Vintage Afropop
While this may not come as news to some of you, we just stumbled upon the amazing sound archive of The British Library, home to some "90,000 selected recordings of music, spoken word and human and natural environments" to be explored/streamed at will, if time permits. Among this vast collection is a segment dedicated to world and traditional music, "available for non-commercial research, study and private enjoyment".
Moving deeper into the proverbial thicket, we were initially tipped off by a tweet via Open Culture, pointing us in the direction of close to 8,000 Vintage Afropop Recordings Digitized & Made Available by The British Library, hailing from the archives of Radio Télévision Guinée, "created in the Republic of Guinea under the Presidency of Sékou Touré (1958-1984) following independence from France". The sound database is accompanied by an 8-page PDF guide, "created by project holder Dr Graeme Counsel, which gives a history of the archive alongside some recommended listenings".
"Sékou Touré saw the development of a national identity as key to the progress of his nation. The development of culture was thus central to his government. State-sponsored orchestras were created and the government bought them their musical instruments, paid them a wage, and created national arts festivals in which their groups performed. Foreign music was banned from the radio, and here the government filled the gap by building a state of the art recording studio and creating its own recording label, Syliphone."
So without further ado, feast your ears on this rich collection of sounds from Guinea, to be browsed by language, performer, recording title or recordist. Or move on to other sections. Your choice. In any case, you can't go wrong.
More posts
Dig! Delve! Damn!
It is a wild dream, unlike any other, textures of sound, part organic, part machine, layers upon layers of intricate audioscapes, evolving into a 20-minute soundtrack out of space and time, a journey to distant lands of sonic temptation. By now you may have realised that we are absolutely overwhelmed by the latest 8-track offering from internationally acclaimed producer and performer Cristiano Crisci, aka Clap! Clap!, "one of Italy's brightest new talents, [...]
White African Power
Prolific Grammy-winning US record producer Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, Zomba Prison Project, ZMEI3) is back at it again. For his latest Six Degrees Records-released project Brennan travelled to the remote Tanzanian inland island Ukerewe, accessible only by ferry and known as a refuge for people suffering from Albinism (a genetic condition marked by the complete or partial absence of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes).
"It is a sad and tragic fact that [...]
Negro Soy
This is not the first time we have shared content via Latin American music and culture webzine/publisher Sounds and Colours. And, if you remember their Peruvian Folklore compilation, it is also not the first time we revisit Peru. On the occasion of today's Peruvian Independence Day, French 'musicologist' and DJ Boebis unveiled a new mixtape. Digging deep into Afro-Peruvian history Boebis' selection features tracks by artists, who consistently fought for the [...]
Soviet Grooves
Spasibo is Russian for 'thank you' and it is thus befitting that we show our gratitude and appreciation to Saint Petersburg label Spasibo Records, who have taken it upon themselves to unearth and reissue a string of 45s hailing from the former Soviet Union.
Earlier this year, the Spasibo team released a limited 7" vinyl by the late "soviet rock composer, multi-instrumentalist and sound engineer (for former record label Melodiya)" Yuriy Morozov (1948-2006), [...]
The Bongo Hop
Just recently we shared a post with you, covering the infamous Cut Chemist's exploration of record crates found in Cali, Colombia. Today, we return with another musical venture that also has its roots in Cali. Enter The Bongo Hop, a swingin' afro-caribbean project by Bordeaux-born/Lyon-based trumpetist, journalist, film maker, university teacher, DJ, and digger Etienne Sevet. Sevet spent eight years in Colombia as a Cali resident, where in 2003 he chanced [...]
Lusafro
Kicking off in Cologne on Monday (July 17, 2017) is part two of this year's LusAfro festival, curated by the likes of Daniel Haaksman, Francis Gay and José da Silva. The festival, promoting the musical and cultural exchange between artists from Portuguese-speaking 'lusophone' Africa (Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe) and Germany, enters stage two, as part of the Cologne-based Cosmo Radio's (formerly Funkhaus Europa) [...]
Funaná
Friday is release day, as we all know. Release from all the work week's woes and of course the release of new music all across the globe. That being said, one of our favourite musical globetrotters, the one and only Daniel Haaksman, drops his spanking new Funáná EP today, which also happens to be the festive 100th release of his Man Recordings imprint. In honour of his record label's anniversary and after several musical episodes in Brasil, Angola, Mozambique [...]
Sacred Horror In Design
Known for its more abstract sonic curation of electronic productions ranging from house and techno to 'other', UK-based independent imprint Opal Tapes is set to release a new album by Hamburg-born and currently Tehran-based electronic music composer and sound artist Ata 'Sote' Ebtekar. Sote made his extraordinary debut on the label last year, when he released his "Hardcore Sounds From Tehran" LP and will follow that up on July 28th with his latest feat on Opal [...]
Lufunki
We are more than honoured to call dibs on The Soul Jazz Orchestra's brand new track off the Canadian ensemble's forthcoming album "Under Burning Skies", to be released via Strut Records in all its pink glory (the record will also be released on pink vinyl) on October 6th, later this year. Having gained international acclaim with their scorching blend of Afro, Latin and tropical grooves during the past 15 years, the groundbreaking collective prepares to release [...]
Kink Gong
What on earth did we just listen to?! Released in May on French independent label Akuphone, specializing on "rare global pop and folk music from the early 1950's to the late 1980's", the imprint itself simply describes this one-of-a-kind acoustic display as a "puzzling collage of Tibetan Buddhist rites". What we have here is a departure into the realm of ritual and ceremonial music by a certain Kink Gong, aka Laurent Jeanneau, "a nomadic musician and DIY [...]
More Than Cumbia
We love finding amazing music from around the globe, especially when you have an acclaimed record digger such as the notorious Cut Chemist take a trip down South to unearth the rich musical spirit of Colombia and put together a selection of songs for the 'greedy' ones among us. That being said, we were more than ready to feast our ears on these vibrant tropical remixes and would love for you to do the same. But before we share that link, here's a short comment [...]
Tel Aviv Hold'em
What's new from the Jewish Monkeys, you ask? Well, as a matter of fact, this tireless bunch just upgraded its merch game. Last week, the band released a brand new, 52-piece set of customised playing cards with all eight band members on deck and looking as spiffy as ever. Limited to 500, the cards feature the designs/collages of Israeli artist Naomi Shalev. You may recognise her art from the band's recently released second longplayer "High Words", which you can [...]