#4471, African Experimentalists
Sample works by African experimentalists and pioneers Dumama + Kechou (South Africa), the Pan-African Orchestra (Ghana), Fela Kuti (Nigeria), and the late Janka Nabay (Sierra Leone).
Johannesburg duo Dumama + Kechou is singer, songwriter, and improviser Gugulethu Duma (of the Eastern Cape province in South Africa) and producer Algerian-German Kerim Melik Becker (Kechou). Duma gives much credit to a “life-changing” mentorship with legendary elder, Madosini, who is a composer, instrument builder, and improviser. Together, as Dumama and Kechou, Duma’s layered vocals of Xhosa chants and English poetry are skillfully deployed over grooving loops of percussion, and other inventive samples from Becker, with special guests like improvising clarinetist Angel Bat Dawid, pianist Nobuhle Ashanti, and vocalist Odwa Bongo.
Also, listen to music by the Pan-African Orchestra, founded in Ghana by creator and director Nana Danso Abiam. It’s an Afrocentric ensemble of traditional and folkloric musicians at whose core are instrumentalists who play atenteben bamboo flutes, then gonje one-string fiddles, the wia notched flutes, gyile woodblock xylophones, and mmenson- a septet of hollowed elephant tusk horns. Additionally, percussion includes tall thunderous fontomfrom and atumpani court drums, the Ewe astimevu, kidi, kankan, sogo and akroboto drums. Listen to a track from their 1995 recording, Opus 1 (Real World Records).
Then, there’s music from Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, who bring together traditional West African music, roots reggae, and a bit of New Orleans swing from an uplifting record recorded in Freetown, Sierra Leone and New Orleans, Louisiana, Rise & Shine. Also, from Sierra Leone, listen to music from the late Janka Nabay, the (aka "the Bubu King"), and his updating of the indigenous folk music called “Bubu” that he heard as a young boy at his family feasts. Plus, hear music from Nigeria by Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti (and drummer Tony Allen), along with a piece from Nigerian-born Yoruba singer-songwriter Chief Dr. Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, who was a pioneer of Fuji and Wéré music (Wikipedia). - Caryn Havlik
Program #4471, African experimentalists (First Aired 3/15/2021)
ARTIST: Pan-African Orchestra
WORK: Explorations - Hi-Life Structures [1:00]
RECORDING: Opus 1
SOURCE: Real World Records
INFO: realworldrecords.com
ARTIST: Dumama + Kechou, feat Nobuhle Ashanti, Odwa Bongo
WORK: for madala [1:00]
RECORDING: buffering juju
SOURCE: !K7 label
INFO: dumamakechou.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Pan-African Orchestra
WORK: Explorations - Hi-Life Structures [4:05]
RECORDING: Opus 1
SOURCE: Real World Records
INFO: realworldrecords.com
ARTIST: Janka Nabay & the Bubu Gang
WORK: Ro Lungi [6:17]
RECORDING: En Yay Sah
SOURCE: Luaka Bop
INFO: luakabop.com
ARTIST: Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars
WORK: Goat Smoke Pipe [2:49]
RECORDING: Rise & Shine
SOURCE: Cumbancha
INFO: cumbancha.com
ARTIST: Fela Kuti
WORK: Mr. Follow Follow [12:56]
RECORDING: Zombie
SOURCE: Coconut Records / Creole Records
INFO: felakuti.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Chief Dr. Sikiru Ayinde Barrister
WORK: Refined Fuji Garbage [12:42]
RECORDING: Refined Fuji Garbage
SOURCE: Ace Records
INFO: Available at AppleMusic, Spotify, Amazon.com
