About a year ago, in 2017, we issued a newsletter to our subscribers introducing a special musical project, which remains highly relevant and which we believe needs to be included in our online archive of extraordinary finds. Said project is the result of Frankfurt-based DJ, label head and electronic music pioneer Jan Hagenkötter's tireless efforts to put together a selection of tracks representing the so-called "Golden Era" of popular music in South Vietnam, where – under difficult circumstances – a veritable music scene flourished. That is until the large exodus of artists in April 1975, which put an end to the South Vietnamese music industry.

"'Saigon Supersound' is the story of a musical era that was almost lost," reads the first line of the project's liner notes. "This collection focuses on the South, where under 'imported' western influence a new kind of pop and rock music had developed. [...] The remaining bits and pieces were seen as 'decadent' by the communists, were disgraced and maginalized and ultimately disappeared from everyday life. Records surviving from this era are often in a sad and pitiful state, heavily scratched and full of dust so deeply engrained in the grooves as to render them virtually unplayable. [...] Nevertheless, the songs persist. Particularly among the many Vietnamese who fled their homeland these songs became classics or even hymns that were re-recorded again and again in the diaspora."

During a one-year stay in Ho-Chi-Minh City in 2011/12 and with the help of friends Jan Hagenkötter eventually proceeded to research and collect this pre-war era music, buying vinyl singles from around the world in an attempt to restore one good recording from several sources or sometimes recording directly from original reel to reel tapes, and finally put together this amazing compilation of South Vietnamese productions that clearly reveal elements from western popular music and imported styles, i.e. latin, rock or soul. Music, that "in all its simplicity, speaks directly to the hearts and souls of people". You can buy/stream the Saigon Supersound compilation from the INFRAcom! Bandcamp page, check the official trailer or just tune in via the YouTube playlist of all 18 tracks below. Also, click the SoundCloud player above for an exclusive Supersound blues mix by Jan Hagenkötter himself.

It's been seven years since the acclaimed Malian chanteuse Fatoumata Diawara put forth her mesmerising debut solo project "Fatou". This Friday, she releases her much anticipated follow-up "Fenfo" (Something To Say), including 11 new tracks, co-produced by Diawara herself alongside singer/songwriter/guitarist Matthieu Chedid, alias –M–, a superstar in his native France, who recently won the "Best World Music Album" award at the French Grammys for his "Lamomali" project, which also featured Fatoumata. 

Internationally recognised "as one of the most beautiful voices of modern African music", Fatoumata Diawara has collaborated with the the likes of Damon Albarn, Amadou and Mariam, Bobby Womack, Herbie Hancock and Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca in the past years and now returns, blending Wassoulou and other traditional Malian genres with elements of funk-rock, soul, blues, afropop and afrobeat elements to underline her messages on "Fenfo". "Above all, her goal is to inspire young Malians, and young people everywhere, to take matters into their own hands." (via Afropop)

Earlier this week, UK dance duo Disclosure sampled Fatoumata Diawara on their newest track "Ultimatum", which you can stream here. Below you can feast your eyes and ears on the stunning video to Diawara's swinging lead single "Nterini", created by Ethiopian photographer and artist Aïda Muluneh. "The video was shot in the Danakil Desert in Ethiopia. Aïda Muluneh was inspired by Afro-futuristic aesthetics, as well as visual elements borrowed from the Dogons, a Malian ethnic group." (via PAM). But before you do, feel free to watch the trailer to "Nterini" here. For a detailed list of tour dates and a show in a city near you, check her website. 

Barcelona-based imprint Adarce Records has been putting out some great music lately, which definitely warrants a short introduction on Greedy. Specialising in "Spanish grooves, including reissues of funk, disco, rumba, bossa nova and library records from the 60s & 70s", Adarce has been dropping a host of impressive records and compilations to the benefit of diggers and music lovers all across the globe. 

Released at the tail-end of 2017, their fantastic 14-track compilation of Spanish gypsy soul funk and disco definitely made a lasting impression on us. "Naino!" is dedicated to "the fusion of black music and gypsy music" created in Spain between 1974 and 1984 and focusses "on a breakthrough movement that was started by 'rumberos' and 'flamencos' by mixing soul, funk and disco" that enabled "musicians to explore new sounds and discover links between these two well-known musical traditions".

You can listen to the entire compilation in the YouTube playlist below. For reference we've included a detailed tracklist below. Enjoy!

1) Marian Conde - Tómame que tómame
2) Juan Bautista - Naino naino
3) Los Maravilla - Ven ven vente
4) Dolores Vargas - Déjalo
5) Paca y Manuela - Dímelo
6) Chele - Libre como el viento
7) Lola Flores - Cómo me las maravillaría yo
8) Perlita de Huelva - Mi almohada
9) Morena y clara - Para vivir así
10) Trigal - Vente conmigo
11) Las Deblas - Zorongo
12) Rumba tres - Buscaremos un rincón
13) Tobago - Toquiliquitón
14) Chipén - Volao

Back in 2012 Tel Aviv's prolific Fortuna Records imprint released its first 7" record. Yemenite jazz legend Tsvia Abarbanel's "Soul Of The East" EP featured two tracks and has been highly sought-after ever since. 

After digging up another one of Abarbanel's tracks that was included on their 2017 compilation of obscure Yemenite-Israeli funk, Fortuna Records now released a much anticipated EP entitled "Eastern Soul" with four super rare tracks by Tsvia Abarbanel.

"Privately pressed by Tsvia in 1970, this was the first-ever attempt at combining traditional Yemenite compositions with funk and spiritual jazz." You can stream the entire release in the SoundCloud player above and/or buy the EP via Bandcamp. Rest assured, this is a special one!

It's summertime here in the Western hemisphere and so at times, life slows down as we spend more and more time back in the outdoors, cherishing those moments in the sun, taking in life's treats to the fullest. Call it a perfect fit for the downtempo experimental electronics that rising Argentinian producer Muno has been dropping. 

Deemed slowhouse with an ethic, tribal touch, Muno just released his debut EP "Mawu" on São Paulo's Tropical Twista Records and it is absolutely entrancing: "Mawu is related to fertility, motherhood, kindness, forgiveness, rest and joy. It's the feminine half of the creator god Mawu-Lisa. It is associated with aspects of the world related to the earth, the west, the moon and the night," reads the description, as Muno effortlessly creates "a collage of ancient rhythms blended with fine modern electronica". 

There is a rare musical magic to be found in these cutting edge concoctions, flashing archaic colours in surprisingly familiar fashion. You can download the entire four-track EP on a 'name your price' basis from Bandcamp or stream it in the SoundCloud player above.  Also, visit Muno's SoundCloud page for more of his production work.

"We have our own blues band. It isn't bad; it only sounds that way," reads the opening line in Malian singer and guitarist Samba Touré's brand new music video to "Goy Boyro", the opening track off his forthcoming third longplayer on Glitterbeat Records. And indeed, the first sounds that hit you are not what you might expect: 

“It’s contemporary music from Mali,” Touré insists. “Maybe our traditional music has changed. We live all in the same world wherever we are on that planet, we all have the same music on radio or TV, we hear the same music in movies, so even if we don’t really know what’s rock music in Mali, we hear some everywhere every day, it has become part of our inspirations, easy inspirations because it’s sometimes so close to what we do traditionally. If you attend a traditional ceremonies in villages north of Mali, you’ll see that musician always use distortion at maximum level but they don’t know anything about rock or blues. But believe me they do some. And desert blues…to me it’s a way to name music from the region north Mali, Niger or Mauritania but it has no more sense.” 

What's even more remarkable is the companion music video to "Goy Boyro", which poignantly showcases "the spirit connection between West Africa and Afro-American culture as well as the scourge of racism," as we revel in the music. Watch the full video below. Samba Touré's new album "Wande" (The Beloved) releases May 25th. 

Today, we would like to rewind to an album released in 2015 on Gilles Peterson's Brownswood Recordings, being the debut longplayer of then 22-year-old Afro-Cuban singer Daymé Arocena entitled "Nueva Era". Arocena has since released her equally enticing sophomore album "Cubafonía" in 2017, but "Nueva Era" in our humble opinion deserves another look or rather listen.

"Nueva Era" sees the classically trained Daymé Arocena combine "the intertwining musical legacies of her native Cuba" with electronic production, to create a rich and powerful tapestry of sounds, including influences from jazz and soul yet rooted firmly in traditional rhythms and folkloric Santería music as she "strives to forge a cohesive musical language from Cuba’s distinct musical dialects" (which becomes all the more evident on her second longplayer "Cubafonía"). 

That being said, Daymé Arocena can be seen as introducing a new era in contemporary Cuban composition. You can listen to title track "Nueva Era" in the SoundCloud player above, or watch her perform a mesmerising Tiny Desk Concert for NPR Music below. Her music is available via Bandcamp. 

About this time a year ago, the Hamburg-based vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Derya Yıldırım and her outernational Grup Şimşek super-quintet released their superb "Nem Kaldı" EP to much acclaim. Now, the group returns with an equally impressive one-off track, to be physically released this month on the forthcoming "Saz Power"* compilation via German vinyl only imprint Ironhand Records (run by Cem Şeftalicioğlu and Ercan Demirel)

"Üç Kız Bir Ana" (Three Daughters One Mother) is "a heart-melting song [...] combining traditional saz or Bağlama (Turkish lute) with the electric vibrations of psychedelic guitars, organs, drums and synths." And "although the original source is still partly a mystery, the song is credited to poet Kurbani Kılıç and could refer to a true story in the village of Sarıkamış." It's the tale of a shepherd, "who falls ill and sends his wife and three daughters off to the plateau, where they wait for him to recover and rejoin them, knowing they will most certainly never see him again."

You can stream/buy the digital track here on Bandcamp. Meanwhile, Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek are readying another single as well as an album, due for release later this year and will be touring Europe in spring and summer. Check here for exact dates.

*a project conceived by Demir Kerem Atay, aka Elektro Hafız

Rising South African house music collective Batuk, centered around acclaimed producer/MC Spoek Mathambo and the striking artist/performer/vocalist Manteiga, is one of those acts you need to have on your radar. Their mission is to "connect the African diaspora through rhythm culture and language", which is exactly what they have been doing, ever since they dropped their debut EP "Daniel" at the start of 2016, only to follow-up with their equally vibrant debut longplayer "Musica da Terra" later that year. 

Earlier this year the duo dropped their pumping "Move!" EP, "an ode to the township roots that shaped them" as well as "a charged take on alternately midtempo/kwaito grooves, hi-energy beats and township funk", leading up to their forthcoming sophomore album "Kasi Royalty", to be released via their label Teka Records on May 11th, 2018.

Below you can feast your eyes and ears on the equally infectious music video to title track "Move!", which will having you nodding, stomping, twisting and shaking in no time. Guaranteed!

This one has been a long time coming and by that we mean us featuring the amazing Jupiter & Okwess from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Now in his mid-50s, frontman Jean-Pierre Bokondji, aka Jupiter, has led his group to international acclaim, but arguably remains somewhat of an unsung hero. 

Born in Kinshasa in 1963 (three years after Congo gained its independence from Belgium), Jupiter spent his formative years living in the Tanzanian Dar-es-Salam as well as in East Berlin, where his father was an attaché to the Congolese embassy. Returning to Congo at the age of 17, he "discovered the ultra-dominant Congolese rumba style, but also a multitude of other rhythms and styles that vegetate in the shadows of rumba, all strangely reminiscent of funk, soul and rock" and began to pursue a future in music, much to his father's dismay. And so, Bokondji left his family home and began living on the streets, where he claimed his nickname 'Jupiter'. 

Fast forward to 2017, when Jupiter and his band Okwess (formerly Famous Black, then Bongo Folk), which means 'food' in the Kibunda language, released their versatile sophomore album on Glitterbeat Records, aided by the likes of Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) on keyboard, Warren Ellis (Nick Cave's Bad Seeds) on violin and Massive Attack's Roberto del Naja, aka  '3D', who contributed the album's stunning artwork: "'Kin Sonic' finds its voice in the exploration of a heritage that has remained totally hidden until now, and comes to take its place in a contemporary landscape where walls and borders are exploding in the face of men’s yearning to share moments of beauty and pure madness, all mixed up together."

Last Friday, the group released the brand new music video to their album track "Ekombe", "a furious invitation to dance" (The Guardian), which you can watch below. 

Accompanying the ever so charismatic Jupiter are Montana (of Staff Benda Bilili) on drums and Yendé on bass, guitarists Eric and Richard and the singer Blaise. Click here to stream "Kin Sonic" in full.

Working out of Paris, Les Mains Noires are a versatile, multi-faceted collective of like-minded "music and image lovers" that run their own blog, which serves as a treasure trove for far away sounds.

Digging deeper and deeper into early Caribbean recordings and back from a recent trip to the island of Guadeloupe in the French West Indies, My Old Friend Fred Martin put together a mix of 13 amazing finds (tracklist below), combining "the very best of the 'Bel Biguine* / Dirty Jazz' style".

This brilliant selection can be heard via Mixcloud and is sure cast its spell on you. 

*Biguine is a rhythm-centric style of music that originated in Guadeloupe and Martinique in the 19th century.

Tracklist: "CÔCÔLÔ - Bel-Biguine selected by My Friend Fred Martin"
01° ORCHESTRE COMBO ZOMBI // Mussieu a têt'a poisson la
02° GENTILLE & Orch P.E HALIAR // Bel Biguine
03° FRANK NOEL et son ensemble Lotus Jazz w/ Raphael Zachille // Mam’zelle A Present
04° HENRI DEBS Quartet & PAUL BLAMAR // Côcôlô
05° DOLOR // Assez Mal Palé Moin
06° ELEUTHER // Chaque Fois
07° REMY MONDEY // Faut ou ou trop presse
08° J. CALODA // Femm' a conmece
09° RAPHAEL ZACHILLE // I faut jouer biguine la
10° EMILE VOLEL // Maxel's Compas
11° DOLOR et ses Étoiles // Lé moin té Minê
12° DANIEL FORESTAL // Les Coupeurs de Cannes
13° MAHY & orchestre Mariepin // Aline

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.