African Reggae
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Majek Fashek
Well Majek Fashek among others from Nigeria.
check it http://www.naijajams.com/category/music/nigerian-reggae/
Some other good non-reggae stuff over @ Naijajams
Well Majek Fashek among others from Nigeria.
check it http://www.naijajams.com/category/music/nigerian-reggae/
Some other good non-reggae stuff over @ Naijajams
redcrescent
Well-known member
I would guess that Lucky Dube and Alpha Blondy are/were the two biggest names in African reggae.
IMHO most African roots reggae is not up to scratch with the JA stuff, being mainly inspired by the Marley/Tosh roots rock reggae crossover ting rather than the truly mad soundboard excursions, so it ends up sounding somewhat derivative and lite. There is an African reggae comp on the EMI Hemisphere series but I don't recall there being any truly revealing moments on it -- I might be wrong.
Man like Sufi hyped us to the awesome From the Heart of the Congo a good while back, tho' I don't know if that qualifies as African reggae as it was produced at Lee Perry's Black Ark studio. Get this if you can.
Do check out (Zimbabwe's) Thomas Mapfumo's chimurenga sound, which is definitely reggae-inspired. IIRC his drummer even called himself "Carly Barrett" on some earlier albums (roughly 1978-early 80's), and the man himself strutted about with waist-long dreads ("The Lion of Chimurenga", indeed).
Another thing entirely is dancehall -- look out for a French comp entitled Dis L'Heure 2 Ragga which came out last year and which features several African artists, I rate this quite a bit.
IMHO most African roots reggae is not up to scratch with the JA stuff, being mainly inspired by the Marley/Tosh roots rock reggae crossover ting rather than the truly mad soundboard excursions, so it ends up sounding somewhat derivative and lite. There is an African reggae comp on the EMI Hemisphere series but I don't recall there being any truly revealing moments on it -- I might be wrong.
Man like Sufi hyped us to the awesome From the Heart of the Congo a good while back, tho' I don't know if that qualifies as African reggae as it was produced at Lee Perry's Black Ark studio. Get this if you can.
Do check out (Zimbabwe's) Thomas Mapfumo's chimurenga sound, which is definitely reggae-inspired. IIRC his drummer even called himself "Carly Barrett" on some earlier albums (roughly 1978-early 80's), and the man himself strutted about with waist-long dreads ("The Lion of Chimurenga", indeed).
Another thing entirely is dancehall -- look out for a French comp entitled Dis L'Heure 2 Ragga which came out last year and which features several African artists, I rate this quite a bit.
I'm not going to make generalizations about African reggae as a whole because frankly there is so much of it out there that I haven't heard... I will say that much of the best music coming out of Africa rarely makes its way to the west...
Then there are those compilations that masquerade as authoritative representatives of a genre, when often their misrepresentations are laughable... lately this seems to be the norm rather than the exception.
Example: look at all the popular "African Rap/Hip-Hop" compilations out there. Where are the Nigerians? Are Nigerians not into Hip-Hop/Rap? If you look hard and wide, you'll find only two Nigerian artists... both based in the UK (even though nigeria has a bustling Rap/Hip-hop scene)
Back on topic:
I recommend Majek Fashek's Prisoner of Conscience, Rainmaker & Greatest Hits. I've yet to pick up his latest, "Little Patience." Majek is my favorite "African Reggae" artist.
Re redcrescent:
What criteria are you using to judge/compare the African reggae? In my mind, the various flavors of African Reggae are not merely Africans playing reggae, but reggae-inspired music that is something new & unique... especially when you consider it in its local context & sung in the local dialects/pidgin.
Then there are those compilations that masquerade as authoritative representatives of a genre, when often their misrepresentations are laughable... lately this seems to be the norm rather than the exception.
Example: look at all the popular "African Rap/Hip-Hop" compilations out there. Where are the Nigerians? Are Nigerians not into Hip-Hop/Rap? If you look hard and wide, you'll find only two Nigerian artists... both based in the UK (even though nigeria has a bustling Rap/Hip-hop scene)
Back on topic:
I recommend Majek Fashek's Prisoner of Conscience, Rainmaker & Greatest Hits. I've yet to pick up his latest, "Little Patience." Majek is my favorite "African Reggae" artist.
Re redcrescent:
What criteria are you using to judge/compare the African reggae? In my mind, the various flavors of African Reggae are not merely Africans playing reggae, but reggae-inspired music that is something new & unique... especially when you consider it in its local context & sung in the local dialects/pidgin.
redcrescent
Well-known member
Total agreement with your statement about the best of African music not (often) reaching the West, and about compilations not being a representative selection of anything, ever. That the best stuff goes unrecorded is also a fact of life.
But sadly unless you are able to open your own channels or are right in the middle of things you must make do with what reaches you, while you remain fully aware of the above points. So what is established is that most opinions about what is going on in African music are in most cases fourth-hand, or worse -- including mine, a point I will readily concede and which I express by adding the IMHO prefix to my post. I lived in Africa for 7 years and love a lot of African music, but really I've absolutely no clue at all, seriously.
When I say that IMHO African reggae is not up to scratch with the Jamaican original, I say that because it does not have many of the features I consider to be such a vital part of reggae culture: versioning/dubbing/extended mix soundboard madness, riddims, djing/toasting, 45s/dubplates/soundclashes/dancehall culture, "pull up selecta", etc etc.
I'm sorry to say that reggae without these things is just not it for me, and I will always compare reggae from any other part of the world with the JA original, consciously or unconsciously. I cannot help it.
mms expressly asked for African reggae and dub, another thing entirely is to ask for reggae-inspired African music which would include many many things, from the chimurenga I mentioned to Sonny Okosuns to Touré Kunda to kwaito to jungle made in Africa...
But sadly unless you are able to open your own channels or are right in the middle of things you must make do with what reaches you, while you remain fully aware of the above points. So what is established is that most opinions about what is going on in African music are in most cases fourth-hand, or worse -- including mine, a point I will readily concede and which I express by adding the IMHO prefix to my post. I lived in Africa for 7 years and love a lot of African music, but really I've absolutely no clue at all, seriously.
When I say that IMHO African reggae is not up to scratch with the Jamaican original, I say that because it does not have many of the features I consider to be such a vital part of reggae culture: versioning/dubbing/extended mix soundboard madness, riddims, djing/toasting, 45s/dubplates/soundclashes/dancehall culture, "pull up selecta", etc etc.
I'm sorry to say that reggae without these things is just not it for me, and I will always compare reggae from any other part of the world with the JA original, consciously or unconsciously. I cannot help it.
mms expressly asked for African reggae and dub, another thing entirely is to ask for reggae-inspired African music which would include many many things, from the chimurenga I mentioned to Sonny Okosuns to Touré Kunda to kwaito to jungle made in Africa...
sufi
lala
cheers for the bigup redcrescent! 
nice to see you, specially this time of year!
i was holding off from posting on this interesting thread til some more knowledgeable folks had posted, because i don't really hardly know anything about african reggae, despite having a fair few 'channels' & time over there.
I'm sure i've seen bands live over there, & there always seem to be token rastas about in the towns, there's a fair bit of rasta/sufistic or rasta/orthodox crossover in some places too. to speculate; i guess that there's no need to produce reggae when there's plenty coming to africa from jamaica & plenty of homegrown sounds to be produced & in the end, as you mentioned redc, there's just no reggae to rival jamaican reggae. does Hiphop seem to make more sense transplanted, mebbie becos lyric plays a bigger role? i dunno.
...a lot of that dakar type sound really reminds me of reggae tho, geographically closist spot in Africa & some stylistic affinities (baggy Shabba suits) not reggae rhythms exactly but so reminiscent
something like: Etoile 2000 - Boubou N'gary
i'd definitely echo that a good deal of fine african music never reaches Yurp/US,
nice to see you, specially this time of year!i was holding off from posting on this interesting thread til some more knowledgeable folks had posted, because i don't really hardly know anything about african reggae, despite having a fair few 'channels' & time over there.
I'm sure i've seen bands live over there, & there always seem to be token rastas about in the towns, there's a fair bit of rasta/sufistic or rasta/orthodox crossover in some places too. to speculate; i guess that there's no need to produce reggae when there's plenty coming to africa from jamaica & plenty of homegrown sounds to be produced & in the end, as you mentioned redc, there's just no reggae to rival jamaican reggae. does Hiphop seem to make more sense transplanted, mebbie becos lyric plays a bigger role? i dunno.
...a lot of that dakar type sound really reminds me of reggae tho, geographically closist spot in Africa & some stylistic affinities (baggy Shabba suits) not reggae rhythms exactly but so reminiscent
something like: Etoile 2000 - Boubou N'gary
i'd definitely echo that a good deal of fine african music never reaches Yurp/US,
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thanks for the link to naijajams, that's a great site.
does anyone have any other links for african related music blogs? when i was living in morocco my friends had several mix tapes that magic system had put together; i loved their sound, though not reggae at all. their mix tapes had an interesting mix of artists with some reggae sounds, some more reggaeton stuff too, a really interesting bunch of sounds.
anyway, trying to get more up on african artists that aren't trying to work the traditionalist tip(i love a lot of the traditional sounds too but have plenty of that).
does anyone have any other links for african related music blogs? when i was living in morocco my friends had several mix tapes that magic system had put together; i loved their sound, though not reggae at all. their mix tapes had an interesting mix of artists with some reggae sounds, some more reggaeton stuff too, a really interesting bunch of sounds.
anyway, trying to get more up on african artists that aren't trying to work the traditionalist tip(i love a lot of the traditional sounds too but have plenty of that).
redcrescent
Well-known member
Alright Sufi! You're the man to ask about this type of thing anyway. In response to head's question about African music blogs I will, if I may, pass on another one of your recommendations, the great Ben Loxo du Taccù blog. Truly great stuff, ear and mind opening every time, as well as being written with knowledge and a great love for the subject.
About hiphop being hotter currency than reggae these days: I suppose what's on the airwaves is really what inspires imitation, not any suitability for carrying lyrics. So 50Cent rules supreme I would wager.
Etoile 2000, what is the relation to (Super) Etoile de Dakar again? I got a bunch of SED albums a while back (compilation series that goes to vol. 9, I forget the label. Sterns I guess?) and was reminded of the awesome vocal talent to have fronted that group, Youssou N'Dour of course but also El Hadji Faye are fantastic singers.
Senegal seems to have more than its fair share of top flight vocalists: the Touré Kunda brothers, Baaba Maal, Soulimane Faye, Mansour Seck, El Hadji N'Daye... I'm sure to be forgetting others of equal or even greater merit. Interesting also the sufi tradition of the Moride (sp?) praise singers (Cheikh Lô, Mme. Coumba Gawlo...).
I have always thought many Senegalese singers, firmly rooted in the griot tradition, have something of a muezzin's delivery and tone about them, that incredible phrasing and microtonal control that great khyal and qawwali, even some flamenco singers have. It completely floors me every time.
On the hip hop tip, Senegal also has two of West Africa's most known groups, Pee Froiss and Positive Black Soul, both of which (esp. PBS) I have had the great pleasure of seeing deliver absolutely spellbinding performances.
Ah, Magic System. ANother great group with a stage show that has to be seen to be believed - for some reason they play in Austria of all places every year or so. Mapouka madness, wonderful. Apart from their stuff the only thing I've ever heard compilation-wise by them was something with an awful title like Magic System presents African dancefloor or something similar -- but great selection IIRC. Any more like this?
About hiphop being hotter currency than reggae these days: I suppose what's on the airwaves is really what inspires imitation, not any suitability for carrying lyrics. So 50Cent rules supreme I would wager.
Etoile 2000, what is the relation to (Super) Etoile de Dakar again? I got a bunch of SED albums a while back (compilation series that goes to vol. 9, I forget the label. Sterns I guess?) and was reminded of the awesome vocal talent to have fronted that group, Youssou N'Dour of course but also El Hadji Faye are fantastic singers.
Senegal seems to have more than its fair share of top flight vocalists: the Touré Kunda brothers, Baaba Maal, Soulimane Faye, Mansour Seck, El Hadji N'Daye... I'm sure to be forgetting others of equal or even greater merit. Interesting also the sufi tradition of the Moride (sp?) praise singers (Cheikh Lô, Mme. Coumba Gawlo...).
I have always thought many Senegalese singers, firmly rooted in the griot tradition, have something of a muezzin's delivery and tone about them, that incredible phrasing and microtonal control that great khyal and qawwali, even some flamenco singers have. It completely floors me every time.
On the hip hop tip, Senegal also has two of West Africa's most known groups, Pee Froiss and Positive Black Soul, both of which (esp. PBS) I have had the great pleasure of seeing deliver absolutely spellbinding performances.
Ah, Magic System. ANother great group with a stage show that has to be seen to be believed - for some reason they play in Austria of all places every year or so. Mapouka madness, wonderful. Apart from their stuff the only thing I've ever heard compilation-wise by them was something with an awful title like Magic System presents African dancefloor or something similar -- but great selection IIRC. Any more like this?
redcrescent said:
yeah, i think i remember one of the mixtapes having that title, it was funny - they bein a french-speakin group as far as euro languages there was always that translation barrier. one of my friends stateside has a copy of that mix that i'm trying to get a hold of to rip to mp3; i would love to get my hands on more, i wish i'd been able to while i had the chance, but i didnt' have the tech to do so while i was over there.
redcrescent
Well-known member
I was really hoping no one would mention this...nonseq said:
redcrescent
Well-known member
No offense meant, nonseq, but that song is a paean to trustafarianism (including a reference to FGM that is blankly racist in my mind), and, in all humility, the less said about NH the better. Apologies, and please let's drop it.
redcrescent
Well-known member
Good you asked.
The lyrics, which are all about smoking dope and emulating your Black Rastafarian friends by going to Africa* and doing what they do, end with her saying (excuse the bad translation):
"But what should I, as a woman [...] be doing in Africa, where Black man castrates Black woman, ouch, ouch."
While it is laudable to bring subjects like FGM to public notice, the above provides a very misleading picture and is, in my mind, deeply racist.
Here is a map showing the prevalence of FGM in Africa, and it does not by any means include the whole continent. It is also practiced in other parts of the world, including the Middle East, Asia and Europe.
It is certainly not simply "castration", and one of the most distressing things about it (for me) is its propagation from mother to daughter.
*As an aside, I always thought of the Rasta/Garveyite idea of shipping Black people "back to Africa" as being remarkably similar to the racist agenda of the European far right, starting with the Austrians, who are at the forefront of such things with disturbing regularity.
Female Genital Mutilation.Pearsall said:
The lyrics, which are all about smoking dope and emulating your Black Rastafarian friends by going to Africa* and doing what they do, end with her saying (excuse the bad translation):
"But what should I, as a woman [...] be doing in Africa, where Black man castrates Black woman, ouch, ouch."
While it is laudable to bring subjects like FGM to public notice, the above provides a very misleading picture and is, in my mind, deeply racist.
Here is a map showing the prevalence of FGM in Africa, and it does not by any means include the whole continent. It is also practiced in other parts of the world, including the Middle East, Asia and Europe.
It is certainly not simply "castration", and one of the most distressing things about it (for me) is its propagation from mother to daughter.
*As an aside, I always thought of the Rasta/Garveyite idea of shipping Black people "back to Africa" as being remarkably similar to the racist agenda of the European far right, starting with the Austrians, who are at the forefront of such things with disturbing regularity.
redcrescent said:
All right - no problem, but I have to explain my interpretation of this song so I look a little less stupid to forum readers
Of course my reading of the song is different - if I would've agreed with you I would've hated and boycotted it too. I think it's difficult to reach any conclusions as to what part of the lyrics is pure irony and what is ironic yet betraying actual beliefs. I've always assumed that it's a mockery of the skindeep cultural consumer exoticism of certain fans of reggae/Africa, and also a punkish trangression of political correctness, plus the typical Hagen operatic crazyness. It's also a great song.