Last week the mighty King Ayisoba was in the UK for a short tour to promote his new Adrian Sherwood produced album "Pure Confusion".
On Thursday I went over to the air-conditioned Cafe Oto in London's fashionable Dalston together with some local hipsters and some ex-pat Ghanaians to take in the show. A great time was had by all.
The King barked and crooned to his heart's content while plucking away furiously at his kologo (a traditional Ghanaian two-stringed instrument that produces a sound reminiscent of a banjo), pausing regularly to ask us whether we were happy. We were.
The King was accompanied by three percussionistas bashing and shaking assorted drums and gourds. Together with the King and his kologo they rattled along in a manner that was hard to resist (not that I really tried to resist to be honest).
The band included Ayuune Sule who is a very talented singer and kologo player in his own right as he proved by doubling up as the support act. It would have been worth going for his set alone.
Our mini-set consists of the opening track from the King's new album, a track from "Work Hard" (2023) which features Ayuune Sule, then finally something from the latter's own "Putoo Katare Yire" album (2021) which was a real crowd pleaser last Thursday.
One of the King's guests on "Pure Confusion" is Ghanaian reggae titan and three time Grammy nominee Rocky Dawuni. After I posted a couple of photos from the gig up on Instagram last week whoever manages his social media put four flame emojis in the comments. Normally I would ignore such a flagrant attempt to ingratiate themselves but MAR rules apply. So here's Mr Dawuni for you.
Pun Fun returns for a quick outing before the summer holiday season starts (although the holiday weather has arrived early, at least for those of us in Europe).
I thought about picking the World Cup as a topical theme but I suspect there is too much of that happening already for some folks. So instead I have chosen a theme that is even more global:
CAPITAL CITIES
We will accept entries using the capital cities of any of the countries, territories, dependencies, non-sovereign states and even entities whose sovereignty is disputed that appear on this list.
As it says in the introduction "the capitals included on this list are those associated with states or territories listed by the international standard ISO 3166-1", so if you have any quibbles please take them up directly with the International Organization for Standardization (contact details here).
To avoid upsetting our many Scottish readers we will follow the example of FIFA and treat the four constituent parts of the United Kingdom as separate countries. We also endorse FIFA's recommendation that you take regular hydration breaks while punning to reduce the risk of your brain cells overheating. Unlike FIFA we don't take bribes (although you are welcome to try).
Entries are to be sent to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk by Sunday 5 July. Voting opens next Monday.
Good luck everyone. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can come up with for Bandar Seri Begawan, Yamoussoukro, Ngerulmud or any one of the three Georgetowns (all named after the twice winner and patron saint of puns I believe).
Some songs about melting. I can't think where I got the idea from. In fact I can't really think at all until it cools down a bit, hence this brief introduction.
After a bit of a hiatus caused by real travel we are resuming our virtual tour of the Americas. We are onto the final stretch, with just four more countries to go after this one.
On some stops on the tour we have been hampered by the relatively limited availability of local music - and that is likely to be an issue on our next stop as well - but is certainly doesn't apply to Peru. There is loads of great music from there and we have featured a fair amount of it here in the past, mostly boogaloo and psychedelia. We are going to kick things off today with a couple of examples of each.
Boogaloo originated in New York in the early 1960s, blending jazz and R 'n B with mambo and other Cuban rhythms to create a truly groovy new sound. It became popular across Latin America but particularly in Peru where everyone who was anyone had a go.
Back in 2019 the Vampisoul label released a four volume series called "¡Gózalo! Bugalú Tropical" capturing the Peruvian boogaloo and related scenes of the 1960s and 1970s. Our opening double salvo from Charlie Palomares y Su Yuboney and Tito Chicoma y Su Orquesta both adorn Volume 1, but the other three records are worth a listen as well.
For those young Peruvians who turned their noses up at boogaloo there was always psychedelia, which started flourishing in Peru in the late 1960s. Foremost among the many bands turning their hands to it were Traffic Sound, who between 1969 and 1971 released three top notch albums, "Virgin", "Traffic Sound" and "Lux" (from which today's selection comes). The band's original bass player Willy Thorne left just before they recorded "Lux", presumably in order to commit himself fully to his snooker career.
After Traffic Sound the next biggest act on the Peruvian psych scene was Laghonia whose 1970 debut album "Glue" is considered a standard in some quarters. Most of the tracks on the album had originally been released under the band's previous name New Juggler Sound. This included the title track - they overdubbed some organ for the 'new' version but otherwise it is the same recording. I've opted for the original which you can find on the compilation "Back to Peru Vol. 1".
Before moving on, a quick plug for the excellent Munster Records of Madrid who reissued all of the albums mentioned in the previous two paragraphs and many other goodies as well.
I know nothing at all about our next act, who bring us some funky flute-infused cumbia from the early 1970s. If Discogs is correct this was the A-side of El Comienzo's only single. I found it on "Cumbias Psicodelicas: Vol. 1 Ayahuasca", a compilation on Peru's own Repsychled label.
Moving forward to 1981 we find Los Orientales De Paramonga and their album "Lo Fuerte Del Gua Gua". Their career had peaked in the previous decade under the watchful eye of Argentinian ex-pat musical Svengali Enrique Lynch, but at this stage they were resorting to jumping on any passing bandwagon open to expanding their sound. They made a decent job of it in my view.
The most prominent artist we are featuring today by some distance is Susana Baca. A three time Latin Grammy winner, former Minister of Culture, singer and folklorist, Ms Baca is a key figure in the revival of Afro-Peruvian music and culture. Between 1997 and 2011 she released six albums on David Byrne's Luaka Bop label. This track comes from the second of those, "Ecos de Sombras" (2000).
Finally we bring things right up to date with our MAR selection. Rolo Gallardo and Triblin Sound both have a long list of production credits to their respective names. Last year they teamed up to release an album called "Peru Dub Dealers". This track features Rawa on vocals. Whether he is the shaman of that name who appeared at London's South Bank in 2019 or whether it is a Willy Thorne type case of mistaken identity I do not know.
Zoila Emperatriz Chávarri Castillo was just a humble Peruvian warbler when she signed to Capitol Records. They changed her name and her fame began. Here's Eddie Cantor to introduce her.
My secret trip to Nigeria ended up being a bit of a disappointment. That is no reflection on the country or the many friendly people I met there, it was just a bit jinxed.
I was there to do some work in Lagos and the plan was to head on to Calabar for the weekend. That did not happen because the airline cancelled the only flight so there was no way of getting there (not an unusual occurrence according to my local contacts).
In Lagos itself torrential rain on both days when I had a bit of free time led to a fair amount of flooding which, added to the already very busy traffic, meant that I was not able to get to most of the sights on my to do list. With more of the same predicted for the weekend, I decided to cut my losses and head home a couple of days early.
However, I really liked the little of Lagos I was able to see, and if I get an opportunity to go back in the future and explore the city further I'll definitely do so.
I very much enjoyed visiting the J. Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History (head to City Mall and look for the giant eyo figure across the road). The visit was enhanced by my self-appointed guide Tishe, aged about 10, who took pity on the old tourist and shared lots of interesting information about the exhibits until his Mum came to get him for family photos.
The biggest highlight though was The Jazzhole, which has gone straight into my list of Top 10 record stores. As you enter you find yourself facing huge piles of books, vinyl and CDs. If and when you get past them there are a few tables and a cafe serving tea, coffee and excellent cake and a small performance area behind that with a drum kit all set up and ready to go.
I could happily have spent a whole day there browsing, eating cake and chatting to the charming owner but regrettably I only had 90 minutes to spare. I still managed to come away with a small pile of CDs, most of them Nigerian but a couple from elsewhere in Africa and one by Alpha & Omega from far-flung Devon.
The only one that I have had the chance to listen to yet is "Selfishness & Greediness", the 2022 album by Lekan Animashaun (Baba Ani for short). Mr A was a long-time member of Afrika 70 and Egypt 80, taking over as leader of the latter group when Tony Allen left and remaining so when they started working with Seun Kuti after Fela's death.
By sheer coincidence, Strut records will be reissuing Mr A's 1977 solo album "Low Profile" this Friday. If you can't wait until then here is a track from his more recent record. At 13 minutes long it also counts towards Monday's Long Song for those of you who celebrate it.
I'm off on my travels again early tomorrow morning, a few days work in one location followed by a hopefully relaxing long weekend in another. As usual I'll need to draw a veil over exactly where I'm going.
I'll be back on here towards the end of next week. Until then here are some randomly selected tunes for you to enjoy.
We're back with more from the gift that keeps giving, Dust-t0-Digital's "Excavated Shellac" box set. More details of what it contains and how I came to acquire it through the good offices of the mysterious JWA can be found in Monday's post.
This time we are featuring two tracks each from Discs 3 and 4 of the box set. In order, the place and time they come from are: Mauritius (l958 or thereabouts), Malta (1932), Iraq (1930) and South Africa (1967).
I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days in Mahebourg last year while working in Mauritius. A lively town and a lovely spot (see photo below) but I didn't do any dancing. I was wary of getting dizzy.
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