Salif Keita
Website: salif-keita.artiste.universalmusic.fr
Salif Keita is different from most Africans, in that he is albino and has suffered for it, as have other albinos throughout Africa and beyond. Profits from La Difference thus go to Salif's charity to help albinos in Africa. Of course most listeners will not realize this, as the lyrics are not in English or any other European-based language. So why buy this recording? Because it's Keita's most musically realized recording yet, using traditional Malian instruments blended with Western instruments such as piano, electric guitar, but not the brass horns heard in his early recordings. On some cuts there are Arab-sounding string sections or an oud, perhaps an accordion. Some of these tunes have been in Salif's repertoire for decades but are now done in a softer and more imaginative style. Salif Keita may have started out in a band whose whole purpose was to get people dancing, but now with La Difference and the last two albums that preceded it, Keita shows just how much he has grown as an artist, carefully weaving ancient and modern sounds from around the world into something new, yet deeply rooted and moving. Highly recommended!
In-Cha
Genre: Classical/Pop/World/HipHop
Favorite(s):Violin SuperStar (1)
Listen: www.museke.com/en/node/1982
In-Cha – Violin Superstar From the moment that she can remember "art" has always played a role in shaping who little In-Cha is. But it is the art of music which has had the most impact on who she is and what she stands for. Her first track and album title "Violin Superstar" produced by Alexis Faku features In-Cha playing amazing classical violin tunes on a funky hip/hop base which sure to get young and old bopping to its groove. She achieves this with help of Flo-rida in the track "Hold Your Tongue" and "Crazy Party" featuring Danny K and HHP. "Funky Tunes" gives listeners a little bit of the South African sound which is fun and nostalgic. The album epitomizes In-Cha's wish of making classical music fashionable to all. In-Cha's childish angelic innocence and age is portrayed through her music and image yet her non-conformist style communicates the rebel within her that is able to modernize the classical sounds of the violin by fusing them with modern genres.
Arrested Development
Website:www.arresteddevelopmentmusic.com
Listen: www.arresteddevelopmentmusic.com
Arrested Development takes a different approach to the usual hip hop themes of girls, bling and cars. "Strong" is the sixth studio album from American alternative hip-hop group and seems to have a harder edge than their older albums. "Bloody", is a great opener which could almost sound like post-def jam Public enemy (whom they name check in a few songs throughout the album). The second song, "Let Your Voice Be Heard", sounds just as rugged. "Trends" gives the impression that the group is bitter about where hip hop has chosen to go (and why shouldn't they?). "Haters" sounds like a punk rock song. "Greener" would sound corny coming from any other group, but AD can do a song about caring about the environment and still sound as great as ever. Other highlights including "The World is Changing", a song that has been a big hit all over the world; and the appropriately titled "Africa We Thank Yah". If you like AD enough to read this review, you're going to enjoy this album.
Blast from the Past
Soweto String Quartet
Shut Up and Listen (Thul'u Lalele) (7)
Buy:www.amazon.com,www.playme.comv
Website:www.sowetostringquartet.co.za
Listen: http://www.last.fm/music/Soweto%2520String%2520Quartet/Zebra%2520Crossing?ac=soweto%20strin
The Soweto String Quartet offer a light, poppy sound that mixes their cello, viola, and violins with a South African rhythm section and some touches of winds and brass. They move seamlessly between the scratchy, throbbing sound of Soweto (especially in some of the violin solos that really do grasp the wonder of the township fiddle sound) and the FM radio accessibility of Paul Simon (who they pay tribute to in a medley from Graceland). Zebra Crossing is an absolute masterpiece! The music is absolutely wonderful and uplifting. It's what Africa does with classical music - it energizes, moves and stirs the listener. It puts you in the heart of the South African township and lets you feel the pulse of a new nation, with all its agonies, triumphs and hopes. There is a sense of pride for these musicians who have profoundly harmonized both the struggle and celebration of South Africa's triumphs over apartheid. Truly inspiring, by any standards. SSQ now have a new compilation album called Rhythms of Africa - it is brilliant.
Konono No. 1
Favorite(s):Lufuala Ndonga (1)
Listen: www.crammed.be/fileadmin/inc/crammedplayer.php?qat=playtrack&tridx=40&trad=01&art=77
This 2005 debut album "Congotronics", introduced the world to these strange and spectacular electro-traditional mixtures concocted in the suburbs of Kinshasa, Congo. World music, electronica and avant-rock aficionados have all been equally amazed by this otherworldly music, which has driven the international press to come up with some surprising comparisons (from Can and Krautrock to Jimi Hendrix, Lee Perry and proto-techno!). This comparison caused Konono to be massively adopted by the alternative rock scene in the US and the UK, where they have become a cult reference for artists and audience alike. A virtuoso of the likembé (the traditional instrument sometimes called "sanza" or "thumb piano", consisting of metal rods attached to a resonator). The band's line-up includes three electric likembés (bass, medium and treble), equipped with hand-made microphones built from magnets salvaged from old car parts, and plugged into amplifiers. There's also a rhythm section which uses traditional as well as makeshift percussion (pans, pots and car parts), three singers, three dancers and a peculiar sound system including megaphones dating from the colonial period, which they call "lance-voix" ('voice-throwers'). The members of Konono N°1 come from an area which sits right across the border between Congo and Angola. Their repertoire draws largely on Bazombo trance music, to which they've had to incorporate the originally-unwanted distortions of their sound system. Konono N°1 was nominated for a Grammy with their release, the "Live at Couleur Café" album, which came out in Sept 2007.
Books:
Say You're One of Them
Uwem Akpan's first published short story, "An Ex-mas Feast," appeared in The New Yorker's Debut Fiction issue in 2005. The story's portrait of a family living together in a makeshift shanty in urban Kenya, and their attempts to find gifts of any kind for the impending Christmas holiday, gives a matter-of-fact reality to the most extreme circumstances--and signaled the arrival of a breathtakingly talented writer. In this book, "My Parents' Bedroom" is a Rwandan girl's account of her family's struggles to maintain a facade of normalcy amid unspeakable acts. In "Fattening for Gabon ," a brother and sister cope with their uncle's attempt to sell them into slavery. "Luxurious Hearses" creates a microcosm of Africa within a busload of refugees and introduces us to a Muslim boy who summons his faith to bear a treacherous ride through Nigeria . "What Language Is That?" reveals the emotional toll of the Christian-Muslim conflict in Ethiopia through the eyes of childhood friends. Every story is a testament to the wisdom and resilience of children, even in the face of the most agonizing situations our planet can offer. It is also listed in Oprah's book list.
Gods and Soldiers:
The Penguin Anthology of Contemporary African Writing Coming at a time when Africa and African writers are in the midst of a remarkable renaissance, Gods and Soldiers captures the vitality and urgency of African writing today. With stories from northern Arabic-speaking to southern Zulu-speaking writers, this collection conveys thirty different ways of approaching what it means to be African.
Black Mamba Boy
Jama is a "market boy," a half-feral child scavenging with his friends in the dusty streets of a great seaport. For Jama, life is a thrilling carnival, at least when he can fill his belly. When his mother—alternately raging and loving—dies young, she leaves him only an amulet stuffed with one hundred rupees. Jama decides to spend her life's meager savings on a search for his never-seen father; the rumors that travel along clan lines report that he is a driver for the British somewhere in the north. So begins Jama's extraordinary journey of more than a thousand miles north all the way to Egypt, by camel, by truck, by train, but mostly on foot. He slings himself from one perilous city to another, fiercely enjoying life on the road and relying on his vast clan network to shelter him and point the way to his father, who always seems just a day or two out of reach. In his travels, Jama will witness scenes of great humanity and brutality; he will be caught up in the indifferent, grinding machine of war; he will crisscross the Red Sea in search of working papers and a ship. Bursting with life and a rough joyfulness,Black Mamba Boyis debut novelist Nadifa Mohamed's vibrant, moving celebration of her family's own history.
Movies:
The First Grader
Website:www.thefirstgrader-themovie.com
The uplifting true story of world's oldest primary school student, "The First Grader" reels you in with its human-interest hook, but packs an even more vital agenda: enlisting Kenyan locals to share little-known details of their nation's independence. Director Justin Chadwick's admirable effort manages to do more than inspire, educating audiences with an important chapter in African history — specifically, and the treatment of Mau Mau freedom fighters. The filming process itself was quite extraordinary, as the children in the film – who have never been involved in filming process, are in many ways the stars. Their involvement, enthusiasm and energy are captured beautifully on screen. Judging by its enthusiastic, inspirational, moving storyline through out the movie; winning the "Audience Prize for Best Narrative Film at the DOHA Tribeca Film Festival," the movie should have no trouble filling seats in specialty release. Cast members include: Oliver Litondo as Maruge, Naomie Harris as Jane, Vusi Kunene as Mr Kipruto and Tony Kgoroge as Charles Obinchu.
Hafiz
