Africa Roots vol.3 [1985, LP]

Les Rochettes [dansers of Tabu Ley Rochereau & Afrisa International]
1985.Jul.10 in Melkweg Amsterdam

My post about and positive reactions to Africa/World Roots on Milky Way K7s made me dug into my collection. I remembered I had some Africa Roots LPs and guess what, I found Vol.3, the one which does not seem to have been released on K7 [at least nowhere found any audio nor info from such]. So I digitized my own LP, which wasn't so easy and took me more time than expected, because of technical problems.
Anyway I am happy and proud to present to you:

AFRICA-ROOTS-1985_Vol.3 · live A'dam
incl.detail of album cover*, posters and newspaper articles about the 1985 Festival itself

1985, LP, Milkyway Records #F.1014785
TRACKLIST
a1.Les Officiers Of African Music - Helena (7:00)
a2.Les Officiers Of African Music - Rebia (5:10)
a3.Tabu Ley Rochereau - Sanza Misato (6:25)
a4.Tabu Ley Rochereau - Kaful Mayay (3:25)
a5.Somo Somo - Mele (3:25)
b1.Bembeya Jazz - Yekeke (8:10)
b2.Bembeya Jazz - N Kanuwe (6:05)
b3.Kumbi Saleh - Hwan Na Odo Me (7:45)

a1-a2: recorded 1985.Jul.14 at the Melkweg, Amsterdam
a3-a4: recorded 1985.Jul.10 at the Melkweg, Amsterdam
a5: recorded 1985.Jul.11 at the Melkweg, Amsterdam
b1-b3: recorded 1985.Jul.12 at the Melkweg, Amsterdam

LINER NOTES
Since the first AFRICA ROOTS festival [1983] in Amsterdam there has been a growing interest in African popular music. Based on traditional African rhythms and in combination with western techniques a new generation of African bands have developed exciting styles of dance music. Most of them, already successful in Africa, like to present their powerful music-culture to audiences abroad.
-- LES OFFICIERS Of African Music combine the best of the Congolese music-scene in Paris, featuring 'the golden voide' Tchico and masterguitarist Denis Lacloche Their music is a superb mix of soukous and disco ingredients, high energy dance rhythms, which for sure will change your mood.
-- TABU LEY R0CHEREAU is the pioneer of the 'chanson africaine' and Zairean [=Congo] popmusic in general. Still living in Kinshasa, Zaire he now sings all over the world with his band AFRISA INTERNATIONAL - bringing a powerful show of strong soukous dance songs with melting harmonies.
-- SOMO SOMO is the new group of Zairean [=Congo] master guitarplayer/singer/composer MOSE-FAN FAN-SESENGO, who played for seven years with the fámous FRANCO in Africa. Together with the South African female:vocalist Doreen Webster he sings exciting melodies in ihe soukous style of Zaire.
-- BEMBEYA JAZZ is the legendary national orchestra of Guinea, West Africa. From the beginning in 1961 their music has been an essential part of Guinean history. Only recently have they started playing for international audiences. On this very first European live recording we can enjoy their emotional music with the brilliant guitar of Sekou - Diamond Fingers - Diabate.
-- KUMBI SALEH is a band of Ghanaian musicians based in Amsterdam. They present their original highlife music from Ghana for the first time on vinyl, after being extremely successful on different European stages, with a song about the delicate affairs of human affection - who will love me?

Links to videos I found about the 1985 Africa Roots Festival:

• 1985.Jul.10: Les Rochettes [see above, dansers of Tabu Ley Rochereau & Afrisa International] in Melkweg Amsterdam
• 1985.Jul.10: Tabu Ley Rochereau in Melkweg Amsterdam 
• 1985.Jul.14: Les Officiers Of African Music in Melkweg Amsterdam 
• 1985.Jul.14: Kumbi Saleh at Festival in Vondelpark 

*unfortunately, I'm unable to make full scans of the album sleeve, so only the most important part of the backside is included, with tracklist, small pictures and liner notes

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - 1988 Andy Kershaw Session

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Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan performing 1988.Feb.28 at the Melkweg in Amsterdam, Netherlands
(photo by Frans Schellekens/Redferns)

A longtime favourite, who has been featured here before, doing his very first session for Andy Kershaw. Only two tracks, but in true Qawwali style, pretty long ones , of course. 

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's Kershaw Session #1
recorded: 1988.Feb.25 / broadcasted 1988.Mar.10 / rpt: 1988.Apr.21
setlist: 1.Allah Hoo (8:41) / 2.Yannabee Noor Hotum (9:37) [incl.in/outros by Andy Kershaw]

KHAN-NFA-19880225_Kershaw Session BBC

Nusrat and his party played one year later a second session for Andy Kershaw, alas, to my knowledge,  no recordings of that one have appeared, so far... 

While downloading you can listen here to the special "Guru of Peace" about "The King of Kings of Qawwali" made by Nitin Sawhney for the BBC



Nitin Sawhney presents an introduction to his vocal hero, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who was once dubbed the "Elvis Of The East".
The legendary Qawwali singer's music came over to the UK from Pakistan in the seventies, thanks to the OSA label in Birmingham and the singer entranced Britain's Asian community. Peter Gabriel booked Nusrat for his Womad World Music Festival and subsequently signed him to his Real World label, opening up a whole new audience through his film soundtrack work like The Last Temptation Of Christ and Dead Man Walking. Plus, collaborations with Massive Attack and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder.
He died in 1997 August at the age of 48, leaving a legacy of over 125 albums. His vocals are kept alive by remixing and new productions by the likes of Gaudi, Asian Dub Foundation as well as Nitin Sawhney himself. His life and legacy is charted here with contributions from Peter Gabriel, his nephew Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Gaudi, actor Michael Sheen, singer Rumer, DJ's Andy Kershaw and Nihal, and producer Jonathan Elias amongst others.

Sahra Halgan - 2024.Mar.10 RFI Session

Recently came across Sahra Halgan [bio at wiki], who I had never heard of before. She's a singer from Somaliland playing with her band, three musicians from France, who she met when living as a refugee there.
I liked very much what I heard from them, seemed a East African music with strong Sahara-Tamasheq influences. So searched for more recordings by them.

Found a short radio session done 2024.Mar.10 at RFI Musique du Monde.
Setlist: 01.Laga / --interview-- / 02.Sharaf
Line Up: Sahra Halgan - vocals / Maël Salètes - guitar / Régis Monte - organ / Aymeric Krol - percussion.

SAHRA HALGAN - 2024.Mar.10 RFI Session

They have released 3 albums, all available at sahrahalgan.bandcamp.com

Links to media: 

• CNN - 2017.Jul.12, article: The Star Singing for Somaliland's Recognition
• The Beijinger - 2017.Sep.21, interview: A Former Refugee's Musical Remedies
• RFI Podcast - 2021.Sep.08, SessionLab: Sahra Halgan, la Voix du Somaliland [interview with excerpts of albums]
• BBC 6music - 2024.May.15, Craig Charles*: Sahra Halgan in session!
• BBC TWO - 2024.Jun.15, Later... with Jools Holland: Sahra Halgan - Sharaf [see above]
• BBC Radio 3 - 2024.Jul.20, Music Planet*: Sahra Halgan in Session

*Alas, the two BBC radio shows are not available to listen anymore, AND I missed them when they were.
SO if anybody, visiting here, happens to have these, please comment under this post...

Africa/World Roots on Milky Way K7s

Embed from Getty Images

Searching for more info about the previous post, I hit upon a very manguetic series of K7s: Milky Way cassettes [15 in total]. All uploaded by Melkweg at their own soundcloud account, and containing live recordings from concerts in the Melkweg [=Milky Way], Amsterdam between 1982 and 1991, mostly from Africa/World Roots Festivals.

No recordings from Franco here, but many, many others from all over our globe, like:


Africa Roots vol.2 [1984]: Ifang Bondi (Senegambia), M'Bamina (Congo), Fesobi Olawaiye (Nigeria), George Darko & Bus Stop (Ghana), The Sunsum Band (Ghana), Oema Prisiri (Surinam), Trafassi (Surinam) and Fatala (Guinee)
All recorded 1984.Aug.29-Sep.02 live at the Melkweg during the Africa Roots Festival.

You can all check them out at
soundcloud.com/melkwegamsterdam/sets/milky-way-casettes

PS: in the early/mid 1980s some of these recordings were also issued on LPs...

Congo Special 1988 and Franco live 1984

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Franco 1984.Aug.16 in Paradiso, Amsterdam

Hello, how are you, I know you, I knew you... 

Yes, hello how are you all, who were wondering what happened with Mangue Music. Well I was very, very busy with many, many other things. Always keeping in the back of my mind to return here and post some good music, if I had the time and a good oportunity.

Well that oportunity happened at a flea markwet where I found a very strange CD, with very little info about it's contents. So I asked the seller, and he didn't have a clue. Therefore I asked if I could listen to it, he said he didn't have a player there, but I could just take it and have it for free.

I liked his generousness, as the text on the disc "Franco Op Slag van Maandag, KRO 1988"; had given me the idea that it might be an interesting andpotentially special CD.

Well IT IS!!!! It's a radioshow broadcasted sometime in 1988 on Dutch KRO radio, and it has two parts:

• An almost half hour Congo Special
• A more than half hour recording of FRANCO live 1984.Jan.24 in Amsterdam

CONGO Special 1988 and FRANCO live 1984 in Amsterdam

No listen link this time, just downlaod it and enjoy the following:

• CONGO Special 1988
• 1.Pablo Porthos - Madeleina [1981]
• 2.Bibi Den's Tshibayi - The "Best" Ambience [1982/84]
• 3.Joseph Kabasselle - El Que Siembra Su Maïz [1950s]
• 4.Rochereau Et Franco - Kabassele In Memoriam [1983]
• FRANCO live 1984.Jan.24 in the Melkweg in Amsterdam

During my absence blogger/google has changed a lot concerning inserting images, I tried several ways, without success, so instead of my own images, a pictures from getty embedded in the post [but don't worry, my own are all in the download...]

Some links for those of you who like add.info about Franco:

• a lot of audio by one of his biggest fans at worldservice 
• an old blog with a lot of info at Franco et TPOK Jazz Restored 
• an interesting article about Franco in The Journal of Music 
• an article* from a Dutch newspaper
  "Bandleider Franco was machtiger dan Mobutu"  

*I made translations of quotes by Stefan Werdekker [wrldsrv!] from the above linked Dutch article:

"He gave post-colonial Africa its own identity from the sixties onwards. With his pursuit of authenticity, of its own identity through music, he influenced the entire continent. Franco demonstrated how you could combine elements from your own folk music with electric guitar music. He was also a great bandleader. A kind of training institute, because everyone performed best with him. He understood the art of - well, he often took them away from competitors - constantly attracting new talent. Until his death in 1989, he had about fifty people on his payroll, spread over orchestras in Kinshasa, Paris and Brussels."

Franco's songs last about ten minutes. They start with the heating, the warm-up, in which the singers play a leading role. Then it's the turn of the guitars, which slowly slide their repetitive motifs into each other. Werdekker: "Franco called that the 'mipanza', the 'knitting style'. You could call him the Rivaldo of Congolese rumba. He sent the band to a certain point and then waited for his moment like a libero."

"He was essentially a rebel, a provocateur who denounced everything in his songs. Even though he supported the political campaigns of President Mobutu, he always remained critical. For example, the song 'Camp Luka' is about a slum in Kinshasa, which borders on a lavish residential area. 'Can you explain to me why?' Franco sings in every chorus. He also attacked ministers such as Kengo Wadondo of Justice. In the satirical 'Tailleur' ​​(the tailor), he gets a dig at him because he cuts up freedom of expression and cuts it to his size."

"Franco was popular in all layers of the population. Mobutu was powerful thanks to Franco, his politics gained a certain legitimacy. Franco was the only one who could take his president to task. After his death, that critical note disappeared and the flaws in Mobutu's politics came to light. Only then did Mobutu make his first concessions to democracy."

The 1984.Jan.24 concert by Franco in The Melkweg is listed as one of THE 4 live-concert-sensations of the last century. Together with: Lionel Hampton [1953, Amsterdam], The Beatles [1964, Blokker] and The Rolling Stones [1964, Kurhaus]. Well that's SOMETHING to be in such a list!

And last a quote from Franco himself, shortly before he passed away in 1989: "I've just walked to Lourdes, that's why now I can't stand on my own legs." 

Meher and Sher Ali - 2004.Jun.01 Festival in Fes R6

Meher and Sher Ali in concert [source: oneworldsmusic]

I have posted before about the Festival of World Sacred Music yearly held in Fes [Fez], Morrocco [see 2011]. This time its a recording made in 2004, the year being most famous for Youssou N'Dour presenting his Egypt album there, but I have something else: the brothers Ali from Pakistan.

Biography

Meher and Sher Ali were born in the Pakistani border-town of Kasur in the early 1950s and received their earlier training in classical music from their father who was a court classical singer at the small Sikh principality of Patiala (India). Their father was the disciple of Fateh Ali Khan, the father of the famous Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Young Sher Ali was the student of Bakhshi Salamat Ali Qawwal, while Meher Ali was taught by Muhammad Ali Fareedi, an ordained Sufi qawwal of the shrine of the 13th century Sufi, Baba Farid. Meher Ali was thus trained in Sufi philosophy, poetry, texts and rituals.
All qawwals must have a deep knowledge of Sufi poetic texts. In practice, this often means sacrificing musical quality to retain purity of text. Meher and Sher are qawwals who have achieved the rare combination of both musical quality and authentic text rendition: Sher is known for his abffity to understand the importance of rhythm (lai-kari) and render classical modes in a strong voice, while Mehr's heart-rending high- pitched voice strikes the heart (zarb-ul-qalb) when the poetry contains words of entreaty or sorrow.
Already at a young age the Ali brothers were recorded for radio and televison in Pakistan, their first album was released in 1980. More than 40 albums followed and they made many international tours spreading their music, texts and everything related to it over all continents.
summarized from bio at oneworldsmusic.com

Listen to a track from their soundcloud page

MEHER & SHER ALI - 2004.Jun.01 - Festival Fes Morrocco R6

rec.2004.Jun.01 at Festival of World Sacred Music in Fes / broadcasted 2010.Jan.12, [former] Dutch Radio 6 - Radio 6 Live

setlist: unknown [so one long uncut part of the concert]

Some Multi Media

• Meher and Sher Ali's soundcloud page
• 2004: Fes Sacred World Music Festival - review on Afropop WorldWide *
• 2004: Fes Sacred World Music Festival - review in The Observer *
• 2019: live performance of Aa Mory Angna Ya Khwaja Ustad - youtube

*included in download

NEVER EVER FORGET:

"il faut me pardonner - you must forgive me"

Pap Djah's last words before left on his own in the Sahara desert (in Niger)

Noura Mint Seymali - 2015.Aug.19 Berlin FHE

Noura Mint Seymali - live 2015 [source: srw.de]

Noura Mint Seymali is the daughter of famous and respected Mauritanian musician Seymali Ould Ahmed Vall who was responsible for modernizing much of Mauritanian music. His daughter now holds that position, she learned from many other family members, including her step mother, the beloved national singer Dimi Mint Abba, with whom at age 13 she began her career as a supporting vocalist.
From a very early age, she was trained in instrumental and vocal technique by her grandmother, Mounina, mastering the ardine, a harp reserved only for women, and singing at weddings with family. Noura Mint Seymali currently drives the legacy forward as one of Mauritania's most adventurous young artists, her music is rooted in the intensely complex classical music of Moorish North Africa.
In Mauritania, there are five modes to the music and traditional artists move in a kind of "melodic orbit" through the modes during a performance. Each mode has multiple under-modes that are referred to as black or white. It's a kind of coloring to the music that helps bend the mode in a certain direction, either black which lends violent tension, or white, which lends a softness or elegance. The push and play between these helps transform each mode. One needs a degree in ethnomusicology and years of study to really get at the heart of what is made to seem effortless.
Noura together with her husband Jeich Ould Chighaly on guitar formed their first "fusion" band in 2004 after working together for many years as a duo in the local traditional circuit. Jeich's unique sound, mirroring Noura's vocal lines and refracting their melodies into the either, was born out of years of practice presiding over wedding ceremonies where solo guitar or tidinit directs the dance. Two albums released locally in Mauritania - Tarabe (2006) and El Howl (2010) - marked initial efforts at adapting a "modern" style.
Eventually joining forces with bassist Ousmane Touré and drummer/producer Matthew Tinari, Noura Mint Seymali distilled a core sound and began working as a quartet from 2012 onwards. With a rhythm section firmly in place, Noura Mint Seymali’s quartet sound was built around a deliberate return to Moorish roots, led by the raw music of the "azawan," a word in Hassaniya that refers to the ensemble of traditional instruments in Moorish culture; the ardine, tidinit, guitar, t'beul. After releasing two experimental EPs with this ensemble, Azawan (2012) & Azawan II (2013), both recorded locally in Nouakchott. The band's first full-length album for the international market - Tzenni - was released in 2014 June, combining refurbished tracks from the Azawan EPs and new material recorded in Brooklyn, NY. In 2016 September followed the album Arbina.
Through performances at major international venues and collaborations with well-known artists the band exposes Mauritanian roots music to the world. In a rare merger of cultural authority and experimental prowess, Noura Mint Seymali applies the ancient musical traditions of the griot with a savvy aesthetic engagement in our contemporary moment, emerging as a powerful voice at nexus of a changing Africa.
summarized from bio at nouramintseymali.com

Listen to Ghizlane [live]

NOURA MINT SEYMALI - 2015.Sep.19 Berlin FHE

rec.2015.Aug.19 Kantine Berghain, Berlin / bc.2015.Sep.09, FunkHaus Europa World Live 
setlist: 1.Ya Demb / 2.Ghizlane / 3.Hebebeb / 4.Richa / 5.El Madi / 6.Tzenni / 7.El Mougelmen / 8.El Barm 

Multi Media with Noura Mint Seymali

• 2013.Sep.27 live session at  WFMU's Transpacific Sound Paradise - playlist
• 2013.Oct.09 story on PRI - The World [inl.live video]
• 2014 teaser of Tzenni - youtube
• 2014.Dec.31 interview in KithFolk #3 
• 2016.Mar.01 Full Performance (live on KEXP) - youtube
• 2016 promo video for Na Sane - youtube

Discography

2006: Tarabe [local album]
2010: El Howl [local album]
2012: Azawan [digi EP]
2013: Azawan II [digi EP]
2014: Tzenni [CD/LP/digi, Glitterbeat] - bandcamp
2016: Arbina [CD/LP/digi, Glitterbeat] - bandcamp

NEVER EVER FORGET:

"il faut me pardonner - you must forgive me"

Pap Djah's last words before left on his own in the Sahara desert (in Niger)