Afropop Worldwide

Miami’s Afro Roots Fest is back on stage at the North Miami Beach Bandshell. Mostly. The 2021 edition featured live performances by Afro-Nicaraguan singer/songwriter Philip Montabán and by sacred steel guitar master Roosevelt Collier, with special guests Richard Bona and Weedie Braimah. There were also remote concert sets from Vieux Farka Toure in Mali and Fulu Miziki in Uganda. The Afropop team was there to capture the excitement of socially distanced live music under the stars. The program features recordings and interviews as we look to the dawn of a new post-pandemic era. Produced by Banning Eyre and Sean Barlow.

To make this unprecedented program, producer Ned Sublette traveled to Mbanza-Kongo, the ancient seat of the Kongo empire located in present-day northern Angola, where he spoke to Dr. Bárbaro Martínez Ruiz, professor of art and art history at Stanford. We’ll learn about the simbi, the spirits that Martínez Ruiz describes as “the multiple power of god”; hear Antonio Madiata play the lungoyi-ngoyi, the two-stringed viola of the Kongo court; attend a session of the lumbu, the traditional tribunal of elders; and talk to Pedro Lopes, a nganga mawuko (traditional healer). With C. Daniel Dawson and Angolan composer and musicologist Victor Gama, we’ll explore Kongo-Ngola culture in the diaspora – in Brasil, Haiti, Cuba, and more. A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY TO MBANZA-KONGO is supported by a 2012 Knight Luce Fellowship for Reporting on Global Religion. The fellowship is a program of the University of Southern California's Knight Chair in Media and Religion. APWW #651 Originally produced by Ned Sublette in 2012

The Money Show Every day, money changes hands in Ghanaian cedi, South African rand, and Brazilian real as music is created, traded, performed, purchased and pirated. In this episode we look at the business side of African music, through a series of vignettes from around the continent and diaspora that illuminate the deep connections between musical creation and the economies that sustain it. We start with the story of how cellphones are transforming Africa's music industries. Then, we see how economic competition drove the creation of Colombian champeta music. We take a look at the role of copyright in Jamaican dancehall, and follow the legal struggle over royalties from "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in South Africa. Originally produced in 2014 by Marlon Bishop Assistant Producers: Briana Duggan, Joe Dobkin, Ryan Kailath APWW #685

"Dakar Muse" takes us to one of the most exciting musical cities in Africa. We'll meet young stars on the Mbalax scene, Senegal's national music, including Tarba Mbaye, Sidy Diop, Sidy Samb and Pape Diouf. And we'll hear rappers making their mark in the huge Hip Hop scene including Dip Doundou Guiss and Ngaaka Blinde. Finally, we pay tribute to the brilliant Mbalax pioneer Thione Seck, who recently died of Covid-19. APWW #832 Produced by Sean Barlow

When you think punk, a few locations tend to come to mind- New York, London, LA. But Durban? Jo’Burg? South Africa? In this program, we are taking a trip to a time and a place where punk had a very different meaning, exploring the music and the legacy of the mixed race bands that challenged apartheid. Little known to the outside world, and often overlooked even within South Africa, groups like National Wake, The Genuines, and The Kalahari Surfers used music to articulate their disgust with the society around them, calling out the conformity, repression, and political hypocrisy that defined the apartheid era. As time went on and theory was put into practice, the music became increasingly adventurous, drawing from the full diversity of South Africa’s musical culture, and fusing it to the raw energy of punk. In doing so, they created a model that continues to inspire bands to the present day. APWW #656

On this program we survey the careers of two giants within their genres. Bunny Wailer is the last surviving member of the original Bob Marley and the Wailers trio. Right up to his 2016 tour, where we met him, this architect of reggae music has continued to carry the banner with new concerts and recordings. And he tells his story with bracing poetic candor. Meanwhile in Egypt, Hakim, the lion of shaabi music, remains a superstar and a player in that country’s turbulent pop scene. On a rare visit to New York, Hakim gives us a tour through his post-revolution songs, and offers personal insights into Egypt’s equally turbulent politics. APWW #737 Originally produced in 2016 by Banning Eyre

On March 6, 1971, a group of some of the top musicians from the United States -– Ike and Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett, the Staple Singers, and more -– boarded a plane bound for Ghana to perform in a musical celebration that was dubbed the “Soul to Soul Festival.” Thousands of audience members filled Accra’s Black Star Square for a continuous 15 hours of music. The festival was planned in part for the annual celebration of Ghana’s independence, but also as an invitation to a “homecoming” for these noted African-American artists to return to Africa. This episode revisits the famed music festival on its 50th anniversary and explores the longstanding legacy of cultural exchange with African diasporans originally set forth in the 1950s by Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana. Tune in for interviews with noted musicologist John Collins, poet and scholar Tsitsi Ella Jaji, concert goers and more.

We trace the history of this most American of instruments from its ancestors in West Africa through the Caribbean and American South and into the present, as a new generation of Black women artists reclaim the banjo as their own. Rhiannon Giddens, Bassekou Kouyate, Bela Fleck and more talk claw-hammers, trad jazz, Appalachian folk, African ancestors and the on-going story of American music, which would be woefully incomplete without a Black history of the banjo. Produced by Ben Richmond. [APWW #828]

We explore the rich period in the 1970s when soul flourished in Brazil. We’ll hear standard bearers of the movement such as Tim Maia, Ed Motta, Toni Tomado, Sandra de Sá and others. Tales by participants from back in the day plus commentary by author Christopher Dunn. [APWW #436] [Originally aired 2004]

Our Hip Deep edition “A Tale of Two Rebellions,” recounts the stories of two remarkable military campaigns in early Islamic history. Both uprisings take place in the late 9th century, both involve Africans as key players, and both set the scene for the crystallization of the Sunni-Shi’ite divide in Islam, which of course continues to this day. By Joseph Browdy and Banning Eyre. [APWW #535]

A vast, new world of DJs, record collectors and producers are going to far reaches of the Earth to find forgotten records and new styles of music. Their discoveries are then brought back home, remixed, repackaged and re-released to be heard by an entirely new audience. We speak to some of these globetrotting DJ and producers Chief Boima and Geko Jones to hear about their experiences, the music they’ve discovered and how they go about remixing some of these styles in order to create a new and updated sound. Produced by Saxon Baird. [APWW #636] [Originally aired 2012]

Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian musical giants have long enjoyed the spotlight, yet throughout Latin America there are other black enclaves producing some of the New World's most vibrant music. Their stories have gone untold for far too long. In this episode, Afropop explores these lost sounds, starting in an Ecuadorian desert valley where African and Andean traditions have mixed seamlessly into fiery dance music. Then we're off to mangrove-studded Esmeraldas to search out the last marimba legends living on the jungle waterways. We continue to Bolivia, where a tiny black minority uses their music to fight for recognition by the indigenous government and last, we'll listen to the driving carnival music of Uruguay, candombe. Tune in for exclusive interviews and recordings by everyone from marimba master Papa Roncon to Candombe-jazz legend Hugo Fattoruso. Produced by Marlon Bishop. [APWW #565] [Originally aired 2009]

Umm Kulthum has been called the greatest singer in the Arabic speaking world in the 20th century. Born in 1904 the humble daughter of an Egyptian village imam, she went on to become a glamorous Cairo celebrity in her 20s, and soon after that, a cultural icon whose monthly live radio broadcasts brought much of Egypt to a standstill. She turned high poetry into popular culture. She extended musical forms with her virtuoso, extended vocal improvisations. Combining historical, religious, literary and musical passions, she inspired an enduring sense of national pride and left a legacy for the ages. Millions gathered for her 1975 funeral. With Umm Kuthum biographer Virginia Danielson as guide and guest, this program explores the life and music of a musical legend. Produced by Banning Eyre. [APWW #465] [Originally produced in 2005]

2020 has been a year like no other. Tours and concerts have been cancelled, and future plans remain up in the air. Just the same, a great deal of fantastic music has emerged from Africa and the diaspora. In their annual tradition, Georges Collinet and Banning Eyre take stock of the year’s offerings, covering an ever-growing array of styles and artistic movements. Not exactly a “best of the year” show, but you can be sure to hear artists and sounds you won’t find anywhere else! Produced by Banning Eyre. APWW #826

Brazil’s economic and artistic powerhouse, São Paulo is a true megapolis, being the largest city in Latin America and fourth largest city in the world. Built on successive waves of immigration, it’s a melting pot of cultures, viewpoints and musical beats with a flourishing alternate arts scene that includes vibrant poetry slams, renowned street art and an incredible array of music forms that push against established hierarchies of race, class, gender and sexual orientation. In this dramatically unequal city, hybrid cultural expression happens spontaneously, fusing ancient and modern, local and foreign, traditional and avant-garde. Produced in São Paulo by David Katz (and completed remotely following travel bans), this program surveys the São Paulo soundscape to explore dynamic facets of its musical resistance. Beginning with some background information provided by historian Rodrigo Bonciani, we hear songs from northeast migrants that tried to make sense of their adopted city in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, includ

The Amazon River basin has long been a mystery to Brazil. Located far from the centers of business and power in the nation's southeast, the jungle provinces of the Brazilian north have long been ignored by the nation at large. But recently, Brazilians have discovered that the cities and waterways of the Amazon are home to some of the nation's hottest music. In this Hip Deep episode—a musical history of Pará state, where Afro-Caribbean influences have created a unique local flavor that connects the dots between Brazilian music and the rest of Latin America, we check out the guitar heroes of old-school Amazonian dance bands, investigate the origins of the early '90s lambada dance craze, and explore the bubblegum bass culture of tecno brega. Featured interviews with singer Gaby Amarantos, lambada revivalist Felipe Cordeiro and ethnomusicologist Darien Lamen, among others. Lead Producer: Marlon Bishop Assistant Production: Saxon Baird, Joe Dobkin APWW #691 Originally produced in 2014

In this episode, Georges Collinet inaugurates a traveling talent search introducing guest deejays and producers with unique perspectives on global African music. First up is Matthew Key—a.k.a. DJ M-Point—host of "The Loxion Music Mix Show" on WESU FM in Middletown, CT. Key has been absorbed in South Africa’s post-apartheid pop music for 22 years, and he takes us on a tour through a succession of genres, starting with kwaito, the country’s joyous, jazzy response to long awaited freedom, and leading up to the latest SA music craze, Amapiano. Produced by Georges Collinet, Matthew Key and Banning Eyre. [APWW #821]

Miami is still in lockdown mode for large gatherings but we don't let that stop us as we travel, virtually, to Miami's beautiful open air, art deco North Beach Bandshell right across from the Atlantic Ocean. Enjoy highlights from the just completed Afro Roots Virtual Fest featuring the city's leading globally grooving artists. Crank it up! Johnny Dread of Cuban/Rasta heritage opens up with his original mix of classic reggae, rock and international sounds. Cortadito, called the best Latin act by the Miami New Times in 2019, offers an updated version of 19th century son montuno from the mountainous region of northeastern Cuba while its two lead singers--one from Havana and one from Santiago de Cuba in the east--take turns performing originals from these two distinct traditions. The Spam All Stars stretch out with quirky spoken word, Latin and eclectic combinations. Venezonix perform Venezuelan roots music enlivened by electronic textures. And Alsarah of the Nubatones beams in a soulful duet from Brooklyn of her

When Afropop Worldwide launched back in 1988, a key goal was to capture the live energy of incredible artists emerging from Africa, the Caribbean and beyond. Most of those recordings were preserved on reel-to-reel tapes. The coronavirus lockdown has given us a chance to start revisiting and preserving. And we have been amazed to rediscover the energy of that thrilling era. On this music-rich program of concerts recorded live at S.O.Bs in New York City, we hear from Congo’s Papa Wemba, South African township heroes Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens, the royal couple of Algerian rai music Chaba Fadela and Cheb Sahraoui, and Martinique zouk stars Marce and Tumpa. It’s a riveting blast from the past! Produced by Banning Eyre.

Baaba Maal has toured the world, backed by his electric group, Daande Lenol. Sometimes he has performed as an acoustic duo with his longtime musical partner, Mansour Seck, on guitars and vocals. And rarely, Baaba has assembled a large acoustic group featuring guitars and traditional instruments. We caught such a moment at one of our all time favorite live recordings, Baaba and his acoustic big band performing at Joe's Pub in New York City. Beautiful! [APWW #383] [Originally aired in 2014]