The back room of the Shacklewell Arms in London's trendy Dalston has become a bit of a regular haunt of mine in recent years. With a capacity of about 200 if you all breathe in and squeeze together, it hosts more than its fair share of great gigs. Even better, quite a number of them are free thanks to the generosity of assorted labels and PR outfits.
Mr F and I toddled along to one such gig last Tuesday. Yalla Miku are a Geneva based group that define their sound as: "blending post-kraut grooves, mutant folklore and electronic trance, and sparking dialogue between traditions from the Horn of Africa and the most unrestrained experiments of Geneva’s underground". So now you know.
I enjoyed their debut album very much when it came out in 2023 so was keen to hear them live. I was not disappointed. The line-up has changed a lot since the debut - four out, two in - so the set mainly consisted of songs from their new album. It is due out in November and available for pre-order on Bandcamp now. Judging by the live performance it should be another cracking record.
As well as playing guitar and banjo in the band Cyril Yeterian is also the founder of the Les Disques Bongo Joe label which has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. It has released some amazing records - a mixture of new artists, reissues and compilations from all over the world - many of which have featured here previously. So it was a privilege to chat to him briefly after the gig and thank him for all the pleasure he has brought me over the last decade.
Both the Yalla Wiku tracks below are from the first album and feature the previous line-up. If you want a sneak preview of Mark 2 Bandcamp is sharing the first single from the new album and you can listen to their BBC Radio 6 session for a Bongo Joe special edition of Cerys Matthews' show a couple of days before the gig. The band appear just after two hours in but the whole programme is worth a listen.
All the other acts featured today were or are on the Bongo Joe roster, or in the case of Nourdine Staifi feature on a compilation. If you haven't already bookmarked the Bongo Joe Bandcamp page in preparation for next Bandcamp Friday I suggest you do so.
"Asmazate" - Yalla Miku
"Pingpxng" - Yin Yin
"Goultili Bye Bye" - Nordine Staifi
"Layung" - Nusantara Beat
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