Womad funk gear?

[wayne]

Not a huge world music fan, but been hearing a few recent CDs of stuff from labels like World Circuit, Realworld etc, and find the odd funky, afrobeaty cut knocking around - examples are things like Hukwe Zawose & Michael Brook's The Bedbugs Bite or Oumou Sangare's Yala: is anyone playing stuff like this out, and if so, what are the recommendations?

The great 70s stuff (Oneness of Juju, Letta Mbulu, Fela Kuti, Tony Allen, Orchestra Baobab etc) goes without saying, but are there good dancefloor cuts in the later (80s and after) catalogues? The World music image gets a bit car-ad and coffee table these days, but there's gotta be some killers out there - it's the rest of the world we're on about here!

for more recent stuff try
antibilas
daktaris
malcouns
the whitfield brothers
also keep an eye on the "soulfire" label for afrofunkbeats.

myself and the lad i dj with drop a fair amount of afro stuff in our sets and it seems to work a treat on the floor.

[fin]

yes, except 2 of those 4 bands are basically the same people, and non of them are from what the music industry calls the 'World' - the malcouns and the whitefields are basically offshoots of the poets of rhythm (german) and antibalas and the daktaris are various associates of the desco/soulfire/daptone lot (basically new yorkers, with some guests). so not really falling into the 'world' category, I guess. On soulfire, there is that Massak single, which I think is probably the best piece of new music soulfire put out, as Massak are actually a genuine and rather good band, unlke most of the phony nonsense soulfire have pushed on us (excepting the reissues, of course). apparently they have a new 12 at some point.

But as for new world stuff which is dancefloor friendly, I work in a cd shop and though much of the stuff which gets classed as 'world' is really good, not much of it sounds like it would fit comfortably next to older afrobeat or afrofunk stuff, or vintage funk of any kind, unless you were playing a completely eclectic set of random music, in which case I presume you wouldn't have asked the question. If you want to construct danceable sets of contemporary world music, they will be ace and there is tons to choose from; but they won't sound much like sets of danceable 70s/60s stuff, i reckon. I'd love to be proved wrong though.

I also have it on good authority that in nigeria at least there is a small, underground, but growing scene dedicated to vintage afrobeat/funk/pop stuff, but I have never heard what any of the new music is like.

Quote[/b] (fin @ Aug. 15 2003,16:20)]yes, except 2 of those 4 bands are basically the same people, and non of them are from what the music industry calls the 'World' - the malcouns and the whitefields are basically offshoots of the poets of rhythm (german) and antibalas and the daktaris are various associates of the desco/soulfire/daptone lot (basically new yorkers, with some guests). so not really falling into the 'world' category, I guess. On soulfire, there is that Massak single, which I think is probably the best piece of new music soulfire put out, as Massak are actually a genuine and rather good band, unlke most of the phony nonsense soulfire have pushed on us (excepting the reissues, of course). apparently they have a new 12 at some point.

so what ?
why not ?
true.

a cd shop

[fin]

Quote[/b] (Guest @ Aug. 15 2003,17:29)]

Quote[/b] (fin @ Aug. 15 2003,16:20)]yes, except 2 of those 4 bands are basically the same people, and non of them are from what the music industry calls the 'World' - the malcouns and the whitefields are basically offshoots of the poets of rhythm (german) and antibalas and the daktaris are various associates of the desco/soulfire/daptone lot (basically new yorkers, with some guests). so not really falling into the 'world' category, I guess. On soulfire, there is that Massak single, which I think is probably the best piece of new music soulfire put out, as Massak are actually a genuine and rather good band, unlke most of the phony nonsense soulfire have pushed on us (excepting the reissues, of course). apparently they have a new 12 at some point.

so what ?

why not ?

a cd shop  

so what ?

so nothing. I just don't think those are the kind of things the original poster was looking for. Fair enough, they occasionally make (rather average) afrobeat tributes/impersonations; but to put them forward as examples of where to look for interesting 'world' stuff is pushing the envelope a bit I feel, partly because they are mostly the same people, and broadly speaking part of the same project. every single one of them releases on soulfire, for instance. And Ninjatune.

why not ?

Because, as far as I can see, 'World' music is basically any music - modern/popular or traditional - which is not from the US or Europe, although reggae is usually an exception to this rule ('Reggae', like 'Latin', can occasionally be a subdivision of 'World&#39. European folk music also often comes in the 'World' category: so does European popular modern music if it doesn't have a crossover into an english speaking market, or it is derived from a traditional music form (Bjork is never going to be in the world section, lots of european pop acts might well be if they aren't popular enough in the US/UK). American folk music only gets called world if it's made by Native Americans. So a German prog-funk band don't count as World - are you likely to find the Poets last LP in the 'world' section of HMV? - no more than Can do. Nor do a bunch of New Yorkers, no way.

a cd shop

Yes. Theres nothing wrong with CDs, except the fact that they're a bit shit, and too expensive.

[wayne]

Think you're right on the new World stuff having a different feel to the older material - the stuff released in the West tends to be very 'produced' (eg: that kind of 80s paris sound on things like Salif Keita's 'Soro', the non-cassette issues of Youssou N'Dour's LPs etc) and that maybe it makes sense that older afrobeat influences are more prevalent in european/US bands drawing from that older stuff (bit like new funk 45s in relation to US R&B production today, maybe?).

As for what I was looking for, just wondered if anyone had heard other 80s - current World category albums with good, funky tracks on them (not DJing, or playing out - just looking to hear good music). And the CD issue is interesting, as I don't see many new World releases on vinyl: a few, but not many. Be interesting to know if this is because the companies perceive there to be no market (ie: buyers are seen more as CD types playing it at dinner parties than collectors or DJs).

Just a thought, anyway...

Oh, & personally I don't like the 'world music' categorisation, as it seems to me to have kind of served its purpose: last xmas, I was asked to choose a World release for a 'best of the year' round-up and after having Cornelius rejected as 'not really World music' (you see where this is going?) persuaded the editor to run Francioiz Breut's 'Vingt a Trente Mille Jours' (a French release) instead... Can't help feeling that World really ghettoizes material that is essentially folk, funk, dance, pop etc in essence, and recategorises other kinds of truly 'World' music in those categories, leaving 'World' a kind of generic term for produced commercial 'ethnic' material marketed at a particular niche, rather than more broadly.

So, for me anyway, either Shakira (and Cornelius, Pizicatto 5 etc) ought to be 'World', or Oumou Sangare & Youssou N'Dour ought to be dance/jazz, or whatever. But I guess the catefgories aren't too important really, as long as the music gets a fair hearing (and doesn't get reduced to Ladysmith Black Mambazo & 'Zoom Zoom' car ad bollocks along the way). Can't help feeling that if the 'authenticity' fetishism were dropped, SA township jive of the mid-late 60s, say, might appeal to the kind of people who dig the Jamaican or Latin sounds of the same period...

Well, that's two penn'orth, right there, anyway!

[fin]

Keep an eye out for an LP called 'Ali+Tams with Orchestre Malo' on a swiss (?swedish maybe, can't remember) label called planisphere - its a really nice LP, recorded in Kinshasa in 1986, all acoustic. its got two nice acoustic afrobeat cuts that sound like they could have come straight out of the early 70s, and the whole thing is well worth a listen. occasionally turns up on ebay, or on lists, should be about £25.

[iueke]

have you chaps heard the new Ethiopiques CD vol 15 "jump to Addis", it's a new project, ethio players meet players from europe. same problem, the sound is not quite how we like it, but overall it's under-produced, nearly live sound that still sounds very "authentic" unlike most modern coffe table world/ethnic releases..

Quote[/b] (fin @ Aug. 15 2003,23:20)]

Quote[/b] (Guest @ Aug. 15 2003,17:29)]

Quote[/b] (fin @ Aug. 15 2003,16:20)]yes, except 2 of those 4 bands are basically the same people, and non of them are from what the music industry calls the 'World' - the malcouns and the whitefields are basically offshoots of the poets of rhythm (german) and antibalas and the daktaris are various associates of the desco/soulfire/daptone lot (basically new yorkers, with some guests). so not really falling into the 'world' category, I guess. On soulfire, there is that Massak single, which I think is probably the best piece of new music soulfire put out, as Massak are actually a genuine and rather good band, unlke most of the phony nonsense soulfire have pushed on us (excepting the reissues, of course). apparently they have a new 12 at some point.

so what ?

why not ?

a cd shop  

so what ?

so nothing. I just don't think those are the kind of things the original poster was looking for. Fair enough, they occasionally make (rather average) afrobeat tributes/impersonations; but to put them forward as examples of where to look for interesting 'world' stuff is pushing the envelope a bit I feel, partly because they are mostly the same people, and broadly speaking part of the same project. every single one of them releases on soulfire, for instance. And Ninjatune.  

why not ?

Because, as far as I can see, 'World' music is basically any music - modern/popular or traditional -  which is not from the US or Europe, although reggae is usually an exception to this rule ('Reggae', like 'Latin', can occasionally be a subdivision of 'World&#39. European folk music also often comes in the 'World' category: so does European popular modern music if it doesn't have a crossover into an english speaking market, or it is derived from a traditional music form (Bjork is never going to be in the world section, lots of european pop acts might well be if they aren't popular enough in the US/UK). American folk music only gets called world if it's made by Native Americans. So a German prog-funk band don't count as World - are you likely to find the Poets last LP in the 'world' section of HMV? - no more than Can do. Nor do a bunch of New Yorkers, no way.

a cd shop  

Yes. Theres nothing wrong with CDs, except the fact that they're a bit shit, and too expensive.

fair enough