GLOBAL A GO-GO

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Peru Bravo: Funk, Soul & Psych From Peru’s Radical Decade
LABEL: Tiger’s Milk
The second release from Tiger’s Milk, a London micro-label run by Peruvian restauranteur Martin Morales and ex-Soundway manager Duncan Ballantyne, focuses on Peru’s urban rock scene during the psychedelic era. This isn’t a chicha compilation, although it does include a great trippy track (12) by Los Destellos, a Lima band who made liberal use of cumbia and Andean sounds throughout their career. Rather, these are combos that followed in the wake of Los Saicos, arguably the world’s first punk rock band, who opened the floodgates for youth music in Peru in 1965. Of course that meant Northern influence, and the tracks here reflect some of the key trends in American and British pop during the years 1968 to 1974, when all of these recordings were made. Track 1 cops the famous riff from Shocking Blue’s “Venus”; it’s garage rock (with a little Santana flavor) at its finest. 7 and 8 blend funk and rock – you’ll hear the influence of Tower Of Power, Chicago, Curtis Mayfield and The Meters. And if you like a good inexplicable cover try 11, a conga-driven version of “Hey Joe” en Espanol. Tiger’s Milk is now two-for-two – keep up the good work.
TOP TRACKS: 1 7 8 11 12
ALSO RECOMMENDED: 2 3 4 5 9 13 15

ARTIST: Antonio Castrignano
TITLE: Fomenta: Ilenu De Taranta
LABEL: Ponderosa Music & Art
Antonio Castrignano is a native of Lecce in the Salentine Peninsula, the heel of Italy’s boot and the home of the ecstatic pizzica and tarantella music and dance traditions. Although nearly half the material here is traditional, this isn’t a folk music album – Castrignano (who writes film scores as well as singing, composing and playing a variety of instruments) is working in more of an ethno-fusion bag here. His co-producers, Mercan Dede and Alberto Fabris, both cross over between the pop and folk music worlds and contribute subtle, integrated synthetic elements into an otherwise relatively traditional combo highlighted by tasty flute and Italian bagpipe playing by Giulio Bianco. The music is hard-driving and tuneful with a solid rhythmic foundation – it’s easy to see why an imaginative global EDM producer like Dede would be drawn to it. Castrignano’s powerful, open-throated singing is this recording’s secret sauce – he sounds like a field recording dropped into a 21st century world fusion session. Start with track 2, which contains all the elements that make this project one of the best of its type that I’ve heard in a long time. Outstanding.
TOP TRACKS: 2 3 6 7 8
ALSO RECOMMENDED: 1 4 5 9

ARTIST: Djessou Mory Kante
TITLE: River Strings: Maninka Guitar
LABEL: Sterns
The Maninka music of Mali and Guinee is dominated by singers; among instruments the kora has traditionally reigned supreme, but in the last 50 years a guitar tradition has developed. Djessou Mory Kante (DMK) is a direct heir to this new tradition; his uncle introduced the guitar to Maninka music and his older brother Kante Manfila led the legendary Les Ambassadeurs from the lead guitar chair. DMK primarily works with singers (he’s frequently called on to accompany Salif Keita and Sekouba Bambino); here he stretches out on a set of guitar-led instrumentals, accompanied by percussion, keyboards, bass guitar, kamal’ngoni (hunters’ harp) and, on two tracks (3 and 6) guitar master Djelimady Tounkara of the Rail Band. DMK’s playing is superb throughout – when he gets going fast you’ll think “is that only six strings?,” but he never sacrifices the coherent melodic development that’s at the core of this style. Two tracks here (1 and 9) are instrumental versions of Salif Keita hits co-written by DMK’s brother; 4 borrows the 70s organ sound of the Rail Band and Les Ambassadeurs; and on 11 he multitracks his own accompaniment, to delightful results. Class all the way.
TOP TRACKS: 1 4 9 11
ALSO RECOMMENDED: all of the rest of them

ARTIST: Abelardo Barroso With Orquesta Sensacion
TITLE: Cha Cha Cha
LABEL: World Circuit
Cha cha cha was the musical sensation of Cuba during the revolutionary era, from the mid-50s until 1959. Rolando Valdes’ Orquesta Sensacion popularized that sound, and Abelardo Barroso, “el Caruso de Cuba,” was the voice of cha cha cha. Here at long last are fourteen sides from that famous collaboration. Barroso, one of Cuba’s most popular singers of the 20s and 30s, was considered washed up by 1955 when Valdes hired him to sing on the session that produced tracks 1 and 2. Listening to his voice now, it’s hard to believe people thought he was over the hill – smooth, rich and utterly relaxed, it’s the apotheosis of Cuban singing. Sensacion is a classic flutes-and-fiddles charanga in the manner of Orchestra Aragon and the various Maravillas combos; they swing in a subversively genteel manner once you get past the pseudo-classical intros and flourishes. But it’s Barroso’s singing that really set them apart – he kills it equally on the uptempo numbers (1, 3, 7 and 9) and on the boleros (2 and 12). The remastering here is exquisite – it’s hard to believe these are 60 year old recordings. This kind of project is why I love reissues.
TOP TRACKS: 1 2 3 7 9 12
ALSO RECOMMENDED: all of the rest of them

ARTIST: Bang Data
TITLE: Mucho Poco
LABEL: Futuro Sonico / Rockolito Music
Bang Data is an Oakland-based urban-Latin combo led by singer-rapper Deuce Eclipse and drummer-producer Juan Manuel Caipo. Their 2012 debut La Sopa had some fine moments and they’ve topped them on this sophomore effort, which is strong from beginning to end. Right out of the chutes, track 1 is a killer, channeling the saying (frequently attributed to Emma Goldman) “If I can’t dance to it, it’s not my revolution.” Deuce Eclipse slides smoothly between singing and rapping, Caipo lays down a groovy soundscape, and the live guitar and bass (a critical element in this band, one that takes it well outside the norms of current hip hop) make this one as much rock as it is rap. 2 is in a similar if lighter vein and features some fabulous Deuce flow. The title track (5) is right out of the Manu Chao playbook: acoustic guitar, chugging rhythm, low-key rapping, gorgeous brainworm melody. Their collaboration with Chilean cumbia aces Chico Trujillo on track 7 results in a party-starter, as you might have expected. And they close with a change of pace on 10, a bilingual rap elegantly accompanied primarily by electric guitar. This is top quality stuff, certainly worthy of national and international attention.
TOP TRACKS: 1 2 5 7 10
ALSO RECOMMENDED: 3 4 8 9

WRIR's Fall '14 Fund Drive gets underway today at 5:00 PM on Global A Go-Go. The Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra, the only band I know that grows and builds its own musical instruments, will perform on-air in our Live Room. This event kicks off 12 days of some of the best radio you'll ever hear, including 26 live performances from our studios.

You can hear the kickoff event on the radio at 97.3 FM in the Richmond area, or you can listen anywhere in the world that has an internet connection by browsing over to:

http://wrir.org/tunein

Our fund drive runs through October 28. If you'd like to make a donation to support this remarkable project, you can do so by calling 804-622-9747, by visiting us in person at 1621-B West Broad Street, or via our secure online donation site at:

bitly.com/Donate2Wrir

Thank you for your support in the past, and thank you for considering making a donation during the Fall 2014 Fund Drive!

Follow me below the fold, if you'd like, for more motivation ....

When we were getting Richmond Independent Radio off the ground back in 2004, a lot of folks questioned why we'd bother. "Why start a new radio station?" they'd say. "Don't you know that radio is a dying medium? Do you think anybody is going to be listening to the radio in 10 years? And young people don't even know what a radio is."

Well, 10 years later it's clear that the reports of radio's demise were greatly exaggerated. Because WRIR has succeeded beyond the wildest expectations of any of those of us who were there at its inception. And about those young people -- we have more volunteers in their teens and twenties right now than we've ever had, and they're amazingly enthusiastic about this supposedly dying medium.

It turns out that what's dying isn't radio at all -- it's the way radio has been programmed and run as a business. It turns out that when you run a radio station for the benefit of its community, that community wants to participate in it, support it, donate to it, make it succeed. When you run a radio station for the benefit of a few investors, all you've done is created yet another commodity. People can take it or leave it, and they do.

At WRIR, we're so grateful to be part of a community that values its opportunity to own a little slice of the airwaves. It doesn't happen everywhere, but it's certainly happening here. So let's keep it happening -- please consider making a generous donation during WRIR's Fall 2014 Fund Drive by clicking on this link:

bitly.com/Donate2Wrir

Thank you for your support, and long live Richmond Independent Radio!

Podcast: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/77677
All the podcasts: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/series/Global+A+Go-Go

Song | Artist (Country) | Recording | Label | Year

Separation | Oliver Lake (USA) | Matador Of 1st & 1st | Passin' Thru | 1997
Global A Go-Go | Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros (UK) | Global A Go-Go | Hellcat | 2001

Johnny Too Bad | The Slickers (Jamaica) | single | Dynamic Sounds | 1971
Gunplay | Next Level Sound Station feat Nuby Dan (USA) | Sunken City: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | self-released | 2014
The Israelites | Apache Indian (UK) feat Desmond Dekkar (Jamaica) | Time For Change | API | 2005

Mucho Poco | Bang Data (USA) | Mucho Poco | Futuro Sonico / Rockolito Music | 2014
Denia | Manu Chao (France-Spain) | Proxima Estacion Esperanza | 2001
Coulibaly | Amadou & Mariam (Mali) | Dimanche A Bamako | Because Music | 2004

La Mulata Rumbera | Abelardo Barroso With Orquesta Sensacion (Cuba) | Cha Cha Cha | World Circuit | 195x

Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra, live at WRIR:
   Haint Blues
   Gourd Gourd Gourd Gourd
   Kundalini Calabash
   Who Grew The Gourds?
   That Ain't Your Gourd, Neighbor
   A Bazillion Brazilian Gourds
   Wild Pigs

Tighten Up | The Untouchables (Jamaica) | single | Trojan | 1968
My Thing | Sister Carol (Jamaica) | Live No Evil | Black Cinderella | 2014

January's Global A Go-Go picks:

The Spanish Harlem Orchestra, America's number one salsa repertory ensemble, visits the University of Richmond;s Alice Jepson Theatre on Thursday January 22, as part of the Modlin Center's performance series
Zap Mama and Antibalas (the latter is pictured above) are on tour together: they visit Richmond's Carpenter Theatre (in another Modlin Center event) on Wednesday January 28 and DC's Lisner Auditorium on Friday January 30

Have an event you'd like me to include, or a suggestion for the concert calendar? Just drop me a line at globalagogoradio [at] gmail [dot] com, or leave me a message right here.

Click "Read more" to see the entire January calendar.

Saturday Jan 3
Rattlemouth at Crossroads Coffee & Ice Cream (Richmond)
http://www.crossroadsrva.com/calendar.html

Thursday Jan 22
Spanish Harlem Orchestra at Alice Jepson Theatre (Richmond)
http://modlin.richmond.edu/events/index.html

Wednesday Jan 28
Zap Mama and Antibalas at the Carpenter Theatre (Richmond)
http://modlin.richmond.edu/events/index.html

Thursday Jan 29
Corey Harris Rasta Blues Experience at Blues Alley (DC)
http://www.corey-harris.com/dates

Friday Jan 30
Zap Mama and Antibalas at Lisner Auditorium (DC)
http://lisner.gwu.edu/events

Corey Harris Rasta Blues Experience at Blues Alley (DC)
http://www.corey-harris.com/dates

Ladysmith Black Mambazo at Strathmore (Bethesda)
http://www.strathmore.org/eventstickets/calendar.asp

Saturday Jan 31
Corey Harris Rasta Blues Experience at Blues Alley (DC)
http://www.corey-harris.com/dates

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: Glitterbeat: Dubs & Versions I
LABEL: Glitterbeat
Glitterbeat Records, WOMEX’s 2014 Label Award winner, is primarily focused on North and West African music, especially contemporary music from Mali. For its first various-artists compilation, the label invited some of their favorite remixers to take swings at deep cuts from the catalog. The result is an excellent, imaginative set of head music – no dancefloor bangers here at all. Dennis Bovell, Linton Kwesi Johnson’s long-time colleague, gives guitarist Samba Toure a deep dub vibe on track 1. German producer Harmonious Thelonious, new to me, really impresses with his maximal-minimalist approach to Ben Zabo on 5. Another remix of Ben Zabo, the Senegalese-influenced 8 by Mark Ernestus, was Glitterbeat’s very first release and it’s well worth a re-hearing. Larry Achiampong, one of the UK’s hottest visual artists, does a short, clever cut-and-paste of Lobi Traore on 7. And Nozinja, the man behind the brilliant South African Shangaan electro sound, applies his patented low-tech video-game sound to Aminata Wassidje Traore on 4 – this is possibly the mellowest track Nozinja has yet waxed. This is not your run-of-the-mill remix album, don’t sleep on it.
TOP TRACKS: 1 4 5 7 8
ALSO RECOMMENDED: 2 3 6 10

ARTIST: Alma Afrobeat Ensemble
TITLE: Life No Get Dublicate
LABEL: Slow Walk Music
This is the second studio album by this Barcelona-based, highly international (members hail from four different continents) combo that was originally founded by guitarist Aaron Feder in the USA, his home country. Alma’s approach is contemporary and jazzy, with ample solo space for guitar, horns and keyboards (this is the only Afrobeat band I’m aware of that has a bassoon player). But they compulsively keep a danceable meter going, making them sound less far-out than peers like Zongo Junction or Shaolin Afronauts. Hip hop is also a major influence – Senegalese vocalist Babacar Gaye is as much singjay as singer, no matter what language he’s using (I count at least four on the six songs here). All tracks are solid to excellent: 2 highlights most all of the band’s strong instrumental capabilities;1 is taken at a standard Afrobeat tempo and has a pronounced hip hop flavor not unlike Ade Bantu; 5 is a brisk workout like much of Femi & Seun’s most recent material; and 6 has a lovely, languid, almost dubby feel. 2014 has been a banner year for new Afrobeat releases; this is one of the best of a very fine bunch.
TOP TRACKS: 1 2 5 6
ALSO RECOMMENDED: 3 4

ARTIST: various artists
TITLE: 25 Years Of Mr Bongo
LABEL: Mr Bongo
Mr Bongo got started as a London record shop in 1989, focusing on indie hip hop, Brazilian and Latin music. They soon started their own record label so they could reissue deserving out-of-print material and release original material by related artists. This two-CD compilation celebrates their 25th anniversary and provides a very small sample of a few of the wonders in the Mr Bongo catalog. There’s way more great music here than I have space to write: from the Brazilian catalog, try disc 1-track 3, 1-13 (the original version of this massive hit) and 2-12; in Latin 2-13 and 2-14 are stone classics; in hip hop, there’s Grandmaster Flash’s awesome remix of “Apache” (1-1); 1-4 is from one of today’s best reggae projects; and 1-8 is top-shelf Afrofunk. Don’t miss these three obscurities: 2-5 is a superb, totally surprising cover by indie-rock band Junip, 2-10 is a cover of “16 Tons” that must be heard to be believed, and 2-11 is one of the best unknown songs of the samba-soul era. Two CDs are nowhere near enough for a Mr Bongo best-of -- 10 CDs would be more like it.
TOP TRACKS: Disc 1 – 1 3 4 8 13 Disc 2 – 5 10 11 12 13 14
ALSO RECOMMENDED: Disc 1 – 2 7 9 14 15 17 Disc 2 – 2 3 6

December 2014 Concert Calendar

Charts October 5, 2014

Program October 10, 2014

Peru Bravo: Funk, Soul & Psych From Peru's Radical Decade

Antonio Castrignano | Fomenta: Ilenu De Taranta

Charts October 12, 2014

Djessou Mory Kante | River Strings: Maninka Guitar

Abelardo Barroso With Orquesta Sensacion | Cha Cha Cha

Bang Data | Mucho Poco

Program October 17, 2014

Program October 31, 2014

Charts November 2, 2014

January 2015 Concert Calendar

Program November 7, 2014

Glitterbeat: Dubs & Versions I

Alma Afrobeat Ensemble | Life No Get Dublicate

25 Years Of Mr Bongo

Charts November 9, 2014

Program November 14, 2014

Charts November 16, 2014