NGOMA 3: Zulu House / Afro Electro / UK Funky

the original plan was for 3 to be dub grime apocalypse, and 4 an uplifting and soulful holiday in the tropics. but due to both the popularity of 2, and the challenge from dj Doom, I've decided to continue with the afro-centric 4/4 boom for this volume.

while staying in the same territory as 2, the journey is not the same, and many things make this one unique: the psychedelic motorik genius of Dj Clock's "Durban Guitar"; the monolithic, earth shaking visions of Black Coffee; DJ Sdoko's ominous Kraftwerkian phuture; Manya's soul stirring take on traditonal Angolan melodies; a surprisingly wicked banger from the Dutch DJ Bigga (UK is not the only place currently Afro minded), and ending with Sami vocal style from Mari Boine, reinterpreting the sound of indigenous Norway*. most of the selection are not well known or commonly used tracks in the "scene", with only one exception: just could not stay away from the Yellowtail (but check how it is used before you complain).

concerning the anti-apartheid and war samples used through out the mix: the struggle for freedom from colonialism is the context which gave rise to contemporary South African music: Kwaito was born amidst antagonism and bloodshed, and has led to the current house music scene. thus songs such as "100 Zulu Warriors" and the radio broadcast at the end should not be taken as an incitement of racial conflict (especially in light of last year's wave of horrible xenophobia) but as a reminder of the political realities of the Apartheid era from which this music comes.

*you might think it strange to include a traditional song from northern Europe on an Afrocentric project, but 1. thematically it fits the recording as the vocalist has for decades fought for equal rights of her people, who have long been the subject of discrimination, like South Africans, in their homeland; and 2. Henrich Schwartz who made the remix is a producer certainly with a lot of Africa on his mind.

as you enjoy this i will be back onto the original course: stay tuned for dub terrorism and caribbean love.

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DIRECT LISTEN AND SINGLE TRACK DOWNLOAD:

official

SEPARATE TRACKS DOWNLOAD:

rapidshare or megaupload
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FUSION 1: afro-asian dubstep
FUSION 2: ancient futurist illbient psych dub
NGOMA 1: global hiphop and dancehall
NGOMA 2: afro techno, london house
NGOMA 3: Zulu House, Afro-Electro, UK Funky
NGOMA 4: generation bass
NGOMA 5: nomad boogie
NGOMA 6: ukulwa

scarboi said:

keep these coming Zhao.

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no worries. sure as the sun will rise in the east come morning... and the flowers will bloom come spring

soundslike1981 said:

something that would exist in my dreams if it didn't exist in the world. I'm so glad to discover it does, though!

I feel at this point that my musical awareness has now filled in a lot of territory around this music, but really around electronic dance-oriented music post-1980s, the central nexus of Dissensian' love really--but it's like this great Undiscovered Country in the middle of the map. I know there's immense amounts of music I will absolutely love, I mean I can feel it, I can imagine it, I know what lead to it, some tastes of things that lead from it--I've known it for years. But the whole thing just feel so immense, I honestly sort of fear disappearing in it--which is exciting, but also daunting, and financially a little difficult right now. . .

Dunno quite how that's relevant except to say that I know this mix will be a catalyst in my facing the fact that I've just got to find a way to dive in instead of continually dipping my feet in the water. . .

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thanks for your thoughtful comment; think i know exactly what you mean.

i only really got into both modern and traditional African music about... 3 years ago. and prior to that, intuitively, subconsciously, i could feel the pull of the "dark continent"; i could sense, if not articulate or even consciously realize, the deep and sometimes buried African roots in all rhythmic music which i loved. yet i was partly afraid, partly prejudiced, and partly distracted by a shallow Americanized and Eurocentric vision of music and the world. i had premonitions of an intense future relationship with this hydra headed colossal musical body which now i realize spawned all beats, is essence of rhythm itself, is the great grand mother of almost all musical bodies.

people, many on Dissensus, continue to take issue with and make fun of my admittedly heavy lean toward afro-centrism (of which music is only a part, did you see this thread?), "yeah right, it all came from Africa. haha what a bunch of bollocks". (hidden somewhere in this dismissal is "from people that live in mud huts!?")

this reaction is of course to be expected - because on top of our impressively short memory span, we live in cultures so blinded by indoctrination (much of it racist), so buried in a convoluted sense of history, alienated sense of identity, all kinds of false notions, and last but not least: immense conceit, that it will take a very long time for any semblance of a truthful image of human history and origins to emerge.

im under no illusion that this truthful image is in any significant way within my grasp; years from now i will surely realize how little i know today. but i am convinced, and believe, that i am heading in the right direction.

and what we are seeing now, is that African musical heritage is not only some abstract origin in the distant past, but a concrete, urgent, awesome and "in-your-face" force today. a force, in my opinion, which will both fuel and guide the evolution of future dance music.

by the way, Soundslike, the last volume, 2, was in roughly the same style as this one, but did not elicit such a reaction from you (in fact no comments at all). just curious what about this one that is so special to you?

soundslike1981 said:

Shame about that 'R' fellow in the comments of your "gripes" thread--hard to figure someone like that who's clearly pretty proud of their hardline stance, but still feels the need to pretend he's taken no such stance when it's pointed out to him. Like, if you're going to be that arrogant, at least own your convictions. I feel kind of bad for the guy, honestly--almost made a Yngwie Malmstein joke for his benefit, but held back ; )

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what is really sad is that he is certainly not the only educated and intelligent musician who hold views and beliefs like that. my girlfriend's sister is a concert cellist, and she and her husband both absolutely think dance music is not only entirely worthless and stupid, but symptomatic of everything which is wrong in society. and these are otherwise very nice people who care about the environment, pro-obama, anti-religious fundamentalism, etc.

it just boggles the mind...

oh and i had to google this guy. child prodigy, first band at age 10, hundredth of thousands of practicing hours, virtuosity beyond the limits of human imagination!!!

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HMGovt said:

Hear Yngwie famously unleashing his fury on another passenger, during a flight to Tokyo

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=8100

Ngoma 2 was excellent, so I'm looking forward to 3.

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just listened to this now ah hahahaha! UNLEASH THE FUCKING FURY!!!

files re-indexed with song titles countries of origin and re-upped innit.