tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36725349362552299982024-03-19T00:47:00.020-07:00Classic West African Artists and Music BandsAmbrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-35656347014768442192020-07-14T14:08:00.000-07:002020-07-14T14:08:50.633-07:00Berkely Ike Jones (1948-2020)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Image via Uchenna Ikonne (Facebook).Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-83698289822516759642020-03-21T00:33:00.000-07:002020-03-21T00:33:28.320-07:00Victor Olaiya: Nigeria's 'Evil Genius' Trumpeter Who Influenced Fela Kuti<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /><br />Nigeria has been mourning music legend Victor Olaiya, who created Nigeria's highlife rhythms and influenced a generation of musicians including Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Nduka Orjinmo looks back at the life of the trumpeter, who died last month at the age of 89.<br /><br />Just like the well-turned out government filing clerk that he was, Olaiya always carried a pen in his breast pocket. This was not for noting instructions that had to be precisely followed, but rather because he needed to write down the musical notes and phrases as they came to him.<br /><br />This was at the beginning of the 1950s, his early days as a performer, when the trumpeter was trying to create Nigeria's highlife rhythms.<br />More musician than bureaucrat<br /><br />At this stage, music was something he did in his spare time and Olaiya thought he had lost his job in the civil service when his boss saw a newspaper photo of him performing at a nightclub.<br /><br />Instead, he was told that he was a better musician than a bureaucrat at the survey department of Lagos mainland local government.<br /><br />He left the job and took on music full time.<br /><br />Born to wealthy Yoruba parents in the southern city of Calabar, Olaiya had an early start in music.<br /><br />His father was a church organist and his mother a folk singer from the western city of Oyo.<br /><br />He was also influenced by Caribbean calypso and included the popular song Sly Mongoose in his repertoire that he recalled first hearing when he was nine years old.<br /><br />As a teenager, though, he was taught Western classical music, and played the clarinet and French horn in his school orchestra in eastern Nigeria.<div>
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<i>Olaiya collaborated with James Brown (R) for the 1970 album Up-To-Date Mover</i><br /><br />Years later, wielding his gold trumpet and dabbing his face with a white handkerchief, Olaiya would perform a new type of music in Nigeria that would go on to inspire a young Fela Anikulapo-Kuti among others.<br /><br />After his secondary school, Olaiya moved to Lagos where he joined the Lagos City Orchestra and then the band of composer Sammy Akpabot, playing ballroom music for wealthy urban audiences.<br /><br />But it was as the head of Bobby Benson's Alfa Carnival Group that his talent would be properly nurtured.<br /><br />Benson took a number of musicians under his wing and it was here that Olaiya polished the skills that would help him form his own band, the Cool Cats.<br /><br />Listening to the recordings now, the gentle swinging rhythm and the prominence of the horn section, you sense a sepia tinge to Olaiya's songs.<br /><br />They evoke memories of the fading British Empire and transition to independence, conjuring up images of afro hair combed into a dome, of middle-class Nigerians appearing overdressed in tuxedos and gowns with a cigarette neatly tucked between the fingers.<br /><br />By the late 1950s, the colonial administrators were on their way out and a young generation of educated Africans was about to take over.<br /><br />As the disco bars and ballrooms gradually thinned out of the British and their music, in stepped the elite class of Africans seeking that same high life but fused with their own culture.<br /><br />And the bands responded to satisfy their new patrons, incorporating local rhythms and melodies into their repertoire.<br /><br />The songs were romantic and the lyrics, which to today's eyes appear sexist, often used erotic imagery.<br /><br />Olaiya's 1961 track Adelebo Tonwoku (Single Lady Looking for a Husband) says that if a woman, referred to as "Cinderella shaking her buttocks", finds a husband she should "forgo education".<br /><br />As a musical term, highlife was first used in Ghana in the 1920s to describe a band playing a fusion of foreign and local instruments driven by multiple guitars and horns.<br /><br />Olaiya's influence came from Ghana, as he was a keen admirer of the Tempo band of highlife legend ET Mensah, who toured Nigeria multiple times from 1951.<br /><br />When Olaiya formed his Cool Cats band, he adopted Mensah's style and had Ghanaian Sammy Lartey as saxophonist. Years later, Olaiya and Mensah would release a joint album.<br /><br />In bombastic style, Olaiya was once described by a newspaper editor as "the evil genius of highlife", perhaps because once someone heard his music it was impossible not to dance.<br /><br />His music became so popular that in 1960 he played at the party to celebrate Nigeria's independence in front of Queen Elizabeth's sister, Princess Margaret.<br />Fela comes to Olaiya<br /><br />Olaiya was a multi-linguist and sang in Twi, Igbo, Efik, Pidgin and Yoruba and his band would go on to serve as a training ground for musicians who would revolutionise music in Africa.<br /><br />Chief among those that interned with Olaiya was Fela, creator of the Afrobeat genre and arguably Nigeria's most influential musician.<br /><br />Fresh from secondary school in 1957, Fela spent time playing with Olaiya's Cool Cats in Lagos and headed another of the maestro's bands.<br /><br />Olaiya recognised a prodigy and gave him a platform, in the same way that he had been supported by Benson.<br /><br />Fela's drummer, Tony Allen, was also among those who played with Olaiya. Other notable musicians that passed through his band were guitar wizard Victor Uwaifo, juju musician Dele Ojo and saxophonist Yinusa Akinnibosun.<br /><br />By 1970, under the influence of James Brown, Olaiya had branched into soul and funk music. His Up-to-Date Mover album of that year included five tracks co-written with Brown.<br /><br />But Olaiya will forever be associated with highlife, and this gradually faded from the scene until the genre became a stacked collection of dusty vinyl for senior citizens who hung onto the memories of an era when "things were good".<br /><br />The Cool Cats were no longer cool, as first Fela's Afrobeat and later Afro hop swept succeeding generations off their feet.<br /><br />Olaiya tried to keep up in later decades by doing things like shooting music videos but he never looked comfortable with the format.<br /><br />He was used to the disco bars, the big orchestra and the larger-than-life bands performing for dandy crowds.<br />Recognised by a later generation<br /><br />There were attempts to introduce his music to a new audience.<br /><br />In 2013, Tuface Idibia, a music legend in his own right, remixed Olaiya's Baby Jowo. It was a homage to another era but only underlined how things had changed.<br /><br />A handful of highlife musicians are still scattered in the eastern and western parts of Nigeria but their tunes are now mostly heard at funerals.<br /><br />When Olaiya is laid to rest, perhaps a band led by an immaculately turned out trumpeter will be at the front of the procession?<br /><br />And when he is lowered into the ground, it may be more than flesh that is returning to dust. The highlife music he pioneered may just be buried along with him.</div>
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SOURCE: BBC</div>
Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-10671195495305238902019-10-15T09:41:00.000-07:002019-11-22T19:29:29.705-08:00Fela Kuti, Felabration And What Makes Legend: Vibe Lives On<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 16px;">Fela Kuti and his wives.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 16px;"><b>BY <a href="http://www.ambroseehirim.com/">AMBROSE EHIRIM</a></b></span><br />
<br /><br />As usual, much has been said, about the Chief Priest, the Abami Eda, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the radical activist who had used his powerful lyrics and the vibe that he had helped coined during the Experimental years, and most musicians who had crossed over to go with the theme of a revolving musical genre over time, and the performers and key figures who had played significant role for we who had been curious to understand the origin and players who had been involved in the development of the coinages in its varieties, and the unique sound that identified each category, when the assembled music combos appeared to display their stuff in every event, amphitheater, arena and things like that they surfaced.<br /><br />This was the outcome during the remarkable Experimental Era, phenomenal in its take, and the jam sessions, and hangouts, which would include folks who would energize the scene in Lagos at the peak of the city's nightlife when there was no one in particular calling the shots on what should deserve play or rating, or airplay and national audience by way of commercial.<br /><br />In Nigeria and the West African concept, and music bands that erupted from cultural lines with its distinct patterns, folks were beginning to study notes and the originals to identify with each performer and what brand to connect with in what seem to have the potential for commercial success, which was key to popular music and its generation at the time. As it had happened, every region by way of its tribal line and the language spoken, became an identification of what the people in question loved to hear and danced to. In the Igbo heartland, Highlife had been the genre in every beat that was created in its vernacular lyrics and the expression which oftentimes combines calypso, rumba, ekwe omenala, ikwokirikwo, experimental era jazz, afrorock, bongo, ogene, abu owu (Amazano Jungle Blues), and the list goes on and on.<br /><br />While the Lagos explosion was akin to the Experimental Jazz Era, many bands emerged with keynotes to its tribal lines and its vernacular rhythm that made the sounds representative of who they were and their origin which would be classified in coinages and musical genre--Juju, Fuji, Akpala coupled with other local make-up vibes which extended to other horizons--Ghana, Cotonou, Togo, Senegal, Gambia--and by then, Kuti was within the framework of his own local ensemble of highlife outfits carved during his Trinity College of Music years, the Koola Lobitos, after which the Lagos experiments began upon Ginger Baker exploring the talents he had bumped on, and embraced, and found becoming of singing groups, generating superb music bands of the era in a sensation that would catapult each and everyone of them to the top and high acclaim of the local waves.<br /><br />Interestingly, Kuti, Joni Haastrup, Berkeley Ike Jones, and other cats of the day--Franco Adams, Lola da Silva, Paul Nwoko, Victor Damole, Michael "Micro Mike" Akpo, Remi Kabaka, Tee Mac Omotoshola, Willy Bestman, Pat Finn Okonjo, Emile Lawson, Jerry Samuels, Tony Benson, Felix Umuofia, Jeff Stone Afam, Larry Ifedioranma, Jerry Jiagbogbu, Jake Solo, Bob Miga, Harry "Mosco" Agada, and as the list goes on and on--had one thing in common, the desire to give it their best and produce what is unique and the pattern of each particular music to recognize the artists by their rights, becoming masters of their own craft.<br /><br />Kuti, on his trials in what would identify and make his line of music special, dabbled into playing with some of the old cats of the day which included Victor Olaiya's All Stars Band, demonstrating his ability to go with the flow and what probably would work and identify with the ideal that would stand out on its own, as Afrobeat began to emerge, in his musical scores with the band members and a coinage that would follow, giving the Africa 70 its trademark and a music that would change the social structure of the land.<br /><br />The Post Biafran War and the "Reconstruction Era" was Kuti's Lagos, when displaced persons, civil servants and related inner-city bunker hustlers who had to compromise with military dictatorships, found solace with the Afrobeat vibes, a remedy to the social ills and juntas that had overshadowed perspectives of becoming conducts in a nation blessed with overwhelming human capital and abundant natural resources.<br /><br />Life has been a distress and discomfort on the public square, and Kuti's music and pot smoking had become a trademark and a way out of the frustration, and a government that didn't care much about its citizens, pushing the youths to the limit with attractions of the shrine where the rituals and following took effect making it a household name that included all and sundry, and the military juntas, too.<br /><br />Kuti had made the shrine home to many and ground for comfort, justifying defiance with no restrictions to who visits and hangs out in the shrine, a plot that played well with the youths of the day, coupled with songs depicting social ills that consumed all. In beginning, to identify with the societal problems, Kuti was yet to blame the establishment on a lack of storm-drain-pothole roads, run-of-the mill structures, lifestyles and trend of a ghetto Lagos for its dysfunctional state, but on the inhabitants themselves and the nature of who cares attitude when the single "Shenshema" in its heavy, heavy-windy flavored horns, big band ensemble, postured the typical Eko situation:<br /><br />...Ebe motor, den start you u no dey start<br /><br /><br />dem dey push you all over Lagos;...<br /><br /><br />Ebe black man, you no dey think like black man<br /><br /><br />You dey do like white man everyday...<br /><br /><br />You be woman, u dey bleach yourself everyday,<br /><br /><br />u forget say u be black woman...<br /><br /><br />You be Shenshema, Shenshema...<br /><br />Or, the everyday drama on the streets of Lagos, "Go Slow", the musical, "Open and Close," complexion enhancing creams and its side effects in "Yellow Fever," and the excruciating pain of what one encounters trying to survive the hostile environment, doing the best out of bad situations, living basically in Eko, in power outage districts, blackout foul smell markets, open bucket latrines which had everything to do with life in the jungle where nothing in nature is organized, and where one is left with no choice but join the crowd and make life as simple as it can get. But suddenly, here you are, in the midst of a crowd where your own friend is engaged in a nasty duel and you begin to watch the real stuff of what Lagos has been all about, in a land where there are no rules to any kind of tussle which is settled on bragging rights kind of stuff, the "Roforofo Fight" duel:<br /><br />Two people dey yab<br /><br /><br />Crowd dey look<br /><br /><br />Roforofo dey<br /><br /><br />Two people dey yab<br /><br /><br />Crowd dey look<br /><br /><br />Roforofo dey<br /><br /><br />Wetin you go see?<br /><br /><br />Roforofo fight eh<br /><br /><br />Wetin you go hear?<br /><br /><br />Roforofo fight eh<br /><br /><br />If you dey among the crowd wey dey look<br /><br /><br />If you yourself<br /><br /><br />You yourself dey among the crowd wey dey look<br /><br /><br />And your friend<br /><br /><br />Your friend dey among the two wey dey yab<br /><br />Such characterized the legend and his beats as it swagged up all across the nation, and the West African coast, and around the world, and nothing could mean a damn thing with the public, but lyrics and rhythms of Baba, the Chief Priest, adopting what had made body and soul one in the post-Experiment Era. Everybody checked out the shrine--the clean cut image folks, the amugbo, the insane and the abnormal behavior drug addled military juntas, permanent secretaries, activists, labor union leaders, and civil servants, including journalists--all came and had a good time at a particular time what everyone wanted was to dance and have a great time and forget the sorrows of the Biafran War, which had turned Lagos into Africa's Big Apple. <br /><br />The wave had come on time at the eruption of the oil boom and what would lead to widespread scandals of bribery and corruption, of which Kuti would cease the moment and start his protest songs against an inept, corrupt regime, that had its devastating effects on the people. This had included ordinary and prominent civilians who had connived with the juntas in destroying every aspect of civil liberties, which compelled Kuti, times without number, to move up his theme and give the military juntas and their civilian collaborators some demonstrations and criticisms, requiring the juntas take their hands off the people as seen in all sound democratic societies. <br /><br />But the juntas had been absolute in their events and could care less what the public had perceived of a drastic regime and its draconian laws, invading the civilian structure with impunity, pillaging it, and angering every soul that knew the value of free press, freedom of assembly, and constitutional laws on the peoples mandate. Songs like "Alagbon Close," "Zombie," "Everything Scatter," "Kalakuta Show," "Unknown Soldier," "International Thief Thief (ITT)," "Army Arrangement," "Big Blind Country" (BBC), etc,. depicted dictatorship, bribery and corruption from the regimes of Olusegun Obasanjo to the Ibrahim Babaginda criminal mafia and military juntas, in addition to the spooky Sani Abacha years reign of terror.<br /><br />More damaging were events at the Kalakuta Republic in more than one occasion from around which the first instance of plundering by the juntas had lawyers, civil servants as patrons, and the hobos who had nothing to do with anything, at all, but take life easy and move on despite a dysfunctional government, run for their lives upon invasion. Kuti had begun to get used to the challenges and barrels of the gun that confronted and threatened him regarding his protest songs, by regrouping and keeping up with the vibes each time the juntas struck. But what would take toll on the nation and the legend himself, after songs and releases that continue to denounce despots and absolute power drunk men, was the "Zombie" lyrics Kuti had unveiled upon which the juntas had swiftly act in their operation to a song that was a case of sad reality, and a necessary invasion that would be tragic in what was established and orchestrated by the junta, Obasanjo, who happened to be Kuti's own cousin and age-mate of the Egba clan.<br /><br />The master composer thought deeply into what his own kin had done to him, a barbaric invasion that traumatized his mother and consequently leading to her death, and a kangaroo court of the junta's setting that puts the blame on an unknown soldier. Kuti would go to work for another masterpiece in his composition for public hearing, in what the juntas had done to a supposedly effective press and effective democracy, and his mark of symbolic speeches by measure of the nation's positioning in the world. "Unknown Soldier" was released; a hit and a national anthem, and realistically a damning indictment to the Obasanjo-led brutal regime:<br /><br />One thousand soldiers them dey come<br /><br /><br />People dey wonder, dey wonder, dey wonder...<br /><br /><br />Stevie Wonder dey there too<br /><br /><br />Na one week after FESTAC too<br /><br /><br />And dey broadcast on American satellite<br /><br /><br />Around that time too now, I say to you...<br /><br /><br />Where these one thousand soldiers them dey go?<br /><br /><br />Na Fela house Kalakuta<br /><br /><br />Them don reach the place, them dey wait...<br /><br /><br />Fela dey for house<br /><br /><br />Beko dey there too<br /><br /><br />Them mama dey there too<br /><br /><br />Beautiful people dey there too<br /><br /><br />Frenchman dey there too<br /><br /><br />Press man dey there too<br /><br /><br />One-fifty of us dey there too...<br /><br /><br />Then suddenly, suddenly....<br /><br />His soundbites on the ruckus between him and outrageous military regimes and governing flaws in and around the continent, was evident of his activism that was universally reached, and call to dismantle totalitarianism for effective democratic fabric, as in all organized societies, was at a terrible cost for the legend. As it had happened, the bloodthirsty military juntas did what no one could ever have imagined, silencing the people with draconian laws and back-paddled decrees, raping the entire treasury, and passing it on to their cronies, the "civilian structure" in its quasi democracy and the stealing of natural resources to continue apace.<br /><br />The assault on Kalakuta Republic was begun in earnest, and all that Kuti had built over the years was gone for him to start all over again with a clean slate. He had sang about every junta and had directly questioned and challenged their legitimacy and the audacity to wrestle power from the people, and those vultures, the beasts of no nations, did not like that, at all, and had to come upon the legend in series of intimidation to quiet him, which was impossible and never happened.<br /><br />Felabration, coined and established, founded by the legend's daughter, Yeni, recognizes his work and marks events that commemorates its anniversary and observed all around the Globe.<br /><br />Baba Lives!Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-6523528105649753422018-08-29T18:31:00.000-07:002018-08-29T18:31:36.869-07:005 Questions To Melanie Zeck (Research Fellow, Center For Black Music Research)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>The Center for Black Music Research stacks–Photo by A. Wong via I Care If You Listen</i></div>
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<br /><b>BY <a href="https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2018/08/5-questions-melanie-zeck-center-for-black-music-research/">REBECCA LENTJES</a></b><br /><br /><i><a href="http://colum.academia.edu/MelanieZeck">Melanie Zeck</a> is an ethnomusicologist, editor, and research librarian who has served a fundamental role at the <a href="https://www.colum.edu/cbmr/">Center for Black Music Research in Chicago</a>; at the CBMR she is not only a research fellow but also works as managing editor of the <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/journals/bmrj.html">Black Music Research Journal</a>. Along with Sam Floyd and Guy Ramsay, she is a co-author of the book <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-transformation-of-black-music-9780195307245?cc=us&lang=en&">The Transformation of Black Music: The rhythms, the songs, and the ships of the African Diaspora</a>, which argues against the exclusion of African music from “classical” music traditions and historiographies. Zeck previously served on the advisory committee for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.</i><div>
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<br /><b>CAN YOU FIRST PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR WORK AT THE CENTER FOR BLACK MUSIC RESEARCH, AND THE WORK OF THE CBMR MORE BROADLY?</b><br />In 1983, the Center for Black Music Research (CBMR) at Columbia College Chicago was founded by <a href="https://blogs.colum.edu/cbmr/2016/07/25/safloyd/">Samuel A. Floyd Jr.</a> to serve as the only organization of its kind. Now in its thirty-fifth year, the CBMR exists to illuminate the significant roles that black musics play in world culture by:<br />serving as a nexus for all who value black musics<br />promoting scholarly thought and knowledge about black musics<br />providing a safe haven for the materials and information that document the black music experience across Africa and the Diaspora.<br /><br />At the Center for Black Music Research, we match researchers with the relevant sonic, primary, secondary, and reference materials that they need to answer questions, plan exhibits, program concerts and recitals, write books and essays, or simply to satisfy their curiosity. Every year, the CBMR receives inquiries from individuals around the world who are interested in the musics—historical and contemporary—of the African Diaspora.<br /><br />As a librarian and musicologist, I, along with my colleagues, support our diverse constituency in two different—but complementary—ways. First, we assist researchers in cutting through the informational “red tape” by finding and suggesting useful resources in our library and archives, which work together to support the CBMR’s mission.<br /><br />Currently, we have:</div>
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<br />47,000 sound recordings in all formats (cylinders, records [78s, LPs, 45s], tapes [reel-to-reel, cassette,], CDs, and CD-Rs)</div>
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<br />100+ individual archival collections of primary resources, including scrapbooks, correspondence, business and professional records, photographs, conductors’ scores, and more </div>
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<br />15,000+ scores, images, concert programs, and newspaper clippings</div>
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<br />8,700 secondary resources, including printed books, dissertations, and serials<br /><br />Each of these items pertains in some way to the making and dissemination of musics in the African Diaspora. Researchers are shocked to learn that we have pieces (including motets, madrigals, symphonies, string quartets, solo works, etc.) whose dates of composition range from 1551 to last year!<br /><br />Second, we facilitate the contextualization and use of these resources by casting them against the backdrop of historical precedent, cultural bias, and shifting trends within the field of black music research and its allied disciplines. We help “connect the dots” between and among resources that have been marginalized or ignored in mainstream academic discourse so that broader issues can be considered in their totality.</div>
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<br /><b>WHAT ARE SOME WAYS IN WHICH CURATORS AND PERFORMERS COULD MOST EFFECTIVELY ENGAGE WITH THESE ARCHIVES AND HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS FROM THEIR POSITION IN THE PERFORMING ARTS?</b><br /><br />We encourage all researchers to consult our five-part “Black Music Research Matrix” model, which serves as a guide to the most effective strategies in using sound recordings and physical/visual representations (scores/charts/notations) in conjunction with primary (archival), secondary, and reference materials.<br /><br />Curators and music makers (including performers, conductors, and composers) are particularly well-suited to using our collections as they plan exhibits and program concerts and recitals. For example, curators can explore the full implications of a topic, concept, or genre when they have access to both the product—that is, a book, a score, or a recording—and the process—that is, the original source material employed by the producer that is now located in the archives. In many cases, a final product is simply that—one polished item that has emerged after months and years of preparation. In contrast, the primary resources can be examined for information regarding the musical, cultural, and socio-political milieu in which the producer was operating.<br /><br />Primary resources benefit music makers, too, even though they come to the Center for Black Music Research for a different reason than curators. At first, they may question the value of traveling all the way to a library and archives just to listen to an old LP—especially when they can hear just about anything on YouTube or Spotify from the comfort of their living room. But once they see the LP in its original jacket (complete with the original program annotations, commentary, and striking visual art) and hear an original recording (in its original format), they quickly change their mind. It’s as though they are transported back in time.<br /><br />Interestingly, music makers don’t realize that they are the perfect people to “activate the archives”—in fact, I’m always excited to witness how, over the course of their research visits, they regularly (re)discover, recover, and uncover pieces (sometimes still in manuscript) that have never been published—much less recorded. By drawing on the wide variety of resources at the CBMR, performers, conductors, and composers become more confident in making appropriately informed decisions about these “new” pieces and, more importantly, they cultivate the knowledge necessary to serve as advocates for this music with their future audiences. </div>
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<br /><b>ALONG THOSE LINES, WHAT DO YOU FEEL ARE THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAYS FOR ETHNOMUSICOLOGISTS AND OTHER FOLKS WORKING SOMEWHAT “BEHIND THE SCENES” TO ENGAGE WITH THE MUSIC WORLD IN TANGIBLE AND EVEN POLITICAL WAYS?</b></div>
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<b><br /></b><br />Academicians—including ethnomusicologists and practitioners in allied disciplines— are frequently called upon to lead their communities in social, political, and cultural activities for which specialized musical knowledge is necessary. For example, earlier this year, the Center for Black Music Research fielded numerous inquiries related to the ways in which music was and could continue to be employed in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life. In most of these cases, the inquirers had already exhausted available resources on the songs of the Civil Rights era, but they were thrilled to learn that the CBMR could guide them toward the dozens of ensemble (choral and instrumental) pieces listed in Anthony McDonald’s The Catalog of Music Written in Honor of Martin Luther King, including <a href="https://africlassical.blogspot.com/2007/12/undine-smith-moore-1904-1989-african.html">Undine Smith Moore</a>‘s Scenes from the Life of a Martyr and <a href="https://charlesedickerson.com/">Charles Dickerson</a>‘s I Have a Dream, among others.<br /><br />McDonald’s catalog is just one of several reference resources that the Center for Black Music Research uses on a daily basis. In some academic fields, however, reference materials—especially the printed ones—are considered outdated or even passé, and substantial efforts have been made to update and digitize them. But, in black music research, some of the most robust reference resources are available only in print and have yet to be superseded. In other words, these resources remain essential, and even today, they serve as excellent starting points for academicians who need assistance in finding appropriate music quickly. Moreover, because the CBMR has access to historical, biographical, and musical information about the composers in McDonald’s catalog, inquirers were supplied with much more than just the title of a piece. As such, they were able to create multifaceted activities for their communities, in which these musical selections played a central role.</div>
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<br /><b>WHAT ARE SOME OF THE WORKS BY BLACK COMPOSERS THAT YOU WISH WERE PROGRAMMED MORE FREQUENTLY?</b><br /><br />I’m fascinated by instrumental pieces in which black composers infuse European constructs with Africana idioms. This phenomenon was popular, particularly in the 1930s, as it exemplified greater socio-political and aesthetic impulses that were driving Diasporic musicians on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. For example, Nigerian composer <a href="https://africlassical.blogspot.com/2011/05/nigerian-composer-fela-sowande-born-may.html">Fela Sowande</a> wrote his five-movement African Suite in 1930, which is the same year that William Grant Still composed his Afro-American Symphony. Sowande used a popular West African highlife tune in the fifth movement of his suite, which was scored for string orchestra, and Still included a banjo in his otherwise standard symphonic orchestration.<br /><br />Similar musical fusions can be found in the works of <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/05/the-rediscovery-of-florence-price">Florence Price</a> and <a href="http://www.blackpast.org/aah/dawson-william-levi-1898-1990">William Levi Dawson</a>, among others. Price’s Symphony No. 1 (1933) and Symphony No. 3 (1940) both employ a juba dance (with its syncopated rhythms undergirded by a duple meter) in the third movement, which, in standard European symphonies, is usually composed as a waltz, minuet and trio, or scherzo (with the traditional triple meter). Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony (1934) is based on Negro spirituals, which are rendered solely through instrumental means. Singly and collectively, these pieces by Sowande, Still, Price, and Dawson broaden our concept of what a symphony is, what it does, and what it signifies.</div>
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<br /><b>DO YOU HAVE STRATEGIES TO RECOMMEND TO PERFORMERS AND CURATORS—ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH MUSICAL TRAINING GROUNDED IN THE LARGELY HOMOGENEOUS CANON—AS THEY INTEGRATE BLACK MUSICS INTO THEIR KNOWLEDGE BASE?</b><br /><br />Center for Black Music Research founder Samuel A. Floyd Jr. used to remark that, at one time, he had read every single book on black music, which, he would go on to say, was easy because there were not that many books to begin with. Now, the CBMR’s collection is among the largest and most comprehensive in the world.<br /><br />From this collection, three books stand out because their coverage provides the kind of information that most canonically trained musicians will need as they integrate black musics (especially those in the classical idiom) into their knowledge base.<br /><br />Eileen Southern’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Music-Black-Americans-History-Third/dp/0393971414">Music of Black Americans</a> ([1971] 1997, 3rd edition) provides a detailed narrative of black music history in the United States and can be read cover-to-cover or used as a reference resource.<br /><br />Aaron Horne’s four-volume series, Music of Black Composers (1990–1996), lists every <a href="https://www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOGreenwood/product.aspx?pc=B7043C">woodwind</a>, <a href="https://www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=B6349C">string</a>, <a href="https://www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=B4937C">keyboard</a>, and <a href="https://www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=B1884C">brass</a> piece written by a composer of African descent and cross-lists these pieces by composer, Diasporic locale, and ensemble configuration.<br /><br />Floyd’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/International-Dictionary-Black-Composers-Volumes/dp/1884964273">International Dictionary of Black Composers</a> (1999) profiles over 100 composers, whose dates of operation span 450 years, and provides biographical information, theoretical (analytical) essays on select pieces, and a bibliography for each entry.<br /><br />The study of black musics also requires a broad understanding of Diasporic history and cultures, which is typically marginalized (if not omitted) at the curricular level in American schools and departments of music. Just as resources on black musics have become much more readily available over the past fifty years, so, too, has the history of Africa and its Diaspora been covered extensively in books and scholarly journal articles. Given the sheer quantity of resources, I suggest that curators and music makers (including performers, conductors, and composers) visit their local libraries or browse online to find the type of writing style and coverage that suits their informational needs and time constraints.<br /><br />I also recommend browsing the older editions of African-American newspapers, such as the New York Amsterdam News, the Chicago Defender, the Indianapolis Freeman, and the Pittsburgh Courier, because they kept their metaphorical finger to the pulse of all things cultural in their respective cities and, thanks to their networks of correspondents, throughout the Diaspora.<br /><br />My hope is that all black music researchers—curators, music makers, and academicians—consult these printed resources and then explore the Center for Black Music Research’s holdings as they seek out and execute innovative programming and writing projects.</div>
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Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-30980852603251933412018-08-29T17:54:00.000-07:002018-08-29T17:54:44.557-07:00N.C. Folk Festival 2018: Sona Jobarteh, Kora Player<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivkZqRc9IdzJ9DGRvepbUyD1u6CRyo0OIcDyKXLVCY-EoWL5s3wFmZ2a2cJDEHVu8N1DFPGmuE5cDmZxqOHJgwA9ARJWPa5FntzsJHfLN7OvqTtt-Ipm6fqbL5AX1IqbxQdOQoMePPisue/s1600/Image-Editor-1.jpg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="1041" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivkZqRc9IdzJ9DGRvepbUyD1u6CRyo0OIcDyKXLVCY-EoWL5s3wFmZ2a2cJDEHVu8N1DFPGmuE5cDmZxqOHJgwA9ARJWPa5FntzsJHfLN7OvqTtt-Ipm6fqbL5AX1IqbxQdOQoMePPisue/s320/Image-Editor-1.jpg.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<i>FILE PHOTO: Gambia's Kora Player Sona Jobarteh Performs At The Rain Forest Wild Music Festival, Sarawak Cultural Village, Malaysia August 9, 2015. Image: Robertus Pudyyanto</i><div>
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BY <a href="https://www.greensboro.com/go_triad/music/n-c-folk-festival-sona-jobarteh/article_274234e8-4e23-5eb8-8e29-b2b96c16838f.html">PARKE PUTERBAUGH</a></div>
<br /><br />For Sona Jobarteh, making music is part of a family tradition that’s etched into the very DNA of her being.<div>
<br />She is an acclaimed player of the kora, a West African instrument with 21 strings.<br /><br />The kora has been described as a “double-bridge harp-lute,” and it is a unique instrument indeed.<br /><br />Jobarteh was born and raised in Gambia, on the west coast of Africa. Her ethnic and cultural heritage is Manding, referring to a people who are concentrated in West Africa.<br /><br />Jobarteh and her group will perform Manding music several times during the North Carolina Folk Festival from Sept. 7-9 in downtown Greensboro.<br /><br />Kora players come from “griot” families, who serve as historians and storytellers in their communities and culture.<br /><br />Jobarteh was born into an esteemed griot clan, and she learned how to play kora in the traditional way that it is passed down among family members.<br /><br />What is less unconventional about Jobarteh’s mastery of the kora is that she’s a woman in what has been a male-dominated hereditary tradition dating back to antiquity.<br /><br />Jobarteh’s success and acceptance as a female kora player is a sign of changing times and attitudes.<br /><br />Her father (Sanjelly Jobarteh) and brother (Tunde Jegede), both renowned kora players, began teaching her the instrument when she was 4.<br /><br />One might think approaching an instrument with the complexity of a kora so young might be daunting, but Jobarteh recalls it as an age-appropriate apprenticeship.<br /><br />“From a young age you pick it up and are just learning the very basic parts of the instrument,” says Jobarteh. She is speaking by phone from London during a European tour.<br /><br />“It’s not like intense training at that age where you have to get your hands all over the instrument,” she continues. “It’s very basic training, and it’s an oral tradition, so during the young years the most important training you’re going through is oral more than technical.”<br /><br />In a sense, kora players are not just making music but preserving and conveying history and heritage. They are very much speaking through the instrument.<br /><br />The central work in Jobarteh’s career thus far is an album entitled “Fayisa,” which means “heritage.” It was released in 2011.<br /><br />Before that, she wrote and recorded the soundtrack to the 2010 documentary “Motherland,” a historical overview of Africa.<br /><br />Jobarteh’s mesmerizing and evocative score for “Motherland” displays her remarkable gifts as a musician, singer, composer and “jali” (a Manding word that translates as “bard”).<br /><br />The atmospheric soundtrack might be described as a West African analogue to some of Enya’s most arresting Celtic music.<br /><br />More recently Jobarteh released a single, “Gambia,” and she has nearly completed her next album, which will be released early in 2019.</div>
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<br />However, Jobarteh will mostly be playing pieces from “Fayisa” at her Folk Festival appearances.<br /><br />“It’s music that is very personal to me,” she says. “It’s my own creation. It’s rooted in the West African tradition of Manding music, but it’s my own addition to the culture.”<br /><br />“Every generation must bring something new to the tradition, and this is my expression that is new.”<br /><br />In addition to Jobarteh on kora, her band includes a guitarist, bassist, drummer and percussionist.<br /><br />These instruments lie outside the Manding tradition, but Jobarteh feels they make the music more relatable to those unfamiliar with West African music.<br /><br />“Some of the instruments are not from our tradition,” she says, “but it’s a presentation of the culture that is accessible to people whether they’ve heard it before or not.”<br /><br />“It’s still very much identifiably West African and traditional, as well,” she adds.<br /><br />Jobarteh received her higher education in London, earning a degree in African Culture and Linguistics at SOAS (“School of Oriental and African Studies”) University.<br /><br />Building on the teaching aspect of her griot heritage, Jobarteh has founded Gambia’s first academy of music and culture. Slated to open next year, the Gambia Academy of Music and Culture is a product of Jobarteh’s determination and vision. She explains how the idea came to her.<br /><br />“While I was studying in the U.K., I was also working as a teacher,” she says. “I had a lot of students and started to send some of them back to Gambia to do their field studies. “<br /><br />“This is where the seed started,” she continues. “I was lucky to be at a university that had resources in African history, art and music. But I found I didn’t like the disconnect that there are so many resources on African history in Europe and yet there are very few in Africa.<br /><br />“This is where the calling came from. I realized it’s very important to balance it out so that people in Africa don’t have to travel halfway across the world to study their own culture.”</div>
Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-73235935870615651842018-02-18T08:07:00.000-08:002019-10-16T20:31:52.925-07:00Kwamena Ray Ellis, Vintage Years<div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOW_mdPAhzE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOW_mdPAhzE</a>Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-75475412043990127342017-10-29T07:54:00.000-07:002017-10-29T07:54:19.167-07:00South Africa: Hugh Masekela - The Horn Player With A Shrewd Ear For The Music Of Today, Not Yesterday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b>BY <a href="https://theconversation.com/hugh-masekela-the-horn-player-with-a-shrewd-ear-for-the-music-of-today-not-yesterday-86414">GWEN ANSELL</a></b></div>
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<b>THE CONVERSATION</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB502UKnSPMD5ejbmTX_8gft6U7m4ZjpeTI6zOHrYufWsjuBiyjTJRCIkbpJjW7atm_eM0AL25y4NnuyfQys1y67VFf-JW9UoSEUCISXzYRk6SRe4St2TGGC47nn_qknrsBgBJPhwCo8Qh/s1600/Hugh-Masekela.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB502UKnSPMD5ejbmTX_8gft6U7m4ZjpeTI6zOHrYufWsjuBiyjTJRCIkbpJjW7atm_eM0AL25y4NnuyfQys1y67VFf-JW9UoSEUCISXzYRk6SRe4St2TGGC47nn_qknrsBgBJPhwCo8Qh/s320/Hugh-Masekela.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>
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Hugh Masekela Image Via <a href="http://www.kalamu.com/bol/wp-content/content/images/hugh%20masekela%2019.jpg">Kalamu</a></div>
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<br /><br />When trumpeter, flugelhorn-player, singer, composer and activist Hugh Ramapolo Masekela cancelled his appearance at the recent Johannesburg Joy of Jazz Festival and his remaining October shows, taking time out to deal with <a href="https://www.enca.com/media/video/hugh-masekela-cancels-future-shows-as-he-battles-cancer?playlist=112">serious health issues</a>, fans were forced to return to his recorded opus for reminders of his unique work. Listening through that half-century of disks, the nature and scope of the trumpeter's achievement becomes clear.<br /><br />Masekela had two early horn heroes.<br /><br />The first was part-mythical: the life of jazz great <a href="http://www.redhotjazz.com/bix.html">Bix Biederbecke</a>filtered through Kirk Douglas's acting and Harry James's trumpet, in the 1950 movie <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/young_man_with_a_horn/">"Young Man With A Horn"</a>. Masekela saw the film as a schoolboy at the Harlem Bioscope in Johannesburg's Sophiatown. The erstwhile chorister resolved "then and there to become a trumpet player".<br /><br />The second horn hero, unsurprisingly, was <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/miles-davis-mn0000423829/biography">Miles Davis</a>. And while Masekela's accessible, storytelling style and lyrical instrumental tone are very different, he shared one important characteristic with the American: his life and music were marked by constant reinvention. As Davis reportedly said:<br /><br />I don't want to be yesterday's guy.<br /><br />Much has already been written about Masekela's life and its landmarks: playing in the Huddleston Jazz Band in the 1950s on a horn donated by Louis Armstrong; performing in the musical <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/king-kong-musical-1959-1961">"King Kong"</a> in the 1960s and at the Guildhall and then Manhattan schools of music with singer <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/miriam-makeba">Miriam Makeba</a>; US pop successes in the 1970s and then touring Paul Simon's <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/apr/19/paul-simon-graceland-acclaim-outrage">"Graceland"</a> in the 80s and 90s.<br /><br />What is less discussed is the <a href="http://electricjive.blogspot.co.za/search?q=Masekela">music</a>, and the innovative imagination he has periodically applied to draw it fresh from the flames.<br /><br />Breaking new ground<br /><br />The Huddleston band, plus time as sideman and in stage shows, were the traditional career path for a young musician. But then Masekela broke his first new ground. With fellow originals, including saxophonist <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/kippie-jeremiah-moeketsi">Kippie Moeketsi</a>, pianist <a href="https://abdullahibrahim.co.za/">Abdullah Ibrahim</a> and trombonist <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/jonas-mosa-gwangwa">Jonas Gwangwa</a>, as <a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/04/26/525696698/the-legacy-of-the-jazz-epistles-south-africas-short-lived-but-historic-group">The Jazz Epistles</a> they cut the first LP of modern African jazz in South Africa.<br /><br /><a href="http://tonymcgregor-tonysplace.blogspot.co.za/2008/02/jazz-epistle-verse-1.html">"Jazz Epistle: Verse One"</a> (1960) featured band compositions marked by challenging improvisation - "a cross between mbaqanga and bebop". <a href="http://www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/south-african-sound-mbaqanga">Mbaqanga</a> is form of South African township jive and <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-bebop-2039578">bebop</a> an American jazz style developed in the 1940s.<br /><br />Masekela had also joined the pit band and worked as a copyist for South Africa's first black musical, "King Kong".<br /><br />This exposure attracted attention to his talent from potential patrons at home and abroad. Pushed by the horrors of the <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/sharpeville-massacre-21-march-1960">Sharpeville massacre</a> when the South African police shot and killed 69 people on 21 March 1960, and pulled by donated air-tickets and scholarships, Masekela left for London, and then New York.<br /><br />In the next two decades, Masekela's re-visioning of his music took many forms. He found America hard, but with wife Miriam Makeba (the marriage lasted from 1964 - 1966), the production skills of Gwangwa, and the support of American singer <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/harry-belafonte-mn0000952794/biography">Harry Belafonte</a> he proactively introduced audiences to South African music and the destruction of apartheid.<br /><br />On the ironically titled 1966 live <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/album/americanization-of-ooga-booga-mw0001304086">"Americanisation of Ooga Booga"</a>, he demonstrated the creative possibilities of "township bop". Masekela did this by mashing up repertoire and playing styles from the South Africa he had left and the America he had landed in.<br /><br />But he was also looking in other directions: in collaborations with other African musicians; towards fusion (with <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-crusaders-mn0000136075/biography">The Crusaders</a>), rock (with <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-byrds-mn0000631774/biography">The Byrds</a>) and even pop at the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/16/masekela-shankar-play-monterey">Monterey Pop</a>, festival.<br /><br />That list captures only a fraction of his projects in the 1960s. Some bore instant fruit: his 1968 single, <a href="http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=8369">"Grazin' In the Grass"</a>, topped the Billboard Hot 100 list and sold four million copies; the previous year's "Up Up and Away" became an instant standard.<br /><br />In 1971, he teamed up with Gwangwa and Caiphus Semenya for another pan-African vision: <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/album/hugh-masekela-the-union-of-south-africa-mw0000625550">The Union of South Africa</a>. In 1972 he explored a stronger jazz orientation on <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/album/home-is-where-the-music-is-mw0000789812">"Home is Where The Music Is"</a> with, among others, sax player <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dudu-pukwana-mn0000210863/biography">Dudu Pukwana</a>, bassist <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/eddie-gomez-mn0000794244">Eddie Gomez</a>, keyboardist <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/larry-willis-mn0000114935/biography">Larry Willis</a> and Semenya.<br /><br />Sixties counterculture<br /><br /><br /><br />But as the title of "Grazin' In the Grass" suggests, Masekela was also bewitched by other aspects of Sixties counterculture. He dated his addiction back to the alcohol-focused social climate of his early playing years in South Africa, but by the early Seventies he admitted:<br /><br />I had destroyed my life with drugs and alcohol and could not get a gig or a band together. No recording company was interested in me...<br /><br />That depression inspired the song that achieved genuinely iconic status back home in South Africa: the 1974 reflection on migrant labour, <a href="http://www.mahala.co.za/art/curse-of-the-coal-train/">"Stimela/Coal Train"</a>.<br /><br />Foreign critics have handed that status to other Masekela songs, such as "Soweto Blues", "Gold" or the much later "Bring Him Back Home". Yet powerful though those are, it is Stimela, with its slow-burning steam-piston rhythm that captured the hearts of South Africans in struggle back home, and still does today. And of course the lyrics:<br /><br />There's a train that comes from Namibia and Malawi /there's a train that comes from Zambia and Zimbabwe/ from Angola and Mozambique...<br /><br />Masekela said:<br /><br />For me songs come like a tidal wave ... At this low point, for some reason, the tidal wave that whooshed in on me came all the way from the other side of the Atlantic: from Africa; from home.<br /><br />Shortly afterwards, Masekela headed off to Ghana, hooked up with <a href="https://soulsafari.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/masekela-introducing-hedzoleh-soundz/">Hedzoleh Soundz</a>, and was soon back in the charts. "Stimela" received its first outing on the album <a href="https://www.musicinafrica.net/magazine/hugh-masekela-i-am-not-afraid">"I Am Not Afraid"</a>, with West African and American co-players including pianist <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/15/arts/music/joe-sample-crusaders-pianist-dies-at-75.html">Joe Sample</a>.<br /><br />By the mid '80s, the hornman was back in southern Africa, recording <a href="http://afrosynth.blogspot.co.za/2009/08/hugh-masekela-techno-bush-1984-jive.html">"Technobush"</a> at the mobile <a href="http://shifty.co.za/the-shifty-story/">Shifty Studio</a> in Botswana, and performing for the Medu Arts Ensemble with a Botswanan/South African band, <a href="http://afrosynth.blogspot.co.za/2009/08/hugh-masekela-with-kalahari-tomorrow.html">Kalahari</a>. His music shifted again: roots mbaqanga came strongly to the fore to speak simply and directly to people now openly battling the apartheid regime just across the border.<br /><br /><br />Returning home<br /><br />After liberation and his return home, Masekela once more chose fresh directions. In 1997 he banished his addictions and began to showcase the virtuoso player he could have been 30 years earlier without the distractions of the West Coast. He fronted big European jazz bands, and benchmarked a long musical friendship with Larry Willis with the magisterial <a href="http://revive-music.com/2012/05/10/hugh-masekela-larry-willis-friends/">Friends</a>.<br /><br />But his shrewd ear for the music of today, rather than yesterday, also took him into younger company. He collaborated with current stars - including singer <a href="http://www.thandiswa.com/">Thandiswa Mazwai</a> - often encouraging them to take centre stage. Just before the recurrence of his cancer, he was <a href="http://www.channel24.co.za/The-Juice/News/eye-surgery-forces-hugh-masekela-to-postpone-collab-with-riky-rick-20170915">planning</a> a festival collaboration with rapper Riky Rick.<br /><br />To cap the transformation, the individualistic rebel of the 60s and 70s became an elder statesman of social activism. In 2001, he established a <a href="http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=26912">foundation</a> to help other musicians escape addiction. Once more he foregrounded the music of continental Africa, to campaign against xenophobia. And the return of his own illness became the cue to <a href="http://ewn.co.za/2017/10/07/hugh-masekela-encourages-men-to-get-checked-for-prostate-cancer">exhort</a> other men to get checked for prostate cancer.<br /><br />Other South African musicians have succeeded overseas; many have made one mid-career image switch - but few have shown us, in only one person but more than 30 albums, so many of the faces and possibilities of South African jazz.Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-1038648282043278502016-04-12T22:15:00.000-07:002019-09-22T08:44:36.386-07:00Yorima Beat: Vibe Of Many Genres<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b>MUSIC REVIEW</b></div>
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<b>AMBROSE EHIRIM</b></div>
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I'm not sure if I have done this before, besides the vinyl LP era when I would spin a record on the Elizabethan stereo turntable, like The Temptations 'Masterpiece,' repeatedly over and over again until something else distracts me. Songs like that, back in the day, was how a music appealed to me, by way of listening to it continuously, paying particular attention to the generated beats and lyrics while studying the arrangements and compositions in addition to the liner notes that tells it all -- the album itself and origin.<br />
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As it had happened, Jerri Jhetto shipped to me his latest release from the recording studio, to complement his days of sleepless nights on 'The Jerri Jheto Project: Mangasa', in which one must admit, that hard work pays off, eventually. When I received a copy of the album, I was not sure of what to expect knowing from what had erupted at a time musicians wanted their success commercialized in line to going with the flow and joining a bandwagon that had pursued the rush as pop culture zig-zags with a changing times even though I had looked forward to some 'as usual' reggae beats and kind of vibes people always wanted to hear and dance. Jhetto came up entirely different and what a master of his craft would do to identify himself.<br />
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The "Jerri Jheto Project: Mangasa," amplified in all aspects, takes a little bit of every musical genre, swinging along the typical sound of its African origin with mother tongue, the Owerri dialect, revived in his lyrics and beats to draw from the notable bongo beats of the seventies in appreciation to pop culture as it evolves. In spite of the cuts superbly arranged, and adaptation, Jheto found his way around for authenticity while he kept intact the originality of his music holding steadfast to the highlife traditions, adding calypso, afrobeat, afrorock, blues and ikwokirikwo to an emerging coinage, Yorima Beat.<br />
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For weeks, I drove around glued to "Mangasa" and every beat seemed to be sending some kind of message, either of joyous festivities, merry-making and causes and effects to our troubled times, Jheto took step to put every track into perspective to explain the worthiness of his work as his notes indicates in every category: high pitched Owerri dialect in highlife music from the track 'Umu Igbo,' and 'Udara,' reviving beats of the early seventies bongo in Ala Owerri, combining storytelling and the realities of life. Rap, flowing of wind instruments and strings can be heard while mixing traditional highlife tunes with mainstream pop culture, hip-hopping in 'Egwu Ndere Ndere'. The request for palm wine, ugba (oil bean) and its concoction, stockfish, culinary correctness and tasty Owerri dishes streams along to identify with his cultural heritage.<br />
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Mangasa, no question, is impeccably produced even when it kind of slows down and jumps over again, it's deeply entertaining to listen to as every track is done with perfection. A jam in every track, though my favorite piece here is 'Umu Igbo,' where Jheto remarks his craft, the authentic sound of Igboland and revival of culture. A must collection for every lover of music and good vibes.<br />
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Tracklisting:<br />
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1. Mangasa<br />
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2. Umu Igbo<br />
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3. Kanayo<br />
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4. Eluwa<br />
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5. Onyebiri<br />
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6. Uwa Wu Ahia<br />
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7. Udara<br />
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8. Mama<br />
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9. Yorima<br />
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10. Eringa<br />
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11. Adaugo<br />
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12. Egwu Ndere Ndere<br />
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13. Tuwarimumi<br />
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14. mangas (English)Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-68582693625122710972015-01-07T12:30:00.000-08:002015-01-07T12:30:47.080-08:00A Jazzier, Afro-Hip Olayimika Cole: The Interview<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">IMAGE COURTESY OF OLAYIMIKA COLE</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Olayimika Cole, British-Nigerian born composer is the newest sensation in jazz. Her debut album "L'Ife" released in 2014 has generated a whole lot of buzz receiving noteworthy praise from numerous quarters including jazz phenom, Herbie Hancock, who said: "I love what she says about her approach to music and life." From a hangout of DC area "live music scene," Cole had been inspired by the music of John Coltrane, Billy Strayhorn, Billie Holliday, Sarah Vaughan, Nat King Cole, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Count Basie, Fela and others. Her music has engaged a new musical genre, a trending Afro-Hip to her credit. In this interview, Cole talks about her music and future engagements.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><b>EXCERPTS:</b></span></span><br /><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>EHIRIM FILES:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Tell me a little bit about yourself</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>OLAYIMIKA COLE:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> I’m new to Jazz. About three years ago I was one of the organizers of a Jazz concert series at a church. I wanted to learn more and immersed myself in live Jazz music and learning more. During this time my father passed away (the song L’Ife is a tribute to my father). My mother shared with me that he used to play Jazz and other music to me when I was in the crib. So I think that there was an early formative impression that was only recently, shall we say…ignited!</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>EHIRIM FILES:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> What had inspired you into jazz and the kind of music you're now into?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>OLAYIMIKA COLE:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> I am inspired by what I truly feel. The songs are not just about my own experiences, but what I feel I would like to convey about a beautiful friend or great Jazz artist such as Art Tatum. Songs fell out of the sky and hit me on the head!</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>EHIRIM FILES:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Your debut album "L'Ife" is buzzing all over took a class of DC area session men to put together. How did that come about?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>OLAYIMIKA COLE:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Well, let’s not forget about the women of jazz! But the large ensemble was quite a project. It started out as something small but then took on a new life of its own. I worked with so many wonderful artists. One thing people should know is that DC has an incredible array of jazz artists. A big shout out to all of them.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>EHIRIM FILES:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> The track "Montreal" opens your album. What inspired the track as opening to your debut album?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>OLAYIMIKA COLE: </b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I was in a hostel in Montreal and I sensed Oscar Peterson walking through streets and heard the voice of Nat King Cole. At the time I couldn’t make out what Nat King Cole’s stunning voice had anything to do it-but that just exposed my lack of knowledge! Of course, the two were great friends in life and Oscar Peterson came out of Nat King Cole. It is a song for Canada, Montreal, and a love song. I was so happy that Oscar Peterson’s wife liked the song. That meant a lot to me.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>EHIRIM FILES:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Your CD release party at the Blues Alley in D.C. was phenomenal. How prepared were you for the event?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>OLAYIMIKA COLE:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> I had a short time to prepare, but I was aided by a wonderful group of artists. It was such a special night. The audience was incredible. That concert should really be on the road. It is so cross cultural and cross generational. One lady mentioned that it was the best concert she had seen after going there for decades. I was very touched by that comment.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>EHIRIM FILES:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Tell me about Afro Hip and how it all came about</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>OLAYIMIKA COLE:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Well, Energy was written as a spoken word piece with literally an orchestra of African Rhythms. Over 72 tracks! Okechukwu added vocal drumming and I called that version Afro Hip. Also, as a tribute song to Fela, you have to bring the music forward in some way. Not to say that anything can come close to what Fela did. That was revolutionary!</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>EHIRIM FILES:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> In one of our discourses, you talked about Fela Kuti and the inclusion of two versions about the legend. How did Fela inspire you and the music that you now play?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>OLAYIMIKA COLE:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> I had the privilege of seeing him perform live at the Shrine. I never recovered! It was a musical feast. When you see originality like that…. it is something special.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>EHIRIM FILES:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Just like that, Olayimika Cole pops up. Just like that a CD is released. And just like that, it's generating a buzz and considered for the 57th Grammy Awards nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Isn't that overwhelming?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>OLAYIMIKA COLE</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">: Actually I have so much to learn and so much to write, I have to stay grounded and not be overwhelmed. The focus is the music. About telling our stories with integrity, carrying our histories, pain and joys. I would like the songs to travel well as I believe that that the songs are essentially about the human spirit. Having said this, getting commentary from Herbie Hancock,</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> musi</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">cia</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">n and man that I truly admire is humbling beyond words …….and</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">sent me into orbit!</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>EHIRIM FILES:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> How are you handling the fame?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>OLAYIMIKA COLE:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> I’m still me.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>EHIRIM FILES:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> I read you grew up listening to Bob Marley, Michael Jackson and Queen. How did that contribute to your development as jazz artist?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>OLAYIMIKA COLE:</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> I think the advantage of growing up in London is that I was exposed to such a variety of music. And of course the Notting Hill Carnival. For me, embracing the world of music is important to see the wider vision of Jazz. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>EHIRIM FILES</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">: What would you do differently now if you should?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>OLAYIMIKA COLE: </b>Good question. I'll think about that one!...I should mention that my record L'Ife: The Music of Olayimika Cole is available on itunes, Amazon, CD baby and I also have information on my website at <a href="http://www.olajazz.com/" style="color: #b87209; text-decoration: none;">Ola Jazz</a> . I'm looking forward to a TV performance and also Intersections Festival Premier Performance of "The Play of L'Ife" at the <a href="http://intersectionsdc.org/" style="color: #b87209; text-decoration: none;">Atlas Intersections Festival</a>, DC on Saturday, March 7, 2015. It will contain sketches with original new music with which the audience will "travel" to Lagos, London, DC and Montreal through the music of jazz. I am so excited to perform with such wonderful artists. I would be thrilled ton have another full house with an energetic audience.</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>EHIRIM FILES</b>: What are you working on right now? Ready to launch another album?</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>OLAYIMIKA COLE:</b> I'm writing more original songs (melodies and lyrics), play and screenplay. I would like to collaborate with more wonderful artists this year and secure an agent. By Grace, I believe the best is yet to come.</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>EHIRIM FILES:</b> Good luck!</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>OLAYIMIKA COLE:</b> Thanks!</span></span></span></div>
Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-41603606645061495322014-12-09T16:31:00.001-08:002014-12-09T16:33:59.482-08:00Ghettoman "Chase Them" New Singlehttp://vimeo.com/113849436<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/113849436" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> <a href="http://vimeo.com/113849436">Ghettoman - "Chase Them"</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/itoniimageblo">Toni Izundu</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-87351470978859249922014-04-12T13:26:00.000-07:002019-06-27T18:31:24.144-07:00Bob Miga, The Vintage Years: A Tribute<b>BY AMBROSE EHIRIM</b><br />
<br />
<br />
I had co-emceed the student's day ballroom dance and we had hired disc
jockey Alan B. (Onyema O.), who then also announced alongside Teddy
Oscar Uju at the Imo Broadcasting Service, the IBS in Owerri. It had
been normal harmattan, the dry, dusty windy season when we take the
Christmas break and join folks in our enclaves to find out how things
could work out as we began to develop and grow, in mannerisms and an in
tuned cultural heritage .<br />
<br />
It had been a wave of music groups upon music groups and as one is
forming, the other is disbanding. They had all emerged after the
Nigeria-Biafra War had ended in January 1970; though some of these casts
had been around playing gigs before the war broke out.<br />
<br />
University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the UNN, is none other than a higher
institution modeled after the American tradition, of higher learning,
which ultimately would bring about change in every aspect of society. It
was on the grounds of this great institution that Bob Miga, born
Valentine Soroibe Agim would storm with a cast of his musician-folks,
and where other cats of the day performed and, all around the Eastside.<br />
<br />
Just like the three major record labels' (Blue Note Records, Impulse and
Prestige) experimental years guided and produced casts of phenomenal
jazz players -- Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Billy Higgins, Jimmie Smith,
Max Roach, Charles Mingus, Lee Morgan, John Coltrane, Curtis Fuller,
Wayne Shorter, Kenny Clarke, Donald Byrd, Grant Green, Roosevelt "Baby
Face" Willette, Bud Powell, Idris Muhammad, Pharoah Sanders, Tal Farlow,
Milt Jackson, Art Blakey, McCoy Tyner, and as the list goes on and on,
which I presented on my Facebook page, and eruption of the crossover
era when the experiments overwhelmingly seemed to be accomplished,
categorizing patterns of instrumental plays (jazz fusion, smooth jazz,
new wave music, etc.) -- Nigeria, in the 1960s developed similar desire
as was the case with the three major record labels during the
1950s-1960s experiments; experiments its direction was unknown, which
would drive a youngish, curious minded elements, determined, bringing in
a new kind of music in adaptation to their foreign counterparts.<br />
<br />
The experimental years which had appeared while the bebop, ragtime and
swings of the 1930s-1940s waned, and in the 1950s when Blue Notes'
Alfred Lions had brought in his friend, Francis Wolf, to capture every
image of every event, and at all recordings and jam sessions, it wasn't
noticed that Lions had visions and was innovative. Today, the ideal
behind Blue Note Records and its sister links, still plays and valid.<br />
<br />
In Nigeria's 1960s, though there were other musical genres of note and
already coined -- juju, highlife, etc. -- popular music as had exploded
in Lagos would take the city and nation by storm, and an adopted name
about a coastal city, the "New York of Africa," would melt Lagos in its
entirety, burning with an emerged, amazing night life that would rock
the land.<br />
<br />
A new blend of music. Some new cats and stage names. A style and
personalized trademark. A quest that would send a powerful message.
Lyrics made raw.<br />
<br />
It was during this experimental period that names and groups like Teddy
Oscar and the Strangers, Pat Finn Okonjo, Jerri Jhetto, Joni Haastrup,
Michael "Micro Mike" Akpo, Franco Adams, Lola da Silva, Paul Nwoko,
Victor Damole and uncountable others, surfaced. And the Teddy Oscar and
the Strangers Band assumed to penetrate the newly arrived pop scene
disappeared before anyone could figure out what had gone wrong.<br />
<br />
According to Uchenna Ikonne who will be releasing a book on West African
vintage music, the Hykkers appeared on the music scene upon probably
the sudden dissolution of the Teddy Oscar-led Strangers, and though at
the brief appearances, Miga may have not been given publicity.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, Miga joined the Hykkers, an army engineered band,
alongside Jake Solo, Okonjo, Emile Lawson, Felix Umuofia and Jeff Stone
Afam. Hykkers would play jam sessions and entertain the army brass until
the base camps at Lagos wanted their attention, the need to go back to
Lagos and perhaps keep up with the same flow and same band members.<br />
<br />
That would not happen. Miga had a plan. Since his mother was staying in
Owerri, he figured there was no need to follow the band back to Lagos.
So, he alerted the military commands about other band members' desire to
move back to Lagos, which wasn't a good idea, as he suggested; and how
to keep the band permanently positioned in Owerri could be beneficial to
the military commands, considering the fact that the band had gained
grounds in the East, and would not make sense to start all over again by
moving back to Lagos.<br />
<br />
As it had happened, the military commands favored Miga's stories and
strategies which should keep the band intact, in the sense that,
Wetheral Road, Owerri, and other hangouts in the hood where the band did
their rehearsals, had become established and known, by the locals and
fans all around the region, the East. Owerri had become blown to a mega
city because of Miga and how he brought pop culture home. Owerri
Township and its suburbs, overnight, turned out a sensation with the
kind of psychedelic funk, blended with some rock, had been introduced
into every home; and thanks to Miga's Strangers. Miga had become a
demi-god and idolized anywhere he popped up.<br />
<br />
While Miga stayed on top in many of what he had initiated, bands erupted
like crazy, and Ala-Igbo would be something else by way of pop culture.<br />
<br />
The pop culture revolution had just begun.<br />
<br />
The Hykkers, as it would turn out when Miga had succeeded in convincing
the military commands why Owerri remains a better spot, in which he was
allowed to keep all the instruments while the rest of the band members
left empty handed back to Lagos for Miga to regroup. Meanwhile, Eddy
Duke who had stayed behind on Miga's counsels did not hesitate to join
Miga in the new Hykkers band when Jake Solo (Nkem Nwankwo) and Ify Jerry
came aboard from Enugu for scheduled Hykkers gigs, jam sessions and
studio recordings. A group now in adaptation to the Liverpool foursome,
the Beatles, would rock the East in a similar fashion the Beatles did in
Europe and the Americas.<br />
<br />
The Hykkers, would, however, record some powerful singles -- "God Gave
His Only Son," "Stone The Flower," "Deiyo Deiyo," etc. -- before going
their separate ways which was typical of music bands and how the
business was run.<br />
<br />
Enter the new Strangers of Owerri. There is a new band in town with
rules of engagement. After parting the Hykkers and Miga stuck with
musical instruments, leaving him with one of two choices: To look for
session men, shop around for a recording label, form a new band for
gigs, outdoor performances and live studio recordings, or leave the
entire business alone and move on for something entirely different and,
better.<br />
<br />
Miga already knew what show business had been all about; so, making up
his mind did not take too much probing to find out there was no other
place for him than the only thing he had known from growing up.<br />
<br />
With all musical instruments in his possession and a band dissolved with
no other band-members around to flex with, Miga hopped on the
road again to shop around for a group of session men, or folks willing
to form a new band with him. It was in this quest, he bumped into
guitarist Ani Hoffner (Eugene Umebuani) and Sammy Mathews and, after
talks of engagements in recording and performing contracts, Hoffner and
Mathews agreed to participate in Miga's new band, The Strangers of
Owerri.<br />
<br />
There was a Strangers resident in Owerri and Miga and his band mates got
every soul popping. Other music bands emerged, too, and the Eastside
never would be the same again. In every nook and cranny, there was a
gathering, student union ballroom, family parties, series of scholarly
fraternities, social clubs, christenings, cultural festivals,
traditional initiations on the rites of passage, and things like that,
which overwhelmingly overshadowed the Eastern landscapes, as these
musicians entertained.<br />
<br />
I had blogged on my Facebook page upon Miga's death just previously and
accidentally by posting one of his brilliant project, the single,
"Survival," and had sought West African vintage music analyst and
blogger, Ikonne's opinion about my view of "Survival" I had thought
should be on the one in the list. It was that day that Miga died. A
couple of days, to express my condolences, I posted along with
commentaries a Stranger-Funkees-local fans photo-op after rehearsals
taken in early 1971. As it occurred, the expressions of those who knew
about the era, was touching. Some of the comments:<br />
<br />
<span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:2"> </span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">"Sad loss Ambrose! Explains why I was in 'Strangers' mood couple of days ago! <span class="emoticon emoticon_frown" title=":("></span>
Used to hang out at their flat on Wetheral Road, Owerri with my pals as
truant kids skipping school playing hooky just to watch them rehearse
back then! Their 'music and temperament' was a class act, especially after the
loss of the Biafra war, and we were finding our ways back into society.
Cherished memories and great contribution! Really sad but thnx for
sharing!"</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">------------Charles Asuzu</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0"><span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370682:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:2"> </span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370682:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370682:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370682:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$text0:0:$0:0">"Oh wow. </span><a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/hovercard.php?id=1015006087&extragetparams=%7B%22hc_location%22%3A%22ufi%22%7D" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370682:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$range0:0" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/ambrose.ehirim" target="_blank">Ambrose,</a><span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370682:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">
this is rather melancholic for me. I enjoyed these golden days of
genial musical band exploits but was too young or maybe too naive to
even know the names of the groups. Then as I grew up I faced the sad
experience of hearing and listening to artists sing about the passing of
the individual talents, starting with my earliest recollection, Spud
Nathan. Later in my broadcasting days in Nigeria, I was opportune to
interview individuals like Harry Mosco Agada, a couple former Ofege,
Osibisa and the rest and those encounters were so memorable. Today the
list of the departed icons is growing -- Jake Solo, Harry Mosco, Perry
Ernest...Could a memorial event ever be put together for them?"</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370682:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370682:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370682:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">------------Victor Nwora Aghadi</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370682:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370682:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370682:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0"><span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4371072:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:2"></span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4371072:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4371072:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4371072:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">"Bob
helped to create the atmosphere that helped the Easterner on the road
to recovery after the devastating loss and humiliation by the power that
was. People started to forget for a minute the pains and suffering,
whenever the music was presented. Music was the pill that healed the
people. May his soul rest in perfect Peace. He played his part very
well."</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370682:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370682:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370682:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4371072:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4371072:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4371072:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">----------- Jerri Jhetto</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
"<span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4371733:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:2"></span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4371733:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4371733:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4371733:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">May
his soul rest in peace. He would always be remembered as a cultural
revivalist. One of those who helped the Igbo spirit to re-energize. Is
it a surprise that just months after the genocidal war, the Igbo began
to rule the music world again in Nigeria with different shades of pop
and highlife bands?"</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".7k.1:3:1:$comment10203054251009926_4370323:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">------------ George C.E. Enyoazu </span></span></span><br />
<br />
Like most of the commentaries, everybody just wanted to dance and be
happy and put behind what had been Yakubu Gowon's-led genocidal campaign
against the Igbo nation. A Reconstruction era and a people just risen
like a phoenix. And all the musicians, bands and groups delivered
wherever they were called upon to perform. Iyke Peters and Marshall
Udeonu, the Founders 15. Lawrence Ebenwa, the Doves. My hommie, Jerry
Boyfriend. Lasbry Colon, the Semi Colon. Chyke Fusion, the Apostles.
Spud Nathan (Jonathan Udensi), the Wings. The trio -- Jake Solo, Harry
Mosco and Sunny Akpan -- the Funkees. Several other bands emerged upon
breakups and regrouped.<br />
<br />
As the Eastside had become the hotbed of a social revolution, more bands
popped up and the Strangers, again, would collapse. Though with some
singles released, there would be disagreements on leadership and payout
contracts in-between Migas handling of the band and Hoffner's faction,
issues folks in the music business encounters regularly especially when
its leadership begins to crumble. That was the fate of The Strangers of
Owerri Miga had asked Hoffner to join. Hoffner left and took away all
his boys to start what would be One World.<br />
<br />
Miga, again, was left without session men or a band. He had to rethink
his strategies after Hoffner and his colleagues' departure. One World,
Hoffner's band would relocate to Warri where they'd be the resident band
at Lido Nite Club & Restaurant, exchanging dates at the club with
the Lemmy Faith-led Aktion 13.<br />
<br />
Like the adage, "Old Soldier No Dey Die," Miga wasn't finished yet; he
was still kicking and never would give up. This time around, he hustled
himself onto the streets of Owerri and elsewhere and, talked enough
guys into being session men or part of an extended Strangers after the
Hoffner team. Miga collected some folks to help him work in the studio
for another release. He had engineered the project, but what had
happened was he felled off with his new crew who got away with the
master-tape, formed a new band and released a single that had been
Miga's idea. The group, Black Children released "Satisfaction," and a
Miga's touch was felt in the entire song. Black Children ended Miga's
music appeal. Miga would relocate to London where he would sit on the
chair of the Nigeria High Commission in London until his passing April
2, 2014.<br />
<br />
About four years ago, Miga had told me he wanted to come to Los Angeles
and be part of the Summer Jams. I told him I couldn't wait to see him.
On March 23, 2012, Miga thought about me and assumed I had information
on what was being planned about his homecoming gigs and the revival of
vintage music. Miga writes;<br />
<br />
"Hi Amby,<br />
<br />
I wonder if you are in touch with Ibe Ekeanyanwu and Alan B. I suppose
they have commenced some plans for my return gig. I will connect you
guys if you are not aware of them. I look forward to hearing from you
soon.<br />
<br />
Thanks,<br />
<br />
Bob Miga."<br />
<br />
In my response which was immediately, I wrote;<br />
<br />
"Ok, great I heard from you. I have no such information on your return
gig. Keep me posted, please. You must have heard by now of Harry Mosco
Agada's death."<br />
<br />
Bob Miga and I did not share much correspondence henceforth because of our schedules.<br />
<br />
Like I Said earlier, I first met Alan B when my village student union
hired him to deejay our event and I had co-emceed. We met several other
times including his gig at then College of Science and Technology, Port
Harcourt, in 1978.<br />
<br />
Miga's era, without doubt changed a whole lot, especially, culture. At a
particular time, our parents did not want us to be associated with all
the hype, the music and ballroom dances of the time, which as then
assumed, depicts every bad behavior that attracts the desire to ditch
classes. They were wrong. It was part of the pop culture and social
order in development and upbringing as time passed by.<br />
<br />
Ironically, with all that as we enjoyed the era and the music of Miga's
Strangers and, other performing artists, and as we danced all night long
behind closed doors, manned by volunteered bouncers, and we had no more
leg strength but crawl back home reciting Strangers "Survival." No,
not that we knew the lyrics; we were blabbing as if we got it in order
and nobody figured it out, that we youngsters, had no clue.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnjQb5Q_Td_cT46brEpgJoBZ1wMbswtlb7kokmXtjQG_5NHZt31ltpPbaIGEmgVYQ3XoUXxGFZlQ2Z8TmL8nPS-ai2nWzePcHnowTxLfLGisbZEQB5fHaVcn3P0j6pmr9BDBVNHb1cEZ8/s1600/Bob-Miga.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnjQb5Q_Td_cT46brEpgJoBZ1wMbswtlb7kokmXtjQG_5NHZt31ltpPbaIGEmgVYQ3XoUXxGFZlQ2Z8TmL8nPS-ai2nWzePcHnowTxLfLGisbZEQB5fHaVcn3P0j6pmr9BDBVNHb1cEZ8/s1600/Bob-Miga.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="userContent"><i>In this file photo taken ear<span class="text_exposed_show">ly
1971, Owerri, Bob Miga (C) surrounded by members of The Strangers and
The Funkees with some of their local fans after rehearsals. Life had
begun anew in the East and pubs and related joints would pop-up
everywhere and many new bands would be formed. Miga founded Strangers
but fell apart with one of his key partners, Ani Hoffner, who would
later be bandleader, One World. Miga died April 2, 2014, in London after
a brief illness. He was survived by his wife and three children. Image Courtesy of Comb & Razor</span></i></span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">I bid you goodbye, my friend!</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Uchenna Ikonne contributed to this report. </span></span>Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-54959422397105707362014-01-08T16:37:00.000-08:002015-01-08T11:35:16.862-08:00Pianist and Composer Wynton Kelly<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7X0evuJ0HakKuss6ufcj6ayNNHmfsN4eViZZdwL6yj7b8Bl5uJnDOlfEGPKIdCJ7ccje7kAWeg9vgDhYqr_T0kNduoQRzbQqsMidGet8P_juLcEuMovsRbhHaNksJqogGlRCWzPR5R62f/s1600/pianist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7X0evuJ0HakKuss6ufcj6ayNNHmfsN4eViZZdwL6yj7b8Bl5uJnDOlfEGPKIdCJ7ccje7kAWeg9vgDhYqr_T0kNduoQRzbQqsMidGet8P_juLcEuMovsRbhHaNksJqogGlRCWzPR5R62f/s1600/pianist.jpg" height="319" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="userContent">Jamaican-American Jazz pianist and composer
Wynton Kelly plays the piano during the recording session of Sonny
Rollins' "Sonny Rollins, Volume 1" album December 16, 1956 at Blue Note
Record's Hackensack, New Jersey Studios. Kelly was best known for
working with Miles Davis from 1959 t0 1963. Image: Francis Wolff</span>Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-64089876588256790922014-01-08T16:11:00.000-08:002014-01-08T16:11:48.885-08:00Jazz Drummer Pete LaRoca<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS93-niHEeVHzdmCrSuYwImSK5g37ftIONV20ONufXgr06EYc0LhtqjYK-ChGCxeJqxubK8lSoXEollzJRRZX1VOdVgTvTR7icko7nPsBJ7rj5xDCmNfSqEN6L0FPV3c4ovD2GYM1K0Uxt/s1600/petelaroca.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS93-niHEeVHzdmCrSuYwImSK5g37ftIONV20ONufXgr06EYc0LhtqjYK-ChGCxeJqxubK8lSoXEollzJRRZX1VOdVgTvTR7icko7nPsBJ7rj5xDCmNfSqEN6L0FPV3c4ovD2GYM1K0Uxt/s1600/petelaroca.jpg" height="320" width="317" /></a></div>
Pete LaRoca play the drums during a photo session for an album May 19, 1965 at the Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey Studios. This photograph was used as the cover shot for his Basra album.Image: Francis Wolff<br />
<br />
<b>Pete La Roca</b> (born <b>Peter Sims</b>; April 7, 1938 – November 20, 2012)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_LaRoca#cite_note-1"><span></span><span></span></a></sup> was an American Jazz drummer. Born in New York City, he adopted the name <b>La Roca</b> early in his musical career when he played timbales in Latin bands.<br />
<br />
Between 1957 and 1968 he played with Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Slide Hampton, the John nColtrane Quartet, Marian Macpartland, Art Farmer, Freddie Hubbard, Mose Allison, Charles Lyoyd, Paul Bley, and Steve Kuhn, among others, as well as leading his own group and working as the house drummer at the Jazz Workshop in Boston, Massachusetts. During this period, he twice recorded as leader, firstly on <i>Basra</i> (Blue Note 1965) and also on <i>Turkish Women at the Bath</i> (<i>Douglas</i>, 1967), also issued as <i>Bliss</i> under pianist Chick Corea's name on Muse.<br />
<br />
In 1968 he left music to become a lawyer, successfully suing when his
second album as leader was released under Corea's name without his
consent.<br />
<br />
He returned to jazz in 1979, and recorded one new album as a leader, <i>Swingtime</i> (Blue Note, 1997).Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-81520833676137309392013-12-23T19:17:00.000-08:002013-12-23T19:17:02.986-08:00Local Berber Music<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB4HokL2OU53hAHUmORWXnD62clZTTXJrUeVz3RbP8TsHtDPTGBUqev9cDMfJdl-9N4xP5y7HrY3Rw-ft_nj0s8IBpIgOMjBKAZZe_6XHDGYvIEXYw7Ln1j7k4C1FXAfryS1_tq_xl4dkm/s1600/morocco.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB4HokL2OU53hAHUmORWXnD62clZTTXJrUeVz3RbP8TsHtDPTGBUqev9cDMfJdl-9N4xP5y7HrY3Rw-ft_nj0s8IBpIgOMjBKAZZe_6XHDGYvIEXYw7Ln1j7k4C1FXAfryS1_tq_xl4dkm/s320/morocco.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<h1 id="Data-Title" itemprop="name">
Local Berber People Make Music. The <b>Berbers </b><br />are the ethnic group indigenous to North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are distributed from the Atlantic Ocean to the Siwa oasis in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Niger River. Historically they spoke, Berber languages which together form the "Berber branch" of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Since the Muslim conquest of North Africa in the 7th Century, a large portion of Berbers have spoken varieties of Maghrebi Arabic, either by choice or obligation. Foreign languages like French and Spanish, inherited from former European colonial powers, are used by most educated Berbers in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia in some formal contexts such as higher education or business. </h1>
<h1 id="Data-Title" itemprop="name">
Today, most Berber-speaking people live in Algeria and Morocco. Image: Frans Lemmens</h1>
Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-47475378082715818992013-12-23T18:51:00.001-08:002013-12-23T18:51:55.845-08:00Yusef Lateef (1920 - 2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOJt27s9MPq7a5ZTAuSBz9DZ8ELLwN3-sCV2NJRcawOanmqCheUMJs9N6pt_ear2qe5kAU_5AtJeV3apTQDbbpS7Ny8sI9dcPdeiyi4RPM0L4BmL6QYWgqhgRU3HTf_8lvpCURzZ_-YB1u/s1600/yuseflateef.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOJt27s9MPq7a5ZTAuSBz9DZ8ELLwN3-sCV2NJRcawOanmqCheUMJs9N6pt_ear2qe5kAU_5AtJeV3apTQDbbpS7Ny8sI9dcPdeiyi4RPM0L4BmL6QYWgqhgRU3HTf_8lvpCURzZ_-YB1u/s320/yuseflateef.jpg" width="315" /></a></div>
<b>Yusef Lateef</b> (born <b>William Emanuel Huddleston</b>, October 9, 1920 - December 23, 2013) was an American Grammy Award winning jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiya sect of Islam in 1950.<br />
<br />
Lateef was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His family moved, in 1923, to Lorain, Ohio and again in 1925, to Detroit, Michigan where his father changed the family's name to "Evans". The saxophonist used the stage name <b>Bill Evans</b> professionally until 1950, when he legally changed it to <b>Yusef Abdul Lateef.</b><br />
<br />
<b> </b>Throughout his early life Lateef came into contact with many
Detroit-based jazz musicians who went on to gain prominence, including vibraphonist Milt Jackson, bassist Paul Chambers drummer Elvin Jones and guitarist Kenny Burrell.
Lateef was a proficient saxophonist by the time of his graduation from
high school at the age of 18, when he launched his professional career
and began touring with a number of swing bands.<br />
<br />
In 1949, he was invited by Dizzy Gillespy to tour with his orchestra. In 1950, Lateef returned to Detroit and began his studies in composition and flute at Wayne State University. It was during this period that he converted to Islam as a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. <br />
<br />
SOURCE: WIKIAmbrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-84141307343047580662013-12-22T17:05:00.000-08:002013-12-22T17:05:42.576-08:00Album of the Year: Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba - Jama Ko<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBOrNHIm0_Xzs9ReKgpBtIBiY1-dG_MRA5TvKVDwTgSqLS3tpWZdE0jnntql_OpcTlAlAeWcTRFvmdIVA-iU4UhONYsia4qAnHxyZrJBsWHyhEu3V27tRMaVKpW9a0HU80WmYVC4T4cFNI/s1600/music.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBOrNHIm0_Xzs9ReKgpBtIBiY1-dG_MRA5TvKVDwTgSqLS3tpWZdE0jnntql_OpcTlAlAeWcTRFvmdIVA-iU4UhONYsia4qAnHxyZrJBsWHyhEu3V27tRMaVKpW9a0HU80WmYVC4T4cFNI/s320/music.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Mali has been in the news this year: music there was under serious
threat from the fundamentalists that spread through the north of the
country and ransacked parts of the ancient city of Timbuktu. The
jihadists are hardly music-lovers and Mali’s creative community, one of
the most productive in Africa, while feeling the cold winds of Islamist
repression, stood firm and reacted with characteristic vigour. The
griots or <em>jalis</em> of West Africa have always sung alongside the just warriors, giving them courage with their heart-warming music.....<a href="http://www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/album-year-bassekou-kouyate-and-ngoni-ba-jama-ko">READ FULL STORY</a><br />
Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-24441959464601411232013-12-17T17:37:00.001-08:002018-08-19T21:00:20.127-07:00Rokia Traore Performs at the Luckman Theater<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCWNfW6w_istPw6pCsYVfl8DzZeSb76zRTa5UJd4H5fM3Dmmv-7N-2acw-cELSyAWfZoiHYuLwQBbx8fN4ThtnbhmZRSr8h2Mvt-J8Sw8SLJgjCL4o_Q2VyYO_ukTl83ACMmKjTFM4Lm6r/s1600/bobbee-zeno.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCWNfW6w_istPw6pCsYVfl8DzZeSb76zRTa5UJd4H5fM3Dmmv-7N-2acw-cELSyAWfZoiHYuLwQBbx8fN4ThtnbhmZRSr8h2Mvt-J8Sw8SLJgjCL4o_Q2VyYO_ukTl83ACMmKjTFM4Lm6r/s320/bobbee-zeno.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"type":45,"tn":"*G"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">BACKSTAGE: Los Angeles Radio Personality and Talk Show Host Bobbee Joe Zeno
with Malian singer Rokia Traore after performances at the Luckman
Theater,California State University, Los Angeles Saturday, November 23,
2013. The Malian native who's currently based in France sang in English, French and her native tongue of Bambara in rock flavored rhythms.</span></span>Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-78660792810539226142013-12-08T13:30:00.000-08:002013-12-08T13:30:26.159-08:00Interview: Peter Lawrie Winfield of Until The Ribbon Breaks on visual music, old-school mixtapes, and shot-in-the-dark collaboration<a href="http://www.vanyaland.com/2013/12/08/interview-peter-lawrie-winfield-ribbon-breaks-visual-music-old-school-mixtapes-shot-dark-collaboration/"><b><span class="dropcap">By Michael Marotta, Vanyaland</span></b></a><br />
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<span class="dropcap">I</span>t has been a pretty good year for Peter Lawrie Winfield’s genre-mending music project <strong><a href="http://www.untiltheribbonbreaks.com/home/" target="_blank">Until The Ribbon Breaks</a></strong>. Over the summer, his <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVAchqWC5R8" target="_blank">“re-imagination”</a>
of Lorde’s “Royals” — unveiled before everyone started covering it —
caught the attention of the teenage pop singer, who then enlisted
Winfield first as a live DJ then as opening act. In September, his
engaging, multi-layered <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Taste-Silver-Until-Ribbon-Breaks/dp/B00EVLPYJQ" target="_blank"><em>A Taste of Silver</em></a>
EP scored rave reviews and distanced itself from the crowded pack of
soulful electronic artists emerging from all corners of the world. And
recently, his <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgx6wVedzYM" target="_blank">Marc Bertal-directed music video</a> for “Pressure” has been garnering David Lynch comparisons.<br />
<br />
More than the other two, perhaps, that last bit is no accident.
Winfield’s post-apocalyptic avant-R&B goes best when seen with the
eyes as well as heard with the ears, and the Welsh DJ, producer,
songwriter, singer and collaborator has a background in film that allows
him to pair his sounds with the sights your brain may already be
associating with. Though lyrics center on dystopia and urban decay and
isolation and fear, there is a seductive nature to it all. Through
stark, desolate sounds, Winfield understands voyeurism, and the erotica
in his music is staring back at you exactly how you’re staring at it.
It’s future-pop for all senses.<br />
<br />
With Until The Ribbon Breaks set to open tonight’s sold-out Phantogram show tonight at <a href="http://www.thedise.com/" target="_blank">the Paradise Rock Club</a>,
we caught up with Winfield a while back to discuss the importance of
visuals in music, how he hooked up with Homeboy Sandman, and just what,
exactly, his project’s moniker means.<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael Marotta: I wanted to start with the origins of Until
The Ribbon Breaks, and exactly how this project crystallized for you. </strong><br />
<strong> </strong>
<br />
Peter Lawrie Winfield: I was living in London, making music while I was
writing for other people and I didn’t feel like I was saying what I
wanted to say. I didn’t feel like there was anything out there in the
world that had my name on it that I was particularly proud of of, or
represented what I wanted. <br />
So I took a gamble, really, and moved back to Wales, which is where I’m
originally from, and built a little studio. Just ran up a lot of debt
and credit cards and things [laughs] and kind of hid myself away for
about a year. With a film projector, pianos, the works, and just kinda
made the record, I suppose. The only reason I wanted to do it was so
there was something that existed that I was proud of.<br />
<br />
<strong>Was there a template for any particular sound, or just a blank slate going in? </strong><br />
<br />
Completely blank slate. I was excited by the prospect of, if someone
asked me what did it sound like, me saying I really don’t know how to
answer. Which is kind of, I think, on some of the tracks I’ve achieved,
and that’s something I’m proud of. I don’t know what genre it is.<br />
<br />
And that’s actually how the name came about.<br />
<br />
I had finished the record, and I still didn’t know what it was called.
Until it was mixed, it was just a record. And someone said ‘Well how are
you going to present it? Because it jumps from genre to genre” And I
said, “Well, I think what I want to create is when we were kids, or when
you were an adult, you would make these mix tapes on cassette, for a
friend, or a girl you were trying to impress. And if someone made you
one, it was so precious to you that you’d play it and play it, and you
didn’t care – from REM to De La Soul to Radiohead. It would jump from
genre to genre, and you’d play it until the ribbon breaks.”<br />
<br />
<strong>Oh shit! </strong><br />
<br />
And then I said “Fuck! Thank you, you’ve just given it a name!”<br />
<br />
<strong>That’s a great backstory. </strong><br />
<br />
Yeah that’s how that came about.<br />
<br />
<strong>It makes sense, because there’s a real emotional weight to the
project; the songs are moody, very restless, without being forceful, and
it seems like a pretty personal introduction to who you are. Were there
elements of what you were going through at the time that crept into the
sound you created? </strong><br />
<br />
Yeah definitely, a lot of it… I really didn’t know what I was making. I
didn’t have any money, and I had no idea even if I wanted to go out into
the world and present it. I just felt like I wanted to say these
things, I had to say these things, and I suppose I spent a lot of time
on my own, made the record on my own time, so I was quite isolated. And
also I didn’t know what — whats the word I’m looking for — I had no
sense of stability or balance at the time, and when I listen back to it,
a lot of the lyrics are about trying to figure out where you’re at and
what’s going on. I guess it’s a lot of trying to find where you’re at in
this chaos.<br />
<br />
And I didn’t have a deal, or any team behind me — I was just making
this record. So I guessed his email address! I just wrote an email to
the guessed address — which I won’t tell you, but you could probably
figure it out. I might even email him later because I thought, if this
is ever written about, then people will guess his email address
[laughs]! I’ll tell him he might have to change it.<br />
<br />
<strong>It’s how own fault for having an obvious email address.</strong><br />
<br />
Yeah if you’re Rihanna@gmail.com, then you gotta expect it.<br />
<br />
<strong>Yeah someone might figure that out. </strong><br />
<br />
Ahh! I’ve just given it away, what it is.<br />
<br />
<strong>I think I had an idea.</strong><br />
<br />
So I emailed this email address, and said “Here’s the track, I don’t
know if this is the right email address, I’m hoping it is. I heard
“Illuminati,” and it’s an incredible piece of art, and if there’s any
way you’d be interested in this…” So 24 hours later I had am email back
from him saying “Yes I’d do it.”<br />
<br />
And I said “How are we gonna do it, you’re in America and I’m in Wales,
do you want to do it over email?” And he said “Well funny enough I’m in
the UK in 2 weeks time at a place called Bristol, touring, do you know
where that is?” I was like “I’m half hour away from there!”<br />
<br />
<strong>Was meant to be.</strong><br />
<br />
Yeah, so I took my laptop to his tiny little hotel room, two weeks
later, and recorded his verse. He did it in one take and that was it.<br />
<br />
<strong>You’ve also worked with Lorde. How’d that come about. </strong><br />
<br />
I did a remix of “Royals” and she heard it and liked it so I supported
her on a few dates as DJ. And when she booked the tour I asked her to
come with a full band and she said yes.<br />
<br />
<strong>No pressure.</strong><br />
<br />
Yeah, no pressure.<br />
<br />
<strong>UNTIL THE RIBBON BREAKS + PHANTOGRAM + WEEKNIGHT :: Sunday, December 8 @ <a href="http://www.thedise.com/" target="_blank">the Paradise Rock Club, 967 Commonwealth Ave.</a>, Boston :: 8pm, 18-plus, SOLD OUT :: </strong>Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-36902907529636603812013-08-20T19:34:00.000-07:002013-08-20T19:34:34.973-07:00Jazz @ LACMA: Luther Hughes & Cannonball/Coltrane Project<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVdes3hCjjHp75TgjQkWssHdt-t0eoN5dvRPQe5mpBtzooFQiGPKJyN2fz-Z74IL2h-MSZoLuVIxLj8tPKxVWyRMi08HQk48JHaRPU4_nK4rK4HdH6jn9pn1sxAadnceHJAJQf00JRvbJK/s1600/DSC08482.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVdes3hCjjHp75TgjQkWssHdt-t0eoN5dvRPQe5mpBtzooFQiGPKJyN2fz-Z74IL2h-MSZoLuVIxLj8tPKxVWyRMi08HQk48JHaRPU4_nK4rK4HdH6jn9pn1sxAadnceHJAJQf00JRvbJK/s320/DSC08482.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="userContent">Luther Hughes & Cannonball/Coltrane
Project performs Friday, August 16, 2013 at the Outdoor Concerts of Jazz
At LACMA on the Wilshire Corridor in Los Angeles. Initially formed as
an homage to the 1959 Cannonball Adderley-John<span class="text_exposed_show">
Coltrane landmark album, "The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago"
the Cannonball/Coltrane Project continues to pay tribute to these two
jazz giants with arrangements and original compositions related to or
inspired by Cannonball and Coltrane. Ehirim Files Images</span></span>Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-80578865716282563452013-08-20T19:30:00.000-07:002013-08-20T19:30:23.406-07:00Sunday Night Burning Reggae<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHMpaKp3_p-5YRxWebqouatxQCL7y3w6fsdj4Y9DMsdLlJpBIJu_bi5Ee_ZLcoaV7g9zFkYRB1ZFKL9Z12MuDESTG5-NKVE9vV-3_jE1gmYkvCHE-fSS901ILfnRfzZiTF4g_zDkqSkqj3/s1600/DSC08614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHMpaKp3_p-5YRxWebqouatxQCL7y3w6fsdj4Y9DMsdLlJpBIJu_bi5Ee_ZLcoaV7g9zFkYRB1ZFKL9Z12MuDESTG5-NKVE9vV-3_jE1gmYkvCHE-fSS901ILfnRfzZiTF4g_zDkqSkqj3/s320/DSC08614.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="userContent">Leimert Park Village: Derrick on keyboards and
his gang performs at the Divine Design Melchizedek Luv & Light
Healing Center Sunday night, August 18, 2013 commemorating Marcus
Garvey's Black August in a usual Sunday Night Burning Reggae on <span class="text_exposed_show">the
4341 block of Degnan Boulevard. The Sunday Night Burning Reggae Jam
Sessions runs from 9 PM till 2AM every Sunday and one of the area spots
in Los Angeles roots reggae are well cooked. Ehirim Files Images</span></span>Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-82600502499500180912013-06-06T13:29:00.000-07:002013-06-06T13:29:07.336-07:00West African Music Gets The Highlife Into Healdsburg<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
By Christian Kallen</div>
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Healdsburg Patch</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The 2013 Tuesday Concerts in the Plaza series got off to a high-step start with the West African Highlife Band, veteran East Bay performers who bring the rhythm and joy of music from their homeland to the stage.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Featuring veteran performer Ken Okulolo, the band of five made the Healdsburg Plaza their own local fan base with two hours of percolating guitar, pounding rhythm and talking drum. African music might seem a stretch for the Tuesday night crowd of 500 or so picnickers and passersby, but it didn't take long for the infectious music to do its job and get everyone on their feet. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">It was the first Tuesday Concert in the Plaza for 2013, and gave great portent for the future. Next week is Healdsburg Jazz Festival's annual entry, the Roger Glenn Latin Jazz Ensemble. </span>Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-19318025007452608382013-03-08T15:36:00.001-08:002013-03-08T15:36:55.417-08:00Fela Kuti: Best of the Black President 2By Andy Snipper/Music News<br />
<br />
Fela Kuti was an important figure in both African music and politics. He was involved in the European jazz scene as well as politics in Nigeria following contacts with the Black Panthers following a US tour. <br /><br />In his short life he made some of the most hypnotic music ever to have come out of the black continent. He invented the term AfroBeat after a sojourn in Ghana and performed legendary sets with his various outfits including Africa 70, Egypt 80 and Koola Lobitos. On his travels he played with acts such as Lester Bowie, Hugh Masakela, Ginger Baker and Roy Ayers. His son Seun is still playing with the musicians that made up Egypt 80.<br /><br />This double set takes a long journey through his music and the influences are all there toi hear – his rhythmic sax playing and percussive blowing as well as the constant, pounding drums in the background. His lyrics tended to be in pidgin – there are literally hundreds of tribal languages across Africa and pidgin is a polyglot that is understood all over – but his subject matter varys from the outright political to diatribes against drug use and for personal freedom.<br />The remarkable thing about this set is just how fresh and modern it sounds. He was active from 1958 through to his death in 1997 but there is nothing here that sounds dated or stuck in time. The music is powerful and the themes equally and you find, as a listener, that you are drawn into the constant rhythms and carried along with the repetition and hypnotised by the music.<br />The tracks are all over 10 minutes long and they tend to develop a theme to its ultimate but the music here has no feeling of sameness about the tracks – his output was incredibly varied and this album gives a good feel for most parts of his career.<br /><br />The deluxe version includes a DVD of his Glastonbury set from ’84 and is well worth having but the music on the two CDs is essential.<br /><br />Disc: 1 <br />1. Everything Scatter <br />2. Expensive Shit <br />3. Underground System Pt. 2 <br />4. Trouble Sleep Yanga Wake Em <br />5. Monkey Banana <br />6. Sorrow Tears and Blood <br />Disc: 2 <br />1. Black Man's Cry <br />2. Mr. Follow Follow <br />3. He Miss Road <br />4. Yellow Fever <br />5. Na Poi <br />6. Colonial Mentality Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-35412357701110187152013-01-19T15:16:00.001-08:002013-01-19T16:19:00.118-08:00Janet Joplin Would Have Been 70 Today<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Janis Joplin in concert with Big Brother & The Holding Company. Image: Elliot Landy.</i></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.1875px; margin-bottom: 1em;">
Saturday, January 19, marks what would have been the 70th birthday of <strong>Janis Joplin</strong>, the legendary singer whose passionate, blues-rock style has gone on to influence generations of female artists, including <strong>Stevie Nicks</strong>, <strong>Heart</strong>‘s <strong>Ann Wilson</strong>, <strong>Melissa Etheridge</strong> and <strong>Pink</strong>.</div>
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Joplin began her career as the lead singer for <strong>Big Brother & the Holding Company</strong> in 1966, and her talent was so outstanding that <em>Vogue</em> magazine declared her “the most staggering leading woman in rock.” After she left that band in 1968, she started a new group, <strong>The Kozmic Blues Band</strong>. After performing at Woodstock in 1969, they broke up, and Janis put together another group, <strong>The Full Tilt Boogie Band</strong>. But the singer, who struggled with addictions to both heroin and alcohol, was found dead in a Los Angeles hotel room on October 3, 1970. The cause of death was a heroin overdose. In 1971, her first true solo album,<em>Pearl</em>, was posthumously released. It became her most successful album, reaching the top of the <em>Billboard</em>chart, and featured the #1 hit “Me & Bobby McGee.”</div>
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Posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, Janis Joplin received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005. Later this year, she will be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.</div>
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........ABC<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3v-7TnnsUIWxTLUwllqI2hVS4oHKFDId9fPACq0m4tuZlg2QE5ov6x9082AcZ9lwPH3MLn6u1xhINba5vf2bpSP69MZ9FQS4KROTimRAXqHHGaTS-LLk3P3YgCJKrv758uUrmMWfd1F0f/s1600/janistina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3v-7TnnsUIWxTLUwllqI2hVS4oHKFDId9fPACq0m4tuZlg2QE5ov6x9082AcZ9lwPH3MLn6u1xhINba5vf2bpSP69MZ9FQS4KROTimRAXqHHGaTS-LLk3P3YgCJKrv758uUrmMWfd1F0f/s320/janistina.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Tina Turner and Janis Joplin singing together. Tina, in dress by Dorothy Morgan, was on tour with the Rolling Stones; Janis is wearing a white fur hat. ca. 1970. </span></div>
<br />Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-17078319372634896112012-12-14T14:33:00.002-08:002012-12-14T14:34:48.653-08:00Femi Kuti Returns to Afrobeat Roots on New Album"I'm feeling the pain of the people that love music."...Femi<br />
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Unlike his 2010 Grammy-winning album,<em> <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/africa-for-africa-20110718">Africa for Africa</a></em>, Femi Kuti opted to record its forthcoming follow-up, <em>No Place for My Dream</em>, in Paris instead of Nigeria. Why remove himself from his native country? As the 50-year-old singer and son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela tells <em>Rolling Stone</em> when he calls from Nigeria, he wanted to take advantage of the technological advances abroad to fully energize his highly politicized music. "I live this experience. I'm in Nigeria right now," he explains. "We have no electricity in my house. There was a bomb blast in Kano today. So I'm experiencing it."<br />
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Kuti sees <em>No Place for My Dream</em> as the inevitable return to the Afrobeat music which helped launch his career in the late Eighties and culminated with the release of 1998's critically acclaimed <em>Shoki Shoki</em>. In the years since, Kuti says he found himself with the opportunity to expand his musical repertoire, most notably by working with American hip-hop artists such as Mos Def, <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/common">Common</a> and Jaguar Wright for 2001's <em>Fight to Win.</em> "It was my going off what I wanted to do, what I had to do," he says. "Now it's going back on track where I really want to be with <em>No Place for My Dream.</em> It's like going back to where I started off."<br />
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<a class="inStoryLink" href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/africa-for-africa-20110718">Album Review: Femi Kuti, <em>Africa for Africa</em></a><br />
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The album also breaks new topical grounds. "I think this album is probably more political than any of the songs I've done," he says. For the album's highly emotional bent, the singer drew upon his experiences touring abroad, as well as his constant ingestion of news reports of global suffering. "I'm feeling the pain of the people that love my music," he says. "I'm watching the news and seeing all the riots, so many people out of work, the global recession. This is very disheartening news. The songs are not really for Nigeria or Africa anymore. They are for people I love. I'm just voicing their pain with my music."<br />
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To that effect, the singer doesn't mince words in his new tunes. On "No Work No Job No Money," over a slinky guitar groove and reggae-tinged synths, he ruminates on behalf of the 99 percent: "See the suffering of the people/ They no getting nothing/ Then they hungry," he laments. On "Politic Na Big Business" his aim shifts to the greed of our world's lawmakers: "As I rack my brain/ Trying to understand politics/ Again and again/ Politicians use the same tactics," he bellows atop a foreboding, minor-key melody with a stabbing horn section.<br />
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Kuti is aware that returning to his Afrobeat roots– and loading his songs with political undercurrents – will likely draw comparisons to his late father. However, he insists he's keen on carving his own path. "I think it's very important for me to give tribute to who it's due," he says. "So that's very important to my father's creation. I must respect that all the time. But I don't want to be my father's replica. I want to find my own spirit, my own soul and my own voice."<br />
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The singer plans to release <em>No Place for My Dream</em> in early 2013 and will hit the road just after the New Year, kicking off a string of U.S. tour dates on January 13th in Miami. Having recently turned 50, Kuti says he now feels better equipped to balance his touring life with his role as a father to his 10 children. "I think I'm a better person now," he says. "I'm calmer. I think when I was younger, I was very overprotective to a lot of personal issues. I was too hard on people around me. People probably think I'm too sensitive now and too emotional, blah, blah, blah, blah. I like me where I am now."<br />
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<strong>DAN HYMAN/ROLLING STONE, DECEMBER 14, 2012</strong><br />
<strong></strong><br />Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672534936255229998.post-31586551918380212222012-08-29T15:05:00.000-07:002012-08-29T15:05:32.102-07:00Ringo Starr Named World's Richest Drummer<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXWc65DvEc0SudCwUzMLf_4Vq1h8tJUkQYELN4_Vwg8qPGtpTfujrTbHbyJlV9M3mz1S-uufuoDh14cVaBTC6mzWqflaigxBvoRzcjE8L6FiPM5eQLOGDvzBeQQzZdnghECpSC0_-O3JCX/s1600/112309.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="172" width="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXWc65DvEc0SudCwUzMLf_4Vq1h8tJUkQYELN4_Vwg8qPGtpTfujrTbHbyJlV9M3mz1S-uufuoDh14cVaBTC6mzWqflaigxBvoRzcjE8L6FiPM5eQLOGDvzBeQQzZdnghECpSC0_-O3JCX/s200/112309.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />According to CelebrityNetWorth.com, former Beatles sticksman Ringo Starr is the richest drummer in the world. Ringo is worth about $300 million, says the site.<br />
<br />Starr was tailed by Phil Collins ($250 million), Dave Grohl($225), Don Henley ($200), Lars Ulrich ($175), Charlie Watts, Roger Taylor, Joey Kramer and Chad Smith ($90 apiece).<br />
<br />Starr wrapped his tour last month in grand style, closing out the final show at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles with "With a Little Help from My Friends."<br />
<br />During the show, Starr did indeed get a little help from his friends, including Joe Walsh, Micky Dolenz of the Monkees, Matt Sorum (Velvet Revolver) and Peter Frampton.<br />
<br />The tour began June 14 at the Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls, Ontario. It hit over 25 stops covering in states including Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Indiana, Utah, Washington, Oregon and California.<br />
<br /><b>SOURCE: RTT NEWS</b><br />Ambrose Ehirimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454191835106432695noreply@blogger.com0