Jali Bakary Konteh is a kora player and singer from Brikama, Gambia. He comes from a griot family, which includes some of the world’s most renowned kora musicians. His father is Dembo Konteh, who has toured the world with his kora, and his Grandfather is Alhaji Bai Konteh, the first griot to popularize kora music in America with his album “Kora Melodies from the Gambia,” on Rounder records.
Jali Bakary has not only inherited the talents of his bloodline, but has also incorporated his own style and twist into the music, as the tracks here will show. He has played with many of the Gambia’s finest talent, including Pa Boba and Sanku Jobarteh, as well as with his father on National televesion numerous times. Konteh Kunda is his first full length album, entirely recorded at the Konteh Kunda music school in Brikama.
53 years ago today… Ghana’s a youngster! So what better way to celebrate than with youngster music… forget 1970s analog studios for a minute, and sink into the sounds of hiplife, essentially Ghana’s national pop music these days… there’s something about that fruity loops aesthetic that just gets to us, super simple, melodic, bouncy… try it!
Yeah… we’re hams! Couldn’t resist but post this massive feature courtesy of our friends over at iTunes. If this is any indication, Iba’s album is well worth checking out. Thanks again to Bruno & the iTunes US team for helping us push this fabulous music!!
To be honest, we don’t really remember how Max showed up on our radar… did he ask for a Killamu promo? Did we comment on one of his pungent sets? How can it already be a blur?!?! Whatever the case may be, we’re glad we connected, this cat’s been making noise in Brussels with his MDD crew, pushing kuduro, cumbia, coupé décalé or kwaito, without neglecting European flavors such as uk funky, dubstep or grime. So Killamu fit right into his routine, and we hope you dig this mix!
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Killamu is one of the most respected kuduro beat makers in Angola. He has been part of the kuduro scene for ten years now, and started producing tracks for Gueto Produções with Mestre Ara eight years ago. The duo quickly established their production house as one of the very best in Luanda, collaborating with many of Angola’s most innovative kudurists: laying tracks for artists such as Puto Prata, Noite e Día and Fofandó & Saborosa, together they have paved the way for the next generation of hard-hitting, rhyme-spitting kuduro lyricists.
With a slew of hits behind his name, Killamu has become an unavoidable producer on the kuduro circuit. But as this album shows, his versatility allows him to explore sounds beyond kuduro, starting with kizomba (Angolan zouk), but also, and perhaps most importantly for Western audiences, his experimentations into more instrumental, electronic kuduro beats have definitely set him aside within Angola’s kuduro community.
Killamu’s full length album is coming out this Tuesday January 12. Til then, get your mouth watering as BBRAVE squeezes the album’s potency into a 30 minute set of pure 140bpm Angolan batidas… Pick your poison: Mixcloud, Soundcloud, Fairtilizer, or just stay here, listen a download!
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Nnamdi Moweta of Afrodicia is inviting Benjamin Lebrave over for a quick update: we’ve got lots of projects bubbling in 2010, the show will be a good place to hear what’s new and get an idea of what’s next, don’t miss it!
2 – 3pm PST (GMT – 8), 90.7 fm in the Los Angeles area, or kpfk.org worldwide.
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