Independent Parisian label Nø Førmat will be releasing a box set, titled Nø Førmat! Mali, featuring four of their previously released Malian acoustic folk albums. The albums showcases music from the genuine griot tradition while exploring new paths by blending Mandinka and classical notes.
The set features two albums by Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent Segal who are both performers and producers on the albums. Coming from different musical backgrounds they have managed to create delicate and intricate arrangements on their albums. Rounding off the set are traditional Malian singer Kassé Mady Diabaté's solo album Kiriké and Ballaké Sissoko’s solo kora album At Peace highlighting their individual effortless virtuoso-like performances.
The box set will be released on 10th March.
Check out Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Segal's Musique de Nuit below.
Proving that disco did not only ignite in the USA but elsewhere likewise, Soundway's latest compilation Doing It In Lagos: Boogie, Pop & Disco In 1980’s Nigeria collects 21 infectious boogie, pop and disco hits from 80s Nigeria.
Post-civil war with the economy at an all time high, recorded music quickly displaced live bands due to the improved quality of sound systems and DJ equipment. At the forefront of this new movement were legendary producers such as Jake Sollo, Lemmy Jackson, Tony Essien, Odion Iruoje alongside new faces Nkono Teles and Tony Okoroji. Taking cues from the gloss and sheen of 80s USA, these artists took to falsetto vocals, slap basses and a heavy emphasis on the groove for their iteration of American influenced disco music.
Soundway sums up their intent with this release as they explain, "With a never-ending discussion about what ‘World Music’ may or may not be and in a time where the influence of African, Latin and Caribbean music is firmly accepted as an instrumental and integral ingredient in the formation of disco and proto-house music, this compilation hopes to make a strong case for the Nigerian chapter of the story.".
Packaged as a triple LP set, it will be released on 9th December. Check out the full tracklisting below and check out Oby Onyioha's 'Enjoy Your Life' off the compilation.
Tracklist:
Hotline – Fellas Doing It In Lagos Peter Abdul – Don’t You Know Steve Monite – Only You Oby Onyioha – Enjoy Your Life Kio Amachree – Ivory Livy Ekemezie – Holiday Action Willy Roy – Don’t Give Up Danny Offia & The Friks – Funk With Me Rick Asikpo & Afro Fusion – Too Hot Terry Mackson – Distant Lover Ofege – Burning Jungle Odion Iruoje – Indentify With Your Root Mike Umoh – Shake Your Body Burnis Moleme – Where is the Answer Sony Enang – Don’t Stop that Music Veno – Groove I like Godfrey Odili – Let’s Do More Music Toby Foyeh – Ore Mi Gboyega Adelaja – Colourful Environment Lexy Mella – On the Air Nkono Teles – Be My Lady (Mix)
The Vinyl Factory has released the jazz, funk and afro-beat influenced soundtrack to Stan Douglas' 'Luanda-Kinshasa'. Part of The Infinite Mix exhibition, the video was shot like a documentary film on a replica set crafted to resemble Columbia Records’ legendary New York studio The Church.
According to The Vinyl Factory, "Stan Douglas’s Luanda-Kinshasa depicts a fictional 1970s jazz-funk band engaged in a seemingly endless real-time jam. The band’s music echoes the then-current confluence of American jazz, funk and Afrobeat – a musical fusion made possible, as the video’s title indirectly implies, by the emerging independence and rising profile of African nations.
As the camera appears to seamlessly circle around the studio, the sound mix highlights whichever musician it lingers on, enhancing the impression that we are watching a live performance. But the band’s improvisation is actually a construction: intricately remixed by Douglas in the editing room, it extends through over six hours of ‘alternate takes’ created by recombining various shots and accompanying sections of music. Conjuring a never-ending sequence of variations, Luanda-Kinshasa conjures a vision of culture as a potentially ‘infinite mix.’"
Pressed on double heavyweight vinyl, packaged in a gatefold sleeve with two printed inner sleeves which also features 'The Eye of the Trumpet' an essay by renowned German author and music journalist Diedrich Diederichsen.
