MyJoyonline (Free subscription) | 07/15/2008
Staunch fans of legendary Afro-rock band, Osibisa, who have longed for years to see the original set in action again could have their wish fulfilled in the near future.
Paris DJs Podcasts (Free subscription) | 05/18/2008
Mr Moo's African Guitar Stash(MP3 Podcast on ParisDJs.com) T.I.M.E.C., 2008-05-18 [comment faire?/how to?] Tracklisting : 01. Ojah with Hugh Masekela - Afro Beat Blues (unreleased track from 1974, available on 'Hugh Masekela presents The Chisa Years 1965-1975' compilation, 2006 / BBE)...
Black Line Blues (Free subscription) | 04/09/2008
A bright sunny morning to herald a job interview. Not a 'proper' job, but one to fill the gap until my training course starts later in the year. Thus, for the first time for a while, a commute. I've recently recorded ( HiQ , while painting the bathroom yesterday) Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone and the Orb's Headline Mix (both BBC 6Music). The FreakZone is, now I remember to listen to it, becoming more...
Trackfeeder (Free subscription) | 03/12/2008
Trackfeeder planned on keeping this one back for the start of summer. But in the midst of "Hurricane Britain" we’ve made an executive decision to put it out early in a vague attempt to lift the mood. As the name suggests you're looking at the model summer track. Continue reading .
Boot Sale Sounds (Free subscription) | 02/10/2008
I seem to be rediscovering some old African records just lately and here's another found at Brick Lane in the 80's recorded in the 60's. It's on the Melodisc label who also ran the Blue Beat label who put out a lot of the early ska and r&b records by Prince Buster etc. "Nat Atkins real name is Obafunsho Akinbayo, born in Nigeria, formed his own band in England and also plays with the Edmundo Ros Orchestra."...
BigCityLib Strikes Back (Free subscription) | 02/02/2008
Osibisa came out of Africa in the early 70s and put out two awesome albums of mostly instrumental, Jazz rock fusion. They were a bit like Santana with the occasional lyrics in Swahili. They were big briefly in England, but never really caught on in the states. Later they caught the disco wave and made a few sub-standard albums that still didn't sell. Nowadays they are still touring and putting out...
DVD Talk (Free subscription) | 01/28/2008
Rent It The Movie: Color me naive, but when I looked at the specs of this 1997 British television special, I, well, naively assumed it would be a scholarly treatise on the origins and development of the English folksong. What I failed to realize was the import of the first two words of the title: Ken Russell. The legendary British director, known for his visual excesses and borderline surrealism,...
All Africa (Free subscription) | 11/30/2007
Former England footballer Gary remains the only soccer star tio have hanged his boosts without attracting a yellow card. That high-profile accolade is worthy of emulation but it appears too tall an order for the current breed of players to follow suit.
Oh Word (Free subscription) | 11/26/2007
If one were drowning in bit-torrents of flashy ephemera, all lazer-lite and no bone gristle, could one devise an escape route through the ticker-tape hiss? What if you could craft your own astrolabe, engineer your own vehicle, and devise your own manumission? Would you propose a return to a 66 trillion year old paradisical panoramascope in 3-D? Or might you instead shoot yourself out of a desert eagle...
Afrigator (Free subscription) | 11/22/2007
Do you remember MOGO? And do you also remember Lumba Brothers? What about C.K Mann and the ‘good old’ band of our time, The Ramblers? Well, if these names have invoked some profound memories of the ‘good old days’ and have made you to miss those days, then worry no more, because come 7th of December, Omni media Ltd, the operators of CITI FM, is bringing all these artists to perform live at the National...
Afrigator (Free subscription) | 11/07/2007
It was a weekend of unforgettable fun at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra when Ghanas youngest music star Rebecca Acheampong, aka Becca staged a brilliant live performance at the launch of her maiden album, Sugar. With support from Help Link Foundation, a non governmental organization, an amount of $104,000 was raised to assist selected needy children and institutions. For over an hour, she held the...
All Africa (Free subscription) | 09/08/2007
"Ghana has no music industry," are the brazen words emanating from legendary Ghanaian musicians such as Kofi Ghanaba, Teddy Osei, Mac Tontoh, Gyedu Ambolley and others.
Zero G Sound (Free subscription) | 06/22/2007
. "Them Mushrooms" is by now an institution in Kenyan popular music. The band started already in 1972, at that time with Osibisa and Black Blood as musical models. The founders were the Harrison brothers: Teddy Kalanda, John "Bishop" Katana, George Ziro and Billy Zarro. They have kept the band going ever since. First 12 years in the tourist hotels in Mombasa and then in Nairobi. As many other bands...
anonymous (Free subscription) | 06/17/2007
Emailed from Rocky Dawuni , leaving Ghana We started our first day with a briefing from Dr. Nii Akwei Addo, the head of the Ghana National Aids Control Program (NACP). This took place at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra where he used a Powerpoint presentation to illustrate the HIV/AIDS situation and how the Global Fund grants have been put to use. Elle Macpherson, Tamsin Smith, Adele Sulcas,...
anonymous (Free subscription) | 06/16/2007
Via email from Tamsin, leaving Ghana A colleague of mine often talks about finding "the melody line" of a particular idea or event. I'm pretty sure that I heard the melody line of this trip to Ghana at the jazz bar that Rocky's brother Bob took us to Thursday night. Some of the country's most brilliant musicians – trumpeter Mac Tontoh of Osibisa, Highlife legend Gyedu Blay Ambolley, and Rocky himself...
