I have never been very good at doing themed series here, as I normally lose interest in them even more quickly than my readers do. I can only admire the persistence, professionalism and commitment to quality of the likes of JC, Rol and Charity Chic, all of whom seem to have at least two series on the go at any given time.
The only series I have ever seen through to the end was back in 2020 when we marked the UK's departure from the EU with a 27 part musical tour of the other EU countries, visiting them in alphabetical order from Austria to Sweden.
I have belatedly decided to do a sort of follow up. This time we will be touring Africa. It will require almost exactly twice the amount of effort as there are officially 54 countries in Africa (although I am also going to include Western Sahara taking it up to 55).
As with the European tour, some posts will be more challenging than others. Having spent part of the long weekend wading through assorted spreadsheets I have worked out that there are six African countries from which I have no music at all and a handful of others with just one or two artists to represent them. At least I know where my Bandcamp money will be going for the foreseeable future.
We will kick the series proper off next week in Algeria. In the meantime here are an A and a Z from a country which could easily justify a 55 part series on its own, South Africa.
"Bolla Noto" - Abafana Baseqhudeni
"Mbombela - A Twist of Bayete" - Zuluboy
Sounds like an excellent series in the making Ernie
ReplyDeleteBoth this and the EU series were heavily indebted to your own tour of the US states.
DeleteSeries' are easier than having to come up with something new
DeleteGeorge get the credit for the tour of American States.
Delete"the persistence, professionalism and commitment..."
ReplyDeleteIn my case, it's just a desperate lack of imagination.
Looking forward to this. Especially the post about Toto.
That will be the post on Tanzania where, to quote the song, "Mount Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus roughly 300 miles to the east of the Serengeti".
DeleteGeography was never my strong point. However, I do think everyone should hear this version of the song at least once... it's quite a performance.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c9-poC5HGw
What are the 6 countries whose music you don't (currently) have?
ReplyDeleteIt is down to five now as I have just acquired some heavy metal from Burundi. Still to go: Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Rwanda and the Seychelles
DeleteEquatorial Guinea and the Seychelles now ticked off the list
DeleteA series that I've no doubt will be a voyage of discovery for me, looking forward to it. Love the Abafana Baseqhudeni tune.
ReplyDeleteA voyage of discovery for me too. I already have quite a lot of music from some parts of the continent - South Africa, Ethiopia, Nigeria and the Sahel region for example - but there are a lot of countries still left to explore.
DeleteI shall be collating them in a folder entitled Ernie's African Odyssey
ReplyDeleteThank you CC. The one thing I had not settled on yet was what to call the series. That is considerably better than anything I have come up with so, with your permission, I'm going to use that.
Delete