It seems they like Carlos Lamartine’s album ;p

Who’s they? undomondo.com, a very nice blog based in Turkey who feature all kinds of music, and have featured some of our releases in the past, in particular Mamou Sidibé here and there. Check them out, always on point + loads of freebies!!

Mamou Sidibé’s music has been featured on our first 2 compilations, and finally we unveil her full length Djougouya, originally released in Mali in 2007. Mamou digs deep into her Ganadougou roots, a region with a rich musical heritage close to the Wassoulou tradition made popular by another Malian diva, Oumou Sangaré. Called Techno Mamou because of her experimentation with modern electronic arrangements, her album still has plenty of beautifully melodic arrangements to please the most demanding of Malian music heads. Pure bliss.
Djougouya is available in iTunes.

Mamou Sidibé has had a website, but for the last few weeks it’s been down. One more reason to hurry up and create her own myspace page!.

Breath of Life always has interesting music and thoughts. They recently highlighted Mamou Sidibé’s great mixture of Malian and Ganadougou tradition, with computer drum sequencing and “techno”. You can read the full post here or download the mixtape here.

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KCRW’s Garth Trinidad has been supportive of Akwaaba since its inception, asking for our music months before it was even released. He’s shown his continued support on his new blog, www.garthtrinidad.biz, where you’ll find a few kind words about Akwaaba and our mission, as well as a free download of the track Mali Mousso by Mamou Sidibé, off of Move it Chaleh. It’s also nice to see he picked us as one of his favorite indie labels, among the likes of Stones Throw, Honest Jons, Sonar Kollektiv and Strut… wowza!

You can listen to Garth every weekday from 7:30 to 10pm West Coast time, or listen to his recent shows on KCRW’s site.

Move it Chaleh! Words you might hear at an outdoor chop bar in Accra, Ghana, a calling for you to get up and shake it. A hint to the pungent grooves blasting out of subwoofers and beat up sound systems throughout West Africa today.

Smaller, cheaper studios are sprouting all over big African cities, allowing a new generation of artists to create and push the envelope of urban and dance music. In particular, Move It Chaleh! focuses on two underrated African trends:
Coupé décalé is the upbeat sound of Côte d’Ivoire today, a dance craze which can be heard throughout francophone Africa. It has roots in both Congolese soukous and Ivorian zouglou. It emerged at the height of the Ivorian crisis around 2002-2003, first in Paris, but it quickly spread to Ivory Coast, to Africa and now to the world.

Hiplife is a Ghanaian mish mash of hip hop, dancehall, calypso and other Caribbean styles, with highlife, itself a mix of soul and funk with more traditional Ghanaian rhythms. It has taken Ghana by storm, and it is well known to Ghanaian abroad, particularly in the US and UK, yet it is still off the radar for most.

Time to change that. Move it chaleh!