SPECIAL POST #7
World On 3 from the Womad Festival
Charlton Park, Malmesbury, England
Friday 28 July - Sunday 30 July 2017
BBC Radio 3 lossless stream
01. Toots & The Maytals - Funky Kingston (6:32)
02. Alsara - Albahr (3:21)
03. Afro Celt Sound System - The Magnificent Seven (4:23)
04. Trad.Attack! - Ysan’Kene (4:56)
05. King Ayisoba - Brother They Can See You (3:47)
06. Xaos - Pontos Blues (6:31)
07. Lamomali - C'et Air (4:49)
08. Las Cafeteras - Tiempos De Amour (3:42)
09. Grupo Canalón de Timbiquí - Lolita (5:56)
10. Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Homeless (3:59)
11. Bonga - Mona Ki Ngui Xiça (4:11)
12. Ska Vengers - Frank Brazil (4:02)
13. Oumou Sangaré - Kounadia (7:37)
Lineage:
Recorded from the BBC Radio 3 Lossless FLAC stream > Audacity > editing, tracking and fades > WAV > TLH > FLAC (8)
This was assembled from recordings I made of the BBC Radio 3 broadcast lossless streams from the UK Womad Festival 2017. Eleven hours of music, over four programmes, were broadcast during the last weekend in July. This disc compiles over an hour's worth of those broadcasts to give a sampler of some of the 95 acts that took the stage. (thebasement67, August 2017)
01. Toots & the Maytals
Toots Hibbert is among the pantheon of Jamaican reggae greats. It’s almost half a century since the Maytals’ 1968 single “Do the Reggay”, was the first song to use the word ‘reggae’ as ska and rocksteady morphed into a new beat. Toots and his band have been doing it ever since and Bob Marley even name-checked the Maytals alongside the Wailers in his 1977 hit “Punky Reggae Party”. Expect a righteous roots set featuring such timeless Toots classics as “54-46 Was My Number”, “Funky Kingston”, “Monkey Man”, “Pressure Drop” and “Reggae Got Soul”.
02. Alsarah & the Nubatones
The Sudanese singer Alsarah was a child when her family were forced to flee the country following a coup. She was eventually given political asylum in America where, after taking a degree in ethnomusicology she formed the Nubatones in 2010 with percussionist Rami el Aasser.
With a line-up that includes her sister Nahid on backing vocals, bassist Mawuena Kodjovi, and oud player Haig Manoukian, the ensemble released their debut album Silt in 2014.
Alsarah’s mesmerising blend of ancient tradition and East African pop has since entranced audiences wherever they’ve played – including a memorable appearance at the first music festival to be held in Somalia in 20 years.
03. Afro Celt Sound System
When the Afro-Celts re-emerged last year with The Source, their first new album in more than a decade, nobody knew quite what to expect. Would the group’s trademark global dance fusion that had sounded so thrillingly cutting-edge when they first appeared at WOMAD in 1996, now sound out-dated? We need not have worried, for it transpired that the long hiatus had reinvigorated the band.
With their swirling mix of African rhythms and Celtic melodicism augmented by thundering bhangra drumming, the critics hailed their return as an unqualified triumph in which the Afro-Celts were sounding “bigger, better and bolder than ever.”
04. Trad.Attack!
Trad.Attack! have turned Estonian folk music on its head since releasing their 2014 debut album AH! Combining the bagpipe playing and vocals of Sandra Vabarna, virtuoso guitar of Jalmar Vabarna and inventive percussion of Tõnu Tubli, the trio take their inspiration from old archive recordings of Estonian traditional songs.
But folk music is merely their starting point and not their boundary as they reconcile past, present and future in a dynamic postmodern furnace of folklore, beats and rock’n’roll.
The trio’s second album Shimmer Gold is due for release in May 2017, neatly timed for this year’s round of summer festivals.
05. King Ayisoba
Apozora Ayisoba has built a huge following in West Africa with his unique update of traditional styles played on the two-string lute known as a kologo and sung in an intense, hard-edged voice.
His current album, 1000 Can Die is a thrilling mix of traditional Ghanaian rhythms and contemporary beats with echoes of hiplife, the local hybrid of traditional African highlife and hip-hop.
Listen out, too, for his definitive hit ‘I Want to See You, My Father’, which announced his arrival a decade ago when it won him song of the year, and is certain to feature prominently in his regal set.
06. XÀOS
If WOMAD had a long-service medal, Nick Page – sometimes known as Dubulah – would be one of its first recipients. Over the years he’s been a key force behind such global fusionist festival favourites as Transglobal Underground, Temple Of Sound, Dub Colossus and Syriana. His latest project XÀOS, finds him exploring the musical heritage of his Greek mother in partnership with the electronic composer Ahetas Jimi and a supporting cast of traditional Greek musicians.
The epic album they made together took a decade to complete, its electronic pulses and traditional shadings uncannily echoing the tensions and struggles which Greece itself has been undergoing in an uncertain world.
07. Lamomali
The French singer-songwriter, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Matthieu Chedid, alias -M- has been collaborating with musicians from Mali for 20 years, including Amadou and Mariam and kora legend Toumani Diabate. His latest project teams him once more with Toumani and his son Sidike Diabate, who in addition to playing the kora is a key mover in Bamako’s vibrant hip-hop scene.
“With Lamomali I planted the seed and I watched it grow so that a multi-coloured African universe can be born,” says Chedid, who is of partly Lebanese-Egyptian origin. “It must be my African side in me because I felt like I had finally returned home.”
08. Las Cafeteras
Emerging from an ethnically diverse and politically active working-class neighbourhood of East Los Angeles in 2005, this Chicano band have built an enviable reputation with their radical and socially-conscious mix of Mexican folk styles, hip-hop and much else besides, using their songs to tell stories about the streets where they were raised, the communities in which they live and their dreams for a better world. Their second album, Tastes Like LA, has just been released and includes a song titled “If I Was President”. As singer Denise Carlos puts it: “The President says he wants to build a wall. Las Cafeteras want to build bridges”. Their WOMAD performance will be a UK and European debut.
09. Grupo Canalón de Timbiquí
Nidia Góngora blends felicitously with the African-style chanting of a female chorus.
Hailing from the town of Timbiquí on the Pacific coast of Colombia, Grupo Canalón met in school, where their music teacher taught them the traditional folk songs typical of the coastal region, sung for generations by the women of the town while washing clothes in the river and praising their patron saints. The voice of lead singer Nidia Góngora blends felicitously with the African-style chanting of a female chorus, backed by marimba and folkloric percussion, and between touring and recording, several of the group’s members still dig for gold in the mines around Timbiquí.
10. Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Founded in the early 1960s by Joseph Shabalala, then a young farm boy turned factory worker, the joyous harmonies of South Africa’s Ladysmith Black Mabazo have been uplifting audiences for more than half a century. The a cappella Zulu male choir emerged on to the world stage in the 1980s when they were given a starring role on Paul Simon’s landmark “Graceland” album. Simon returned the compliment by producing the group’s first worldwide release, “Shaka Zulu”, which won a Grammy. Since then they’ve toured the world endlessly, winning countless further awards and recording with a vast array of guest vocalists ranging from Stevie Wonder to Dolly Parton.
11. Bonga
For veteran and much-loved godfather of Angolan music, 2017 marks the 45th anniversary of Bonga’s seminal debut album Angola 72.
The record became the soundtrack for Angola’s battle for independence from Portuguese colonial rule and was banned, forcing him into exile as a wanted man. Since independence he has divided his time between Europe and his homeland, recording a prolific string of peerless albums characterised by his rasping, powerful voice and the rippling Angolan rhythms of semba.
At 74, he remains a potent and charismatic force-of-nature on stage and insists that he has absolutely no plans to retire any time soon.
12. The Ska Vengers
The name tells only part of the story. The Ska Vengers hail from the Indian capital of New Delhi and their musical palette encompasses not only the irresistible chk-chk’ rhythms of Jamaican ‘ska’ but elements of dub, punk, jazz, rap, psychedelia and Latin music.
Formed in 2009, their debut album appeared three years later and has come to be regarded as a landmark on the contemporary Indian music scene. Live their energy is palpable and their first UK tour in 2016, which included a performance at the Notting Hill Carnival, was a revelation that brought them to a new and appreciative audience.
13. Oumou Sangaré
Stylish, elegant, feisty and charismatic, Oumou Sangaré is not only one of the most powerful female voices in African music but a striking role model who has used her music to campaign fearlessly to improve the position of women in Mali’s male-dominated society, singing against such injustices as polygamy and child marriage. Following an eight year absence from the recording studio she returned to the fray in 2017 with her fifth album Mogoya. While the record remains rooted deep in Malian culture and tradition, the more contemporary arrangements break new ground on the funkiest set of her career to date.
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Thanks for this amazing record.
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