Angles 9
Disappeared Behind the Sun
(Clean Feed, 2017)
more details

320 kbps | 105 MB | UL |

Tracklist:

01. Can’t Find Nothin’ 04:41
02. Satellite 04:46
03. Just Enough Time 04:15
04. Rare to Be Right 06:56
05. Where I’ve Been 03:59
06. Shadow of a Stranger 03:49
07. For the Ones We Leave Behind 04:36
08. Slow Down 03:00
09. Waves Crashing 04:16

320 kbps | 112 MB | UL | OB |

Tracklist:

01. Frank Zappa – Introduction (Live from Rare Tape Library Broadcast, Wlir FM, Garden City, NY 1974)
02. Frank Zappa – Tango Chat (Live from Rare Tape Library Broadcast, Wlir FM, Garden City, NY 1974)
03. Frank Zappa – Pygmy Twylyte/Dummy Up (Live from Rare Tape Library Broadcast, Wlir FM, Garden City, NY 1974)
04. Frank Zappa – Be-Bop Tango Excerpt (Live from Rare Tape Library Broadcast, Wlir FM, Garden City, NY 1974)
05. Frank Zappa – The Story of Dupree’s Paradise (Live from Rare Tape Library Broadcast, Wlir FM, Garden City, NY 1974)
06. Frank Zappa – Yellow Snow Suite (Live from Rare Tape Library Broadcast, Wlir FM, Garden City, NY 1974)
07. Frank Zappa – Guitar Event (Live from Rare Tape Library Broadcast, Wlir FM, Garden City, NY 1974)
08. Frank Zappa – Be-Bop Tango Contest (Live from Rare Tape Library Broadcast, Wlir FM, Garden City, NY 1974)
09. Frank Zappa – Outro (Live from Rare Tape Library Broadcast, Wlir FM, Garden City, NY 1974)

Location: Temenggungan, Banyuwangi Regency, East Java

Sound: Musik Patrol Banyuwangi

Sustaining a musical tradition can be such a balancing act. If you maintain a preservationist stance and try to keep everything as it once was, your music is likely to be seen as old and stale, left behind by changing times, irrelevant to the younger generation. To throw caution to the wind and transform a tradition completely is equally risky: the music becomes unrecognizable, its soul and meaning lost in the shuffle. Despite the collection of often ancient and “authentic” sounds on this site, I’m no purist. Music stays vibrant through change and evolution, and I love to hear about these evolutions through the years. What’s important for me is that the music and the community that makes it stays true to itself and to the unique musical language of the area.

There are few places in Java as musically vibrant as Banyuwangi in East Java, and few styles shine as brightly as musik patrol. Musik patrol has roots stretching back at least to the mid-20th century, but it is a tradition that seems to be in a constant state of evolution - the key, I think, to its continuing relevancy into the 21st century. 

Musik patrol’s humble roots lie in gangs of kids patrolling their neighborhoods during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, banging on anything they could get their hands on to wake up the neighbors for sahur, the early morning pre-fasting meal. These sahur-centered musical traditions are everywhere in Muslim Indonesia, from the obrog-obrogan of West Java to tongkeq in Lombok and Ul Daul in Madura. Just as I wrote about obrogan, the pure, naughty joy of kids banging on shit in the dark of pre-dawn is one of the first keys to the continuing vibrancy of these traditions in a time when traditional musics are being consistently left behind. 

At the heart of this musical ruckus is often the kentongan. Technically a slit drum, the kentongan is slitted bamboo tube that often hangs outside a village’s pos kamling (neighborhood watch post), ready to be whacked at any time to signal anything from “THIEF!” to “time for the neighborhood watch meeting!” In many villages, these kentongan are carried not only during sahur patrols but during the nightly rounds (ronda) of the siskamling (short for sistem keamanan lingkungan, literally “community safety system.”) Such neighborhood watch organizations are a treasured part of small-town Indonesia, and the kentongan has become a symbol of neighborly cooperation.

At some point in Banyuwangi, the raw “tok tok tok” of the kentongan was refined into something more tonal, and soon kids began experimenting with playing the melodies of the local angklung music on multiple kentongan through clever interlocking parts. This in turn evolved into using the angklung itself, a keyed bamboo xylophone played with the shreddy intensity that is so characteristic of the Bali-flavored Banyuwangi sound. With the angklung taking over the melodic elements of the tapestry, the sharp percussive role of the old kentongan was replaced by katir, larger bamboo slit drums supposedly salvaged in the old days from the long outriggers of the canoe-like jukung boats that once lined Banyuwangi’s coast. The katir feature two-slits down their length, allowing for a number of sounds to emerge when held under the arm and hit by the bamboo drumsticks. A variety of rhythmic effects are also made possible by the interlocking of the "male" (lanangan) and "female" (wadonan) katir. 

To root all this sharp, trebley sound, groups also began to add gong bambu, two or three huge tuned bamboo cylinders balanced horizontally on some kind of rack, with the musician sandwiched in the middle. Likely inspired by the huge jegog bamboo orchestras of West Bali just across the strait, the gong bambu is hit with soft, fabric-covered beaters to mimic the resonant boom of the gong; however, rather than acting as a purely rhythmic punctuation as the gong often does in gamelan, the gong bambu plays simple, catchy bass lines which both follow and anchor the rhythmic and melodic shred of the other instruments.

The musik patrol group I met and recorded in Temenggungan takes these evolutions a few steps further in terms of rhythm, tuning, and instrumentation. Other groups, the musicians explained, have at best two rhythmic bases to all of their tunes: Balian (a rhythm mimicking the Balinese style) and Banyuwangian (an essentially Banyuwangi rhythm, less intense than the Bali style.) Temenggungan’s secret ingredient is a third rhythm they call Santana. 

Santana, like the guitarist.

It turns out that Latin American music was huge in Banyuwangi in the 60s and 70s, especially that of the great Santana and his eponymous group. Santana fans in Temenggungan, always game to experiment, began taking the Latin rhythms they heard in Santana’s songs and translating it to the Banyuwangi musical idiom, that distinctive Latin groove played on gong bambu, katir, and the kluncing, the musical triangle ubiquitous in Banyuwangi (and very fitting for that swinging Latin rhythm!)

Another innovation was in tuning: Banyuwangi’s traditional music is almost entirely played in slendro, a kind of pentatonic scale with five notes spread evenly across one octave. This even spread makes salendro melodies particularly difficult to play on Western instruments designed to play the uneven intervals of the Western tonal system. In order to better accommodate the addition of other instruments like guitar or flute, the tonal instruments of the musik patrol ensemble were re-geared to play a diatonic approximation of the traditional slendro scale. This re-tooling may be one aspect of musik patrol’s perceived freshness: ears tuned in this globalized world are often more at ease with instruments tuned diatonically. Even for the local Osing who have been playing in slendro for centuries, the traditional scale can begin to sound “out of tune.” 

The third and one of the most surprising innovations in Temenggungan is the evolution of the suling, or flute. In other parts of Banyuwangi, musik patrol groups often include the bamboo suling to embellish the melodies of its percussive partners. In Temenggungan, the bamboo flute has been replaced by the suling paralon, a transverse flute made of PVC pipe! The explanation is funny enough: the Temenggungan group’s suling player, Mbah Yon, works in construction as a day job, so he's not only crafty but also as comfortable with the PVC of modern construction as he is with bamboo. Indeed, PVC might be the bamboo of our time: plentiful, cheap, and easily modified, it fits in remarkably well with the organic tapestry of angklung, katir, and the rest.

These days, musik patrol is played most often at events like lomba, a kind of Battle of the Bands. These events, often put on during Ramadan or for government-arranged festivals, are another key to the fresh vibrancy of the musik patrol scene. Much of the aforementioned evolutions are surely a result of competition, groups one-upping each other to do something new and creative with the art while still keeping the Banyuwangi spirit. The tunes played are also tailored to the event: A lomba during Ramadan might feature songs with lyrics espousing piety and good morals, while a lomba organized by the local police department might feature tunes like “Siskamling”, a touching ode to the magic of the neighborhood watch.

Even as musik patrol grows and changes, it maintains a sound that is rooted in the Banyuwangi aesthetic and idiom. Perhaps because of this, even when a band is playing rhythms inspired by Santana and blowing away on a PVC pipe, the music could be mistaken as something centuries old. It maintains this elusive authenticity by walking that tightrope brilliantly, evolving with the times but always preserving that unmistakable character of the Banyuwangi sound.

Context:

In 2015, my friend Arrington de Dionyso traveled to Banyuwangi and collaborated with the Temenggungan musik patrol group. When I finally heard the recordings, I was blown away: the wild yet familiar sounds of Arrington’s free jazz bass clarinet and bromiophone were riding the waves of an ensemble totally unfamiliar to me. What was this group that sounded like Steve Reich in a bamboo grove? The rippling repetition of the bamboo percussion was as fresh and seductive as Arrington’s far out sound. Who were these guys??

Through Arrington I was put in touch with a great group of artists and community organizers in Banyuwangi proper who, I was happy to find out, could easily get me in touch with the Temenggungan musik patrol group. After driving over land from Bandung to Banyuwangi and recording some amazing kuntulan and janger, my next step was to meet these gods of musik patrol. My new friend and guide Ulfah offered to take me to the urban village of Temenggungan to meet with the group on my second night in town. 

Temenggungan, Ulfah told me, has a rough history and an even rougher reputation in Banyuwangi. Known as a stronghold of liberal artists, the village fared poorly during the communist purges of 1965 (musik patrol, I later learned, laid dormant for quite some time afterwards.) Well into the 21st century it suffered from a reputation as a village with drug, alcohol, and gambling problems, much of it rooted in chronic unemployment. The village’s famous musik patrol group was its one point of pride: the music’s associations with community, tradition, and religion makes it the perfect centerpiece for a community trying to clean up its image.

We met the leader, Mas Epeng, in front of his house in a dimly lit alley. Neighbors sat in a nearby hut stealthily drinking tuak rice wine as musicians filed in bringing bamboo instruments by the handful: katir, angklung, and gong bambu. The huge bamboo cylinders of the gong bambu were balanced precariously on a handful of plastic deck chairs with a young guy sitting, resting his feet up high on the instrument’s frame. The rest of the group, by and large, were the seniors, the older generation still in the process of handing the music down to the young kids who would replace them. Just like obrog-obrogan, musik patrol is almost always played by teenagers and younger, but I was reassured knowing that the older guys had decades of practice under their belts.

With the group and their instruments arranged in a messy circle around me, we set about recording and shooting, with breaks in between tunes for explanations and shots of tuak. Eventually with enough tuak and familiarity, things loosened up and the band began to play long medleys, ten-minute long epics full of pop-song like bridges and choruses. I could see how this structure was as as integral an evolution as the instruments and rhythms: many percussion ensembles in Indonesia play songs that pick a rhythm or melody and then repeat it until its felt to have run its course. Perhaps inspired by the competitive, populist spirit of the local musical competitions, musik patrol in Temenggungan has evolved to have a variety within songs that feels fresh but natural. The guys proclaimed proudly throughout the night that they were consistently number one at these competitions. What’s more, they were trendsetters! They had been the first to start using diatonic tuning, with other groups in the area following suit soon after. It was a beautiful thing to see, the pride in this local music helping to mend the decades of social ills and struggles. 

***

Banyuwangi Putra is: Eko, Muriono, and Kusbandi on angklung; Epeng, Fredy, and Feri on katir; Hendra on gong bambu; Mbah Yon on suling paralon, and Kuswari on kluncing. Terima kasih semuanya, dan terima kasih banyak juga Mbak Ulfah yang telah memperkenalkan saya dengan grup ini yang luar biasa :)

320 kbps | 84 MB | UL | OB |

Tracklist:

01. Secret Wedding
02. Maria-Elena (Or Whoever)
03. Dead Horse
04. Football Days
05. To Do List
06. Too Much of Everything
07. She’s in Good Nick
08. Deep Enough
09. To Be a Man
10. It’s Not You, It’s Me
11. Broken Clocks
12. Oh My Sweetest

320 kbps|120 MB| UL | OB | DF | TB | KF

Tracks:
01. This Is Love
02. Close to Your Heart
03. Bringing Me New Life
04. Your Grace for Me
05. Such a Mystery
06. Precious to Me
07. Who You Say I Am
08. Fire and Storm
09. When I Cry Out
10. Still Good
11. Come and Rest
12. Family of God
13. Unquenchable

320 kbps | 76 MB | UL | OB |

Nightbird is the sixth full length recording from bluegrass darlings, The Bankesters, a family band anchored by the immediately powerful sound of sisters harmonizing and elevated by their clever song choices, a humble and approachable style, and subtle musicianship. Sisters Alysha (mandolin, fiddle), Emily (fiddle, banjo), and Melissa (bass) are further supported by some of the men in their lives: their father, Phil on guitar, and Kyle, husband to Melissa, on banjo and additional guitar.

In addition to a spirited and sultry cover of The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army”, NIGHTBIRD also includes a cover of Collective Soul’s monster 90s radio hit, “Shine” as well as two tracks written by eldest sister Melissa and songwriter Rick Lang, who also wrote the title track. NIGHTBIRD is the follow up to their Independent Music Award winning album, Love Has Wheels, which contained their cover of “The Cups Song” featuring Sierra Hull that became a surprise hit on bluegrass radio.

Aquelarre – Mágico y natural
Indiana – Beibi
Indiana – Centuria
Indiana – Obsesión
Unión Pacific – El tubo
Unión Pacific – Loretta´s Inn II
Unión Pacific – ¿Porqué has dejado el mundo atrás?
Vade Retro – Rio de Janeiro

Disco cortesia de: Piwi

Disco compartido entre varios grupos editado en 1977 por una compañia de poca duración (Beverly records). Es una de esas rarezas de los 70, de muy poca tirada. Además el sello quebró poco despues del lanzamiento del disco.
Una buena oportunidad para volver a rescatar esos temas.

Тема на форуме

Тема на форуме

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This is the third feature in a series we’re calling “Fresh Cuts.” It’s a selection of newly released tracks and videos from across Africa and the diaspora, featuring established and up-and-coming artists and everything in between. Today we’ve got, among other things, rhymes and beats from London, Ghana, Dominican Republic and Cameroon, some entrancing electrified Ugandan folk music and slick electro-pop from Namibia.  And, in case you missed them, also check out “Fresh Cuts” Vol. One and Two! Enjoy!

Calypso Rose: “Leave Me Alone” with Manu Chao and Machel Montano

Big up to Brooklyn, big up to T&T! Trinidad and Tobago’s long-reigning queen of calypso, Calypso Rose, is at it again with a marvelous collabo with soca king Machel Montano and globe-trotting musical legend Manu Chao. The video for this track is such a gem, flipping between the raucous scene of Trinidad’s 2016 Carnival and shots of Rose in Brooklyn leading up to our own 2016 Labor Day Parade. For those who’ve walked down Fulton St. in Brooklyn in the vicinity of Nostrand Ave., you’ll recognize some Trinidadian landmarks: Ali’s Trinidad Roti Shop and the legendary Charlie’s Calypso City, where Calypso Rose dances in the stacks. Montano and Rose trade vocals and Chao only pops in towards the very end with a little bit of the chorus. This one will melt your winter day right away with some Caribbean sunshine.

Nadia Rose: “Skwod”

South London in the houuuse! Here’s a track from Nadia Rose’s recently released album, Highly Flammable. There is a brilliant wave of fierce female MCs changing the male-dominated rap game in Britain these days–Stefflon Don, Lady Lykez, Lady Leshurr–and Nadia Rose is right up at the crest of the wave. The 22-year old wordsmith has a love of language (starting with recreational dictionary reading as a kid) and a versatile flow, layering on rhymes and double meanings, sometimes in patois, sometimes in a rambling banter like Lady Leshurr. Rose is the child of a broad-minded DJ dad with Ghanaian roots who exposed her to all kinds of music, particularly grime and jungle. She is also cousin of a leading British MC, Stormzy, who helped speed her rise to fame–fame that she well deserves. “Skwod” is sings the praises of Nadia Roses’ crew of no-nonsense women, marching down a London street. Check this video and others on her Facebook.

Lady Leshurr: “#UNLESHED 2”

On that note, Lady Leshurr is back with another piece of fire with this track. Following up her Queens Speech series, she’s back with another, darker series she’s calling #UNLESHED. She dives deeper than the playful banter in Queens Speech, talking about fame, money, betrayal, anxiety and the like. You can read more about Lady Leshurr in our first Fresh Cuts.

Jovi: “Ou Meme?”

Here’s a single from multitalented Cameroonian artist Jovi. Hailing from Douala, Jovi is an innovator and boundary-breaker in the local music world. Rap has spread across the world from its birthplace in the Bronx and evolved into a kaleidoscope of styles, and language is, of course the focal point. For rappers across the globe, rhyming in English or other widespread colonial languages has been a sure step towards wider recognition and accessibility. This often–but not always–leaves those using more localized languages to fight harder for fame. Some rappers very intentionally stick to the languages that speak to their location (e.g. Ghana’s Sarkodie, Shatta Wale and EL). Cameroon has both French and English as official languages and a very divisive, painful history of conflict along linguistic lines. Jovi flies over any kind of borders and creates his own place, both cosmopolitan and rooted locally, by rapping in a blend of French, English, pidgin English, Ngemba and Nliimbom (Limbum). Perhaps the first rapper in the country to rap in pidgin, he combines his witty social commentary with premium production skills to craft a unique sound that has roots in hip-hop, trap, r&b, and local bikutsi rhythms.

Jovi’s much-loved first album, H.I.V. (Humanity Is Vanishing), has been followed by a succession of solid releases and collaborations (including with Senegalese star Akon). Those who caught our first Fresh Cuts selection will recognize some of the sounds of this track in the bumping tune “La Sauce” by fellow Cameroonian and collaborator Reniss. “Ou Meme?” is driven by similar bikutsi beats and a lush instrumental environment (which makes sense as “La Sauce” was produced by Jovi) and insistent lyrics from Jovi. His album 16 Wives is due for release soon–check back on New Bell Music for updates.

Wanlov the Kubulor: “Trotro Blues” with Otuntu

Here’s a chill tribute to Ghana’s most popular form of transportation, the trotro. This one’s from the one and only rapper/comedian Wanlov the Kubolor, with a guest feature by Otuntu, off the album Orange Card: Fruitopian Raps. The track is a laid-back, retro hip-hop groove mirrored by a video in grainy film. Wanlov and Otuntu rhyme casually in pidgin about the sounds, sights and sufferings of a daily ride on a trotro. While you’re at it, you might want to check out a very different side of Wanlov in this heavy diss track, aimed at MTVBase for featuring Ghanaian rappers who are, in his opinion, lesser than.

AcentOh and Mediopicky: “Patrimonio”

From the Dominican Republic, AcentOh is breaking through the rap game. The young MC is a rising star with a deep, dark and ruthless flow. Like on this track, “Patrimonio,” he tends to partners with producers who lay down a retro, breakbeat vibe, often with flavors of jazz and soul. Mediopicky, a solid producer also from D.R., is behind the beats on this cut and others with AcentOh like “100.” On “Patrimonio,” AcentOh speaks to the rough journey to success in the music business and brutally disses his competitors in the race. Keep an ear out for his album, Apatheia, out Jan. 30.

M.anifest: “B.E.A.R.”

One of Ghana’s biggest names in popular music, Kwame Ametepee Tsikata A.K.A. M.anifest, just dropped this hot hiplife/hip-hop track. His incisive, effortless rhymes flow over a lavish beat with a shimmery horn riff and a horn sample that looks back to Fela’s early recordings with Koola Lobitos. M.anifest boasts his greatness in the rap game: “Ghana man, name one better than…None.” Hearing his rhymes, you might have to agree. The rapper’s list of collaborations goes on and on, having toured and recorded with dozens of big names across the musical spectrum since his entry into the music world as an Economics undergrad at Macalester College in Minnesota. As one line in “B.E.A.R.” boasts, he’s even had residencies and lecture gigs at universities in the U.S. and Ghana: “Universities even pay for my keynotes/So even when I quit rap, I won’t be broke.” Always good to have a contingency plan.

Ibrahim Keita: “Selfish” with Soukeïna

Coming at you from Côte d’Ivoire via Washington, D.C., we’ve got a laid-back alternative r&b track from Ibrahim Keita. Keita grew up in Abidjan, moving to D.C. in his teens where he came of age a computer whiz and DIY producer of skateboarding videos around town. He took up piano in high school and eventually left his computer science studies at college to pursue music full-time. Keita founded his own label, Les Autres, and has worked producing artists in the U.S., Côte d’Ivoire and France (including Afropop contributor Deguet Kone A.K.A. Kinté, Le Prince Héritier). This smooth track features production and vocals from Keita, plus vocals from Soukeïna, a soulful Ivoirian singer (and daughter of Alpha Blondy). Ibrahim Keita’s very dope full-length album, 24, just dropped last month. Check it out here.

BecomingPhill: “Tomorrow Love” with Shishani

BecomingPhill is the musical moniker of Tsuutheni Emvula, a boundlessly curious Namibian artist, tech entrepreneur and space-travel enthusiast (his passions merged in a remix of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”). Emvula, as BecomingPhill, has been a producer with remarkable depth and breadth, working with rappers, producers, guitarists around the globe. He draws musical influence from people like J Dilla, whose pioneering production style not only reshaped the sound of hip-hop but also delved into house music, setting up no limits to his creativity. Emvula takes this idea to heart, from his first forays into electronic music production with the Fruity Loops program in his youth, to his recently released album, Electrum, which sounds like an ahead-of-its-time record right out of the ‘80s (maybe emphasized by the cover art). It’s a slick piece of work with an alluring amount of cheesiness. It’s rife with minimalist electro-pop drum lines with reliable snare and handclaps on the upbeats, funky bass riffs and disco synths. Two tracks host guitar solos from Christian Polloni, a French guitarist who played with Papa Wemba, Alpha Blondy and Youssou N’Dour. In the time that Emvula is not making his modern hip-hop/disco pop, he’s giving TED Talks and trying to find ways of developing a viable space program in Namibia. Very cool.

Otim Alpha: “Gang Ber Ki Dako”

This exceptional piece of work exists in a category of its own. Otim Alpha is a musical legend from Gulu, Uganda, but his music has not reached far beyond the country’s borders. He is a pioneer of electronic music, remixing the repetitive vocals, rhythms and bowed strings of Acholi folk music with dancing synths and a high-speed tumble of electronic drum-kit beats. The result is an incredible, hypnotic flood of music that isn’t at all techno or punk but certainly bears some energetic resemblance. Here’s something I could listen to all day long. This track is part of a collection of Alpha’s music that is due for release February 15 on Nyege Nyege Tapes.

Charleston Okafor: “America” (Jake Fader Kokolo Remix)

Charleston Okafor came to the U.S. from his home in Nigeria to study medicine in Kentucky, but was diverted from that path by the powerful force that is MTV. He had long dreamed of a career in music and eventually left university to realize that dream. Now living in Ohio, Okafor has been in the music world for several decades, hosting a radio show, African Abstract, and producing music of his own. His style brings in shades of reggae, dub, Afrobeat, funk and rock under the umbrella of his bristly, untethered voice. Leading up to his recently released album, America, Okafor, in a reversal of norms, released remixes of the songs on that album. The remixes come from his friends and colleagues in the reggae and Afrobeat world. This cut is a remix of the album’s title track done by Jake Fader of Kokolo Afrobeat Orchestra, with just the right dose of heavy Afrobeat groove laid over Okafor’s imploring vocals.

Témé Tan: “Ça Va Pas La Tête?”

Tanguy Haesevoets, A.K.A. Témé Tan, was in Kinshasa with a tape recorder in pocket when he came across a group of kids singing in the street. He turned the recorder on and caught a snippet of their song, which he samples in this bubbly, intimate funk-pop tune. He says of the kids, “They did not sing in French but I could almost hear as if they were chanting ‘Ça Va Pas La Tête?’ meaning ‘Are You Out Of Your Mind?.’ I later developed the song around those samples in Guinea Conakry. The guitars and bass were recorded on a very cheap amplifier my dad once bought in a supermarket back in the ’80s.”

Haesevoets is a Belgian with Congolese roots, drawing musical inspiration from his youth in Kinshasa and his travels around the globe, from Guinea to Brazil. He blends soul, electro-pop, hip-hop and “Afro elements” into a vibe you might think of as “groove Afro-pop minimaliste” (minimalist Afro-pop groove). Good vibes for a sunny day.

Skales: “Temper Remix” with Burna Boy

Here’s a suave Afrobeats track that shows that Afrobeat (no “s”) is still strong in the Nigerian musical lexicon. Nigerian stars Skales and Burna Boy’s melodies and words riff on several different Fela Kuti songs, mostly “Sorrow Tears and Blood.” In fact, the track may have a bit too much Fela–the official music video was removed from YouTube recently due to a copyright claim by “Anikulapo Kuti.” Put this one on rotation for your morning commute or during moments of chaos: The chorus of this track advises, “As you enter road, remember, cool your temper.”

Back again with more perpetually beautiful and potent guitar jams, Tamashek rock’s godfathers, Tinariwen, have a single from their forthcoming album, Elwan. It’s apropos that it was released not long before a massive global movement brought millions of people into streets around the world for the Women’s March on Jan. 21. The song, recorded with the rest of the album in the deserts of Joshua Tree National Park in California, is an insistent message of solidarity with oppressed Tamashek women fighting for better lives: “That’s the voice of Tamashek women/searching for their freedom/Those are the thoughts of the old women/living in the Sahara devoid of water…/This is a message for those/who toil for the revolution” (translation provided by band management).

That’s it for Vol. Three, keep your ears open for Vol. Four in a few weeks. Stay strong, be well, and keep groovin’.

Assembled with help from Akornefa Akyea, Morgan Greenstreet, Ben Richmond and Alejandro Van Zandt-Escobar.

Jeff Parker
Slight Freedom
(Eremite, 2016)
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