Founded this year by DJ/producer, percussionist and avid record collector Déni Shain (Space Echo, Pop Makossa), Marseille-based Atangana Records is set to drop its eagerly awaited first release on May 4th. Originally issued in 1981 the label's premier 12" features the acclaimed single "Divizion" by Haitian singer Fédia Laguerre along with a remix by French afro-disco collective Voilaaa as well as an additional instrumental cut, which recently premiered on The Ransom Note (listen here).
Atangana Records is result of almost two decades of musical exploration from Europe (Germany, France, Portugal) to West Africa (Guinea, Burkina Faso), Brazil and Mexico by the self-proclaimed "tropicalist globetrotter" Déni Shain, who now teams up with his partner Thomas Vicente to "to dig, reproduce & transmit cross-cultural music, usually unreachable and/or less known by the public".
And Fédia Laguerre's "Divizion" (available via Bandcamp) is just the right record to get things rolling. Listen to the original below and mark May 4th in your calendars.
AUTHOR: Lev Nordstrom
Ghanaian legend Ebo Taylor has been in the music business for over 60 years and just released a brand new longplayer entitled "Yen Ara" on the London-based Mr Bongo imprint: "Listen to Yen Ara and you will not only hear the high-energy afrobeat, sweet highlife, jazz and konkoma influences that he’s famous for. There is also a disco pulse and hard-hitting percussive edge to the tracks, which were produced by Justin Adams (Tinariwen, Rachid Taha, Robert [...]
Upon listening to the piping hot sounds of Istanbul's Cüneyt Sepetçi, you may very well find yourself at a loss for words. As the virtuosic clarinetist delivers a mesmerising trip into modern Turkish wedding and (circumcision) party music, words indeed, seem highly unnecessary. This is a celebratory music made for dancing, rooted deeply in Turkish and the surrounding regions' culture, "which each generation innovates and develops". Released at the tail end [...]
What would seem like somewhat of a contradiction, a champion boxer fighting for peace, is essentially the story of Mushapata. Hailing from the city of Bukavu, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the border with Burundi, Mushapata Kabangu emigrated to France in the late '70s to pursue a career as a professional boxer. However, confronted with the realities of the sports industry, he eventually became a personal protection agent. As such he escorted [...]
Fresh off the holiday weekend, we would like to share with you this upbeat musical homage to the great Ambassador Osayomore Joseph, by the London-based MogaDisco crew, a passionate collective curating the African continent's "finest sounds". Recently released as The Vinyl Factory's mix #129, the 50-minute selection pays tribute to an extraordinary personality and formidable musician, who has been likened to "the Fela Kuti of Benin".
Hailing from Benin City, [...]
Having paved [...]
Hold on tight, as Mexico City's 'loco' nine-piece instrumental combo Sonido Gallo Negro (Black Rooster Sound) is about drop its third album via the trusted Glitterbeat Records on April 6th. And, as the title suggests, it promises to be one heck of a trip.
Following up on their enticing 2011 debut "Cumbia Salvaje" (Savage Cumbia) and its equally mind-bending 2014 successor "Sendero Místico" (Mystical Path), the group's "exhilarating third album continues their [...]
Always good for a rare dig are Paris-based Hot Casa Records, an imprint specialising in dusty afro soul and tropical funk and run by DJ Julien Lebrun alongside Djamel Hammadi (aka Afrobrazilero).
Their latest find is an obscure artist from the Ivory Coast by the name of Deke Tom Dollard, who went on to record a total of four albums between 1979 and the early 1980ies. Two of these records, recorded in Abidjan and released on two different labels (War Records [...]
Hailing from the Ghanaian capital of Accra is the one and only DJ Katapila, aka Ishmael Abbey, who was first brought to our attention by the always reliable Awesome Tapes From Africa, when the label reissued his now internationally acclaimed debut album "Trotro" in 2016. The record went on to feature in renowned publications the likes of The New York Times, Pitchfork, Resident Advisor and FACT magazine among others, which ultimately launched Katapila's touring [...]
The multi-talented drummer and producer Nicola Mauskovic is at it again. After he most recently resurfaced on our radar as part of the Amsterdam-based Turkish psych-folk outfit Altın Gün, who are set to release their debut album at the end of this month, he now presents the four-track debut EP of The Mauskovic Dance Band, released last Friday on London's Soundway Records.
"Down in the Basement" presents "a potent, modern blend of Afro-Caribbean rhythms and [...]
We just can't get enough of these stories and most importantly this extraordinary music. Hailing from a secluded, hardly accessible village in central Niger, located at the edge of the Sahara, with little infrastructure, no electricity or running water, Les Filles de Illighadad released their very first studio album at the tail end of last year on Christopher Kirkley's Sahel Sounds imprint. Led by Fatou Seidi Ghali, the all-female "avant rock group bring their [...]
Hot damn! You might remember last year's post on this Amsterdam-based Turkish psych-folk formation's limited 7" release via Bongo Joe Records, which really set the tone and got us here all in a frenzy.
Now, the group, fronted by the magnificent Merve Dasdemir, released a KEXP live recording of them performing at the Halle de la Courrouze in Rennes, France, during last year's Trans Musicales Festival 2017.
Watch below as Altın Gün unleash the undeniable charm [...]
There is something truly mesmerising about the sound of the oud, even more so, when it's the sound of two ouds. Firmly rooted in North African and Middle Eastern culture, the lute-like, pear-shaped instrument is assumed to be of Central Asian origin. Now propelling the instrument into the 21st century are the virtuosic duo of Tunisian-born Jean-Pierre Smadja, alias Smadj, and Mehdi Haddab from Algeria.
Based in Paris, the two master oud players joined forces as [...]