African instrumental music

Run List Al compás del mundo #210, 12-4-25 - African instrumental music

01 Diely Moussa Kouyate - Bamananke (Guinea)

02 Francis Bebey - Easter (Cameroon)

03 Mohamed Saïdou Sow - Kor-Soumayé (Guinea)

04 Lemaditsy - Talily (Madagascar)

05 Dumisani Maraire & Ephat Mujuru - Chemutengure (Zimbabwe)

06 Hafez Abdu ar-Rahman - an-Nekri wa ash-Shajan (Sudan)

07 Ballake Sissoko - Sy (Mali)

08 Haja - Te Hody (Madagascar)

09 Keletigui Diabaté - Koulandian (Mali)

10 Celestine Ukwu and his Philosophers National - Okwukwe Na Nchekwube (Nigeria)

11 Johannesburg Street Band - Thimlela (South Africa)

12 Grand Papa Diabaté - Lamban (Guinea)

13 Mulatu Astatke - Yekermo Sew (Ethiopia)

14 Mory Kante - Woloukoro (Guinea)

I’m ready to admit to thirty seconds of consternation in naming this week’s show. Is “African” sufficiently precise? Am I guilty, like so many, of designating the continent as a single entity – as in “Places I’d like to visit include Paris, Rome, Rio de Janeiro, Africa...” Would I employ similar descriptives for a show of disparate European music? (Yes.) North Africa is obviously missing representation in the playlist and I am extremely familiar with the fact that Egypt, for example, is every bit as African as Zimbabwe. After all, I lived in Cairo for a year. I probably should have added “sub-Saharan” to the title, but I got lazy. Enough wokeness. So sue me.

What you’re getting are sounds from the West, East and South. All, or most of it, based on traditional forms of regional music but updated with electrified instruments, recording studio syntax, and 20-21st century aesthetics, often recorded eyeing a potential international market.

I’ve programmed a wide variety of the most rural and autochthonous music of the continent in previous programs. I’ve, similarly, presented examples of current (or close) recordings as well. This program probably falls somewhere in between.

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