«"Mbube" music, regarded as dating back in Zulu tradition to King Shaka, was originally royal music to be sung to honor the Zulu King by his male supporters. The style—a rich a cappella male choral approach usually sung in Zulu, appeared in the early 20th century as "Ingoni Ebusuku," meaning "night music." Popular with Zulu and Swazi laborers, in the early 1940s one of the Ingoni Ebusuku groups

«It’s the unlikeliest place to imagine a festival, in the Sahara, not far from the Malian town of Timbuktu. But that’s the home of the Festival in the Desert, which celebrated its third anniversary in 2003. While it attracts international talent, the real focus is on artists who make their homes in the area, often of the nomadic Tuareg people. But there are others who live locally, like the

«Les Têtes Brulées (the name means the hot heads or the burnt heads, but implies, more pointedly, the mind-blown) are truly hard to miss in a crowd. The five-man lineup sport neatly torn t-shirts, elaborate dots-and-bars body paint over most of their skin, retro mirror shades, Afro mohawks, huge sneakers, and trademark day-glo book bags that they wear through their electrifying stage shows. The

«Foday Musa Suso is an internationally recognised Kora playing Mandingo griot who was born in 1950 in the Gambian village of Sarre Hamadi, a village in the Wuli District, in the Upper River Region. He is a virtuoso master kora performer and composer from a hereditary lineage of other Jalis. […] In 1977, Suso flew to Chicago in the US where he began his recording career as well as forming a group

«The raw songs of Nathalie Natiembé are typical of the Reunion island. Adopted by Possession after a youth spent in the streets of the center of St-Denis, Nathalie Natiembé cannot remember not singing. In 1998 she throws herself body and soul into writing. Nathalie Natiembé works in depth with the creole language. She draws strong emotions from words, digging deep into their essence. This

Hello everybody, Babe(b)logue goes on holiday, so this will be the last post for a while. See you soon, and stick around! Radu. P.S. As far as I know, this somewhat mysterious CD collects two beautiful Pela Simba’s albums originally published during the first half of the 80’s, Pela Simba and Sambara. If you discover more info, please leave a comment here. Cheers! «Pela Simba,

«Blo fused the Afrobeat rhythms of their native Nigeria with the mind-expanding psychedelia and funk of late-'60s Western rock to forge a wholly original sound embracing the full spectrum of black music. The roots of the group lay in the Clusters, already one of the most popular Nigerian highlife acts of the mid-'60s even prior to a stint as the support band for the Sierra Leonean pop superstar

«The most commercially and creatively successful act ever to emerge from Zimbabwe, the Bhundu Boys embodied the world music zeitgeist of the mid-'80s. Creators of a frenetic, guitar-dominated style they dubbed "jit," they fused airy melodies, shimmering harmonies, and pulsating rhythms drawn from across the African continent to make music that was both alien and accessible. Taking their name from

«Freshlyground is a South African Afro-fusion band that was formed in Cape Town in 2002. The band members are from South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Stylistically, Freshlyground incorporates elements of traditional South African music (such as kwela and African folk), blues and jazz, as well as features of indie rock. The lead singer is Zolani Mahola whose distinctive voice contributes much

«The Senegalese Jules Souleymane Cissokho, together his brother Moussa Cissokho, created the percussion group "Cissoko Bakine Percussion". It is a wonderful album inspired by traditional African music and instruments, including the balafon played by Lansiné, the peul flute, the kora and a mixture of djembé. Listen» «Le Sénégalais Jules Souleymane Cissokho, avec le

«Marabi is the independant label created in 2002 by Christian Mousset, director of the Festival Musiques Métisses d'Angoulême in France.The festival, place of exchange and discovery, is widely opened to urban popular musics from the African Continent, Indian Ocean, the Caribbeans, America. Marabi is mainly a discographic extension of this event. On the same artistic line, the label puts upcoming

Here are some Amazon customers reviews (click here for more): «This is an amazing album. The Amazigh artist Othmani has created a once in a lifetime expression of the desert. As an Amazigh myself, I must commend Othmani on an impeccable and smooth collection. Highly recommended for anyone who wishes to get lost in the rhythms and melodies of the Algerian Sahara.»«Baly

«The poetic and passionate music of a man who brings his ancient culture into the twentieth century, in collaboration with musicians from South America and the Ukraine. Abdelli is a Berber of the Kabyle people, indigenous North Africans who inhabited the region since pre-Arab times. His instrument is the mandole, an Algerian instrument that is similar to the Portuguese guitar. Abdelli blends

«Née au pied du massif des Aurès dans le Nord-Est algérien, Houria Aïchi, qui vit en France depuis trente ans, perpétue une tradition de poésie populaire chantée, héritée de sa grand-mère. Dans sa famille et depuis au moins trois générations, les femmes sont de grandes solistes qu’on appelle pour chanter lors des cérémonies familiales.Qu’elle reprenne une tradition ancienne de chants a cappella

«Abou Chihabi is a folk singer and songwriter from Grande Comore who fights against social injustice and racial discrimination. Abou Chihabi chose to call his group "Folkomor Ocean" because his main source of inspiration is his native land, the comors, which is insular and which no distance will ever make him forget. Folkomor Ocean has been released in 1997 on Playa Sound» (Mondomix) «Abou

«Tunisian born, Parisian musician Jean-Pierre Smadja (Smadj) grew up listening to Oriental, Brazilian, funk, soul, and folk music. Entering a jazz school at age 15 due to his intense interest in the guitar, Smadj’s musical development came to be characterized by transforming traditional jazz styles into eclectic sounds. This interest in the mechanics of making music led Smadj to pursue a degree

«Mali Diary (Diario Mali) is a studio recording of duets between the highly successful Italian classical-crossover pianist, Ludovico Einaudi, and Mali musician Ballake Sissoko – one of the most gifted kora players in Africa. This unexpected collaboration was recorded in February 2003, less than a month after they had appeared together at the now famous Festival in the Desert. They had a track

«One of the most exciting bands from Madagascar, Njava has been attracting international attention since their crowd-rousing set at the WOMAD Festival in 1995. Njava is mostly comprised of siblings — two sisters and three brothers — from the south Madagascar's Antemoto tribe. Njava brings a modern sensibility to the traditional music of their homeland. Initially an electric band, Njava began

«Co-produced by bassist Bill Laswell and Gambian griot Foday Musa Suso, this album delves into the West African roots that inspired their fusionary Mandingo project. Ancient Heart features recordings of both of Gambia's two major ethnic groups, the Mandinka and Fulani. But while the 11 songs are fairly true to tradition, the approach is updated by recording the musicians in ensembles rather than

«Ismael Lo, born in 1960, is the son of a Senegalese civil servant who loved American soul music. Lo grew up listening to stars like James Brown, Wicked Wilson Pickett, and Otis Redding. Lo built his first guitar from a cooking oil can, and learned to play harmonica and guitar together by nailing his harmonica to the wall. Lo was a guitarist for Super Diamano, a mbalax blues band, for five years