Wednesday, 17 December 2014

African Gems - World Music Album of the Year 2014

If you are going to treat yourself to just one 'World Music' LP with your Christmas money this year, I would wholeheartedly recommend 'African Gems' on SWP Records. This isn't Jit-Jive, nor Afro-Beat or even Saharan Desert Blues. 'African Gems' is a compilation of field recordings made in Uganda, Congo, D.R. Congo, Chad and Cameroun between 1965-1984, where droning horns, polymetric xylophones and percussive soda bottles jostle for your attention. It's an extraordinary set of recordings, occasionally verging on the avant-garde while simultaneously remaining hypnotic and accessible.

Here's a 7½ minute sample, containing brief excerpts from a few of the tracks. Find out more about this remarkable LP here.

Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Quite extraordinary. Will bookmark that for future reference.

17 December 2014 at 21:55

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Greatest Hits

  • Friday Photo(s) #70
    '...a photo, probably taken on my phone while out walking, or maybe an oldie retrieved from the family archive, perhaps even an anonymou...
  • Lighthouse Keeper
    Around this time last year, I optimistically expressed the hope that I'd have more of an online presence in 2025 than in 2024. Not a dif...
  • Monday Long Song(s)
    The rarely attempted Triple Swedeface Between the summers of 2020 and 2021, John Dwyer (he of The Osees) together with a group of like minde...
  • Maybe
    I've accumulated a wealth of Seb Rochford's music over the years, principally in his role as drummer with the great Polar Bear betwe...
  • The Tracks of My Year 2016
    Over the past few weeks, a succession of time and brain-space constraints did their utmost to put the kibosh on my attempts to pull toget...