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Awesome Tapes From Africa
Bola 'Volume 7'
£11.99
Awesome Tapes From Africa
Bola 'Volume 7'
£11.99
Bola s music melds sheer force of spirit with a sound not often heard by ears outside the remote Upper East Region of Ghana. This man who grew up herding livestock in the savannah, far away from the tropical coast and cosmopolitan cities of Accra and Kumasi, has aligned himself with national and international means of expression to transform his hometown sound into something downright avant-garde.
His bold fury stems from the kologo'a two-stringed lute with a calabash gourd resonator' and Frafra language vocals, emitted in raspy bursts. Traditionally, kologo performances occur at pito (local beer made from fermented millet or sorghum) bars, weddings, funerals, festivals or spontaneous jams on the street, which are the environments where Bola honed his craft as a solo musician. In recent years, he came into contact with people like his mentor Guy One who helped him get into the studio to document what is some of the most dynamic music to come out of Ghana since the emergence of hiplife in the mid-'90s.
Volume 7, which came out in 2009, is just one entry in a brilliant series of recordings Bola has released on CD and cassette. Although he employs a traditional instrument and the age-old mode of griot story-telling, Bola embraces elements of up-tothe- minute mainstream Ghanaian music'drum machines, synths, bone-shaking bass. Inspired by pioneering kologo greats like King Ayisoba, Bola has taken a dynamic instrument used by traditional healers and herbalists to sing to god in search of advice and taken it to futuristic heights.
Tracklisting:
1. Burilbunbol Suma
2. Makamiba
3. Yine Ntaripaga
4. Tivona Vonbubo
5. Yine Mmema
6. Tigantabame
7. Hoyenbesa Nini
8. Abayetidu Ma
His bold fury stems from the kologo'a two-stringed lute with a calabash gourd resonator' and Frafra language vocals, emitted in raspy bursts. Traditionally, kologo performances occur at pito (local beer made from fermented millet or sorghum) bars, weddings, funerals, festivals or spontaneous jams on the street, which are the environments where Bola honed his craft as a solo musician. In recent years, he came into contact with people like his mentor Guy One who helped him get into the studio to document what is some of the most dynamic music to come out of Ghana since the emergence of hiplife in the mid-'90s.
Volume 7, which came out in 2009, is just one entry in a brilliant series of recordings Bola has released on CD and cassette. Although he employs a traditional instrument and the age-old mode of griot story-telling, Bola embraces elements of up-tothe- minute mainstream Ghanaian music'drum machines, synths, bone-shaking bass. Inspired by pioneering kologo greats like King Ayisoba, Bola has taken a dynamic instrument used by traditional healers and herbalists to sing to god in search of advice and taken it to futuristic heights.
Tracklisting:
1. Burilbunbol Suma
2. Makamiba
3. Yine Ntaripaga
4. Tivona Vonbubo
5. Yine Mmema
6. Tigantabame
7. Hoyenbesa Nini
8. Abayetidu Ma
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Senegalese griot Aby Ngana Diop was famous for her taasu, a form of oral poetry spoken to the rhythmic accompaniment of sabar and tama drums. Taasu is typically created and performed by griot women (a class of poets, storytellers and/or musicians), with a lead taasukat (practitioner of taasu) performing her distinct style of heightened, rhythmically declaimed speech in call-and-response with a small chorus of female vocalists. (Taasu is seen by some to be a predecessor to rap.) Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Diop developed a reputation for being one of the most sought-after taasukats in Dakar, performing with her backup singers, dancers and drummers at parties, weddings and baptisms of the Dakar elite, including government officials and dignitaries. Aby Ngana Diop was undisputedly the best taasukat of her generation.! In 1994, the Dakar diva released her one and only studio cassette recording, Liital, to the Senegalese market.Visit product page →
Liital was groundbreaking in the history of Senegalese music because it was the first commercial recording to feature a traditional female taasukat performing to the modern accompaniment of mbalax, Senegal's quintessential pop genre. The combination of Diop and her backup vocalists with their powerful taasu, along with the driving, complex rhythms of the sabar and tama drums, mixed with key elements of mbalax (such as the syncopated, polyphonic marimba sounds played on the Yamaha DX7 keyboard) was something the Senegalese public had never heard before. But it wasn't only because of the fusion of taasu with mbalax; unlike in other mbalax tunes, the musical arrangements on this cassette are instead peculiarly minimalist and almost trance-like, with static harmonies and melodic figures playing more of an atmospheric role.
The cassette became a huge hit, propelling Diop to a new level of superstardom. It could be heard blasting from taxis and from loudspeakers at house parties, weddings and baptisms for years to come. Liital bridged the gap between the more traditional taasu and the modern mbalax sound, thus appealing to all generations of the Senegalese public - and they simply couldn't get enough of it. ! When Aby Ngana Diop died unexpectedly on July 4, 1997, the country mourned her passing, but continued to celebrate her music.
Other artists such as Cheikh LO, Thio Mbaye and Lamine Touré released recordings based on some of Diop's taasu and accompanying drum phrases, paying further tribute to her musical legacy. Although this cassette has caught the attention of some African music aficianados who have stumbled upon it in recent years, it remains largely unknown to the wider world. Hopefully this re-release from Awesome Tapes From Africa will change that.!
Tracklisting:
1. Dieuleul-Dieuleul
2. Ndame
3. Yaye Penda Mbaye
4. Liital
5. Sapaly
6. Ndadje -
Ata Kak's cassette Obaa Sima fell on deaf ears when it was self-released in Ghana and Canada in 1994.Visit product page →
The music on the recording - an amalgam of highlife, Twi-language rap, funk and disco - is presented with the passion of a Prince record and the DIY-bedroom-recording lo-fi charm of early Chicago house music.
The astute self-taught song craft and visionary blend of sounds and rhythms has made the album a left-field cult favorite among adventurous listeners worldwide.
Awesome Tapes From Africa founder Brian Shimkovitz found the tape in 2002 in Cape Coast, Ghana - one of only a few ever pressed - and later made it the inaugural post on the Awesome Tapes From Africa blog.
Hundreds of thousands of downloads, YouTube views, music video tributes and remixes, as well as years of mystery regarding Ata Kak's whereabouts, culminate in this remastered release featuring rare photos and the full back story of one of the internet age's most enigmatic musicians.
Tracklisting:
1. Obaa Sima
2. Moma Yendodo
3. Adagya
4. Medofo
5. Daa Nyinaa
6. Yemmpa Aba
7. Bome Nnwom -
Visit product page →At the age of 28, Awalom Gebremariam arrived in the United States, following a years-long journey from Eritrea. He'd made it to a refugee camp in Ethiopia several years ago and eventually attained asylum status for passage to America. But before he left his hometown, Eritrea's capital Asmara, he made his first and only recording so far, Desdes.
In 2006, Awalom began to teach himself two of Eritrea's most recognizable and important folk instruments, the wata and the krar. Although they have roots in traditional music, they are heard in most Eritrean folk and pop recordings.
Awalom completed Desdes in 2007, not long before he departed Eritrea. Because Awalom left after the recording he never received any money for cassette and CD sales. But he also didn't get to find out how much of an impact the songs have had locally.
His songs appear to focus on love, but Awalom isn't speaking about romantic love per se. Much of the music Awalom heard growing up was intertwined with Eritrea's difficult and contentious split from Ethiopia. In 2012, during a trip to Switzerland to help promote a film about biking in Eritrea, ATFA was given a copy of Desdes by fixed-gear bicycle athlete Patrick Seabase, the documentary's protagonist. Seabase gave a copy to ATFA founder Brian Shimkovitz as a gift and it later appeared on the ATFA blog. !
A few years later Shimkovitz was contacted by some agencies in North Carolina, where Awalom had settled. Through a translator very one decided to work together on a reissue of his recording. It took many months to source a clean master but now the album is ready and Awalom's goals are clear.
He spent years waiting for the chance to escape economic and political turmoil at home. Now 29 and living in North Carolina, he works in a restaurant and plans to bring his music to Eritrean communities across North America as well as newer listeners with whom his powerful sounds and remarkable journey will deeply resonate.
Tracklisting:
1. Desdes
2. Tehhelo
3. Teumat Chena
4. Aadu
5. Eritrea
6. Salel
7. Segamaye
8. Malegaanya
9. Gwaal Haagaraye
10. Showite Sigem -
DJ Katapila makes Ga traditional music using electronic sounds instead of live percussion to create his own kind of what he calls house music. In the context of Ghana's pop music landscape, Katapila's music is singular.Visit product page →
The uptempo, bass-heavy, Roland 808-rooted sounds echo early 1990's Detroit techno and Chicago acid house more than the contemporary hiplife productions blasting across Ghanaian airwaves currently. However, the structure of Katapila's sound directly descends from Ga musical lineage found around Accra. Neo-traditional dance music forms gome, kpanlogo and gyama are there.
DJ Katapila didn't start producing music until he was 39 years old. Around 1998, began chanting and rapping in Twi and Ga during instrumental breaks of songs he was DJing. He added Yamaha DD11 electronic drum pads and sampler and invented new creations on the fly. Katapila then began experimenting with program beats using Fruity Loops on his laptop.
His music reflects his love for the international dance pop that filtered into Accra's radio waves in the '90s: Inner City's "Big Fun"; C&C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat"; Crystal Waters' "Gypsy Woman"; even Rick Astley hits, among many others. Katapila mixed international tunes with highlife - J.A. City Boys and AB Crentsil - as well as hiplife, Ghanaian gospel, Jamaican dancehall, soca and regional Francophone hits.
This blend helped set the stage for Trotro and the inspired yet minimalist dance music Katapila now creates.
Tracklisting:
1. Sakawa
2. Trotro
3. Cocoawra
4. Nkran Dokunu
5. Lalokat
6. Ice-Inc
7. Zoomlion
8. Trotro (Instrumental)
9. Cocoawra (Angel)
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