It’s that time of year… we’re headed back to ye olde world to rock a bunch of tropical partaaaaays. Starting in Berlin during Berlin Music Week, which we will also attend – more on that in a bit. We are reconnecting with some key players in Germany and Berlin’s tropical scene:
Dala Dala is giving you a 21st century Afro bass reality check. Songs on heavy rotation from the township minibuses in Soweto to the dala dala minibuses in Dar es Salaam, select tunes from the danfo drivers of Lagos biggest ghetto Ajegunle or the car rapides of Dakar: street music from the hot urban music scenes of Africa. It just had to be a matter of time that an international audience got infected with the virus of the latest African club trends. Dala Dala gives an overview over the wealth and variety of urban sounds from the african continent. Marflix (Tropical Bass, Faluma)
Berlin-based DJ/producer Marflix searching for the perfect beat since the early 90s. Focused on Caribbean music flavored with Bass and Club. Current selection varies from Soca & Caribbean to African club music like Kuduro, Coupé Décalé, Funana to European club music. Marflix also runs his own label Faluma which is specialized on Soca & Caribbean music. Musical background in Punk and HipHop.
DJ Zhao brings contemporary and classic dance music together from all five continents, with focus on Africa. While his DJ sets reach from culture centers to remote areas of the globe, and from today back through the ages, DJ Zhao’s remix and mashup work directly connects “East” and “West”, acoustic and electronic, traditional and hyper-modern. Equal parts ethno-musicologist and booty shaker, Zhao is a transnational ambassador of boom not only talking about, but demonstrating through unforgettable raw sound experience, the underlying unity of all earth rhythms.
Nnamdi Moweta, host of KPFK‘s Afrodicia, invites Akwaaba yetagain to share some of the sounds and stories we gathered on our recent trip to Ghana and Togo. Nnamdi is one of our number one supporters, and it’ll be a real pleasure to bring him some freshness from the Motherland… tune in today from 2 to 4pm PST (GMT – 8), either at 90.7fm in the Los Angeles area, or listen online at kpfk.org.
It’s official!! We are letting you take over 4×4’s vocals to make whatever you see fit out of this massive banger from Ghana… we heard this song playing 20 times a day on the radio, at outdoor bars, at weddings… now is the chance to see where else this track can end up!! Download the acapella track from Soundcloud above, and upload your remix to our dropbox by September 15:
The prize… is getting released on one of the most forward thinking labels of African music, he he. We will put out an EP with our favorite remixes, as we did for Ze Bula and Combination. Download the original song in nearly any format below – we just ask for your email, cool?
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!!!
