In this week’s selection: a tribute to the city of Belém, an electro-funana compilation, Goldlink’s endorphic mixtape, Manu Dibango doing sound illustrations and much more…
Dona Onete
Rebujo
Following the critical success of her 2017 album Banzeiro, ‘Queen of the Amazon’ Dona Onete returns with her third album Rebujo. With a poignant voice Onete channels high energy bangues as well as a cumbia, brega and samba. “Rebujo” is a local slang for the currents in the Amazon river that carry silt and nutrients from the river bed into the water, feeding its inhabitants and giving the river it’s muddy colour – however, as it gives, it also takes, and the rebujo can easily overpower even the most experienced swimmer.
Onete is now one of Brazil’s most in-demand touring artists with a packed schedule throughout Brazil and an increasing global profile that has seen her perform at some of the most respected international music festivals such as Roskilde, Womad, TFF Rudolstadt, Rainforest World Music, FMM Sines and Chicago World Music.
Listen to it here.
Grupo Pilon
Leite Quente Funaná de Cabo Verde
Grupo Pilon: Leite Quente Funaná de Cabo Verde follows Ostinato’s Synthesize the Soul, a compilation of electronic music during 1973 – 1988. A period where the archipelago musicians incorporated electronic instruments into the local production, in a blend that gave birth to Cape Verde’s own version of electronic music, echoing the euphoria of a newly-gained freedom.
Grupo Pilon represents the second generation of musicians who contributed to one of the most lush periods of cultural innovation by immigrants in Europe. In Luxembourg, in 1986, a group of teenagers formed the largely unknown (outside of Cape Verdean circles) but consistently brilliant band named after the blunt instrument used in the islands to pound corn for Cabo Verde’s national dish, cachupa.
Stream and order it here
Octavian
Endorphins
London-based rapper and producer Octavian is back with a new mixtape, Endorphins. Following his 2018 mixtape SPACEMAN, the 12-track project see him collaborate with heavyweights such as Smokepurpp, Skepta, Jessie Ware, A$AP Ferg and Theophilus London. The visuals for “Feel it”, the single featuring the later, has already been released as weel.
Stream it here.
Gyedu Blay Ambolley
Ambolley
Singer, songwriter, producer, interpreter, multi-instrumentalist, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley is the most notable voices in highlife considered as the king of hiplife, a musical style that fuses Ghanaian culture and hip hop.
Originally released in 1982 by the WEA International label and then again in Germany in 1985 by Ambolley himself, this reissue by Mr Bongo embodies perfectly Ambolley’s sound : a balanced blend of highlife, boogie and disco.
Stream and order it here.
GoldLink
Diaspora
The 26 year-old D.C native D’Anthony Carlos, aka Goldlink, releases his second studio album, Diaspora. Following 2017’s At What Cost, this new effort features several collaborations with heavyweights such as Wizkid, Tyler, The Creator, Jay Prince and Maleek Berry with Bibi Bourelly on the single « Zulu Screams » released a few weeks ago.
Stream it here ici.
Manu Dibango
African Voodoo
Recorded in 1971 at Pathé Marconi Studio, for professional sound illustration intended for cinema and television and advertising, these files compiled by french label Hot Casa Records are absolutely fantastic. The jazzman Manu Dibango experimenting with all genres somewhere between soul, jazz and afro funk. In 2019, these tunes have no ages, considered as ‘huge’ pieces for crate diggers. The album is an amazing return to future, celebrating the 86th anniversary of the artist.
Stream and order it here.
Tropikal Camel
Awakening Spirit
For years, Jerusalem-native and Berlin-based Tropikal Camel has been sharing his entrancing sounds. Blending strong percussions with psychedelic sounds, his music is as much a tribute to his middle-eastern cultural heritage as it is avant-guarde.
He explains the creative process of his new the following way: “In order to maintain this raw magic I recorded most of the album live in one take, the way I perform it live on stage. My vision was to create a ceremony in which one experience a release, from his own self, in order to get to their unknown dimension.”
Stream and order it here.
Zeal Onyia
Trumpet King Zeal Onyia Returns
Considered as one of the founders of West African highlife in both Ghana and Nigeria, Zeal Onyiba played Ellington-style swing and dance with Bobby Benson in the ’40s, classic highlife with ET Mensah in the ’50s and provided stiff competition for Fela Kuti’s first band as a small-jazz combo leader in the early ’60s. Reissued for the first time by BBE Music as part of its ongoing Tabansi Gold reissue serie, Trumpet King Zeal Onyia Returns remains one of the most in-demand old-school Igbo-highlife sessions of all time, both in Nigeria and elsewhere, the original vinyl being devilishly hard to find in any condition, let alone playable!
Stream and order it here.
