Before we start, a quick service announcement. The announcement is that there isn't going to be much service round here for the next month or so.
On Sunday I am off to Athens for a few days' working, although I have cleared a space in my busy schedule to visit my favourite record shop there (and one of my favourites anywhere). Then I come back for a week before jetting off to South Africa for a fortnight to visit all the local branches of the Goggins clan. What passes for normal service will resume towards the end of February.
Now on with the show. Unlike some of those silvery-tongued devils who manage to produce interesting posts every day seemingly with ease, for me it is normally a case of 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. In the case of today's post replace 'inspiration' with 'lack of coordination'.
Yesterday afternoon I accidentally knocked over a stack of CDs while clumsily attempting a simple household chore. When I bent over to pick them up the one nearest my feet was "Something Extra Special: The Complete Volt Recordings 1968-1971" by Jimmy Hughes. I took it as a sign.
Mr Hughes is one of the innumerable number of fine soul singers to emerge in the 1960s who never quite received their due. Hailing from Leighton, Alabama like his cousin Percy Sledge, he had a Top 20 hit in 1964 with "Steal Away". But just seven years later he packed in music entirely, tired of the touring and the lack of promotion, and got gainful employment making parts for nuclear power plants. As you do.
Shortly before posting this I heard the sad news that Melanie Safka left us a couple of days ago. She was dismissed as a bit of a novelty act by a lot of folks after "Brand New Key" but she wrote some really good songs. Very much of their era but really good songs nonetheless.
Two personal favourites are "Lay Down" which has powerhouse backing from the Edwin Hawkins Singers and "Peace Will Come" (here performed with a perhaps unlikely duet partner). RIP Melanie.
I am pausing for breath between two gigs this morning.
Last night we went to The Waiting Room in Stoke Newington - formerly The Drop of Andrew Weatherall fame - for Sarabeth Tucek. It feels like I spent last chunks of last year banging on about her and her album "Joan Of All" (credited to SBT) so I won't dwell on the gig here. Suffice to say she was very good.
Tonight some of us are reconvening at the What's Cookin' club night in leafy Leytonstone to watch assorted stalwarts of the local Americana scene pay tribute to the late great Warren Zevon on what would have been his birthday. I'm not quite sure what to expect but one thing we can be sure of is that the songs will be excellent.
To get myself in the mood, here are some real Americans covering and being covered by Warren. If tonight's performers can come even vaguely close to matching Flaco and Dwight it will be a good evening.
This is the third and final leg of the Guinea mini-tour that forms just a small part of our overall odyssey. We sweltered away in the equatorial one back in October and called in at the 'no frills' the other week. Now we're bringing you some bangers from Bissau.
Possibly the only country in the world with a hyphen in its official name, Guinea-Bissau is mostly mangroves. It is bordered by Guinea and Senegal but probably most closely affiliated with Cabo Verde, 650 miles west over the waves. Both countries are former Portuguese colonies whose independence in the 1970s followed many years of joint struggle led by the revolutionary hero Amilcar Cabral.
Those of you who have been following the series so far will be expecting rumbling rhythms, sparkling guitars and the odd indigenous instrument or two. All that is present and correct, but first up we have a song that uses no instrumentation and is both ancient and new at the same time.
Just after Christmas a group called Associação Djorsom Garandi di Tina di Bolama released ten tracks on Bandcamp. They provided absolutely no information at all about themselves, but after a bit of digging around I discovered that Tina is a cultural tradition on the island of Bolama, one of the Bijagos islands off the coast of mainland Guinea-Bissau.
A Portuguese NGO, Assistência Médica Internacional (AMI), is providing support to help preserve Tina, including setting up a recording facility. As one of the Associação's songs is called "Obrigado AMI" my guess is that they are one of the beneficiaries. Judging by this and their other tracks it is an excellent cause.
Another organisation doing its best to preserve the country's musical heritage is Radio Cobiana, and I heartily recommend their compilation featuring artists from the era before and after independence which has the self-explanatory title "Music Of Guinea-Bissau". From that album I have selected a track by Super Mama Djombo, widely considered to be the leading band from that period. If you like it, you might also want to check out their 1980 album "Na Cambança".
Also featured on the Cobiana compilation is the poet, musician and guerilla José Carlos Schwarz, who with his band Cobiana Djazz helped to provide the soundtrack for the fight for freedom. "Na Kolonia" is one of his best-known songs, and it represents the cry of an artist in exile thinking about the fate of his friends back home. You can learn more about him and his sad and suspicious demise here, then go and check out his album "Lua Ki Di Nos".
One of the indigenous musical styles that both the Super Mamas and Mr Schwarz drew on was 'gumbe' - not to be confused with 'goombay' music of the Caribbean, although the two are thought to be related, and most definitely not to be confused with the Goombay Dance Band who bear no relation to any recognisable form of music. In the mid 1980s Tabanka Djaz picked up the gumbé baton and are still running with it today. I've chosen the title track of their 2021 EP "Brincadera D'Nós".
Our penultimate featured artist is Kimi Djabaté, a singer and musician now based in Lisbon who has been making music for about 20 years. In 2019his profile was raised when him and that Madonna recorded a song together. Called "Ciao Bella", it is a lot better than you think it is going to be apart from the bits where she spouts drivel. But I prefer his solo work and in particular his most recent album, last year's "Dindin", from which today's selection comes.
We end, as all things must, with some Mandatory African Reggae. I have had to bend the rules a bit for this episode, but then they are my rules to bend. Only one of the two performers on this fine track is actually from Guinea-Bissau. That is Spirit Mosiah, who is joined by Ras Damula from Angola. Listen out for the unexpected Mr. Humphries impression eight seconds in.
"Nô Uni" - Associação Djorsom Garandi di Tina di Bolama
I got my first gig of the year under my belt on Wednesday when we went to Paper Dress Vintage in hip and happening Hackney (where else would it be with a name like that?) to see Kaia Kater.
Kaia is a singer, songwriter and banjo player from Montreal who released three very good albums back in the 2010s and has a long overdue fourth album coming out later this year. She has just kicked off a tour of the UK and Ireland on which she is accompanied by the double bass player you can see in the videos below. Here's the evidence...
This was the first time I have seen Kaia live and I was impressed. She has an engaging stage presence and the new songs sounded very good. If she is playing round your way I can recommend popping along.
Support was ably provided by Neev, who hails from Glasgow and whose Granny designed her album sleeve. Charity Chic is in all likelihood a family friend. Neev has a nice voice and some decent tunes, such as "Seawall" which features in the final video.
But before we get to that we have two audio clips and two videos from Kaia Kater. The audio is a track each from her first two albums, "Sorrow Bound" (2014) and "Nine Pin" (2016); the first video features a song that was one of the highlights of her 2018 album "Grenades" while the second is her brand new single.
It is a big week for birthdays. On Monday we celebrated the birthdays of three reggae stalwarts, today we have one that is closer to home.
It was on this day back in 2009 that 27 Leggies emerged blinking into the light. 2109 posts and 5925 songs later it has grown into the slightly awkward adolescent it is today, still resentful at being saddled with such a stupid name. As it frequently complains, "why couldn't you just have called me Oliver, Jack or Alfie like everyone else in 2009?".
All the blog really wanted to do today was stay up in its room playing online games with its mates, but I have dragged it out to mutter its way through some thank yous.
First, to all the nice people in Promoland for the lovely presents you have sent us over the years. Between you, you have introduced us to a world of wonder.
Second, to our occasional celebrity correspondents and collaborators such as Gwenno, Awesome Tapes From Africa, Hannah Lou Larsen (the former Asthmatic Harp), Mama Coconut, US National Public Radio and assorted Belgian DJs for creating the fleeting illusion of importance.
Third, to the bots from Singapore who have been such a constant source of support to me and many other bloggers over the last 12 months or so. Couldn't have done it without you, guys!
Last, and most important. to our regular and irregular readers from 138 countries for popping round and for your many kind comments over the years. And the occasional unkind one. My favourite is still "I could say you look like an old onion with a beard. But I don't need to put anybody down to feel good". There's a lesson for us all there.
Today is a big day for birthdays in the reggae world, so please join me in wishing many happy returns to King Yellowman and Sister Carol (both 65 today) and the baby of the bunch, Tony Rebel (62).
Echoing the words of Yellowman, I dedicate this post to all my fans in Jamaica and in England, and especially in the United States, Germany and France. And the rest of you of course.
P.S. After I had put together this post I received an email from the folks at VP Records informing me that Sister Carol and her daughter Nakeeba Amaniyea are the brains behind a brand new album called "Millenium Movie Star Riddim" which came out last Friday. The pair also perform the lead single "Be Alone".
You can find the video for "Be Alone" here and the album - which also features the likes of Sister Nancy and Michael Palmer - is available here.
Last night I sat down to prepare this post only to find that my mind was completely blank. So I decided to take a look at at my listening stats on Last.fm in the hope of finding some inspiration.
I'm not sure I did, but I did find something. And that was that of the 100 artists that I have apparently listened to the most since Last.fm started collecting the data, there are only two that have never featured on the blog.
I'm putting that right today. Not just that, we've got a little mini-theme out of it too.
Links stay up for a month or so. If you are an artist or copyright holder and want me to remove the link, or if you want to get in touch for any other reason, e-mail me on leggies27@hotmail.co.uk.
