African Music » Passion of the Weiss

Jul
20

From the best album of the year that no one is talking about, even though it’s co-produced by Brian Eno. I caught Seun last Friday and you can have your Animal Collectives and Gang Gangs, but there was nothing at the Pitchfork Festival that was fucking with this man and Egypt ’80. No offense. But… Continue reading »

Jun
14

Karl Hector Presents: Jazz Modal Du Monde

For all us smart dub cats who took Spanish instead of French, Karl Hector stays dificil with his Gallic/German/Ethiopian flair. Thankfully, the title of his Paris DJ’s mix is self-explanatory: modal jazz of the world. What happens next is even more crystalline, the enigmatic Teuton behind 09′s excellent Sahara Swing drops esoteric old Folkways and… Continue reading »

Jun
01

Seun Kuti, Rising Son

Femi Kuti can’t be happy. The moment that Fela finally transcends from pan-African icon to pan-global fixture feted by Will Smith and Beyonce and Clyde, his little brother Seun snakes their father’s Egypt ’80 band and asserts himself as one of the most prominent Afro-Beat musicians to emerge from the last decade. I believe this… Continue reading »

May
03

A Cooked Yam is What We Want

So says the Yoruba proverb that inspires “E Ma S’eka” by Bola Johnson & The Easy Life Top Beats. The phrase is a prayer for good luck — a votive aspiring for existence to be bountiful and yamtastic, an ideal that even Kanye couldn’t disapprove of. And indeed, Nigerian music at the dawn of the… Continue reading »

Mar
14

Paax Nicholas & The Nettey Family – Na Teef Know De Road of Teef

Hip-hop hiatus today. It’s all Afro-beat everything right now at Passion of the Weiss headquarters, where I’m celebrating the Ides of March a day early by listening to Pax Nicholas’ 1973 classic, Na Teef’s Know Road of Teef. After all, the themes are vaguely similar. Consider Na Teef, Nicholas’ act of rebellion against the Caesarean… Continue reading »

Jan
27

I Can’t Go To Sleep: The Good Ones- “Kigali Y Izahabu”

The trio. Folk musicians from Rwanda recorded Kigali in one afternoon. Continuing the tradition of Harry Smith’s local folk music anthologies, this is salvage culture; the instinct to preserve traditional music before it disappeared. Given the circumstances which name, name and name survived, there’s a good chance we would never have been able to hear… Continue reading »

Jan
24

Aster Aweke, The Aretha Franklin of Ethiopia

Befitting my love of Walt Frazier fur coats and Quaalude jokes, my favorite installment of the Ethiopiques labyrinth might be episode 13, Ethiopian Groove: The Golden Seventies. Presumably, most hip-hop heads know the 27-volume (and counting) compilation for one of several reasons: the Mulatu Astatke music that Jim Jarmusch selected for Broken Flowers, Oh No’s… Continue reading »

Jan
05

I Can’t Go To Sleep: Mulatu Astatke – Mulatu Steps Ahead

With Strut’s tireless recent focus on Mulatu Astatke’s rich musical past, it was almost a relief earlier this year when the label unleashed a record of new material from the Ethio-jazz master. To be honest, the guy’s written music enough for two lifetimes – it would be easy for him to coast – but as… Continue reading »

Nov
01

The Gospel of Matthews: Tony Allen’s “No Discrimination”

Aaron Matthews doesn’t discriminate, he regulates every shade of that…. Tony Allen had a lot on his mind in 1979. Recorded shortly after his split with Fela Kuti, he recorded his first solo album with a crack band comprised of expatriate Africa ‘70 players. No Discrimination imagines an even more global reach for afrobeat– it… Continue reading »

Sep
13

Free Zombie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqnQC3RODl0 In the hopes that a co-sign from Sean Carter and Willow Smith’s dad will suddenly stir your desire to cop a half-dozen coasters that you can illegally download via the magic of Google search, Knitting Factory Records has made an MP3 of “Zombie” available to you, discerning blog readers of the galaxy. I have… Continue reading »