Night Safari
Ever since releasing their self-entitled debut-LP back in 2013, Cape Town-based five-piece John Wizards have risen from obscurity with “a cheerful conglomeration of intricate beatwork, swirling melodies, multifaceted instrumentation, and, of course, a nod to southern African sounds” (via Okayafrica).
Most recently they delivered a mindbending remix for Italian producer Populous’ “Night Safari” that was subsequently transformed into an animated music video at the hands of Simone Brillarelli.
The “Night Safari” remix album is available via Berlin’s Bad Panda Records. But before you check out the release, feast your eyes on Brillarelli’s hypno-psychedelic excursion and your ears on the minimal mastery by John Wizards below. Wow.
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Global Copenhagen
Copenhagen's one and only non-profit world music venue, fittingly named Global, opened its doors to a mixed and multi-generational crowd of music enthusiasts back in 2006 and has since positioned itself as one of the prime establishments of its kind and in the world, while being the only venue in all of Denmark dedicated to the genre itself, as eloquently put in this well-written piece, recently published on Vice magazine's Noisey platform:
"World music is [...]
The Traveller
For over two decades now, Senegal's iconic singer and guitarist Baaba Maal has been one of the driving forces on the global music scene, having released several albums on independent as well as major labels.
Much to the delight of his many fans across the world, the master himself recently announced his new album and shared the trailer to the upcoming documentary on his Blues du Fleuve festival, to take place again in December:
"Beginning with a [...]
Taking A Stand
These days it has become increasingly difficult to discern between what is right and what is wrong. What we write is supposed to be about music, but how can music these days not be political, if purely as a form of artistic expression?
Within the frame of their ongoing Global Warming Tour 2015, our very own Jewish Monkeys decided to travel to Dresden last week for a show of musical protest and solidarity, including concerts, workshops and jam sessions with [...]
MÃLØX
Take a closer look at Tel Aviv's burgeoning underground music scene and you will come to discover a host of promising acts, currently redefining Israel's musical landscape in their own sweet way. Among the most promising acts of this generation is MALOX.
Uber-talented reed player Eyal Talmudi and mega-drummer Roy Chen's two-man instrumental outfit blends elements from Klezmer, Jazz and more, in a wide array of warm, round and distorted sounds, "from Balkan [...]
Building Bridges
Last Saturday the tireless Tel Aviv-based Jewish Monkeys rocked Copenhagen's Global music venue only to travel to Dresden one day later for a series of concerts, workshops, jam sessions and 'bridge-building' with refugees there, in a call for more humanity and less racism:
"It's a special honour for us to play for people from our neighbouring country Syria and to build bridges with the potential to overcome hostility. Just like the generation of our [...]
Habibi Funk
Seeing as 'habibi' is a word too seldom heard these days, we decided it's time we shared the tremendous Habibi Funk episodes hand-selected and compiled by Jakarta Records' main man Jannis, who did his digging on his numerous travels to North Africa and Tunisia in particular:
“While being there, I did some digging and found some incredible music from the ’60s and ’70s. Some of the music in [...] has zero info on the Net, was never sold on eBay, and has [...]
Congotronics Continued
If you have yet to experience Konono No. 1's 2004 "Congotronics" debut on Belgian imprint Crammed Discs, then stop what you are doing and tune in asap. The groundbreaking album "introduced the world to the strange and spectacular electro-traditional mixtures being concocted in the suburbs of Kinshasa, Congo", by a band originally founded back in the 1960s by Mingiedi Mawangu, a legendary Iikembé (a traditional instrument consisting of metal rods attached to [...]
Luba Lubaviczer
Back in 2014, the Jewish Monkeys performed at the International Klezmer Festival in Fürth, Bavaria. Among our favourite live recordings from the concert is this rambling rendition of their ode to the fictive female temptress "Luba Lubaviczer", who had the boys in quite an infatuated frenzy. But hear for yourselves. Let's just say the audience got it's fair share of 'oy's:
"Petrosilia / Che Guevara
Rojte Paprika / Mata Hari
Superwomen / Metaplastik
[...]
Can Music Save The World?
In a brilliant TEDx talk Simon Broughton (writer, film maker and Editor-in-Chief of Songlines Magazine ) shares his take on music's transformative power, on how music reveals our humanity, brings people together and has the potential to break down prejudices. Take this encounter with a Dutch DJ performing at the West African Fes Festival for example: "I love Iranian music. Why? Because it makes me realize that Iranians are also human beings." Watch [...]
Boom Pam X Kutiman
Tel Aviv's charismatic, psychedelic and incredibly musical Surf-outfit Boom Pam had the honor of performing live at the closing concert of the 23rd Jewish Culture Festival in Munich, in 2009. For their breathtaking half-hour performance they were joined on stage by fellow multi-instrumentalist and sound artist Kutiman, each delivering some heated freestyle exchanges. Watch two of Israel's premier underground acts win over the festival-sized crowd in [...]
Toukadime Radio
A few years back, Bashir and Kamir (alias Krimau), two Rouen-based DJs, passionate record collectors and sons of North African immigrants themselves, launched their ongoing quest to rediscover their own musical heritage.
They began digging for records of Maghreb origin, involving regular trips to Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, in an attempt to reappropriate the North African diaspora’s vintage sounds from the 1950s to the 1970s and in turn, make this music [...]
Lágbájá
Today, 55 years ago, Nigeria gained independence from the United Kingdom. The country is home to Africa’s largest population, over 500 spoken languages as well as a wide array of ancient cultural traditions.
Among the artists reviving some of these traditions in the musical sense is Lágbájá. Since his emergence in the early 90s, the internationally acclaimed, award-winning Nigerian Afropop singer/saxophonist has been among the nation’s most audible and [...]