Digital Africa 4
1
Category Archives: Downloads
East of the River Nile
A short version of the set i did at SPACES Festival at Iwalewahaus in Bayreuth, Germany.
Dance Dance Revolution: The Insurrectionary Politics of Shaking It
Anarcho-Communist mega-party-mix: end of article
“If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want to Be Part of Your Revolution”
–Attributed to Emma Goldman
“Music is a weapon, a real weapon, in a concrete sense.”
–Desmond Tutu (1)
“Dancing is the remedy of resistance, the art of the marginalized and dispossessed.”
–Marc de la Maison (2)
The Journey Part 2
Rhythms of the mother continent meets Sound of Berlin: NGOMA envisions dance music of a society that we want our grand children to live in. Decolonized poly-scyncretic drum machines of a high-tech egalitarian future, constructed from the plurality of various life experiences and multiple sonic perspectives today, NGOMA fuses the best of many worlds for maximum mind expansion, soul elevation, and body intoxication.
Astro Love Machine
With a strict focus on intimate dancefloors, this mid tempo mix (along with its faster sister which will soon arrive) connects Afro-Jazz and Techno, Soul and Bass, Highlife and Electro, Disco and Ancestral drumming in ways you’ve probably not heard before.
NYEGE NYEGE Festival Official Mix
Nyege Nyege Festival in Jinja, Uganda, is about the infinite and timeless rhythmelodic traditions from the motherland and its myriad mutations around the globe, and their sometimes difficult to perceive but indivisible connection. It is my duty as rhythm ambassador to reveal the truth about these connections between ancient and future, between the so-called “East” and so-called “West”, in a visceral way on the dance floor; and it is what i have tried to do with this mix.
MUTANT 7 – Club Invasion
In the ongoing rebirth of explicit poly-rhythms and super syncopated percussive goodness in African-American music, B-more/Philly and Newark/Jersey Club is a particularly sexy and fun permutation, and has been gaining momentum for a number of years, bursting with musical and dance ideas. Vice just made a documentary and in 2015 i think it will finally invade dance floors all over in a big way. (Next month i will be playing the first Vice sponsored Club Jersey party in London – stay tuned)
JUJUDEATH
179 killed by institutional racist violence for the crime of trying to live in the drugs and guns infested poverty that white supremacy keeps them in, during the past 15 years, In NYC alone. How many disabled? In comas? How many with missing lungs or bullets in stomachs? How many broken ribs/arms/legs? How many physically assaulted? Abused in custody? How many terrorized? Humiliated? Incarcerated?
NGOMA Classic 3 – Mega Benga
The climate in Nairobi is cool and perfect all year round, despite being on the equator, due to its high altitude. The East African Rumba sound is also often cooler, sans the fiery horn sections of Congolese Soukous. The focus here is on a reduced palette of rhythmic guitar and vocal refrains over driving, insistent 4 on the floor kicks. The motorik, hypnotic motifs and modular progression of this original minimalist dance music here is mostly from 1950s to 1970s, and i play it in the seamless style of techno.
The Merkolator
MUTANT 05 Club Deconstruction
“Transcendence and beauty is possible during both the renaissance and golden-age of a culture, as it is during the decline of empire.” — Anonymous
MUTANT 4 – Meta House
Evil twin of the last MUTANT mix of brightly hued, sun-kissed club music for endless summer nights, Meta House is heavy, narcotic. Including lots of deep techy tracks, some jacking, bassline, healthy dose of ghetto, a touch of shuffling, and material which may be in the category of “House Not House” — but as abstract or bassy as any part of it may be, i made sure that all selections are primarily, unmistakably House – all steady kicks and offbeat hi-hats.
MUTANT 3 – In the House
MUTANT 3 is about euphoric and summery, purely pleasurable, feel good electronic music from North America and Europe.
JUJULIFE
From Soweto to Chicago, from Jakarta to Paris,
from Lagos to London, from Conakry to Berlin.
MUTANT 2 – D’n’B Legacy
In the late 1940s and 1950s the first wave of Afro-Caribbean immigrants, many of them ex-servicemen who fought, bled, and watched their friends die during WW2 for the UK, landed with their families in London. During that first winter bricks were thrown into their windows (often in bags containing shit), their homes were attacked, and there were regular assaults on their children. When the situation got really bad, they tore up bed sheets to use as bandages, used kitchen knives and broken furniture as weapons, to defend their homes and loves ones. But when these loyal colonial subjects fought back they became the primary criminals in the eyes of the police: regularly mistreated, unjustly punished, and even framed for crimes they did not commit. This is the kind of injustice and abuse faced by black people in England ever since, all the way to today’s discrimination and structural economic inequality.
NGOMA 17 – Cumbiatronic
Very excited to bring you this long time coming Neuvo/Electro/Bass Cumbia mix, about time i showed solidarity with all my South American sisters and brothers, Christmas day is as good as any other 🙂
NGOMA 16 – Love and Rebellion
The only reason that I have stayed away from Reggae so far is because it is one of, if not THE most represented of Afro-Diasporic musical traditions from the Southern Hemisphere (as determined by various historical factors). But time has come for NGOMA series to dive right into the beautiful and intense sounds of Jamaica, time tested and honed to perfection.
NGOMA Classic 2 – AfroBeat
Since Fela’s voice is much cooler than mine, i have switched out my intro with his, and this mix originally made to promote BlackBox number 1 has grown into a proper NGOMA release – with a few changes and much new goodness including 2 wicked special edits – one of the Ethio classic by Mahmoud Ahmed (following a funktastic number by Berlin’s own Woima Collective), and another of a very unique cosmic disco track by the techno head Lego Welt’s Afrocentric alter ego Nacho Patrol. Old version of this mix can still be heard Rebootfm – 11-dj-zhao-blackbox-1-ngoma”>here.
Afro Beets
OCORA Africa Mega Post
don’t have time for cover art and little write ups, so you will have to deal with the list dump style of this post (cover art and sometimes scans of liner notes should be in most archives). Includes 2 versions of the much sought after and rare Dogon vinyl, with substantial differences in tracklisting, which among the first wave of awesome recordings was never reissued on CD.
For the uninitiated, OCORA was one of, if not the, most well researched and presented labels which dealt with indigenous sounds from all over the earth, and i made the promise, which i still do intend on keeping, of making the entire past catalog of 500+ recordings available on this blog. there has been quite a few South Asian and African posts already, just look for it. To be continued.
For more Ocora awesomeness, head over to Aaseance.
- [ocora] Africa Burkina Faso – Pays Lobi Xylophone de Funerailles
- [ocora] Africa Burkina Faso Pays Lobi
- [ocora] Africa Congo – Cérémonie du Bobé
- [ocora] Africa Congo Polyphonies Mongo OCR 53
- [ocora] Africa Côte d’Ivoire_ Musique Gouro OCR 48
- [ocora] Africa Ethiopie – Musiques Vocales Et Instrumentales
- [ocora] Africa Guinée – Récits et Épopées (ocora)
- [ocora] Africa Les Dogon
- [ocora] Africa Madagascar – Pays Bara
- [ocora] Africa Madagascar Valiha_OCR 18
- [ocora] Africa Mali – La Nuit des Griots
- [ocora] Africa Mali Les Dogon OCR 33
- [ocora] Africa Niger – Chasseurs du Dallol Mawri
- [ocora] Africa togo – orchestres et lithophones kabiye 2005
- [ocora] Africa Uganda Musique des Baganda
NGOMA SOUND 