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Introducing Shiyani Ngcobo and Vakoka
by AAJ Staff
> World Music Network, a London-based company specializing in global music, celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. It's probably best known for 130 comprehensive and information-dense Rough Guide compilations surveying music from South African Gospel to Salsa Colombia. But it's also affiliated with the Riverboat label, which has put out a series of individual international ...
Fred Anderson's Legendary Velvet Lounge
by Jeff Stockton
It was broad daylight the first time I drove down to Chicago's South Loop, just to see where Fred Anderson's legendary Velvet Lounge was. I went right passed it. In the middle of the afternoon, there isn't much going on in the area that surrounds the city's mammoth convention center, McCormick Place. Squeezed in between an ...
Musik Ye Afrika: United We Stand
by AAJ Staff
Musik Ye Afrika United We Stand Sheer Sound 2004 Immediately flush any images of stars and stripes from your head before you get past the title of United We Stand. This is not a patriotic album, nor a statement against terrorism, nor any sort of campaign booster for ...
Youssou N'Dour: Egypt
by AAJ Staff
Youssou N'Dour Egypt Nonesuch Records 2004 Youssou N'Dour is as close to an international megastar as African musicians get, having earned first a massive fan base in his home of Senegal and then a worldwide following on the heels of his work with Peter Gabriel and others. His ...
Oliver Mtukudzi: Shanda
by AAJ Staff
He made the cover of Time magazine in March of 2003, and he's attracted a lot of listeners outside the following in his home country, but it's an unfortunate fact that most people haven't ever heard of Oliver Mtukudzi. When John and Louise Riber decided to make a movie about the Zimbabwean pop star, ...
South Africa: Tales of Gospel and Urban S.A.
by AAJ Staff
The two reviews in this update are both compilations produced by South Africa's Sheer Sound label as part of its Sheer Africa series. The church and the city form the roots of Tales of Gospel S.A. and Tales of Urban S.A., respectively, and vocals predominate. For the corresponding jazz compilation, click here. ...
South Africa: Tales of Afrojazz S.A.
by AAJ Staff
Various Artists Tales of Afrojazz S.A. Sheer Sound 2004 Last year South Africa's dominant jazz label, Sheer Sound, came up with a new imprint known as Sheer Africa, dedicated to documenting musical instruments and styles from all over the continent. Three of Sheer Africa's seven Tales of releases ...
West Africa: Blay Ambolley
by AAJ Staff
Ghanaian multi-instrumentalist Blay Ambolley has accomplished the difficult task of holding onto his roots despite leaving home to live in the United States fourteen years ago. At this point, those roots sink equally deep into the American jazz tradition and West African musical styles known as highlife and Afro-beat. To his credit, he's managed to recruit ...
South Africa: Two Abdullah Ibrahim Reissues
by AAJ Staff
Probably the most important member of South Africa's jazz elite, pianist Abdullah Ibrahim certainly wasted no time forging alliances after his 1962 departure from his homeland. Although he hit it off right away with Duke Ellington, for example, resulting in the 1963 date Duke Ellington Presents the Dollar Brand Trio , he has always made a ...
West Africa: Frikyiwa's Mix of Ancient and Modern
by AAJ Staff
When you've heard (and seen) enough music, you get pretty good at judging a CD by the cover. Sure, the process incurs a lot of failure along the way, but its successes can be dramatic. Such was the case with the tiny French label known as Frikyiwa, which I first encountered in an overflowing bin at ...
