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

  • Intro to Nowhere
    The success of the Britpop movement in the 1990's persuaded the major record companies of the day to throw money at many bands who fi...
  • Friday Photo #78
    Yesterday evening saw the final ever Late Show with Stephen Colbert, following its cancellation by the CBS network. Colbert's tenure end...
  • That Day Became a Year
    The moment is almost upon us, the hostelries of Leeds are checking stock levels and polishing their glasses in anticipation of the latest in...
  • Monday Long Song
    I'm just back from Leeds, where a small group of us blogging types (and available partners) assembled for a couple of days to hang out, ...
  • Friday Photo #77
    Ah, the old double exposure. When the film didn't wind on completely and you ended up with a photo of a zebra superimposed over that lov...