MUSEYON GUIDES » Ethiopia

Frank Gossner Serves Up Hot Vintage Afro-Pop With “Lagos Disco Inferno”

Gabriel — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:19:41 +0000

If you’ve ever thumbed through an edition of our “Music + Travel: Worldwide” guidebook to musical scenes from around the globe, you’d know that we have a soft spot in our hearts for the bouncing Afro-Pop beats that flowed out of the Africa starting in the 1970s. Specifically, we’ve dedicated an entire chapter to “Ethiopop”, the heady mix of traditional and commercial styles rooted in the dance scene of Addis Ababa. But Africa is thick with other sonic hotspots and one, the port city of Lagos clear across the continent from Ethiopia in Nigeria, is getting the retrospective treatment with the upcoming album, “Lagos Disco Inferno”.

As reported on BoingBoing, “Lagos Disco Inferno” is the creation of DJ Frank Gossner, captain of a podcast and blog dedicated to 1970s Afrobeat. A compilation of 12 hot, rare cuts from the days when Lagos was high off of new oil-industry wealth, the album features tracks by stars of that brief, boisterous scene like Christy Essien, Asiko Rock Group, and Nana Love. And don’t go thinking that Gossner just uploaded a few songs from iTunes for this release. Traveling to Lagos himself, the DJ “mined” old record shops, warehouses, and other sites for forgotten, discarded discs, bring back a bounty of rarely heard riches. Lucky for us, Gossner will be debuting these cuts during a launch party at Brooklyn’s own Southpaw Saturday March, 13th. If you can’t make it, check out Gossner’s site for details on his listening party tour or just join us on 16th in buying “Lagos Disco Inferno” when it goes on sale.

To “mine” 12 different musical scenes from around the globe, dig up a copy of our “Music + Travel: Worldwide” guidebook.

“Lagos Disco Inferno” Record Release Party
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Southpaw
125 5th Avenue
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
(718) 230-0236
www.spsounds.com

For more information, go to www.voodoofunk.blogspot.com

OUT NOW! Music + Travel Worldwide: 12 Cities / 12 Scenes

Heather C — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:31:26 +0000

In Music+Travel Worldwide our expert guides take a musical tour around the globe. Check out our sound sampler before you buy the book…

Jazz Land: Chicago by Peter Margasak
Jazz
Hometown Hero: Ken Vandermark and the Ken Vandermark 5

Click to hear 11 more…

Bring the Noise, Bring the Punk: Dublin by James Hendicott
Celtic Punk
Hometown Hero: Blood or Whiskey, “They Say No”

New Rap City: Paris by Miles Marshall Lewis
Muslim Hip-Hop
Hometown Hero: Booba, “Mon Son”

Techno Color: Berlin by Siobhan O’Leary
Techno
Hometown Hero: Ellen Allien Apparat, “Way Out”

Jailhouse Rock: Moscow +St. Petersburg by Alina Simone
Chanson
Hometown Hero: Yanka Dyagileva, “Na Cherniy Den’”

Classical Studies: Istanbul by Alexandra Ivanoff
Classical
Hometown Hero: Fazil Say, “Black Earth”

Swing Shifts: Addis Ababa by Mikael Awake
Ethiopop
Hometown Hero: Mulatu Astatke, “Yekermo Sew” (with the Heliocentrics)

Passage to Indipop: Mumbai by Shamik Bag
Indipop

Hometown Hero: A.R. Rahman, “O Saya” (with MIA)

Experimental Methods: Beijing by Nick Frisch
Experimental
Hometown Hero: Carsick Cars, “Mogu, Mogu”

CARSICK CARS – 蘑菇蘑菇 MOGU MOGU (Music Video) from Maybe Mars / 兵马司 on Vimeo.

Art Rock Confidential: Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane by Mel Campbell
Art Rock
Hometown Hero: Deloris, “Playing the Spaces”

The Digital Domain: Buenos Aires by Eve Hyman
Cumbia
Hometown Hero: Chancha Via Circuito

Chancha Via Circuito – ZZK Records from ZZK Records on Vimeo.

Folk Lure: Los Angeles by Jessica Hundley
Calicountry
Hometown Hero: Devendra Banhart, “Brindo”

Devendra Banhart – Brindo from Rômulo Martinz on Vimeo.

Inside Eithiopop

Heather C — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:21:12 +0000

Most Americans got their first taste of Ethiopop from ‘Broken Flowers‘ the 2005 Jim Jarmusch film which featured a soundtrack by Ethiopian jazz legend Mulatu Astatke.

Trained in the UK and the US, Astatke’s unique style gave birth to a new type of Ethopian music, one that blended jazz and Latin music with his country’s signature sound, combining a sharp horn section with Astatke’s own vibraphone. To discover more music from Ethiopia pick up one of the discs in the ‘Ethiopiques‘ series from Parisian label Buda Musique. The series, begun in 1997, originally featured the best of Ethiopian music of the 1960s and 70s, and grew to include new performances and recordings. Fans of Astatke should check out volume 4 in the series, dedicated entirely to the artist.

Learn more about Ethiopop and Ethiojazz in Music+Travel Worldwide Museyon Guides, where Mikael Awake is your guide to the Swing Shifts in the Ethopian capital.

Swing Shifts: Addis Ababa

Heather C — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:53:04 +0000

Journey back 1,500 years to the birth of music in Ethiopia, explore modern-day Addis Ababa and discover a sound that has influenced artists from Bob Marley to Common. Mikael Awake is your guide to Ethiopop — a genre that emerged when artists like Mulatu Astatke blended jazz, bebop and blues with a sexy, lilting Ethopian sensibility. Want to hear today’s Ethiopop? Awake shows you where to hear a recently reborn genre blending hip-hop, dancehall, reggae and funk with the spirit of Ethiopian music.

image: iStock