Tomorrow night, Afrique Sessions continues at Sutra. I’ll be playing again, with a special invited guest performing from Paris, Maimouna Coulibaly. Maimouna wrote, directed, starred in, and choreographed the play I was a part of a couple years ago in San Francisco. She’s back in the states to perform her latest play, and teach dance workshops for a few months again in the Bay Area.

Make sure not to miss this one night New York appearance!

This weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I will be playing a supporting role in Hééé Mariamou, a play/dance performance written by, directed, and starring Maimouna Coulibaly, Malian dancer/actor from Paris.  It will be at the Dance Mission Theater on the corner of 24th and Mission in San Francisco.  There will be lot’s Coupe Decale, Kuduro, Dancehall, Zouk, dancing, singing, and more French Urban sounds, as well as music by Malian legends such as Salif Keita, Oumou Sangare.  The dancing is amazing, and the energy is really live.  She also deals with many issues of African immigrant identity and growing up with a diverse cultural background, ideas that are shared with threads in my own thoughts/work.

Check the video trailer from my previous post, and an excerpt from this article that appeared in yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle.

“My little sister, she’s 20 years old now,” Coulibaly says, “and I know that she’s not really sure of what she is exactly (African, French or Afro-French).”

Through “Mariamou,” Coulibaly says she’s hoping to shed some light on the conflicts she and others face. Her performance mixes a play with African urban dance forms, like N’Dombolo (Congo), and other styles of dance, including modern ballet and street jazz.

The piece is Coulibaly’s way of taking the best of both worlds after years of trying to make everybody happy.

“Now,” she says. “I choose to take only the positive things in each culture.”

Benjamin signing a contract with my favorite Coupe Decale artist Kedjevera!

Benjamin from Akwaaba Music Label, is (fairly) fresh off a trip to Angola and Brazil.  I am fresh off a trip to Senegal, and the E.U.  DJ Marco is the man behind the entire Baobab Village.  We will all be at Little Baobab tonight, Friday, August 28th!   Forces for the promotion of African music and culture in the U.S. will be strong in the building!!!

Kuduromatic put up a song with rhythms, melodies, and vocal stylings that sound to me like Angolans being influenced by West African Hiplife, Coupe Decale or Zouglou. Perhaps it’s a nod to Congolese Soukous, the name Langa Langa recalling my favorite Soukous group Zaiko Langa Langa.

DJ Papi Chulo and Alidjuma-Langa Langa

Maybe I’m wrong about that, and this is purely Angolan, but I picture in my head someone in Angola listening at a distance to a song from a place they’ve never been and being influenced enough to try to replicate that with their own musical dialect. It excites me to think that the rhythms and understanding would come naturally in this trans-national musical conversation.

I grew up within earshot of mid-nineties Chicago, Dance Mania’s heyday. I didn’t know what the songs were that made their way into radio DJ sets and middle school dance parties alongside songs from Luke, Tag Team, or perhaps Quad City DJ’s. I more remember the sex education I received from watching my schoolmates dance. I fondly recall one “hip hop” party where the kids were freaking to Underworld.

At family parties I danced to music from far away places like Trinidad, The Congo and Cameroon.

Kuduro, for me, mixes the family party rhythm, with the middle school party attitude. A message of understanding from Africa.

A friend told me the other day, “your ancestors are talking to you.”

Maybe they’re just mediating the conversations I have with other people.

Today we have another urban Angolan guest post by Benn loxo listener, DJ Chief Boima:

“So Kuduro. It seems to be making some waves on the international scene. And reflections on why lead me to thoughts on post war youth expression. Young people who grow up seeing humanity at it’s worst feeling the need to create something put something in the world, blow it up, and not themselves. Youth, fueled by emotions: anger, sadness, jubilation, create.

When the war is over, the world takes a peak into a society that many times is left for years, isolated to deal with its issues on its own.

So now we have Kuduro. Another ghetto expression where dancing replaces shooting. While the roots of Kuduro go way before the war was over, it is now that it’s getting some international attention. As for reasons why it’s getting attention, I would like to speculate on some deep emotional connection to violence that is counteracted by music, or go off on how many times the internet creates bandwagon trends, and then leaves when they find the next it thing, but the explanation could be as simple as the fact that so many people become displaced from a country and it’s culture during conflict times that their culture gets dispersed throughout the world in the diaspora. People living abroad want to connect to home, especially if they can’t go back, so they bring a part of home with them. The original international distribution is migration.

I don’t know a lot about the history of Angola, so I won’t go any further on what’s going on there now. All I can say is I love this music. It resonates with me, and always gets the crowds movin’. It’s crazy danceable with a clave backbone, (we are close to Congo here, and as hinted in my previous post I know, there’s a Rumba/Soukous/Kuduro Connection) an electronic 808 thump, created on the computer and ready for internet distribution, some hand claps for those disco/house throwbacks, (percolator eat your heart out!) and a fast orgulloso lyric that represents “where you’re from.” With all these ingredients, you have a mix for great music.

If you want to pick some of this music up a good starter is Frederic Gaillano’s CD available on Calabash. Buraka Som Sistema available on iTunes. Dog Murras is available on various Portuguese mail order sites, Puto Prata, Os Alameda, and Se Bem have also made some great tunes.

And if you’re in the states and you don’t know someone that just visited Africa who can sell you CD’s at three times the cost, these are two sites for music called CaboVerdeOnline, and Acheio.com. I’m not gonna vouch for them because I haven’t used them, but if you’re dying to get your hands on some hard copies here’s a start. Also if you’re in Europe FNAC Portugal carries Kuduro CD’s and DVD’s. I don’t think they have a ton, but you can order them online. Some of these groups are touring and Kuduro is spreading through Europe by way of Portugal, so just look around your town to get involved. Watch Kuduro dancing on You Tube.

These are my favorite Kuduro songs that I’ve heard so far. Nao Reipeitao Neh has the best beat I’ve ever heard. Hand claps I can’t get enough of! And Meu Povo’s drum intro and Angola Chants make me jump everytime I hear them. Enjoy…”

Amazing, as usual. Thanks, Boima.

Alameda – Nao Reipeitao Neh
Dog Murras – Meu Povo

“I don’t know why but I too have become infatuated with Afro-Portuguese music. Maybe it’s because I’m Sierra Leonean and the Portuguese were the first to colonize before the British, and some Portuguese words survived in Krio like “sabi.” Or, maybe it’s because I speak Spanish not French and the it is much easier for me to get the general meaning behind the Portuguese lyrics than songs in other languages. Or, maybe because when I first heard Kuduro it blew my mind, and as a dj I became obsessed with the music that moves your booty like the Chicago House I used hear to at our middle school dances, but has roots in music like the dance tunes I knew from the African parties of my parents’ generation. But, here I am today collecting anything I can get my hand on from Bahia to Lisbon to Luanda and beyond.

Here are two hip hop tracks that also blew my mind when I first heard them. They are from two hip hop artists from Angola.

The first is Das Primeiro whom I heard the first time on some hip hop compilations when I took a trip to Portugal, he also has a track on the Rough Guide to African Rap. I think that he lives in Europe somewhere now, (Amsterdam?) but he reps Angola, and has a monster flow, with the confidence and delivery that could stand up to any of the greats in any language. I like his use of samples and really seems to be aware of his cultural roots while maintaining a strong hip hop identity. I chose the song Mana Maria because it has a real nice guitar sample that reminds of some of the Kizomba tunes or the other guitar based tunes that I’ve heard from Angola.

The second is Sonho Africano from Hemoglobina two Angolan MC’s, who live in South Africa now. (?) I heard them first on DJ Edu’s show on BBC 1xtra. This song is my favorite African hip hop song, because it reps a bunch of different nations, as well as the dope lyric content about what a gwan in Africa. It also has a beautiful guitar sample, and the beat drops heavy! I haven’t tracked down their album yet, but writing this has reminded/inspired me to do so. If any one knows where I can get it, hit me up: boima [at] ironmilitis.com. There are ton of great rappers in Portuguese out there, not just from Angola and who all use cultural influences to make their own brand of hip hop, like Sir Scratch, Rappin’ Hood and Marcelo D2. Check em’ if you get the chance.”

Thanks, Boima.

Das Primeiro – Mana Maria
Hemoglobina – Sonho Africano