Intro to African Music

Just getting into African music? In a way, so am I. I started DJing on CJLO a little more than two years ago and at the time I had a taste for West African music (almost all I knew about was music from Mali), but I really knew almost nothing about African music. Over the last two years I have learned a bit from doing this show, and me and DJ Sassafrass have taken on the holy mission of introducing African music to as many people as we can, a task which has not been easy! If you are interested, this is a little blog to get you started.

The African mainland includes 48 countries. Off the mainland there are 13 countries, many of which consist of several islands, that can be considered part of Africa, including Madagascar. In The African Diaspora (North, Central, and South America) there are many other countries that are part of the world of African music, including Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Brazil, Belize, Columbia and Peru. We have played music from 13 countries in the African Diaspora. The oldest African music I've listened to in terms of recordings is Cuban music recorded in the first decade of the 20th century. So the world of African music includes juju music from Nigeria from the 1930s, American funk from the 1970s, South African jazz from the 1940s, and Mande music from Mali from the present day! The interaction of European and African music has led to most of the genres which dominated the international pop music world throughout the 20th century and to the present, mostly the styles which developed in the U.S., from jazz to hip-hop. The scope of African music is huge!

It took me a long time to get a grip on this scope, but I'm getting better every week. Some of the music is incredible, and some of it is total garbage, so where do you start? I've found the most consistent way to find good African music is to check out consistent record labels, so for the rest of this blog I'll just explain a few of my favorite record labels that deliver some real good stuff. You should be able to find these record labels by googling their names.

Top of the list is Soundway, me and Sassafrass' favorite label! Soundway have released a variety of compilations, mostly of African music from the 1960s and 1970s, all of incredible quality! Their catalogue focuses on the countries of Nigeria, Ghana, Panama and Columbia. Albums such as Nigeria Special, Ghana Special, Columbia!: Disco Fuentes, and Panama!2 all reflect the stylistic diversity of these countries during the golden age of African music. But everything these guys release is gold and is highly recommeded. If your into funk, you must check out Ghana Soundz, Vol.1 and 2, which are probably my two favorite funk albums!

Strut is another awesome record label who release many types of music, some of them African. One of my favorites is New York-Addis-London The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965-1975. This album follows the career of Mulatu Astatake, one of the most original musicians of Ethiopia. Astatake developed a unique form of jazz, at once both funky, haunting and distinctly Afican sounding. For some great funk check out the Nigeria 70 series, which includes the albums Lagos Jump and The Definitive Story of 1970s Funky Lagos, and the Black Rio series, which features funk, disco and soul from Brazil, and also check out Calypsoul, which features funk, disco and soul from the Carribean.

More interested in folk music? Check out Small Wood Productions, a label that focuses on folk music from throughout Africa. I recommend Kanyok and Luba, Kenyan Songs and Strings, and Forest Music.

Well thats all I have time for this week. I'll be back next week with more recommendations.