Interestingly, just as Steve Pile comes back from Gambia, where he heard the Combination remixes blasting daily on the radio (“Almost everyday they’d play 2 tracks after BBC news cast”), we received a very interesting new remix of the song by a certain Dabö, which we obviously can’t add to the existing release, so we all agreed we should just give it out for free. So here it is:

And of course you can still check out the existing remixes:

A nice update from our good friend Steve Pile, the musician who made Jali’s album come to life. Steve is headed back to Konteh Kunda music school in Brikama, Gambia. He is bringing some gear with him to setup a functional recording studio there. Please read through to get the full scoop – especially if you have some old gear sitting around!! The story goes something like this: a few years ago Steve came to Gambia to learn the kora, an instrument he discovered by chance at a concert in London. He found his way to Dembo Konteh’s music school, and became his son Jali’s first kora student. Steve and Jali quickly bonded around their love for music, and the strong sense of community at the Konteh family compound. Since then Steve has made it his mission to give back to this musical family. First in 2008 by helping them raise enough money to install solar power. Then by recording Jali’s full length debut Konteh Kunda. Now Steve is goingback in March, here are his words about the next stages:

“I am returning in March 2011 with grand schemes. In the family compound, there is a half finished structure, long abandoned due to lack of funding. On my last trip, I suggested to Jali that the space would be a great music school. He agreed. After the success of a fundraiser to bring solar power to Jali’s compound in 2008, I knew we had the community support to turn this space into a proper music school.

The benefits of having a designated music school in the compound are many:

Economic: Tourism makes up 18% of Gambia’s GDP, but it is primarily based on the coast. Resorts are often owned by foreigners as well. This type of “musical tourism” brings people off the beaten path to villages and towns like Brikama, that don’t usually see those tourist dollars. Money is exchanged directly with your hosts and goes straight into the local economy.

Cultural Preservation: the preservation of culture is encouraged by the influx of travelers eager to learn traditional Mandinka music and art forms.

A Better Learning Experience: Though Jali is happy to give up his bed, it is inconvenient for him (he is a new father) and students often opt for staying in a hotel nearby, for their own comfort. Staying on the compound is a very enriching experience and a separate building would be mutually beneficial for both student and teacher.

The purpose of the March 2011 trip is to set the groundwork for the building of the school and film a documentary on Jali Bakary and the Gambian music scene. Joining me will be film-maker Jesse Wippert. Of course, we will be recording as much music as possible while we are there.

We are currently trying to raise money to cover the cost of this trip, including bringing more solar panels to Jali’s household to increase the power of the existing system.

The Studio

We are also asking for donations of another sort: Recording gear. There are only a smattering of recording facilities in Gambia. Part of the future plan of the school is that it will function as a working studio. We’d like to get it started now.

What we’re looking for:

A Digital 8 track multi-Tracker….(Fostex, Roland, Tascam, Zoom, etc. Perhaps someone has one sitting around…Something Easy to use and intuitive)

-transferring wav. files to a CD or DVD with ease would be a plus, as likely they’ll be sending songs this way for mixing and mastering.

OR Alternatively:

An old Mac laptop and Logic. (this way I could teach them how to  use it)

But, a PC laptop and Cubase or anything else would be fine. (I’m sure I can figure it out!)

I am happy to donate my pre-sonus Firebox, but if anyone has something better sitting around…

-Mic cables- any and all

- mics – multi purpose mics, 57s, a condenser of some sort would be great.

- headphones

Please contact Steve or Benjamin if you have anything that fits these descriptions.

Hard to believe, but it was just over 2 years ago that our first release, Akwaaba wo Africa, came out worldwide. What a journey it’s been since then! 2 dozen releases spanning the gamut from Nigerian highlife to Gambian griot kora, Angolan kuduro to Benin salsa… We’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with artists from 12 countries, not counting the numerous remixes pouring in from Mexico, Israel, Argentina, all over Europe and North America.

For us this release is at heart a big thank you, Thank you for helping us carve out a niche on this overcrowded web. Thank you for helping us connect the dots between talented, hardly-known local artists and music lovers worldwide. Thank you for playing our music on your radio shows, for pushing it on your blogs, for playing it at work and letting the world know where the music is coming from. We have been overwhelmed with the response, the emails, big ups and shout outs, and we start the year with a huge smile, filled with all the energy required to keep tons of fresh music coming your way.

So here it is, a collection of 50 songs giving a thorough taste of what Akwaaba is about: an open ear tuned in to sound made in Africa. We priced this mega-compilation at a ridiculous minimum price of $10. I mean, in many ways the price tag seems ridiculous, but if you feel differently, hell, shoot us an email and let’s bargain some more You can buy this compilation from us directly only, secured credit card payment and all that good stuff. It will not be available on iTunes or anywhere else.

Along with the songs comes a fantastic mix by DJ Zhao. We asked him to do this mix for us because he is one of the very few DJs we know, who can piece together a mix not made exclusively for the dancefloor. So here goes one hour covering so many of the sounds we have been pushing. Really, an epic journey into the heart of contemporary African pop music.

Rewiiiiiiind: earlier this year we shared a dozen or so individual studio tracks from the track “Combination”, an interesting combination – pun shamefully intended -  of traditional kora playing with an afrobeat jam session flavor.  Following Jali’s debut album, Konteh Kunda, produced by Bay area musician Steve Pile, we are now proud to release this fine selection of remixes.

TRACKLIST:

01 – COMBINATION (HATNHOODIE REMIX, DE)
Hatnhoodie are best known for running the hatnhoodie.de blog, where they discuss – in German – the latest and greatest in the bubbling tropical scene.

02 – COMBINATION (ARTFX! REMIX, DE)
Berliner Artfx! has been making beats for well over a decade, but only recently did he get into more tropical type sounds. A pungent, fast-paced take on
Combination.

03 – COMBINATION (VOLTERGEIST REMIX, UK)
He’s back, you may remember Voltergeist of Microrave Records from the Ze Bula Remix EP. We just love his dark, dubby reworks of these African sounds. Get ready to sink in…

04 – COMBINATION (SENOR OZ REMIX, USA)
Oz, known to stand behind the decks at his weekly San Francisco party Afrolicious, also contributes to Six Degrees blog Global Noize, and – apparently! – also makes pretty great beats.

If you LOOOOOVE this shtuff, remember you can buy it in iTunes or directly from Jali’s own fancy Bandcamp store. Thanks for reading, next up: long overdue Miss Doctor remix contest results, coming VERY soon we promise!!!!

LONG OVERDUE!!!! We know it, and we are slightly ashamed of it… well not that ashamed really, because good things are well worth waiting for. And we are proud to announce very good things!!

At last, the winners of the Jali Bakary Konteh remix contest are in…

From Fulda / Würzburg Germany, our friends Hat+Hoodie pieced together a massive banger:

From Glasgow, Scotland, we couldn’t help but bring back the dubbed out sound of Voltergeist:

From San Francisco, California, we are excited to feature a deep cut by Señor Oz of Afrolicious:

And last but not least, a newbie on our radar, artfx! from Berlin, Germany:

This EP will come out in September, as soon as we get final cuts and master them… thanks again to all of you who submitted their remix, it was a very tough call!!! And again, congratulations to the winners, we love your choons!!!

Akwaabarama Mix by Hat+Hoodie

Our German sucks, but we still love to *read* Hat + Hoodie’s posts – or should we say, look at the odd series of letters and wonder what they are saying. Thankfully, once they get behind the decks the language is universal, and this last mixtape of is sure to move any dancefloor from Cape Town to Hamburg, Dakar to Beijing. Here’s what the doods have to say:

How long have you been DJing?

Both of us have been DJing for a long time, together it’s over 20 years. We dug many different styles ever since and got to know lots of great music, which maybe is why we still like our sets rather diverse. Being friends for a long time, we finally teamed up in 2009 and started hat+hoodie.

How long have you been into tropical / African beats?

We both were into Reggae, Dancehall, Ska and Afrobeat at some point, which probably built the foundation for us. In the last few years we became more and more involved in electronic dance music, but always felt it lacked the rough and direct energy of a Dancehall party. Playing so-called “World Music” never was an option, as it was considered Hippie-Music and absolutely not club-compatible in Germany. So you had to listen to it secretly, ha ha. That was, until 2008 Radioclit and Buraka Som Sistema hit the clubs. Hearing “Secousse” for the first time was a true key moment – We instantly got hooked on Tropical Bass and World Electronics.

Its an eclectic mix… What’s the story behind it? What are some of your current favorites?

We tried to put everything in there that we like right now, so there’s Tropical House, some UK Funky, African Beats, Barefoot, Dancehall… We like it wildstyle, a whole night of Tech House gets us bored. Then we wanted to feature some of the great artists we met on the internet recently, such as BukBuka from Istanbul or Sabbo from Tel Aviv. We really love cruising the Web for new artists and connecting with them. We also wanted to represent the German/Austrian scene, so there’s the very awesome Schlachthofbronx from Munich, So Shifty from Hamburg, and of course Vienna‘s Ku Bo and Beware & Motorpitch.
We like messing around with music rather than only playing it out, so we mashed some of the tracks, re-arranged them, combined them… What came out is pretty much what we consider a good party: global dancehall music, lots of bass and a touch of anarchy, hehe.

Playlist:

Skeat – Relela [Akwaaba]
Skeat – Mama Le Papa [Akwaaba] x Douster – Alleluja [Bebup]
Killamu – Melodia de Semba [Akwaaba] x Mujava – Mugwanti/ Sgwejegweje [Out Here]
Poirier – Militaris Riddim [Ninja Tune] x So Shifty – Clap (Acapella) [Top Billin]
Fauna – Gauchito Gil (Douster Remix) [ZZK]
Skeat – Phamphanyane (hat+hoodie Edit) [Akwaaba/Bootleg]
Hat+Hoodie – o!e [Faluma Africa]
Roska – Squark (hat+hoodie Edit) [Rinse/Bootleg]
Schlachthofbronx – Vem Que Tem (Beware & Motorpitch Remix) [Man Rec.]
Sekta – Peterpan (Doc Daneeka Remix) [Top Billin]
Beware & Motorpitch – Pororoca [Man Rec.]
Manare – Pirog [Younggunz]
Old Money – Mamaseh (Sabbo Remix) [Unreleased]
Jali Bakary Konteh – Combination (hat+hoodie Remix) [Unreleased]
Chief Boima – Techno Rumba (Uproot Andy Remix) [Dutty Artz]
Legobeat – Gun, Whistle, Bird (Cocotaxi Remix) [PBP]
We Are Enfant Terrible – Wildchild (Myd Remix) [Web]
Jamtech Foundation – Run The Track [Mad Viking]
Lady Chann – Sticky Situation (Toddla T Remix Intro) [rcrdlbl]
Bert On Beats – Suomo (Ku Bo Remix) [Man Rec.]
BukBuka – Capoeiristas (Jump da f@#$ up) [Unreleased]
Schlachthofbronx – Ayoba (Ku Bo Remix) [Man Rec.]
Figura – Ze Bula (Peter Pozorek Remix Intro) [Unreleased]
Figura – Ze Bula (Sabbo Remix) [Akwaaba]

THE RULES

1. Download the tracks HERE – 17 tracks (!) at 120 bpm, 213mb zip file.

2. Do what you do! Take the tracks and mash them up in any way you can think of..

3. Upload your remix in our Fairtilizer dropbox and name it Combination (your name Remix) and add “Jali Combination remix contest” in the tags.
Note: You have to register to Fairtilizer to be able to upload a track – it takes 30 seconds, it’s free, and it comes in reaaaal handy.

4. The winner(s) will be selected by Akwaaba Music.

Prize:
Best remix(es) will be released on Akwaaba Music. Check out the last contest we did.

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT REMIX: May 1st, 2010.

Buy Jali’s album directly from Akwaaba | in iTunes

Jali’s website
Akwaaba Music Fairtilizer profile
Akwaaba Music website

Jali’s pictured here with Steve Pile, who also took care of Jali’s release party in Northern California. And landed this great piece in the local paper. More about Steve and his music on his website or his myspace page.