Afrobeat 221 Items

If Cannibale's members brought their breakfast back up when talking about 'Not Easy To Cook', their listeners would be surprised. There's a world of difference between the beginning of Cannibale's success story and this second album. The most surprising thing about 'Not Easy To Cook' is the sultriness that emerges. It's hard to sum it up other than by comparing these 10 songs with some pressure cooker in which bits of dancehall, London ska and Hawaiian dub would have cooked together. Here's the small miracle achieved by this LP recorded by the band in its remote French village: sounding French, but Polynesian French. A very psychedelic mixture of cumbia, African rhythms and garage music. Or, if you will, a kind of missing link between Fela Kuti, The Doors and The Seeds!

Limited edition 45 vinyl black (500 copies worldwide)!
Only one copy per customer!
Calibro 35's new single "Psycheground" flipped by the unreleased “Polymeri (Afro-Utopia Version”) on limited edition 45 vinyl.
“Psycheground” is the new single from the Italian cinematic funk cult combo Calibro 35 available on a super limited 45 vinyl and digital download on May 04. Taken from their heavily acclaimed new album “Decade”, “Psycheground” is an afro-funk stormer that sounds like Tony Allen involved in writing a score for a vintage Hollywood production. The new single is flipped by an alternative and hypnotic afro/tropical version of “Polymeri”. Don't sleep on it, all Calibro 35's previous 45s went sold out in a few days.
Calibro 35 enjoys a worldwide reputation as one of the coolest independent band around. They have been sampled by Dr. Dre on his Compton album, Jay-Z Love Child & Damon Albarn, they shared stages with the likes of Roy Ayers, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sharon Jones, Thundercat, Headhunters and as unique musicians they've collaborated with, amongst others PJ Harvey, Mike Patton, John Parish and Stewart Copeland and Nic Cester (The Jet). Described by Rolling Stone magazine's as the most fascinating, retro-maniac and genuine thing, that happened to Italy in the last years, Calibro 35 now count on a number of aficionados worldwide which includes VIP's fans such as Dj Food (Ninja Tune), Mr Scruff and Huey Morgan (Fun Lovin' Criminals) among others.

The Blues Don’t Lie is the amazing new album from Buddy Guy, and is the legend’s 34th studio album, and the follow up to 2018’s Grammy winning album The Blues Is Alive and Well. Produced by songwriter/drummer Tom Hambridge, The Blues Don’t Lie features guests including Mavis Staples, Elvis Costello, James Taylor, Jason Isbell, and more.

The album will be released exactly 65 years to the day that Buddy Guy arrive in Chicago on a train from Baton Rouge, Louisiana in September of 1957, with just the clothes on his back an his guitar. His life would never be the same, and he was born again in the blues. The Blues Don’t Lie tells the story of his lifelong journey.

Reflecting on this body of work, Buddy says “I promised them all: B.B., Muddy, Sonny Boy as long as I’m alive I’m going to keep the blues alive.” He has indeed proven that again, and proclaims, “I can’t wait for world to hear my new album cause The Blues Don’t Lie.”

Recalling Ennio Morricone spaghetti westerns, the electrified belly dance music of Omar Khorshid, and '90s bedroom psychedelia at once, the music of Branko Mataja is from its own epoch. Snatched from the streets of Belgrade as a teenager,Mataja spent World War 2 in a German work camp, escaping the insanity of postwar Europe to settle in North Hollywoodto live out the American Dream to its fullest. Crafting handmade music on homemade guitars throughout the 1970s,Mataja taught himself to play in order to pay homage to his ancestral home of Yugoslavia, a place he would never returnto except through these guitar meditations.

Hailing from Minneapolis, MN, Black Market Brass is a 10-piece group performing their own brand of originally composed Afrobeat/Afrofunk music, as well as completing authentic renditions of the classic 1970's West African sound. Taking their cues from the godfathers, the band draws on complex polyrhythmic percussion, driving bass lines, dizzying guitar interplay, rolling keyboards, and room-commanding brass. The result? An eclectic blend of cool deep funk and driving Afrobeat grooves that will lure you to the dance floor and never let you leave.

"War Room" and "The Thick" represent the group's continuing evolving sound. Tracked with Leroi Conroy at Colemine Records HQ in Loveland, OH, these tunes simply burn!

Based in Bamako for sixteen years, Philippe Sanmiguel has been the producer of albums by the famous Malian bluesman Samba Touré since his international debut. Over the years, Philippe has expanded his work with other artists such as the legendary Tuareg band Tartit, Anansy Cissé, Mariam Koné or Djimé Sissoko among others.

While working on the albums of these artists, he often had the inspiration to add influences from his original rock culture but in small measures. That's how Black Mango was born, to gather his favorite musical collaborators around his own compositions and expand the vision. It started with an EP released on Glitterbeat Records in 2014 from which the idea for a full-length album was born.

Black Mango's Quicksand album was recorded in Bamako over a period of several years, in various recording sessions, giving each musician free range to play on a rhythmic and melodic basis prepared in advance. The alchemy was immediate in all cases, often from the first takes.

Philippe originally met producer and musician Hugo Race with Chris Eckman during their stay in Bamako for the recording sessions of Dirtmusic's Troubles & Lion City albums. Hugo loved the raw feeling of the tracks and offered to remix the album in his Melbourne studio, bringing his own unique touch.

The fruit is ripe!

Recorded at Akan Studio & Funhouse Studio in Bamako, Mali by Konan Kouassi & Philippe Sanmiguel Produced, mixed and mastered by Hugo Race at Helixed Studio

A few words about the main " stars " :

- Samba Touré is Samba Touré. - Anansy Cissé is a young songhoy artist for whom Sanmiguel has produced two albums, including the recent and acclaimed "Anoura". - Mariam Koné is one of the most beautiful voices of Mali, who has a self-produced album and teaches music at the conservatory of Bamako. - Singer Bocar Sana Coulibaly & Ali Traoré are singer and guitarist from Niafunké, nephews of the great Ali Farka Touré and have a band called Espoirs de Niafunké.

In 2019, whilst touring Japan, Barrio Lindo found himself moving away from the dance floor, instead getting lost in his headphones while listening to music that dismissed genre, oscillating between jazz, chamber orchestras and electronica. As a producer at the forefront of Latin America’s folktronica scene over the last 10 years, Agustín Rivaldo, to give Barrio Lindo his given name, has proven himself more than adept at crafting soundscapes that can transport listeners, full of detail and nuance, but they always had to pander to the club and its duty to keep revellers energised. The epiphany in Japan necessitated a change in direction, to make music that people could get lost in,and which also meant he could revert to his younger self, that guy in his twenties playing guitar with his friends, just for fun. So he booked a studio on the outskirts of Buenos Aires in early 2020 and invited some friends over; the idea was simple, let’s play some music and see where it takes us.
Espuma de Mar is the result, those initial sessions refined over the intervening years, new collaborators brought in where necessary, the production crafted in the same manner as his previous electronic-focused output, but the feel here, the ambience, is completely different. Like the espuma de mar, the sea foam that gives the album its name, this music has a fleeting quality, it arrives, imperfectly, and never stops transforming; it replenishes, it diminishes, it breathes.

The biggest difference between this album and Rivaldo’s previous works is the increased tension, and the sense of space; whereas beats and sequencers, as per their design, propel constant rhythm, here every note has intent, only played if necessary to the composition. This is felt on “Llegada”, a minimal groove soothed by kalimba thumb piano and fidgety synths while layers of trumpet take the lead until a surprisingly sombre piano motif brings the song to a close. The title track has a similar feel, whereby the music sounds improvised, each instrument free to roam, yet each note hits you in the stomach; here, we get an ominous opener, spare notes of trumpet, charango, snare drum and heavily-reverbed piano taking their turn until a rhythm begins to develop, albeit a rhythm that refuses to retain its form, flutes, synths, bass and detached vocals all playing their part as the song refuses to stand still.
Rivaldo has stated that it was the sounds of German-Senegalese group Mark Ernestus' Ndagga Rhythm Force and the UK-based project Hidden Orchestra that had the biggest impact on the album’s sound, and it is certainly possible to see the affect of the latter in the mixture of field recordings and percussive symphonic jazz. For this record, Rivaldo has worked with a small ensemble of Nicolás Lapíne on trumpet, Ignus and drums and Federico Estévez on percussion, as well as invitees such as flautist Mariana Iturri and violinist Alex Musatov. With Rivaldo himself adding guitar, synth, bass and piano, the effect is of a modern chamber orchestra and the drama that can bring. Opening track “Seguí” is a great example with its crashing piano chords and pulsating violin, and there’s no denying the euphoria of a track like “Oasis”, whose woozy trumpets can’t help but recall prime Beirut.
But there’s a reason Rivaldo is thought of so highly within the folktronica scene, and it’s for his attention to detail. No two tracks on the album are the same, it goes from the percussion-heavy “Migrante”, whose breakbeat and jerky synths show a love for hip-hop and 80s funk, to a beguiling track like “Azufre” that has a vaguely-Caribbean cadence until a tenor sax solo from Camila Nebbia takes it into more overtly-jazz territory. Then there’s a track like “Periferia” whose use of close- mic’d percussion makes it feel like the speaker is literally shaking with rhythm, alongside “Tac Tac Tac” that is full of warm, reverberant bass notes, albeit offset by hand claps and the only-discernible vocal on the album. With this in mind, it should be no surprise that Rivaldo is also a luthier, using some of the instruments he’s created on the album; there is a meticulous mind at work. Espuma de Mar is that rare beast, an example of an artist reinventing themselves, yet somehow sounding completely like they’ve always sounded. As Bandcamp once said in a feature on Barrio Lindo, his music is “carefully composed, revealing an underlying sense of wonder and joy”, and this continues on his latest, an album that is destined to provide someone else with an epiphany as they get lost in the music on their headphones, whether that be in Japan or elsewhere.

Sublime Frequencies is honored to release the third LP from Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band. Sonbonbela was recorded in the beginning of 2022 in the Republic of Burkina Faso. The group continue to hone their trademark fusion of Mandingue and afro-beat styles. The Mandingo Band are a hit machine, sculpting seven new tracks of near Beefheart/Magic Band dynamics, Fela inspired groovers dusted out in the Sahel zone, rather than the humidity and sweat of Lagos, creating one of the most original and propulsive musical statements to come from the contemporary West African cultural juggernaut. As with previous releases, the band features the legendary guitar pyrotechnics of Issouf Diabate, truly one of the greatest West African (or Earth for that matter) guitarists of the last forty years. The band is completed by a near bottomless barrel of artistry from the Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso musical talent pool. On bass guitar, Wendeyida Ouedraogo, on drums Abbas Kabore, and on percussion and balafon, Nickie Dembele. Leading the charge again is the captain himself, Mamadou Sanou on the Doso Ngoni featuring one of the most distinctive voices of the modern era. The opposite of the banal trends of auto-tune that have pervaded most of West African popular music, Baba’s voice still impresses with its gravel and grit, showcasing a range that is ancient and defiant in equal measure. This LP is a non-stop hit parade of afro-beat bangers destined to light dance floors and living rooms ablaze!!! This album is dedicated to the memory of Massimbo Taragna, the bass player extraordinaire who was an integral part of the Mandingo Band’s trance stun musical power. He passed away in early 2022. RIP

- Backed by Hailu Mergia - Legendary singer/instrumentalist at her mid-1970s prime -
Double LP carefully extracted from cassette and remastered by ATFA family engineer
Jessica Thompson There is perhaps no woman more cherished in modern Ethiopian
history than Asnakech Worku. As a musician, actress, dancer and cultural icon, Asnakech
inspired and challenged society for decades, until her death in 2011. From her beginnings
as Ethiopia's first theater actress in 1952 to her climb to become one of the most famous
actresses at the National Theater to her days as a club owner-turned-master musician,
Asnakech's inimitable confidence and charm made her a household name. She earned
endless accolades across the artistic spectrum. She made seminal recordings of
unforgettable original compositions, as well as legendary renditions of traditional songs,
that became national staples. With a singular sense of style, glamour and sex appeal that
sometimes stunned mainstream society, Asnakech wore clothes no one else wore and
said things no one else said. Staid notions of how women should dress and behave didn't
apply to her. Battling a mentality that until the early 1950s had men wearing dresses to
play female roles in the theater, Asnakech became a national treasure on her own terms.
Her family wasn't pleased with Asnakech becoming an azmari_an itinerant praise
musician who sings, often in bars, for tips_and didn't bother her, especially after Emperor
Haile Selassie I began to emphasize theater and music in society, officially legitimizing her
career. Asnakech became an internationally-celebrated performer of Ethiopia's ancient
harp, the krar, making her one of the most visible female musicians of the 20th century.
All this while leaving controversy, broken hearts and a changed cultural landscape in her
wake. In 1975, keyboardist and bandleader Hailu Mergia got a call from the owner of
Misratch Music Shop to do a recording with Asnakech and he went for it. This recording
is a nearly-forgotten artifact of the remarkable icon's singular legacy, remastered and
available outside Ethiopia for the first time. It also provides a rare glimpse into Mergia's
work as a arranger-sideman in the Addis Ababa music scene. This trio recording
featuring Mergia on organ and Temare Harege on drums using only brushes is starkly
minimal but deeply evocative. The minimalist arrangements ensure the focus is on
Asnakech's incisive_and occasionally romantic_lyrics and her virtuosic krar performance.

Born on November 25, 1912, Asmahan, whose real name was Amal al-Atrash, was a Syrian singer and actress of the first half of the 20th century. Modern and free, she was the sister of Farid al-Atrash; and perhaps the only singer able to compete with the famous Oum Kalsoum. Her private and public life is worthy of a Hollywood movie and was particularly eventful during the Second World War, where she played spy for Germany, France and Great Britain. She died in 1944, at the age of 32, in a mysterious car accident, leaving only a few recordings. This record features her most popular titles, to be rediscovered by the music enthusiasts of today.

Arp Frique returns to the scene with a new album after a string of releases, leaving the cratediggers and dancefloor tastemakers with underground classics like Nos Magia, Voyage and Nyame Ye. On ''Analog People Digital World' he embraces the digital coldness of Yamaha’s classic DX7 synthesizer to create a refreshing listening experience using only the FM synthesis-based sounds from this machine to find new heat for an analog world, reflecting on the digital revolution we are living through. The album features Ghanaian songstress Mariseya (Omampam, Jah Kingdom, Digital World, Roi Salomon), Cape Verdean OG Americo Brito (Go Now Wetiko) and Surinam funkstar Sumy, who joins the record on the opening track “Spiritual Masseuse”. Arp Frique closes the album with “Duncan Truffle”, a very intense and wobbling instrumental echoing Bootsy and Bernie Worrell on a solo exercise. Expect an analog-digital exploration of lofi funk, highlife, zouk and reggae. Does that DX7 sound hot or cold to you?

The unstoppable, irresistible rhythms and melodies of Antibalas have influenced scores of artists across rock, hip hop, afrobeat and beyond. Born in a Brooklyn warehouse in 1997, 12 piece ensemble Antibalas is credited with introducing Afrobeat to a wider global audience, influencing countless musicians and developing a live show that is the stuff of legend. Members of Antibalas served as musical directors and the house band in the Broadway hit Fela! and penned original music for the show. Members have also recently collaborated/performed with Iron and Wine, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Mark Ronson, TV on the Radio and The Roots. On the heels of the hit musical Fela!, Antibalas ended up reuniting with former member and producer Gabriel Roth, who was at the helm for their first three albums. This self-titled album was their first on Daptone Records.

Alpacas Collective (BE) takes you on a trip from Lagos to Addis Ababa, from Augusta, Georgia to New Orleans, and from Delhi to sci-fi worlds, bringing it all back home in a unique set of original songs featured on its debut album Seven Wisdoms of Plutonia (coming October 2022).

'Seven Wisdoms of Plutonia' is recorded during the lockdowns, in a process of swapping demos over the internet and one by one recording in the studio. Studio magic is conjured up with the creative contributions of friends performing their signature tricks.

We would like to thank Juha Sarkkola (guitar), Miki Mac (vocals), Katia Verheyen (flute), Micky Peeters (keys), Joël van Roode (sitar), Jasper Vandevorst (vibraphone) and Geert Claes (trumpet) for their creative contributions to the music.

Limited five vinyl LP set. Waziri hails from a small part of Edo State in southern Nigeria called Afemailand, known for being a harmonious region where Muslims and Christians live-and dance-together. And there, as a devout Muslim and an exemplar of religious piety in his community, Waziri's music fuses Etsako/Afemai folk styles with pan-Nigerian highlife and pop to create a sublime vehicle for his Islamic philosophy that gets everyone-Muslims, Christians, whoever-on the dancefloor. This 5 LP set, VOL. 1-5 (1978-1984), focuses on Waziri's illustrious mid-career output-the music he created during the years leading up to and after he made his first hajj. Every song here (some of which you might recognize from The Muslim Highlife) strikes his signature balance of traditional music, highlife, and funk, as he entreats you to stay on the straight and narrow, though there's nothing straight about his beat. Included in the box set is a copy of The Journey So Far, a limited-edition book written and designed by his children, to celebrate Waziri's remarkable life and career.

Limited Edition for Record Store Day 2022.

Lost recordings that defined the modern sound of the Sahara.

This album contains the first recordings of modern music from the Sahara and mark the birth of the genre that is known in the West as ‘Desert Blues’ or ‘Desert Rock’. Ahl Nana changed the folk music of the Sahara to modern, cosmopolitan music by using Western instruments like the electric guitar. They paved the way for artists like Ali Farka Touré, Tinariwen, Mdou Moctar or Bombino. Although the group is still active today, they only recorded 2 LPs and a handful of singles. All these recordings took place in 1971 at the Boussiphone studios in Casablanca. The records were never distributed and therefore remained unknown for almost 50 years, until Radio Martiko discovered a batch of unsold factory stock a few years ago. On this album, you will find a selection of these revolutionary recordings.

Continuing our work on Sao Tomé and Principe with curator DJ Tom B., we are pleased to announce the release of an anthology of the group África Negra.

This first volume includes 12 of their key tracks, remastered for the occasion and selected only from those officially released on different media. The album is accompanied by a booklet with the original covers and interviews with the band members still with us. A second volume containing only unreleased material, digitized from the studio tapes by their tour manager, and filled with period photos, is expected soon.

Formed in the early 1970s by Horacio, a butcher by trade, and his guitarist friend Emidio Pontes, África Negra is the best known of the great São Tomé and Principe bands. The catchy melodies in the local Forro language, provided by lead singer João Seria, and subtly harmonized by the enchanting backing vocals of the rest of the band, quickly ensured their influence outside the archipelago. Their incomparable blend of Puxa and Rumba rhythms and subtle melodies made them the most regular touring band from Sao Tome.

Their first album (Aninha) was released in 1981, followed by three more in 1983. They contain an incredible collection of timeless hits and have achieved high ratings on the second-hand market. Then came the excellent San Lena in 1986, which was unfortunately only released on cassette, but for which we were able to digitize the original tape. In 1990 their last album in vinyl format (Paga me uma cerveja) was released, the rarest. Three CDs and five cassettes followed in the 1990s. Like most São Tomean bands, they recorded their compositions at Radio Nacional STP, the only studio on the island at the time, whose cramped premises forced the big bands to do sessions outside in the courtyard, at night, facing the ocean and in front of their fans.

Reformed around João Seria, the band has recorded three albums since 2012, and has been touring again for a few years, offering, always with the same energy, their frenzied rhythms, their graceful harmonies, their poetry full of social metaphors, and their typical dance steps.