For almost 2 years now, we’ve been building a diverse roster of contemporary artists from all over Africa. From Malian traditional music to kuduro, highlife to salsa, Akwaaba has been covering much ground, yet one important piece has been missing: Congolese soukous. Perhaps the most significant genre across the entire continent during the 1970s and 1980s, and a style particularly dear to our ears. We’re in the process of fixing this, with an imminent release from Zaiko Langa Langa, soukous pioneers still touring to this day. But before that, bbrave serves us this here pungent mix of Congolese classics.
The story goes like this: our friends over at Dublab asked bbrave to do a mix for them. Rather than stick to club territory, why not use Dublab’s incredibly diverse platform to indulge into something more personal? And less obvious? So we bring to you this mix. Not afrofunk, this is pure soukous: raunchy snares, melodic guitars, and frenzy tempos. The whole of Africa has danced to this, are you ready for it?
Sam Mangwana – Georgette Eckins
Prince Luciano Kimpouni et les Kamba Kamba – Mbuale
Heyyyo! Remember these cats? Yep, same doods we rocked Mancuso with last September in Tübingen! What a warm welcome… these cats are not only fantastic party DJs, who know how to appreciate a good African groove in their sets, they are also ideal hosts to a wonderful – yet not soooo famous – German city. To all you wannabe Afrocentric DJs: be ncie to these guys, and try to get your arses to Tübingen asap, their party is well worth playing. Or just attending! Check out their Facebook page. Oh and better, yet, check out this fabulous set they pieced together for us:
How did this happen?!?! In their own words:
“So this is our exclusive mix for Akwaaba Music. It‘s not so much all new and exclusive bangers but rather our impression of African music and its big influences on other musical territories (with one or two stylistic exceptions in the mix). We also kinda tried to give an idea of what we do in our club sets, not paying too much attention to tempo or style while keeping it funky and a wee bit humorous… Featuring Akwaaba artists Appietus, Ruff‘n‘Smooth, Kedjevara, Onyenze, Killamu, Dred Man-Gi and Arc Djebe. Hope you enjoy!”
Uhhhhhh… yep, we do. Right?!?! Have you downloaded this mix already?!?! Have you listen to their Mixcloud page? How about their myspace?! Wait, and more importantly, if you’re in or near Tübingen, are you attending their party this Saturday November 13?!?!
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!!!!
[:fr]
Souvenez-vous : plus tôt cette année nous avons publié une douzaine de versions studio du titre “Combination”, une combinaison intéressante – jeu de mots honteusement intentionnel – de kora traditionnelle jouée avec une production à la saveur afrobeat. Après le premier album de Jali, Konteh Kunda, produit par le musicien de la Bay Area Steve Pile, nous sommes aujourd’hui fiers de sortir cette sélection pointue de remixes.
TRACKLIST :
01 – COMBINATION (HATNHOODIE REMIX, ALL)
Hatnhoodie sont surtout connus pour être à la tête du blog hatnhoodie.de. Ils y parlent, en allemand, des dernières et des meilleures sorties de la bouillante scène tropical.
02 – COMBINATION (ARTFX! REMIX, ALL)
Le berlinois Artfx! crée des beats depuis plus de dix ans, mais ce n’est que récemment qu’il s’est aventuré vers des sons plus tropical. Un version incisive et effrénée de Combinaison.
03 – COMBINATION (VOLTERGEIST REMIX, GB)
Il est de retour ! Vous vous souvenez peut être de Voltergeist du label Microrave Records du fait de l’album Ze Bula Remix EP. On adore sa refonte sombre, dubby de ces sons africains. Préparez-vous pour le plongeon…
04 – COMBINATION (SENOR OZ REMIX, ÉU)
Oz, connu sa soirée hebdomadaire Afrolicious derrière les quais à San Francisco, a aussi contribué au blog de Six Degrees : Global Noize, et – il semblerait – produit de très bons beats.
Si vous adorez, rappelez-vous que vous pouvez acheter l’album sur iTunes ou directement sur le magasin Bandcamp de Jali. Merci pour votre lecture, à venir : les résultats qui se font gravement attendre de la compétition de remixes de Miss Doctor, ils sont là très bientôt prooomis !![:de]
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!!!!
On October 7 2010, Arte‘s flagship music program Tracks did a piece about Sound Hunters. This is the first half of the piece, focused on Akwaaba Music and label boss Benjamin Lebrave. Thanks to Arte for letting us post!
Last month in Berlin, we connected with AnnaLove at the Wile Out! party. Anna is originally from Austin, Texas, but has been rocking decks in Berlin since last January. She’s also a contributor over at tropicalbass.com, and we might just see some Akwaaba action over there very soon. So since we were already exchanging tracks with Anna, we thought we might as well piece some of it all together. So Anna kindly put together some of her Akwaaba favorites, blended with tropical sounds from all over – it sounds like this:
Better late than sorry! We’ve been meaning to post this for weeks… big up to our doods AJ & crew for putting together some fly highlife-tinged riffs from the back streets of London!!!! Read all the juicy propaganda from our buddies putting this out: Ghetto Bassquake. If ya dig it find a couple bucks and grab it fromiTunesor AmazonorJunoorBandcamp – BAM!
