africa | Musicosity

africa

Anouar Brahem

Anouar Brahem (Arabic: أنور ابراهم) is a Tunisian (middle eastern lute) player and composer who is widely regarded as an innovator in his field. Performing for primarily a audience, he fuses music, music and jazz and has been recording since at least 1991 after becoming prominent in his own country in the late 1980s. Brahem began studying the at age 10 under the tutelage of Ali Sitri at the National Conservatory of Music in Tunis. In 1987, after six years in Paris, he spent two years as the director of the Ensemble Musical De Ia Ville De Tunis.

Artist Type: 

Dub Colossus

Recorded by a group of adventurous Ethiopians and Nick Page, one half of the British group Temple Of Sound, Dub Colossus is a unique attempt to mix traditional East African music with the most experimental reggae sounds. Recorded first in Addis Ababa, it was completed in a two-week session at the Real World studios in Wiltshire, thanks to the involvement of the B&W Music Club. Their first studio was a shed where electricity and water were intermittent and distractions included the noise of children playing outside...

Artist Type: 

Netsayi

Netsayi is a Zimbabwean singer-songwriter. In 2006 she released her debut album 'Chimurenga Soul' on her own Militant Prince label. It was described as 'refreshingly, startlingly excellent' by Mojo magazine who know a thing or two about refreshing, startling excellence. Thereafter, she contacted one of her favourite indie labels, World Connection, via MySpace and persuaded a big Dutchman called Albert to snap her up.

Now, a couple of years later, her second album, 'Monkey's Wedding', is all but ready to go. It features all sorts of musicians from all sorts of places including Baby 'Soul' N'Sola, Jeremiah Samuel, Rujeko Dumbutshena, Joe Legwabe ... in fact, more than 20 in total; but they've all been working to Netsayi's vision (albeit with a helping hand from top production duo Bacon & Quarmby).

Over the last few years, Netsayi has headlined at festivals across the UK, Europe and Africa, but Autumn 2009 sees her take to the road in support of celebrated South Africans, Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Artist Type: 

William Onyeabor

William Onyeabor studied cinematography in Russia for many years, returning to Nigeria in the mid-70s to start his own Wilfilms music label and to set up a music and film production studio. He recorded a number of hit songs in Nigeria during the 70s, the biggest of which was "Atomic Bomb" in 1978. William has now been crowned a High Chief in Enugu, where he lives today as a successful businessman working on government contracts and running his own flour mill.

William Onyeabor on Last.fm.

Artist Type: 

Mariem Hassan

Widely recognised by critics as the best voice in Western Sahara, Mariem Hassan has unavoidably become the representative voice for her people throughout the world. Her powerfully haunting voice calls-out for the liberalisation of her occupied homeland. Early on in her music career, Mariem joined forces with "Matir el Uali Mustafa Sayed" (better known as "El Uali"). With El Uali she toured other countries to take part in cultural events of high political impact.

Artist Type: 

Souad Massi

Souad Massi (Kabyle: Suɛad Masi, Arabic: سعاد ماسي) (born 23rd August 1972), is an Algerian of Kabyle descent, singer, songwriter and guitarist. She began her career performing in the Algerian political rock band Atakor, before leaving the country following a series of death threats. In 1999, Massi performed at the Femmes d'Algerie concert in Paris, which led to a recording contract with Island Records.

Read more about Souad Massi on Last.fm.

Artist Type: 

Lobo

Lobo (born Roland Kent Lavoie, July 31, 1943), is an American who was successful in the early 1970s, scoring several Top 10 hits, including "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo," "I'd Love You to Want Me" and "Don't Expect Me To Be Your Friend." Lobo's songs have been characterized by their sweet melodies, sumptuous instrumentation and soulful lyrics. This has made him well known outside the Western world, including Africa, India and Southeast Asia.

Artist Type: 

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Ladysmith Black Mambazo, which was formed 1960 in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, have come to represent the traditional culture of South Africa. They are regarded as South Africa's cultural emissaries at home and around the world. They are a national treasure of the new South Africa in part because they embody the traditions suppressed in the old South Africa.
It has been almost twenty years since Paul Simon made his initial trip to South Africa and met Joseph Shabalala, and the other members of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, in a recording studio in Johannesburg.

Artist Type: