Real Scenes: Johannesburg

RA tells the remarkable story of the South African city's thriving house scene.
South Africans are the biggest consumers of house music in the world, and Johannesburg is the beating heart of their scene. If you're looking for proof, there is no need to visit a nightclub. In turning on a television, listening to the radio or walking down the street, it's clear that a 4/4 pulse is the metronome of everyday life. The city's preferred sound—vocal-led, percussive, melodic—is largely at odds with what's popular in other international markets; this coupled with cripplingly slow internet speeds goes someway to explaining SA's absence from the global house music conversation.

Visit the feature page on RA:
http://www.residentadvisor.net/featur...

Subscribe to the RA channel on YouTube: 
http://www.youtube.com/residentadvisor

Music in order of appearance: 
Culoe De Song- Webaba [Soulistic Music] 2010
Black Motion- The Documentary [Kalawa Jazmee] 2013
TKZee- Palafala (Midnight Lover Mix) [BMG Records Africa] 1998
Vinny da Vinci- We Love House Music [House Afrika Records] 2004
Culoe de Song- Ambush (Culoe De Song's Voyage Dub) [Soulistic Music] 2010
TKZee- Dlala Mapantsula [BMG Records Africa] 2012
Black Motion- Manghoro [Kalawa Jazzmee] 2013
Infinite Boys ft Coco- Teka Teka [Kalawa Jazmee] 2012
Black Coffee- Trip To Lyon [Soulistic Music] 2010
Black Motion- Thrills [Kalawa Jazzmee] 2013
Jullian Gomes ft Bobby- Love Song 28 [Soul Candi Records]2011
DJ Shimza- Never Loved Anyone [Soul Candi Records] 2012

Awesome Tapes From Africa

https://www.residentadvisor.net/podcast-episode.aspx?id=517

Thrilling music from the cassette deck of Brian Shimkovitz

There are worse ways to wile away an afternoon than scrolling through the Awesome Tapes From Africa blog. It was started ten years ago by Brian Shimkovitz, an ethnomusicologist whose obsession with collecting African tapes began after a trip to Ghana. Since then he's been travelling regularly to Africa, hitting up market stalls and secondhand shops to dig up cassette curios. The blog's simple layout makes it easy to admire the cover art—the sleeves are usually beautiful and evocative, like this or this orthis. Every post is a glimpse into a different corner of the vast African musical diaspora, be it South African synth pop, praise music from Northern Ghana or vocal and string music from Ethiopia. 

The Awesome Tapes From Africa record label was launched in 2011, with Shimkovitz often going to great lengths to track down musicians. Importantly, these releases have sparked newfound interest in many artists—the likes of Hailu Mergia, Nahawa Doumbia and SK Kakraba have all toured Europe following ATFA releases. Shimkovitz himself has become a festival regular as a DJ, mixing his cassettes using a tape deck and a mixer. Tape-mixing may just seem like a cute USP in 2016, but you can see it's born from a deep passion. It's a passion that's apparent on Shimkovitz's RA podcast, which showcases the African music that's currently exciting him the most. 

Africa Express Presents... Terry Riley's In C Mali

Geoffrey Oryema - Makambo

Geoffrey Oryema left Uganda 30 years ago, and has ever since been living in Paris, FRANCE, his country of citizenship.He was one of the pioneers of “Theatre Limited”, the first Academy of Dramatic Arts, and professional Theatre troupe of its kind, in East and Central Africa, in the seventies.This school produced some of Ugandas’ best actors / artists / musicians, under the the direction of the famous playwright / actor, the late Robert Sserumaga.

Guest lecturers attached to the school, included David Rubadiri, Father Okello (Music, Dance & Drama Dept. of Makerere University), and foreign lecturers who visited the school periodically, for Workshop / Lecture sessions. Ugandan Traditional Music Masters (Evaristo Muyinda, Pantaleo Apire, etc..), full time members of the famous, and national dance troupe, “ The Heart Beat Of Africa”,
Were also part of the program, established by the Academy.

Geoffrey Oryema spent 5 years in this school, specialising in “Konstantin Stanislavskys’ ” (Famous Russian Poet & Playwright), and Grotoskys’ methods of acting, where controled improvisation played a key role.

The school was financed by foreign, and local funds; the first troupe went into residency in autumn 1971, at the National Theatre, which quickly became its functioning base, and under a separate agreement, used Makerere University facilities for its’ theoretical work.

http://geoffrey-oryema.com/biography/

Africa is a Radio: Season 2, Episode 7

http://africasacountry.com/2015/12/africa-is-a-radio-season-2-episode-7/

Cafe Bahia, The San Joaquim Market, Salvador da Bahia, Brazil

2015’s last episode of Africa is a Radio features a snippet from an extended interview with Pakistani-American journalist Rafia Zakaria, as well as a selection of tunes from Africa and the rest of the Atlantic world.

Check it out below, and see you in 2016!

Tracklist

1) Raury – Devil’s Whisper

2) Burna Boy – Soke

3) Oliver Mtukudzi – Ndima Ndapedza

4) Gah Gah – Kasbah

5) Interview with Rafia Zakaria

6) Booba – Mon Pays

7) Nasty C – Juice Back Remix feat. Davido and Cassper Nyovest

8) Ziminino – Intermitência

9) Nega Gizza – Filme de terror

10) Santos Junior – N’Gui Banza Mama

11) Fabregas – Mascara

12) Franko – Coller la petite

13) VVIP – Dogo Yaro feat. Samini

14) Kafu Banton – Vivo en el ghetto

15) Lokassa Ya Mbongo – Bonne année

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Tamy - Mãe Africa feat. Lokua Kanza

Songhoy Blues: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

July 14, 2015 by BOB BOILEN •
The music I feel most connected to beyond rock is from Mali. The melodies are so fluid, so elegant and most of all so trance-inducing. It often sits on one chord and notes played revolve around that chord. It can feel like a drone at times, and in the case of Songhoy Blues it rocks, lulls and the percussion grooves are not only trance-inducing but dance-inducing.

Many of the musicians we know from Mali are in exile, driven out by Islamists threatening musicians and kidnapping them; the members of Tinariwen know this firsthand. There is sadness, defiance and celebration in the music Songhoy Blues brought to the Tiny Desk from a record called Music in Exile, which is co-produced by an artist most of us rock lovers know best from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nick Zinner. Rock and the desert blues, already closely connected in attitude and sound, fuse nicely with his touch — and can be felt in blissful rawness here.

Set List
"Sekou Oumarou" 00:00 
"Al Hassidi Terei" 03:46
"Soubour" 07:49

Mulatu Astatke, jazz de Etiopía

Mulatu AstatkeJimma, Ethiopia

http://mulatuastatke.bandcamp.com/album/inspiration-information-3

"The pioneer of Ethio jazz, Mulatu Astatke developed his sound through studies in the UK during the ‘50s and a series of seminal recordings for domestic label Amha before travelling to New York to record the ‘Mulatu Of Ethiopia’ album. Since collaborating with The Heliocentrics in 2009 for Strut, he has continued recording and is a major draw on the global touring circuit."

Para más música de Etiopía / For more Ethiopian music:
http://ionosferamusic.blogspot.com/search/label/Ethiopia

Mbongwana Star - Malukayi (feat. Konono No.1)

The original title for this album was "From Kinshasa to the Moon," and that sounds just about right — this commingling of Congolese street music and electronic sounds is at once earthy and totally futuristic. Anchored by two veterans of the DRC's Staff Benda Bilili (Yakala "Coco" Ngambali and Nsituvuidi "Theo" Nzonzawho) who teamed up with Paris-based Irish producer Liam Farrell, Mbongwana Star lives true to its name: "mbongwana" means "transformation" in the Lingala language. From the album's first single, the hyper-metallic "Malukayi" (featuring Konono Nº1), to the sweat-drenched Congolese rumba of "Shégué" and the dance floor thrust of "Nganshé," you hear the band's metamorphic power throttling straight into the fringes of the great beyond. —Anastasia Tsioulcas, US National Public Radio.

Débruit

http://www.debruit.com/bio/

Débruit is a musical explorer who imagines alternate worlds and the way they'd sound. He plays with time and disparate sounds, molding static dimensions and geographical borders into new asymmetrical audio-forms. His music is electronic but with a human feel; it explores complementary culture clashes, combining elements that have never existed together before.

2015 will be a busy year for Débruit. He is currently working on ambitious creative experiments with a team of subversive accomplices. There will be new musical, visual and multisensory kinetic releases soon, however the details are unintentionally mysterious at this point.

It’s been an interesting journey so far, starting out northwards from the far western coast of France several years ago. Now a seasoned wayfarer after a particularly warm reception on the RBMA stage at his Sonar debut in 2009 (having attended the academy the year before), triggered an ongoing demand for Débruit’s surprising and intriguing live electronic sets around the world. To date he has released two albums and five EPs including the now classic electro-afrobeat single “Nigeria What” from the “Spatio Temporel” EP, which dancers all over the globe are still choreographing their own videos to. Creative collaborators have included Jamie Woon, Om'Mas Keith, Alsarah, and The Bow with more on the horizon…

https://soundcloud.com/i-d-online-1/i-dj-debruit

It's time to take a journey through West Africa via New York with one of the most exciting underground producers of the moment. French born musical explorer, Débruit first caught our attention with his infectious 2009 tune, Nigeria What?
His new album, Outside The Line, transcends West African music and Afrobeat rhythms through the synth work of 80s New York, and it really is something special. His evolutionary sound perfectly captures musical eras gone by while making a unique and futuristic sound seem effortless. For all these reasons and more, we are delighted to welcome him to the i-D mix family with this incredible sonic journey. "It’s made of tracks that I’ve always liked and that inspired the album a lot," he says of his offering. "Tracks from west Africa to NYC. Some slow and contemplative like Arthur Russell and Mamane Sani, some compulsive like Suicide and James Chance, others dancey like Dr Adolf Ahanotu and ESG, or polyrhythmic like Steve Reich and Konono n°1 and their electric trance likembés." Press play!
@debruit

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Mikael Seifu

http://www.okayafrica.com/news/mikael-seifu-ethiopian-beatmaker-brass/

Ethiopian Beatmaker Mikael Seifu Shares ‘Brass’

Reactions

Addis Ababa-based beatmaker Mikael Seifu dropped the stunning and hypnotic “The Lost Drum Beat” earlier this month, the lead single off his upcoming 2-track release on Washington, D.C. imprint 1432 R. The Ethiopian producer is now sharing the release’s 13-minute B-side “Brass,” a slow-building, free-form electronic composition that evolves from a minimal introduction into a beat built on UK garage, Ethiopian folk sounds and looping saxophone sirens. For more from the Mikael Seifu, revisit his journey through reinterpreted Ethiopian sounds on his Africa In Your Earbuds mixtape. Stream “Brass” below and order The Lost Drum Beat on 1432 R‘s bandcamp.

Pat Thomas & Kwashibu Area Band - Gyae Su

http://patthomasstrut.bandcamp.com/album/pat-thomas-kwashibu-area-band

"Ghanaian highlife legend Pat Thomas with his first internationally released studio album, recorded in Accra. Kwashibu Area Band directors Kwame Yeboah and Ben Abarbanel-Wolff add superb new compositions and re-arrange some of Thomas’ ‘80s compositions for a full live band. Sweet highlife sounds taken in a progressive new direction."

DJ Mellow - Séké feat. Steloo (Lowup Records 2014)

Africa is a radio #7

http://africasacountry.com/africa-is-a-radio-episode-7/

Africa is a Radio Episode 7 touches down in Nigeria, and quickly heads over to Burkina Faso to soundtrack recent events happening in that country. From political events in Burkina Faso, we head over to a different kind of popular uprising — the Salsa Urbana sounds out of Colombia. From there we go electronic via New Jersey, the U.K. and Angola, eventually ending up on a collection of classic tunes out of East Africa.

I hope you enjoy this month’s selection of tunes on Africa is a Radio.

Africa is a Radio: Episode 6

http://africasacountry.com/africa-is-a-radio-episode-6/

(photo via NBC news)

Africa is a Radio episode 6 opens up with a transnational blend, combining remixes of Dotorado Pro’s “African Scream” with its sample source: DJ Sbu & Zahara’s “Lengoma.” From there we travel around the world -from Ferguson to Havana to Monrovia- touching on the sonic imprints of the contemporary news cycle. We end on a lighter, danceable note.

ORIGINS: Black Coffee

http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?2322

Text from Resident Advisor:

Oct 21, 2014

For the latest edition in our film series with SONOS, we travelled to South Africa to hear how a national icon was made.

View the film page on RA:
http://www.residentadvisor.net/featur...

Before we visited Johannesburg to shoot a Real Scenes film, we'd heard that Black Coffee was a big star in South Africa. But what we saw eclipsed anything we could have imagined. Nathi Maphumulo is a national icon—an artist who has come to embody the creative and professional potential for black South Africans in a post-apartheid world. For the last ten years, Nathi has been producing and playing house music that drips with soul. His style draws inspiration from the indigenous music of his homeland, blended with a love for classic hooks and songwriting. It's a blueprint that's helped him inspire a generation of South African producers.

All of which makes Nathi an ideal subject for ORIGINS. In order to tell the story of his formative years, we first travelled to Umlazi, a township outside of Durban where he developed a passion for music that would shape the rest of his life. We then spent time in Ngangalizwe, Mthatha, a township where, under the care of his grandmother, Nathi learned some of the harsh realities of rural living. This was also the place where, on the night Nelson Mandela was released from prison, Nathi was involved in an accident that left him without the use of his left hand. When Nathi visited his old high school, the frenzied reaction to his appearance showed just how large his story—one of success in the face of adversity—looms in the mind of young South Africans.

More on Black Coffee:
http://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/bla...

Black Coffee, uno de los DJ's más geniales de la escena surafricana

In our latest ORIGINS film, produced in partnership with SONOS, we trace the roots of Black Coffee, a South African national icon. Watch the trailer ahead of the film's October 20th release.


Según la Wikipedia:

Black Coffee (born Nkosinathi Maphumulo on 11 March 1976) is a South African multi award winningrecord producer and DJ. Black Coffee began his career back in 1994 and has released four albums and onelive DVD under his Johannesburg based record label called Soulistic Music. He is arguably one of the most influential musicians in Africa. Black Coffee got his big break shortly after being chosen as a South African participant in the 2004 Red Bull Music Academy held in Cape Town.


Según Resident Advisor:

Considering his meteoric rise to fame, it would be easy to stereotype Black Coffee as just another black diamond, a BEE beat magnet out to mine the insatiable upwardly mobile urban house-party market. But as he proved on his South African Music Award-winning album Home Brewed, this DJ and producer defies convention. Sidestepping Afro-house clichés and stage-managed highs in favour of restrained sophistication, Black Coffee’s penchant is for true Afropolitan house: home-brewed but trendsetting, fashion-conscious and future-focused. Expect almost sculptural balance and beauty.

http://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/blackcoffee/biography

Africa is a Radio podcast

This is the music podcast of the sardonically named Africa is a Country blog.

http://africasacountry.com/category/series/africa-is-a-country-radio/

 Africa is a Country Radio:

A monthly round up of audio treats from around Africa and its diaspora with occasional commentary from the community of writers from Africasacountry.com. The host of Africa is a Country Radio is Chief Boima, a DJ and contributing editor for the website. His work aims to challenge genre definitions and categorization by drawing connections across geographic distances, language, and national borders – in the process asserting the contributions of Africans, wherever they are, to the now.

Bandcamp Africa Special

BBrave, aka Benjamin LeBrave, is a regular contributor to Fader, runs the Akwaaba label, and is a DJ whose sets reflect his wide knowledge of African music – from hiplife to afrobeat, kwaito to azonto, and beyond.

Benjamin LeBrave

A combination of easy access to the internet and affordable digital tools is liberating music production in Africa. Armed with a laptop and a 3G modem, anybody can take part in the creation of music. There is no shortage of talent willing to create catchy tunes on this continent where dancing is a significant part of social life.

My picks below reveal a couple of trends in African music. First, the overwhelming majority of pop music in most African nations is comprised of vocals laid over sequenced instrumentals that have been assembled on a computer. I call this Fruity Loops music and from Dakar to Durban, Fruity Loops is the music production software of choice. Second, there is a lot of independent music being produced in this very DIY way, without the input of a major producer or funding entity, like a label.

Check it out at:
http://blog.bandcamp.com/2014/08/12/africa-special/

From Bandcamp's amazing music blog: Dusty African Grooves

http://blog.bandcamp.com/2013/12/03/dusty-african-grooves/

Dusty African Grooves

“Each region has its own micro-traditions…and to compare music from Ethiopia to music from Benin would be like comparing music from Portugal with music from Russia. In every African country, if you take a bit of time, you can really hear the differences and understand that it’s completely different styles of music.”

If you flew somewhere across Africa in the 1990s, your flight attendant may have been a young Tunisian man wearing the name tag “Samy.” Like other part-time stewards, Samy Ben Redjeb worked for the airlines to travel on the cheap. However, unlike co-workers toting compact flight bags, Redjeb often had hundreds of dusty records stashed away in the bulkhead. “Sometimes I had so many records to check in that I had to go to the airport before the crew. I was never paying for freight though, so that was amazing,” he says.

READ ON: http://blog.bandcamp.com/2013/12/03/dusty-african-grooves/

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  Bandcamp is a rock-solid platform for artists to sell their music and merchandise to their fans, and a thriving community of enlightened listeners who get that the best way to support the artists they love is by directly giving them money.