners heard in the Afropop Worldwide program Global Griots in France, he has lived in Paris since 2006, collaborating with a wide range of artists from genres far outside his traditional art. In this episode, Banning Eyre speaks with Moh about his adventurous life, and particularly, his ground-breaking, new acoustic album, Mokhôya. Also, fellow Guinean artist Natu Camara gives a shoutout about her upcoming visit to Camp Afropop, May 28-31, 2024 near Woodstock, New York.
In 2018, the renowned music journal Fact boldly claimed that “the world’s best electronic music festival is in Uganda.” In only a few years, Nyege Nyege has indeed become one of the hottest artistic hubs in East Africa, birthing two music labels that propelled local scenes, such as Ugandan acholitronix or Tanzanian singeli, across the globe. At the heart of this explosive universe lies a big house, known as “the Villa,” that almost constantly vibrates with sounds as musicians from the region and beyond tirelessly produce, exchange skills, and frenetically party until dawn. Despite reducing the Villa’s bubbling flow, COVID-19 didn’t silence it, and the house kept on nurturing its community of underground musicians. In this episode, producer Basile Koechlin takes us to the Villa to meet current residents and other members of the Nyege Nyege nebula. Through a patchwork of stories, soundscapes, and fresh musical releases, we hear more about this unique and strange place that came to host and generate a seminal part of the avant-garde of electronic music production in East Africa. APWW #843
Calypso and reggae have been mainstays of Grenada’s musical culture, until the emergence of the distinctive Carnival-based offshoot known as jab-jab soca, and more recent hybrid forms embraced by a younger generation of musical practitioners. On this program, we explore how the island’s tempestuous history has influenced its dynamic music scene, with testimony from leading Grenadian music figures, including calypso kings Ajamu and Black Wizard, members of the innovative group Moss International, jab-jab soca pioneers Tallpree and Mr Killa, and upcoming artists such as Sabrina Francis, a rising star who draws on soul, jazz, R&B and folk elements. Produced by David Katz APWW #856
Okwy Osadebe is the son of Nigerian Igbo highlife legend Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe. In this lively conversation with Georges Collinet and Eme Awa, of WOWD Radio in Takoma Park, we learn about the life, music and legacy of Okwy’s late father. We also learn about Okwy’s life in the United States, and his new album Igbo Amaka, and hear tracks from both father and son. It’s a Nigerian highlife extravaganza for the 21st century.
In 1809, the population of New Orleans doubled almost overnight because of French-speaking refugees from Cuba. You read that right-- French-speaking refugees from Cuba -- part of a wave of music and culture that emigrated from east to west in the wake of the Haitian Revolution. We'll look at the distinct African roots of these three regions, and compare what their musics sound like today. This Hip Deep program, originally broadcast in 2005, is being repeated in memoriam the pathbreaking historian Gwendolyn Midlo Hall (1929-2022), who gave us the tools to understand the making of Afro-Louisiana. Produced by Ned Sublette. APWW #467
Jazz legend, Randy Weston, more than any contemporary jazz artist, understood, honored and explored the roots of American music in Africa. He lived there, traveled there often, and spoke of his connections to his African ancestors in every interview during his 92 years. In this program, we revisit our musical conversation with Weston in 1998, and sample some of his late solo piano recordings. Produced by Sean Barlow and Banning Eyre. APWW #789
Planet Afropop closes out 2023 with a focus on celebratory music from the Democratic Republic of Congo. First, Mukwae notes some of the year’s trends in global African pop. Then we go to the streets of Kinshasa with live music from Kin’Gongolo Kinyata, recorded at WOMEX 2023 in Spain. And we end at the 35th Anniversary Dance Party at SOB’s in New York City, with Samba Mapangala and Soukous Stars. It’s a rollicking finale to an eventful year in African music.
Tarab, the ecstatic feeling associated with listening to and playing great music, is a fundamental characteristic in many varieties of Arab music. In this program, we explore tarab with special guest UCLA ethnomusicology professor A.J. Racy. Racy draws on his lifelong study of music and musicians, and also his insights as a virtuoso performer on the nay flute and the buzuq. Racy guides us through the experiences of listeners and players, providing deep insight into many varieties of tarab. We hear works by A.J. Racy, Sabah Fakhri and Ensemble Al-Kindi of Syria. APWW #424
In 1999, almost 30 years before ethnomusicologist Paul Berliner began his research on Zimbabwean mbira music, he organized a U.S. tour with mbira artists he had worked with over the years. Billed as the Mbira Masters of Zimbabwe, the ensemble presented Shona spiritual music as never before on American stages. Revered vocalists Hakurotwi Mude and Beulah Dyoko fronted an ensemble that also included Cosmas Magaya, Chaka Chawasarira and Berliner himself. Afropop Worldwide documented the tour and took it as an opportunity to take a deep dive into one of the most beautiful traditional music traditions in Africa. Produced by Banning Eyre. APWW #327
Burkina Faso in West Africa is a nation on the rise. Amid recent political turmoil, it faces the challenge and opportunity of managing vast mineral wealth, including gold. As promising as these riches are, Georges, Mukwae and Banning focus here on the country’s multicultural musical riches. We hear music from the late Baba Commandant and the Mandingo band, as well as interviews and live music from Dicko Fils and the Sahel punk experimental outfit, Avalanche Kaito. Open your ears to a too-often-overlooked major player in West African music. Episode #007
Gnawa musicians have carved out a unique niche within Moroccan society, as people with revered spiritual power who use music and movement to heal the sick. The Gnawas’ ancestors came to North Africa as slaves. Today they are an elite class of musicians and spiritualists, celebrated in an annual festival that attracts some 400,000 fans, and invited to collaborate with such notable international artists as jazz legend Randy Weston. In this program, originally produced in 2009, author and scholar Deborah Kapchan guides us through the history, practices, music, lore and unique contemporary stature of the Gnawa, both in Morocco and on the world stage. Interviews with Hassan Hakmoun, historian Mohammed Ennaji, and gnawa scholar Tim Abdella Fuson. Produced by Banning Eyre. APWW #580
Changüí is a little understood, loose and lively, community-based music of eastern Cuba. In this program we sample recordings from the 2021 box set Changüí: The Sound of Guantánamo, and hear from Gianluca Tramontana, the man who made the recordings. Rooted in Afro-Haitian music, pan-Caribbean styles, Spanish poetic traditions and more, Changüí emerged in the mid 19th century in plantations, not unlike the blues. We also hear from musician and scholar Ben Lapidus, author of the only English language book on Changüí, and we update the story with Changüí fusions into jazz, salsa and hip-hop. Prepare to dance! Produced by Banning Eyre. APWW # 840
Mr. Eazi stands out among today’s Nigerian pop stars in a number of ways. For starters, in a world of musical dreamers and schemers, he never set out to be a musician. Now, the 29-year-old is one of the most innovative and respected artists in the Afrobeats universe. His 2023 album The Evil Genius is an ambitious concept album recorded in a variety of mostly African countries. Each of its 16 tracks has an accompanying artwork by a different African visual artist. And there’s more, as you will hear in Eazi’s extensive interview with Planet Afropop’s Banning Eyre. Episode #006
Tony Allen is among the greatest drummers of the past century. His sudden death at 79 in April, 2020, was a shock felt around the world. In addition to his seminal work with the king of Afrobeat Fela Kuti, Allen had a prolific solo career and performed and recorded with artists from Angelique Kidjo, Ray Lema, Ernest Ranglin and Oumou Sangare to Damon Albarn, Brian Eno and Jeff Mills. In this program we salute a towering career in global music, with insights from Michael Veal, co-author of Allen’s autobiography. Produced by Banning Eyre. APWW #815
Cameroonian musician and composer Manu Dibango passed away on March 24, 2020 at his home in France, an early victim of Covid 19. This episode is a tribute to the exceptional man who, by chance, as he says, gave us the famous Soul Makossa, a tune that opened the Disco era. In this episode of Afropop Worldwide, Georges Collinet goes back in time to recollect his friendship with his fellow Cameroonian. He explores the many ways their lives paralleled and intersected after they were sent to France by their parents for an education. This musical journey is enhanced by the wisdom and sonorous laughter of Manu Dibango and by the mesmerizing music culled from over 200 records that Manu produced over a 60 year career. We'll sample some Maxi Voom Voom - as Georges Collinet on the Voice Of America was known - and have a taste of Andouillette and Suya in Yaoundé, Cameroon. And we'll finally know how to correctly say "Ma Ma Ko, Ma Massa, Ma Ma Makossa." This episode is definitely a multi-sensory delight! APWW #814
On this episode of Planet Afropop, we focus on Ghana at WOMEX 2023. But first, Mukwae updates us with South African sensation Tyla, and her hit "Water." Banning has a conversation and informal jam session with Ghanain musician Kyekyeku - recorded by the EBU at WOMEX in Spain. And we wrap up with Ghanain singer, Florence. She shares her origin story and we hear her music. Episode #005
