Ernie's African Odyssey Part 53 - Western Sahara

According to the United Nations there are 54 countries in Africa, yet there will be 55 posts in this series. This is the reason why.

The territory known as Western Sahara is the one remaining colony in Africa. Initially occupied by Spain in the 1880s, the Spanish handed it over to Morocco in 1975. It has been blocking independence ever since - the Sahrawi people are still waiting for the referendum that was meant to take place in 1992 - despite political pressure and the military efforts of the Polisario Front, who control about 30% of the territory.

Although only two countries have ever recognised Morocco's claim to Western Sahara, one of them being the US under the previous Trump presidency, there is no sign that the Sahrawi people will get the self-determination they want any time soon. Bad news for the estimated 150,000 Sahrawi (almost 40% of them) living in refugee camps in Algeria, many of them since the 1970s.

Despite the small population and the difficult conditions in which they live the Sahrawi have produced some amazing music. None more so than the mighty Mariem Hassan, one of best female singers I've ever heard and someone I have raved about many times on these pages. She only recorded three solo albums before her premature death from cancer in 2015. Today's selection comes from her third and final album " El Aaiun Egdat". 

Before going solo Mariem had spent many years as the lead singer of El Wali who were essentially the Polisario Front house band and through whose ranks many fine singers have passed. A few years ago the always excellent Sahel Sounds reissued their 1994 album "Tiris". It really is a must have. 

The line-up of El Wali that recorded that album does not include either Mariem Hassan or Dighya Moh-Salem, who also sang with them for a while. These days she lives in exile in Paris and fronts her own band. Their album "Leflij" came out just last month. Hot off the press, here is their tribute to the man who brought you such hits as "Boombastic" and "It Wasn't Me".  

Group Doueh hail from the port city of Dakhla. Led by guitarist Salmou "Doueh" Bamaar with various friends and family members in tow, I saw them live in 2011 and found it a bit much at the time but have warmed to them since. They are not your typical desert blues band, more of a desert blues band that for some obscure reason has chosen "I Looked Up" era Incredible String Band as its blueprint. See what you make of this track from their 2012 album "Beatte Harab". 

For a more conventional desert blues sound you could do a lot worse than give a listen to Aziza Brahim. Born in one of the Algerian refugee camps in the 1970s but now based in Spain. Her latest album "Majwa" came out in March this year but this track comes from her 2016 record "Abbar el Hamada". 

Slipping smoothly into the MRV slot are Tiris, an eight-piece ensemble formed following a talent competition in the refugee camps in 2005 (making them the Sahrawi One Direction or something). Their debut - and possibly only - album "Sandtracks" came out a couple of years later. While not primarily a reggae band, the album does include the splendid Saharan skank of "Aid Istiqal".

"Arrabi al Arabe" - Mariem Hassan

"The Day of the Free Nation" - El Wali

"Shawgy" - Dighya Moh-Salem Band

"Mawak Lakhaal" - Group Doueh

"Calles de Dajla" - Aziza Brahim

"Aid Istiqal" - Tiris

Ron & Amy

On the last two Sundays just past I have been to see two of my favourite songwriters in two very different venues. 

The Sunday before last found me and Mr F heading up west to the la de da London Palladium to enjoy an evening in the company of the great Ron Sexsmith. Ron has been over recording his latest album at Abbey Road and fixed up a few gigs as part of an extended 60th birthday tour.

The Palladium being a proper theatre we were treated to two sets, which gave Ron more time to play and the chance to look beyond the normal repertoire. The result was a truly career-spanning selection, from a song he wrote when he and the drummer met while working in a courier company 40 years ago that they first played at the office Xmas party right up to a song that is lined up to be on the new album.

With the added bonus of a brief guest appearance by Nick Lowe - as you can see in this photo if you peer hard enough - an excellent evening was had by all.

It was another excellent evening last Sunday. This time it was a small basement under a pub in Stoke Newington that in a previous life had been The Drop of Andrew Weatherall fame. In an even earlier life was one I used to visit regularly in the late 1980s and early 1990s when I lived round the corner. In those days they put on the occasional gig upstairs, the basement still being used to store proper beer then.

The star of the show on this occasion was the magnificent Amy Rigby who brought along her own Live Stiffs Tour alumni in the form of bass player and husband Wreckless Eric (not pictured so you'll have to take my word for it this time).

Amy has recently released a new album called "Hang In There With Me" so the set featured quite a few tracks from that mixed in with some old favourites, a version of "The Visitors" by ABBA which really needs to be recorded for posterity and a lovely tribute to her father who died last year. 

Ron is now back home in Canada but Amy has gigs in Swansea, Bristol, Hastings and Nottingham between now and the end of the month. If you are in the area go along if you can, you'll enjoy yourselves.

Among the many highlights of their respective sets were songs about going back to their home town so we will leave you for now with them and a tune that Ron that played to remind us to try to stay optimistic despite all the nonsense at the moment.

"Galbraith Street" - Ron Sexsmith

"Playing Pittsburgh" - Amy Rigby

Early To Rise

WAKEY WAKEY!!!

It's Monday morning. Time to get back to work. And who better to get you up bright and early than Early B (the B stands for Bright).

"No Funny Tricks" - Early B

"Visit Of The King Selassie" - Early B

If that doesn't work try this:

More Bongos Please

When we were in Uganda earlier in the week I played you a funky track from a compilation album which goes by the snappy title of "Mr Bongo Record Club Volume 1". Here are a couple more that have another link as well. 

Amazones de Guinee were an all-female group formed by members of the Guinean military. "Samba" was recorded in Paris in 1983 and appears on their album "Au Coeur De Paris".

The samba is a musical form associated with Brazil, which is where we will find Alipio Martins with his tale of the fanged fish that might give you a nasty nip if you were foolish enough to dip your toe in the waters of the Amazon.

And if that wasn't enough there's a samba, a piranha and another river for you in the videos.

"Samba" - Amazones de Guinee

"Piranha" - Alipio Martins

Ernie's African Odyssey Pt 52 - Uganda

And we have reached Uganda. Musically it used to be seen as a bit of a backwater compared to its some of its neighbours like DR Congo and Kenya, but that has changed over the last ten years or so. After the emergence of Eddy Kenzo as a major pan-African star it is currently a bit of a pop powerhouse. 

It is also a country where popular music and politics are inextricably linked. Earlier this year Eddy married the Energy Minister - in UK terms think Ed Miliband weds Dua Lipa - and was appointed an advisor to long-running president (and not very nice man) Yoweri Museveni. 

This puts him firmly on the opposite side to fellow big name Bobi Wine who has been imprisoned and beaten up by government forces on a depressingly regular basis since he decided to stand against Museveni in the 2021 elections. A film made about his presidential campaign was nominated for an Oscar this year.

That is enough politics, let's crack on with the music. We will start with the oldest Ugandan track I have. It is a funky instrumental from 1974 by The Rwenzori's, named after the mountain range where many of the members came from. You can find it on Mr Bongo's "Record Club Volume 1" compilation.   

One of the first popular music styles indigenous to Uganda was kadongo kamu which means 'one little guitar'. Originating back in the 1960s it was kept alive during the difficult Idi Amin years largely through the efforts of one man, Peterson T. Mutebi. You can read all about him here, and listen to Part 2 of the title track of his 1982 album below.

These days kadongo kamu has largely faded from view and this century the dominant form of popular music has been faster and shinier and heavily influenced by dancehall and afrobeat. There is still plenty of good stuff though as the next two selections show. 

Jeff Korondo has been active since the late 1990s and as well as his music career he is the founder of an NGO called Music For Peace. This track is from 2003. I have not been able to find out any information about Stipper Man's humanitarian activities (or anything else about him) but he makes a jolly noise, as this tune from 2018 shows.

Readers with long memories and impeccable taste may remember me raving about an album called "Electro Acholi Kaboom From Northern Uganda" a couple of years ago. It featured lots of souped up versions of traditional acholi courtship songs and reminded me a lot of our own dear Tsonga Disco. 

That album seems to be unavailable now but you can still get hold of a collection by Otim Alpha who was featured on it and was one of the pioneers of the scene. His album was released by the excellent Nyege Nyege Tapes label based in Kampala whose catalogue is worth checking out. 

There is plenty of very good 'conventional' reggae from Uganda that I could have chosen for the MAR slot but I could not resist the charms of the Entebbe Eek-A-Mouse himself, Mr. Mankwa. Described as "a Ugandan Gibberish Dancehall Artist from the 90s" on the blurb for his "Saba Saba Sounds" EP, he is also the subject of a three-part documentary you can find on YouTube.

"Handsome Boy (E Wara) Pt 1&2" - The Rwenzori's

"Eno Ye Weekend Part 2" - Peterson Tusubira Mutebi & The Tames Band

"Kadi Iyeta" - Jeff Korondo

"Munzoleya" - Stipper Man

"Cam Ki lawoti II" - Otim Alpha

"A.U. (Mr. Mankwa)" - Mr. Mankwa

Eddy Kenzo may have fallen in with a bad crowd of late but his string of hits from 2014 still put a smile on my face when I hear them, so we'll start off the videos with the song that made his name. In the interest of balance Bobi Wine appears as well.

Single Song Sunday

Normally in this series we finish off with a Mandatory Reggae Version (MRV) of whichever song it is we are featuring - and we will do today. But I think this is the first time that the song in question has itself been a reggae standard. I'm talking about "Johnny Too Bad".

The original version of the song was by The Slickers, whose members Derrick Crooks and Winston Bailey were among the co-writers. It came out in 1970 but only really attracted attention outside Jamaica when it was included on the soundtrack album for "The Harder They Come" a couple of years later.

As for the covers, we start with a couple of men who are not exactly averse to a bit of self-mythologising. You can see why the song might appeal to them. John Martyn included it on his 1980 album "Grace and Danger", but this is an alternative take found on the "Best of the Island Years" box set. Steve Earle put it out as a single in 1997. He was backed by The V-Roys, whose main man Scott Miller went on to do good things as a solo artist. 

Obviously the punks have had a bash at the song. I have resisted the charms of the Anti-Nowhere League version to bring you this take by D.O.A., one of the original North American hardcore punk bands who have been around in one form or another since 1978. This is from their 2015 album "Hard Rain Falling". Their lead singer Joey Shithead is now the model of respectability and serves as a city councillor in his home town in Canada (fortunately under his real name).  

Following D.O.A. we have The Silencers. Not as I mistakenly thought when I bought it the Scottish band of that name who had a degree of success in the late 1980s but an earlier outfit from Pittsburgh whose 1980 album "Rock 'n Roll Enforcers" includes this version. Rol may wish to note for future reference that Discogs lists eight bands called The Silencers.

We get a bit more mellow next with the mighty Taj Mahal, who covered the song of his 1974 album "Mo' Roots". There are a handful of reggae covers on that album and Aston 'Family Man' Barrett pops up on piano. 

Even mellower is Desoto, one of several pseudonyms used by Canada's own Michael Phillips. He has kindly made his back catalogue available on Bandcamp on a 'name your own price' basis. This comes from a very good covers album "Musicians Are Cowards", originally released in 2005 and worth spending some money on.

Next we have a ragged but righteous version by Alex Chilton, released posthumously by Fat Possum on a fine 2020 compilation called "Memphis Rent Party". You can buy it for a bargain $7 on Bandcamp, then head to Discogs to find out who all the performers are.

Just because "Johnny Too Bad" is a reggae song doesn't mean we can skip the MRV. After all, The Slickers' recording is the original not a cover. As you can imagine there are no shortage of options to choose from so I've upped it to two MRVs.

The first is by Neville Staple, which was tagged on to a reissue of his 2002 album "Ska Au Go Go" as a bonus track. The second is the cream of the crop. It is by the great Bunny Wailer and it comes from his 1977 album "Protest". "Protest" is one of my favourite albums of all time. I would say this track is one of the highlights, but they are all highlights.

"Johnny Too Bad" - The Slickers

"Johnny Too Bad (Take 2) " - John Martyn

"Johnny Too Bad" - Steve Earle & The V-Roys

"Johnny Too Bad" - D.O.A.

"Johnny Too Bad" - The Silencers

"Johnny Too Bad" - Taj Mahal

"Johnny Too Bad" - Desoto

"Johnny Too Bad" - Alex Chilton & The Randy Band

"Johnny Too Bad" - Neville Staple

"Johnny Too Bad" - Bunny Wailer

I have decided to give Anti-Nowhere League a second chance. I draw the line at UB40 though.

Swamp Dogg Speaks

"They Crowned An Idiot King" was written about George W Bush. 'Idiot' isn't really adequate in this instance but the general point applies. Apart from that I have nothing to add to the wise words of my friend Mr. Dogg.

 "God Bless America For What" - Swamp Dogg

"They Crowned An Idiot King" - Swamp Dogg

 "We Need A Revolution" - Swamp Dogg

ChesnuTT's Roasting

Cody ChesnuTT made two great soul albums ten years apart. The first was the modestly titled "The Headphone Masterpiece" which came out in 2002. It was a reasonable claim. We had to wait another ten years for the next masterpiece, "Landing On A Hundred". That is the one today's selections come from.

CC - as his friends used to call him until that name was trademarked by a famously litigious Caledonian blogger - released his third album "My Love Divine Degree" in 2017 but hasn't been heard of since. Whatever he is up to I hope he is keeping well.

"Till I Met Thee" - Cody ChesnuTT

"Scroll Call" - Cody ChesnuTT

Other Chesnut(t)s are available. Jerry only had one T and didn't feel the need to capitalise it, but he wrote three classic songs. Well two classic songs and one that has the same name as a classic Leiber and Stoller song, both of which were performed by that Elvis (hence my confusion). Many thanks to Spence for pointing out my error.

Flight Scanner

My friend Mano has recently shared some new Tsonga Disco albums with me (his finger is much more firmly on the pulse of that particular scene than mine is these days).

Among them is "Khuzani", the latest album by one Florah N'wa Chauke. Florah is a member of the Chauke clan, who are preeminent when it comes to traditional Tsonga music and who have made a big splash on the disco scene. Headed by the mighty Thomas Chauke, we have also featured Themba, Conny, Hammy, G.T. and Patson here in the past. 

"Khuzani" is a worthy addition to the Chauke canon, featuring as it does contributions from the Shangaan Svengali Joe Shirimani and his little brother Prince Rhangani. Neither appear on this track from the album, which was selected purely because the title prompted the post.

Earlier this year the nice people in Promoland kindly sent me a copy of "The Three Times", an album by Norwegian band Flight Mode. It might be that Florah's song is a tribute either to them or to the Swiss record label of the same name, although perhaps unlikely.

To provide ballast I have added two top quality tunes starting with the word flight. That's how the magic works folks.

"Flight Mode" - Florah N'wa Chauke

"My Brothers & My Sister At The Funeral" - Flight Mode

"Flight Attendant" - Josh Rouse

"Flight Test" - The Flaming Lips

Some claim that the Flaming Lips song is an entirely original piece of work. If they were right I'd agree but... 

Favela Funk Friday

Just a quick one today. You know how it is - things to do, people to see, zeitgeists to surf.

Uniao Black were a 13 strong groove machine that came storming out of Rio with a self-titled album in 1977 determined to take over the world. They didn't, but they should've.

"Geracao Black" - Uniao Black

"Melo Do Bobo" - Uniao Black

The gang disbanded the year after the album came out but some of the original members got back together in 2004 (now with a Banda in front of their name). They released a second album in 2006 before retreating again. 

I thought they might have done some videos for the second album but I can't find any. So instead we bring you their local rivals Banda Black Rio from 1981. Never mind the video quality, dig the sound.