Afropop Worldwide

[APWW PGM #452] [Originally broadcast in 2005] "Escaping the Delta" is the title of a provocative book by award-winning author Elijah Wald that explores how a mythology of the blues grew around the figure of Robert Johnson. On this Hip Deep episode, Wald talks with producer Ned Sublette, and plays lesser-known recordings by Peetie Wheatstraw, Lonnie Johnson, Leroy Carr and others, who provided source material for some of Johnson’s classic tunes.

The story of a boundary-breaking collaboration between rapper Art Melody from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and kologo player Stevo Atambire from the north of Ghana. United by common languages and cultural traditions, but divided by national borders and colonial heritage, the two artists meet in Accra to find the space between traditional roots music and cutting-edge urban music. Produced by Morgan Greenstreet [Distributed 7/12/2016]

[APWW PGM #720] [Originally broadcast in 2015] In the city of Goma, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, far from the rumba-soaked nightlife of the capital, Kinshasa, an artistic renaissance is going on. After two decades of devastating factional wars, ongoing mineral profiteering, a volcanic eruption, and other extreme circumstances, internationally minded youth are expressing themselves through diverse, socio-politically engaged music, film and dance. Artists must also navigate the influence and patronage of international NGOs and humanitarian organizations that use local music and musicians as mouthpieces for their projects and campaigns. This Hip Deep edition examines how musicians approach topics of politics, peace and war, collaboration with NGOs and cultural centers, and artistic autonomy.

#734 airdate 6/30/2016 Producer: Ned Sublette The Ring and the Shout. At one time thought to have died out, the ring shout is the oldest known form of African American music. Producer Ned Sublette travels to Winnsboro, Louisiana, to record the Easter Rock, an annual ritual with a direct connection to antebellum slavery days, in an endangered plantation church with a wooden floor that serves as a drum when the Rockers are in charge. And we visit Athens, Georgia, to speak with Art Rosenbaum, co-producer of the McIntosh County Shouters' forthcoming album.

Look around today’s musical mainstream, and you’ll quickly realized that dance styles are everywhere, filling stadiums, topping charts, and gathering tens of thousands in festivals around the country. Yet few know their full history. “Roots and Future” explores how a community of (primarily) black British musicians, fans, D.J.s, and radio pirates recreated dance music in the United Kingdom during the 1990s and 2000s. Connected to the musical mainstream during 1989’s drug and rave fueled “second summer of love,” these musicians learned to combine American hip-hop, dancehall toasting, dub bass, and techno euphoria to create style after chart-topping style, from drum-twisting jungle to the slick sounds of garage, the ferocious rhythms of grime, and the all-encompassing low-end of dubstep. We’ll speak to legendary pirate radio D.J.s, underground label owners, and groundbreaking producers. We’ll check young M.C.s spitting their bars on illegal frequencies, and hear veterans playing to their beloved audiences. An

In the wake of the 2012-13 political crisis in Mali, the nation is working to repair its celebrated tradition of multiethnic harmony. The promise and pitfalls of this process play out dramatically in a public discussion during the Festival on the Niger in Segou. Artists, music professionals, and public figures weigh in with passion! Produced and hosted by Banning Eyre.

APWW #717 Voodoo To Go Festival Producer Morgan Greenstreet follows the trail of West African Vaudou spiritual music to a very unlikely place–Utrecht, Netherlands–for the first edition of the Voodoo To Go Festival. The three-day festival, pioneered by Togolese entrepreneur Leopold Ekué Messan, set out to demystify Vaudou/Vodun/Voodoo spiritual practices by featuring music and dance from Togo, Benin, Haiti, Cuba and Suriname and bringing people together for films, food and a panel discussion about “Good and Evil in Voodoo.” From the opening ceremony, to the climactic final moments of the festival, the music at Voodoo To Go was filled with the spirit: Trance-inducing traditional music from Togolese/Beninois diaspora group Djogbé; heavy, retro Vaudou funk from Togolese musician Peter Solo and Vaudou Game, based in Lyon, France; Surinamese Kawina music from Rotterdam-based dance band Dray-ston; Late-night Haitian Vaudou-jazz from Erol Josué; and, finally an intense collaboration between Cuban jazz maestro Omar S

[APWW #716] We profile three African musicians who have created significant careers in the face of daunting challenges in their countries. Paulo Flores, champion of semba and kizomba in Angola, came of age in the midst of that country's long post-independence civil war. He's probably done more for Angola's spiritual health during these difficult decades than anyone alive. Emmanuel Jal faced still worse as a child soldier who escaped Sudan under horrific circumstances to become an internationally acclaimed singer and rapper. Today, he must watch as his homeland--now called South Sudan--descends into another brutal, senseless war. The masked man of Nigerian pop, Lágbájá, has created diverse, socially conscious music through a series of military regimes in his homeland, and has new advice for his countrymen in a fragile democracy. We'll meet all three artists and hear an awesome variety of music. Produced by Banning Eyre.

Born-Free South Africa: A Kaleidoscope of Colors Produced by Sarah Geledi and Simon Rentner Airdate May 26th 2016 Join us on a modern-day musical adventure into Africa's Rainbow Nation. Now, 20-plus years removed from apartheid, South Africa is a nation deep in transition. And, it's reflected in its music—brimming with enthusiasm and creativity, yet also suffering from the growing pains of a new democracy. On the ground at the 2016 Cape Town International Jazz Festival, we celebrate the country's amazing diversity and discover its hottest local talent: Mafikozolo, the sizzling fashionista Zulu pop duo; Tribute “Birdie” Mboweni, a soulful and socially conscious songbird from the rural north; Gigi Lamayne, a fresh voice from hip-hop’s "born-free" generation; Bokani Dyer, a worldly jazz-cat on 88 keys; and Derek Gripper, a Capetonian guitarist virtuoso making us rethink African classical music as a whole.

Hip Deep in Mali: Growing Into Music in 21st Century Bamako Airdate: 5/19/2016 #731 Produced by Banning Eyre This program presents a musical portrait of Bamako in the wake of crisis. In 2012-13, Islamists occupied the north and a coup d’etat threatened a recent history of functioning democracy. With borders restored and a new elected government in place, we find musical life returning with festivals, nightclub shows and street weddings. But that picture hides darker realities. Ethnomusicologist Lucy Duràn has been studying the oral transmission of music in various countries, notably among griot families in Mali. With her guidance, we explore the precarious lives of griots in today’s Bamako, focusing on the upbringing and education of children in these hereditary families of historian-entertainers. Elders and traditionalists say the griot tradition has been corrupted beyond hope, and even advise their young to pursue different professions. Others persist, within an environment where growing religious conserva

We follow a carnival comparsa through the streets of Santiago de Cuba and hear the Haitian-descended Tumba Francesa. Son 14: Fue el Rey de la Rumba. NG La Banda: La Expresiva. Orq. Original de Manzanillo: Comenzó la Fiesta. Revé y su Charangón, live at the amphitheater of Guanabacoa: “Te confundieron con león . . . ¡gallina!” Dan Den: No Me Carezcas. We talk to Carlos Alfonso of Síntesis. Síntesis: Oyá. Mezcla: Ikiri Addá. Los Van Van live: Que Domingo. 1990 Photo via Telemundo

Features Ned Sublette’s exclusive live recording of Los Van Van in February 1990 in Havana, with “Titimanía” and an extended version of “Aquí Él Que Baila Gana.” We talk to Van Van founder Juan Formell and to Elio Revé of Revé y su Charangón, and visit a rehearsal by Los Muñequitos de Matanzas. We talk to Juan Formell. Revé y Su Charangón: Changüí Clave. Revé y Su Charangón: Más Viejo Que Ayer, Más Joven Que Mañana. Son 14: Tal Vez Vuelvas a Llamarme. Grupo Sierra Maestra: El Dulcerito. Los Muñequitos de Matanzas: Congo Yambumba. 1990 Photo by Adalberto Roque via AFP

#730 Afropop Live Highlights Airdate May 12th 2016 Afropop is proud to present live recordings of some of the most glorious moments in musical history–the New York debut of South Africa's Mahotella Queens in 1987; Thomas Mapfumo with his mbira-heavy Blacks Unlimited in New York in 1991; Youssou N'Dour performing his international hit "Set"; the king of rai, Khaled, in a blistering set at Central Park SummerStage; the gorgeous classic Khartoum sound of Abdel Gadir Salim in London; the stadium-filling soukous party singer Kanda Bongo Man; Afro-jazz sax maestro Gyedu Blay Ambolley live in Accra, and the awesome Kenyan dance band Simba Wanyika. Produced by Sean Barlow.

#729 AFROPOP VISITS ABIDJAN, COTE D’IVOIRE FOR MASA 2016 AIRDATE: 5/5/2016 PRODUCER: SEAN BARLOW Georges and Sean head to Abidjan, the commercial and artistic center of Cote d'Ivoire, to cover the 2016 edition of MASA, perhaps the biggest arts festival of its kind on the continent. Over the course of a week, six acts performed on each of three stages every night. And we knew hardly any of them: That's exactly the point! Many of these emerging artists have not toured outside the continent yet. You'll hear concert highlights from Zeynab (Benin), Bella Mondo (Cote d'Ivoire), BANTU (Nigeria), Ile Aiye (Brazil), Charlotte Dipanda, Mingus Group (Mozambique), Ray Lema (Congo), Paco Séry (Cote d'Ivoire), Soum Bill (Cote d'Ivoire). And we'll take a break from the action onstage to visit African reggae megastar Alpha Blondy at his radio station, Alpha Blondy FM. This man is quite a storyteller!

#704 Crabs With Brains Produced by: Jesse Brent Airdate: 4/28/16 In the early 1990s, mangueboys and manguegirls stimulated fertility in the veins of Recife, Brazil. They were interested in hip-hop, the collapse of modernity, chaos and marine predator attacks (mainly sharks). Armed with boundless creativity, they turned one of the world’s most poverty-stricken cities into one of Brazil’s greatest centers of culture. Mangue artists mixed hip-hop, Jamaican raggamuffin and punk rock with traditions from Brazil’s northeast like maracatu and embolada. In this program, we explore the legacy of the mangue bit movement and its biggest star, Chico Science of Nação Zumbi. We also take a look at a new generation of adventurous musicians in Recife. Join us as we connect the good vibrations of the mangue with the world network of pop!

#728 Distributed April 21 Africa Now! 2016 Rocks the Apollo Theater in Harlem Every year, the world-famous Apollo Theater and New York's World Music Institute pack the house for a stellar lineup of established and emerging artists from the African continent. This year was especially impressive. We bring you concert highlights and interviews with the artists--from Ghana, Sudan, Niger and Zimbabwe. You'll hear Alsarah and the Nubatones, inspired by the rich cultures of Nubia, Jojo Abot's arty, dancehall-meets-Afrobeat grooves, Bombino's joyous Tuareg rock, and the discovery of the night for many Afropop fans: Mokoomba from Zimbabwe, featuring phenomenal lead singer Mathias Muzaza, who spanned nods to Salif Keita, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, as well as a Congolese soukous animation that had the crowd up and dancing. Special bonus: a taste of the acoustic "traditional" set Mokoomba performed the next day up the Hudson.

Inside the Nile Project 4/14/2016 [APWW #719] The Nile Project is an ambitious and imaginative attempt to bring about better stewardship of one of the world’s longest rivers by fostering collaboration among artists from the 11 countries the river traverses. It’s an endeavor that spans the Muslim north and the Christian south, as well as the diverse languages, cultures, and music styles in between. This program takes listeners inside the Nile Project’s creative process, letting us hear how artists find common ground and create songs–from first encounters through rehearsal and refinement, all the way to the concert stage. Produced by Ian Coss and Banning Eyre.

Hip Deep In Mali: The Tuareg Predicament #727 Airdate 3/31/2016 Producer: Banning Eyre The confederations and clans collectively known as the Tuareg descend from the oldest inhabitants of North Africa. They lead a mostly nomadic existence across the Sahara Desert, in the lands we now know as Algeria, Libya, Niger and Mali. Tuareg communities have long felt neglected by independent African governments, especially in Mali, which has endured a succession of rebellions. In 2012, a Tuareg uprising led to a year-long crisis in which the Malian north separated from the country and fell under harsh control by Islamic extremists. Ironically, these extremists banned music, which in the hands of modern bands like Tinariwen had been a crucial means for expressing Tuareg aspirations. This broadcast unravels this complex history and provides a vivid portrait of the Tuareg predicament in Mali today. The program samples a rich variety of Tuareg music and includes conversations with Tuareg musicians and cultural authorities

Africa in Matanzas, Cuba: El Almacén is Walking #726 Airdate: 3/24/2016 Producer: Harris Matanzas, Cuba has long been regarded as the source (la fuente) of many rich Afro-Cuban folkloric traditions. These ceremonial and secular Afro-Cuban musics are, for the most part, alive and well, and being documented for the first time by Matanceros themselves, rather than exclusively by Havana-based or non-Cuban imprints. The Matanzas record label and artist collective, Sendero Music/El Almacén, faces several challenges: oversight from the state, limited access to resources, curating which groups to record while paradoxically convincing the folkloric community of the value of their endeavors, and the conundrum of establishing meaningful connections outside of Cuba to disseminate the city’s music to the world.

[APWW #707 - updated for 2016] News bulletins from Havana are appearing daily as Obama’s initiative to defang the U.S. embargo moves forward. Ned Sublette, who frequently travels to Cuba, talks with Sean Barlow about the present moment and recent developments. The program features timba from Havana d’Primera and Pupy y Los Que Son, Son; a master mix of reguetón by Chacal y Yakarta; El Micha, and the timeless music of the late Papo Angarica and Haydée Milanés.