Tag Archives: ethiopia

NGOMA Classic 2 – AfroBeat

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_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Since Fela’s voice is much cooler than mine, i have switched out my intro with his, and this mix originally made to promote BlackBox number 1 has grown into a proper NGOMA release – with a few changes and much new goodness including 2 wicked special edits – one of the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.

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NGOMA MIX 13 – Juju-Juke

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Ever since drums were banned on most slave plantations in N. America during the 1600s, after the masters discovering that the slaves organized revolts with their talking drums, the expression of poly-rhythms in N. American popular music has primarily been through use of the voice.  This is the reason music in the US is typified by the simple 1-2 “dupple” rhythm, in contrast to more complex beat patterns in South-America or the Caribbean (which kept their drums).  Thus the evolution of all subsequent Afro-North-American music was profoundly shaped, from Blues to Funk to Disco:  kick on the 1, and snare on the 2; all the way down to the late 20th Century – complex poly-rhythms in hiphop is produced with rap, and the drums remain a skeletal, minimalistic boom-bap, as if just to mark time.

Now in the 21st Century a renewed sense of rhythmic complexity returns to  Afro-North-American dance music in the form of Juke/Footwork in Chicago: interlocking 2s and 3s form intricate beat structures, unmistakeably related to many forms of percussion styles in the motherland (but still often keeping that N. American hard snare on the 2).

OR: STREAM: MIXCLOUD //// DOWNLOAD: SEPARATE TRACKS OR SINGLE TRACK

This NGOMA volume demonstrates this reconnection, after centuries of separation, between African tradition and Afro-Diaspora:  between Nigerian Juju/Fuji music and Chicago Juke/Footwork, between Ethiopian dance styles and Detroit Ghetto-Tech, between Iberian trad-modern street sounds and American R’n’B/Pop, between Afro-Punk and Club Music, between Congolese Mbira workouts and Hiphop, between Ghanaian and Senegalese drumming and Urban Bass Pressure.   Let us pump up the volume and remember the power and spirit of rhythm which survives every hardship, cruelty, and oppression, and rejoice in the timeless Music Of the Drums.

big thanks to Keith Jones for knowledge passing, Itzi Nallah, Sonic Diaspora and states side massive for making the Juju-Juke tour possible, my B-girls Jessi and Maya for support.Juju-Juke Tour kick off in Belgrade

I have played this set a few times now during the Serbia, Germany, and US East Coast tour  a few weeks ago, and crowds have gone completely BONKERS as the energy went straight through the roof: 500 screaming people and massive MOSH PIT at 3AM during Mikser Festival Belgrade; club crowd which refused to leave, clapping and hollering for 20 minutes after lights went up and sound was turned off at The Shrine Chicago.  I guess the world is more than ready for 160 BPM Afro-Footwork pressure!!!

and here is that adrenaline fueled misanthropic juke edit of South African punk rockers Koos by itself (download and drop into your set if you are wo/man enough :D):

FUSION 1

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the FUSION series are mash-up and re-edit albums fusing global traditional music and modern bass/beats. if you’ve ever wondered what Digital Gamelan is like, or what Capetown gospel singers sound like in London Ghettos, or how Robots would play Ethiopian Jazz…

erasing lines, fusing edges, reconnecting all mutations, permutations, lost strains, divided strands, and myriad variations of the deeper-than-we-remember roots from which we all come. limits are arbitrary, borders are lies, separation is illusion.

OR: STREAM: MIXCLOUD // 1 TRACK DL: MEDIAFIRE // SEPARATE TRACKS DL: MEDIAFIRE

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01 Intro
02 Indonesia traditional – Spring Water X Deadbeat – Lost Luggage
03 Indonesia traditional – Morning Sun X itoa – Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart’s Dub Band
04 Balwinder Safri – Karve Da Din X 2562 – Basin Dub
05 Iran Traditional – Zeybek X Dj Hatcha – Chillz
06 The Mahotella Queens – Muntu Wesilisa X Wiley – Bang Bang Instrumental
07 Turkia Traditional – Kervan X L-Wiz – Fruit Shop
08 Indonesia Traditional – Sanda Kandung X Grime instrumental
09 Benga – Half Ounce X Burundi Traditional bernadette ii
10 Indonesia Traditional – Ngantosan X Mark One – Slang
11 Huseyin Ali Riza Albayrak – Ey Zahid X Danny Weed – Dirty Den
12 African Headcharge – Belinda X Blir – 19_4_04
13 Akhenation – 361 Degrees X Kode 9 – Magnetic City
14 Toshinori Kondo – Fukotsu X Pinch – Qawwali
15 Indonesia Traditional X L-Wiz – Fruit Shop
16 The Mahotella Queens – Ndodana Yolahleko X Skream – Skunkstep
17 Circle – Memo X Even Order ???
18 Hiripsime – ces femmes qui me ressemblent X Cyrus – Random Trio – Bounty
19 Hijak – Nightmares X ø – Toisaalia
20 Ana Whabibi – Mahmoud Fadi (interlude)
21 The Mahotella Queens – Amezemula X Iron Soul – Slo Moshun
22 African Headcharge – Run Come Saw X DQ1 – Wear The Crown
23 Indonesia Traditional – Padang Magek X Omen – Rebellion
24 Mulatu Astatge – Kulunmanqueleshi X Dj Hatcha – Just a Rift
25 Loka – Fire Shepherds X L-Wiz – Fruit Shop
26 Loka – Fire Shepherds X Kion Zindagi
27 La Chat Playa – Gangsta Forever X DJ Wonder – What
28 Rove X Vex’d – Destruction
29 Armenia Traditional – Boulbouli Hid (Le Chant du Rossignol) X L-Wiz – Sub
30 Turkia Traditional – Cagirayim Seni X Shackleton – Blood On My Hands

NGOMA MIX 5 – Nomad Boogie

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here is one for the boogie: classic and soulful grooves designed for more intimate spaces.

STREAM:  MIXCLOUD // DOWNLOAD SINGLE TRACK:  MEDIAFIRE

i made this mix for smaller and “normal” local bars and clubs: really tried to make something both for the general public, meaning anyone from any walk of life, as well as the music heads. the ideal is a CD that almost any bar anywhere in the world can pop in their stereo at any given night and have people nod their heads, tap their feet, and maybe even get a little jiggy. how close the actual product ended up being to this ideal is yet to be tested, as well as my thesis that one does not have to succumb to lowest common denominators to appeal to everyone. (we will see, i have already started giving these out to local establishments in berlin)