[engl] This compilation features some great examples of rebetika songs from the 20's and 30's including some well known artists like Rosa Eskenazi, Markos Vamvakaris, Anestis Delias, Rita Abadzi and others. An excellent overview of the phenomenon for anyone interested in southern European folk music history.

[engl] The Empty Foxhole is an album by the American jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman released on the Blue Note label in 1966. The album features Coleman's untutored violin and trumpet as well as performing on his usual instrument, the alto saxophone, and marks the recording debut of his drummer son Denardo Coleman, who was ten years of age at the time.

[engl] Here's the fifth volume of the 'Tabu' compilation series. More jungle exotica, sleaze and strip music for fans of Las Vegas Grind! type of music.

[engl] AMMAR 808’s previous album Maghreb United (2018) – a powerful mixture of deep TR-808 bass and Pan-Maghreb beats and voices – received widespread critical acclaim and shook dancefloors throughout Europe, North Africa and beyond. This time Brussels-based Tunisian electronic producer Sofyann Ben Youssef (aka AMMAR 808) has travelled to the Tamil Nadu region of southern India for a breath-taking new adventure. With a suitcase full of recording equipment, he set up base in the pulsing city of Chennai and undertook a collaborative reimagining of the area's rich and resonant musics. Ranging from trance temple sounds to rap-like street theatre performance and ending with the mathematical richness of Carnatic music, Ben Youssef’s in situ recordings form the foundation of his potent new album: Global Control / Invisible Invasion. Futurist syncopations meet hypnotic, timeless narratives. Expansive electronics fused with on location recordings. Kaleidoscopic and exhilarating. Life in lockdown has given us time to reflect on the world and our place in it, on fate and free will. Big ideas, and ones that sit at the very heart of AMMAR 808’s Global Control/ Invisible Invasion - an album that’s aptly-named and tooled for these times. He’s crafted them from Hindu mythology and created a philosophical jolt of a disc that sweeps him far from his native Maghreb and deep into the ancient Carnatic tradition of South India.

[engl] Well friends and music lovers, the crisp air is back in town as the leaves turn from butter brown to gold and burning red. The pumpkins are on the front door step and something is most definitely cooking in the kitchen. Let me tell you it ain’t just apple pie! This tasty platter begins with a side from the amazing Chicago blues singer Jessie Fortune. Jessie, a trained barber, is fabulous on this sexy Willie Dixon written side released on the USA label with Buddy Guy on guitar. Jessie died on stage while performing at Gene’s Playmate lounge on Chicago’s West Side in August of 2009. This record has everything you could ask for… Checker records take the stage with two sides; the first, by Joe Hill Louis, was actually recorded at Sun Records in Memphis and sold to the Chess brothers for release in 1952. The next side is by the incomparable Little Walter and his Jukes. This Checker kitchen thumper was recorded in October of 1954 and penned by Willie Dixon. After a stint in the Army and the US Air Force Billy Emerson, known as “The kid” due to an early band he formed dressed as outlaws, recorded this Sun records ditty, “The Woodchuck” with the Ike Turner band. After a few more rare sides from Duke and Flair labels we get a personal favorite on this collection. One of only 18 releases on the ultra hep Cat label out of New York City, Jimmy Lewis rounds out the A side cooking with this killer record, Last Night (I was in Heaven) released in 1954. As we flip this one over and take time to sip some wine and stir the pots together we get down to it with a few sides fro the original writer of “Mystery Train,” Junior Parker on the Duke label, and head South to Louisiana for Black Magic labels John J. Moses and “Fickel Woman,” recorded in 1961. Back to Chicago for Eli Toscano’s West Side record label Cobra. Like most things in Chicago politics rule and Eli got Willie Dixon, who was very dissatisfied with Chess records at the time, to come over to Cobra. Willie produced, wrote, arranged, played bass and recorded for this small TV repair shop/storefront recording studio. Fantastic things get made in small places…remember?… This remarkable West Side record was released in 1957 featuring pianist and vocalist Harold Burrage with Otis Rush on guitar. The kitchen is warm and the foods almost on the table after we work out our Mojo from Larry Bright. Our last side on this collection was lost in the Sun records vaults for years as Sam Phillips felt the raw sound and driving guitar from L.B. Lawson and Scott Jr’s. Blues Rockers were too much…legend has it they came over to 706 Union a bit drunk and cut four dreamy rambling blues sides. This one called “Fly Paper Boogie.” Something from nothing. From Scratch. With friends. One room. Sounds cooking to me.

[engl] Noura Mint Seymali hails from a Moorish musical dynasty in Mauritania, born into a prominent family of griot and choosing from an early age to embrace the artform that is its lifeblood. Yet traditional pedigree has proven but a stepping-stone for the work Noura and her band have embarked upon in recent years, simultaneously popularizing and reimagining Moorish music on the global stage, taking her family’s legacy to new heights as arguably Mauritania’s most widely exported musical act of all time. Gamely wielding the griot’s idiom, a form itself distilled from centuries of trans-Saharan musical knowledge, Noura Mint Seymali’s sound as heard on this record carves out a unique position in the musical cartography of West Africa, at once her country’s leading proponent of the avant garde and yet a rigorously devoted tradition-bearer. Arbina is Noura Mint Seymali’s second international release. Delving deeper into the wellspring of Moorish roots, as is after all the tried and true way of the griot, the album strengthens her core sound, applying a cohesive aesthetic approach to the reinterpretation of Moorish tradition in contemporary context. The band is heard here in full relief; soaring vocals and guitar at the forefront, the mesmerizing sparkle of the ardine, elemental bass lines and propulsive rhythms swirling together to conjure a 360 degree vibe. Arbina refines a sound that the band has gradually intensified over years of touring, aiming to posit a new genre from Mauritania, distinct unto itself; music of the “Azawan.” Supported by guitarist, husband and fellow griot, Jeiche Ould Chighaly, Seymali’s tempestuous voice is answered with electrified counterpoint, his quarter-tone rich guitar phraseology flashing out lightning bolt ideas. Heir to the same music culture as Noura, Jeiche intimates the tidinit’s (Moorish lute) leading role under the wedding khaima with the gusto of a rock guitar hero. Bassist Ousmane Touré, who has innovated a singular style of Moorish low-end groove over the course of many years, can be heard on this album with greater force and vigor than ever before. Drummer/producer Matthew Tinari drives the ensemble forward with the agility and precision need to make the beats cut. Many of the songs on Arbina call out to the divine, asking for grace and protection. “Arbina” is a name for God. The album carries a message about reaching beyond oneself to an infinite spiritual source, while learning to take the finite human actions to necessary to affect reality on earth. The concept of sëbeu, or that which a human can do to take positive action on their destiny, is animated throughout. While final outcomes rest in the hands of the creator, the duty to use one’s capacities as a human to work towards our hopes and highest intentions roots us in life and relationship to God. The title track ‘Arbina’ applies this concept to specifically empower women in their decisions about preventative healthcare. It advocates for the concrete task of early screening to prevent breast and uterine cancer, sickness that claimed Noura’s own mother at a premature age, while offering an appeal to the ultimate benevolence of God. “Ghizlane” invokes the concept through metaphor, describing the elusive nature of our dreams and the innate obligation to follow. “Richa” reflects of the power of music as a vehicle. Lyrically, the Moorish griot tradition is complex and associative. Poetry is held in a continuum between author and audience in which a singer may draw on disparate sources, selecting individual lines here or there for musicality to form a lyrical patchwork expressing larger ideas via association. A griot may relate her own thoughts and poetry, sing poetry written for and about her by a third party, and transmit lines from one party addressing another in the course of a single song. With this ever-fluid narrative voice, stories are told. Arbina is a musical act of devotion, calling upon the creator to channel grace through us and uplift our actions.

[engl] 16 Blues, Rhythm & Early Soul Groovers!' Volume 3 in the 'La Noire' roots music series. Comes in gatefold cover.

[engl] Sometimes a work of art comes unintentionally from a place from deep within the soul. It meanders and flops onto a table and sits and waits for its birth. The album begins with "Wait Till The Stars Burn", a planetary ode to the Sun. The second track "Tribute to the Pharoahs Den", is a requiem for Danny Ray Thompson (R.I.P.) of the Sun Ra Arkestra, his music and legacy now floating above us in the infinity of space. Both tracks and featuring Marshall Allen and Knoel Scott (of the Sun Ra Arkestra). The song "Theme of Yahya" was a song I wrote for Yahya El Majid who played for many years with the Arkestra. I met Yahya in 2005 during my first meeting with the Arkestra. He shared many stories with me about the teachings of Sun Ra, the discipline he learned from him, and the many adventures he had all over the world travelling with the Arkestra. He told me these tales while playing a chinese harp, jamming to the sounds of Tuvaan Throat Singers, while burning a large amount of frankincense and myrrh. When I recorded the song I had four harps panned in stereo to form a sonic flower. When Yahya heard the track he telephoned me and told me that he was really moved by the piece and was proud of me. Yahya had been struggling for years with cancer and sadly passed away late August, 2020. I did not realize that my tribute to him would become a requiem, and it means the world to me that he was able to hear his tribute before he left the planet. The album ends with a requiem for Hal Willner (R.I.P.) whose devotion to celebrating the weird and insane was like an insatiable thirst leading to deep introspection and joy in harmony and sonic dissidence. These compositions have all come from this place inside my bipolar, seroquil ridden mind. It is as much a tribute to the great composers who have inspired me; Alice Coltrane, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Philip Kelan Cohran, Bernard Herrmann, Ennio Morricone, Miles Davis, Sun Ra, John Carpenter, Quincy Jones, Old Bollywood, Film Noir, to name just a few. In my 23 years of being a composer of music I have had the great opportunity to score several films all of which never got any commercial fame. These films were made from the blood and sweat of film directors and their crews who tirelessly made incredible documents that were ultimately ignored by humanity. But that never stopped them nor will it stop me. These tracks are from the infinite celluloid that runs deep in my mind, body and soul. In my lifetime i never thought i would see the deaths of "Celluloid" or "analog recording". I refuse to accept the coroner reports on said fatalities, so here is my offering to the canon of cinematic overtures and analog self-preservation, for the films in our heads yet to be made.

[engl] C. S. Lewis once said that he believed in a God as he believed that the Sun had risen. Not only because he had seen the literal light, but because of it, he was able to see everything else. Seeing is believing, and so is hearing, “Glory is Coming!” Brothers and Sisters no matter what your faith or belief is, Dog House and Bone Records in France has issued another rare LP pressing of original 45rpm records from the vast archives of Bayourod. Chicago again plays a prominent role in musical history, as the foundation of organized gospel music is born here under the tutelage of Thomas Andrew Dorsey. Dorsey is widely known as the Father of gospel music, as he composed and performed many of our most celebrated gospel songs including, “(There’ll be) Peace in the Valley (for me).” Arriving in Chicago in 1919, in the midst of the great migration of Southern Blacks, Dorsey coined the phrase “gospel songs” in the early 1920’s. He assembled the first gospel choir at Ebenezer Baptist Church on South Indiana Ave in 1931 which still stands to this day. Bo Diddley and many others learned music here. Again, Black Americans give us a uniquely American style of religious song, with its roots in the tradition of Folk music and early blues and jazz. So many of our great singers started in the Church before turning to secular music, learning to play and sing beautifully in the only venue that mattered to so many; the house of God. For those of you who may not have had experienced the absolute harmony and joy of a full gospel Church, you may walk out with your faith and or belief in a God somewhere- regardless of how you walked in. Believe me, you will be moved to tears by a choir of voices like you may never hear at any professional concert. You will hear multiple instrumentalists on piano, Hammond B3, organ and drums. You will hear joy. You will hear love. You will be told by a stranger that, yes, everything will be alright. By the grace of the other worshipers you will be hugged and feel the joy of being with your fellow man. You will brush away pain, sorrow and doubt in this moment. You will indeed believe that love and music really is the answer. In this instant you will not worry about anything. You will not worry about anyone. You are free with body and soul. You are free to thank Jesus. You are free to believe. Music heals broken hearts. Hearing it can make you want to live. Whatever it is, God’s got it. Two of the sides on this uplifting compilation come from the Reverend Charlie Jackson. Born in McComb, Mississippi Jackson preached his brand of guitar evangelism, a genre born in the late 1920’s. Others spreading the Lords word with the guitar at the time were Arkansas born Sister Rosetta Tharpe and New Orleans own Elder Utah Smith. Smith’s style of preaching, singing, and guitar playing is widely influential and incredibly moving. Reverend Jackson was a protégé of Smiths. Smiths’ spectacle of playing and preaching was so influential in fact, that young players like Guitar Slim and Ernie K-Doe emulated it. Both those amazing pioneers of the blues and rock and roll saw Smith perform in tent revivals across the South. Smith inspired Reverend Jackson to “sit down on the guitar,” playing it above his head and with his teeth at times. They frequently traveled, preached, and performed together giving sermons in rural churches, many with no electricity having to power the voice of God, their guitars, with a portable generator. Also, in addition to sides by the Sunset Travelers formed on the streets of Memphis in 1950 featuring O.V. Right, and the Gospelaires from Dayton, Ohio who preached the word with rollicking harmonies, we present a side by what may be Chicago’s most famous and “God’s greatest hit makers,” the Staple Singers. This record was recorded for Epic records in 1967, “It’s Been a Change,” features Pops Staples profound guitar playing on this “protest” record. The Staple Singers cut a slew of these kinds of message songs in the late 1960’s. Pops Staples was born in 1915 in Winona, Mississippi and was playing the blues at an early age. By 1937 he was featured in the spiritual group the Golden Trumpets. In 1941 Pops and his wife moved to Chicago, started a family and by 1953 cut their first side, “These are They,” for his own Royal Record Company. Another single led to a recording contract with Vee-Jay records which lasted from 1956 to 1962. “Uncloudy Day,” released on Vee-Jay would be the Staple Singers breakthrough. Mavis Staples is still very much a force as a singer and is still performing live. Gospel music and this collection can be best summed up by Pops Staples himself who said, “This music was born from soulful voices, social activism, religious conviction and carries a message that moves you.”

[engl] Saba Lou was born in the year 2000 in Kassel, Germany. She moved to Berlin with her family in 2005. She began her recording career at the age of 6, putting out a 4 song 7-inch on Atlanta's Slaughthaus/Rob's House Records. At the age of 8 she recorded "Good Habits (and Bad)" which was then used for the end credits on Cartoon Network's "Clarence" t.v. show. The song was also released in 2012 on the "Until The End" 7-inch on Seth Bogart's (aka Hunx) label Wacky Wacko records. Saba Lou recorded her debut album "Planet Enigma" this year at the age of fifteen. Ryan Sambol, of the Strange Boys, makes a guest appearance on "Our Fate". Erin Wood from the Spits also sings back ups and provides some space synth on "Planet Enigma". The album was recorded at Moon Studios, Berlin in late 2015- early 2016. Saba Lou is currently finishing up high school in Berlin. Her hobbies are drawing, collecting records, reading and writing songs. It's not often you make a lifelong connection. Saba Lou was just four years old when we met. I didn't make much money back then, and neither did her father, whom we dubbed "Budget Dad" because of how he used to make Saba Lou and her younger sister, Bella, toys from cardboard. For her fifth birthday, we all chipped in to build a cardboard castle, complete with picturesque windows filled with plastic flowers and glued-on Indian gods inside. Saba Lou loved it so much she probably still thinks it rivals the most extravagant of Bohemia's Black Forest! So many memories -- selling cupcakes at her elementary school, not knowing a word of Turkish or German other other than "hello" and "thank you", watching her play violin on our Defenders record, crying our eyes out at a Dolly Parton concert... I couldn't be more proud of the amazingly talented young woman she's become. Saba Lou did it on her own, which makes me even prouder. Her debut album is the best damn thing in the world -- except for the album she's about to make. As her uncle Jack Hines says, "There are signs in this desert of what we once were. Every glimpse of the wonder of youth is a fresh breeze in our souls. Every promise of love not yet fully realized spurs our hearts on. Every delicious daydream makes waiting for the bus a communion with eternity." So here is a document to a time in your life that I hope has not expired. Here is a breeze for your soul, a spur for your heart and a setting for your daydreams. Simply put, here is a reminder of all the things that make life worth living.

[engl] This edition of the LaNoire record series is once again lovingly presented to you by our esteemed collector and Doghouse and Bone Records in France. Rare original 45 rpm records pressed to vinyl for your sonic long playing pleasure. This compilation is filled with soul goodness. Songs you can dance to, cry to, and love to as some of the titles suggest. Or perhaps lament to as Rudy Lambert sings on "Love." Lambert's fantastic back-up singers remain a mystery, but one voice could be Alice Jean who was cutting sides for Club records at about the same time. This volume is a soul clap heavy record, so get out the talcum powder and spread it over the basement floor, don't worry Mom and Dad won't mind...We have many familiar friends here, starting it off with Bobby Marchan's dance instruction record on Dial based in Nashville. Otis Rush brings the fuzzy sax with him on, "Homework." Cool Hawaiian guitar on a Chuck Willis side directed by Jesse Stone and his orchestra. We have records here from Bob Kayli on Detroit's Tamla, and the formidable Wilson Pickett. Lou Rawls first single on Capitol records is here. Rawls is famous in the States for his 1970's era hits, but he was a contemporary of Sam Cooke and replaced Sam in an early gospel quartet. On tour with The Pilgrim Travelers he was in a near fatal automobile accident while touring in a gospel music road show. Many people may not know but Rawls also sang backup vocals for Cooke on "Bring it on home to me," and other Cooke sides. There must be few greater voices in early American soul music. His first record for Capitol is here, "When love goes wrong." I have spoken often about Bobby Bland and his Duke sides. The emotion I feel when this man sings is like few others in the great pantheon of American blues. "Shoes" is considered a Northern Soul rarity record, and it does get the people on the dance floor. Alas, this record is really about loss, and the feeling of longing which you can feel him sing on this early side. First hand accounts of Mr. Bland's early performances tell of the audience members standing stock still in front of the stage, raptured by Blands delivery. He was later criticized for not being as dynamic performer as some of his contemporaries. But as these early sides on Duke, with accompaniment by Ike Turner and band attest, they are as moving as any singers of the era. Joe Tex gets serious on his Checker side, "Don't Play" originally recorded for Anna records in Detroit. This side has stellar horns from Eddie and Mac Williams. Wilson Pickett had a smash hit with "Land of 1,000 dances," which in the United States has become a cliche' at thousands of high-school dances across our county. This is a record that holds up no matter how many times you get on the dance floor to try all sixteen dances it mentions. The title was cut out of the original number when put to wax for radio airplay, as 1,000 dances is never mentioned in the song, and Chris Kenner along with Fats Domino are credited with the original arrangement. First charted by Cannibal and the Headhunters in the early 60's it is said that Hannibal forgot the lyrics mid-recording hence the famous na, na-na-na-na section. Tape was expensive.... This record hit number 1 on the R and B charts in 1966, and established Pickett's career for years to come. Junior Parker rounds things out with a plea to Heaven on his Duke records cut, "I'm in Love." Credit is due to the fantastic Bill Harvey Band with trumpet by Joe Scott, trombone by Pluma Davis, piano by Connie Mac Booker, bass by Hamp Simmons and Sonny Freeman on drums...a knockout crew.

[engl] The rags-to-riches chronicle of Penny Penny’s life would be remarkable if he had only released his smash debut Shaka Bundu and packed houses for a few years. But the inimitable South African singer and dancer known for his trademark top ponytail and emphatic anthems was no one-hit wonder. In the aftermath of Shaka Bundu’s nationwide explosion, far beyond his country the album resonated with ever bigger audiences. He performed up and down the continent, building fanbases in more than a dozen countries. So his sophomore album Yogo Yogo—released in 1996—solidified Penny Penny’s standing in pop music nationally and provided new energy to his pan-African stadium-filling adventures. “I was very busy between Shaka Bundu and Yogo Yogo. Shows every week, local and outside the country. There was no relaxing from 1995 until 1999.” The album also reflects the era in which it emerged. If Shaka Bundu arrived triumphantly amid newfound political freedom in South Africa with the end of Apartheid and Nelson Mandela’s election, Yogo Yogo was a next level expression for the maturing artist. He wanted to get a message out. Composed with Joe Shirimani, who also produced the album, the sound and compositional style echoes the earlier recording but the topical nature of the lyrics became more deliberate, more didactic. In the song “Ingani” Penny proclaims, we are all one people even though we may speak different languages, we are all Nguni—a larger historical grouping that includes many of the ethnic groups in modern South Africa. “Kulani Kulani,” which means grow up, urges young people to say no to drugs and yes to education. Ama Owners, referring to the public transport drivers involved in violent rumbles, asks the nation’s drivers to relax because we need them for our safe arrival. Penny’s success as a Xitsonga artist should not be under-estimated in the context of popular music at the time in South Africa. “When I started with my own style and image, first time in Shangaan we had artist like me,” Penny explains. “Our music was traditional before. But I brought a mix of rock and disco and it became the bomb. Every star won’t be popular without your own style.” It took them eight days to finish album, writing the songs in the studio. Penny says, “The songs just happened. Joe is very good at listening and producing, he has lots of patience. When he played the keyboard I would sing, standing behind him once he finished the rhythm, I would sing it all in one take, non-stop. We were not using computers to record, we were singing live. And we pressed the music on cassette and vinyl—not CD—back then." Fast-forward to 2020, Penny Penny is deep in the political game and appears on television 6 times a week as the star of his own reality TV show, “Papa Penny Ahee!”. He is setting up an avocado farm and provides fifty families in his region with food every month via his charitable foundation. Penny still plays huge shows around South Africa and will appear at some Europe’s biggest festivals in 2021.

[engl] Greetings record lovers everywhere! In these troubling times the esteemed producers of the LaNoire series have curated a gospel record to help us all see the light-the light that is sure to be found in music. Here we now turn to the archives and drop the needle on more vintage gospel, right on time. We start our collection with “Shout Shout” from the Reverend Cleophus Robinson. Reverend Robinson was born in Mississippi in 1932, and he learned to sing while in the cotton fields with his Mother, who was to those that heard her, a phenomenal singer. The Reverend may be best known for his coast to coast television show which was broadcast for over twenty-five years in America. In 1948 he moved briefly to Chicago and performed with the Roberta Martin Singers. That group just happened to have a member named Mahalia Jackson. This is a side from the early 1950’s on Peacock Records out of Houston, Texas, with the wonderful Napoleon Brown accompanying on piano. Another Peacock recording on “The Worlds Greatest Spirituals,” at 2809 Erastus Street in Houston, features Sister Josephine James singing “Straight Road.” Sister James recorded with the above Reverend Robinson for the label. If you listen to these records for the first time you will be moved by the blending of voices…and it will come as no surprise that Sister James and Reverend Robinson are brother and sister. Sister James also moved to Chicago and formed a quintet called the Five Queens of Zion. She was a prolific songwriter and has dozens of gospel recordings attributed to her during this era. The duets with her brother will stand the test of time as some of the most beautiful close harmony gospel singing as long as these records are heard. “I need your Power” by the Singing Sons appears here on the Gospel Corner label. Gospel Corner, out of Los Angeles, was started by rhythm and blues rocker Sylvester “Duke” Henderson. “Duke” got out of the rock and roll business to start the label, and had most notably cut the first sides of The Pilgrim Travelers. Gospel Corner was a very distinguished label on the sacred music scene due to the great talent of “Duke” Henderson’s production skills which can be heard on this cut. Broadcast Music Incorporated, BMI, aptly gave this number by the Kelly Brothers the emotive, “This group sings this supplication in strong jubilant terms!” Yes indeed. Specialty Records is known for the list of power hitters on the label out of New Orleans. In Los Angeles Art Rupe also recorded and released, on Specialty, many gospel recordings. Some of those of course featured Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers. Here we have the side “I’ve made it at Last.” Next up we hear Sylvia Spurling, a fine pianist and sacred singer on a side from the little known TAT’s records. Here she gives us “Yes He Did.” The Gay Sisters are made up of four family members who grew up in Chicago, and attended All Nations Pentecostal Church. All Nations was famed for gospel music musicians, most notably the fellow congregant Rosetta Nubin, the future Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The Gay Sisters hit with an up-tempo bluesy number on the Savoy label in 1951 and the sisters had tremendous success until Mahalia Jackson, jealous of these upstarts, accused the Gay’s of using musicians that were not union affiliated; a huge problem for the time. This crushed the Gay Sisters hopes of releasing new sides for Decca records. Tragically, Geraldine Gay spent time in prison after her deceitful cheating husband beat her, and she shot and killed him. Geraldine was released after a few months as the trial judge judiciously ruled the case a justifiable homicide. The Gay Sisters are a true Chicago story…This side, “On My Way to Heaven” is on the BandF label. Geraldine died in 2010, but was making rare local live appearances, and recording sides for the Sirens label as recently as 2007. Side A of our record rounds out with gospel harmony from New York City’s Apollo records, and The Larks. Now hear this… The Larks; Gene Mumford, Raymond “Pee-Wee” Barnes, Alden Bunn, Hadie Rowe, Thermon Ruth and David McNeil were known in North Carolina as The Jubilators. After perfecting their skills with music lessons on harmony and choreography, they piled into Bunn’s car and headed to NYC. There they plotted a day to run from studio to studio and record as many songs as possible. They were broke, and knew that they would only be paid up-front for the songs recorded, and never see any royalty money. So, they recorded sides at Jubilee records, Regal records in Jersey, Savoy records in Newark and back to Apollo records in Manhattan. To cash in they recorded under the band names; the Jubilators, the Selah Singers, the Southern Harmonaires and The 4 Barons. Seventeen masters for four companies in two days! Here we have a side cut for Apollo in December of 1950, “Shadrack.” Things are getting brighter as we flip to the B side to hear a cut on Nashboro records, a subsidiary of the Excello records Company. Brother Joe May was born in Mississippi and later moved to East St. Louis, Illinois. There he honed his singing and musicianship skills with Willie Mae Ford Smith. Brother Joe cut some records for Specialty and remarkably sold millions of records regionally with out ever charting. He toured as a musician with the Soul Stirrers and Pilgrim Travelers. Little Richard has always cited Brother May as a musical inspiration. This obviously can be heard on, “Wake Me Shake Me.” The Hardmen Singers give us, “Living in a New World” on Peacock, and we then head back to Gospel Corner records for, “Going Home” by Prince Dixon which was one of the last sides released by the famed Gospel label. Bessie Griffin may be best known for her work with The Caravans, a leading and legendary gospel group. After moving to Los Angles and forming The Pearls, the group was among the first to perform in the secular world of nightclubs and television. They appeared frequently on The Ed Sullivan show and Hootenanny. After her side on Specialty, we head back to Chicago for a side from the Caravans, “Wade in the Water” with the wonderful Edward Robinson on piano and Louise Overall Weaver on organ. Songbird is a late spinoff label to Houston’s Peacock. Songbird was launched in 1963 featuring white singers and vocal groups becoming more popular in the Christian heavy South. This cut, “Don’t Have to Worry,” by Jean Austin is a funky grooved number which could find itself easily played next to some of the soul hits of the era. Finally and fittingly we hear, “Sand in the Storm” by the Gospel Clefs. The Clefs have had a lasting legacy in Chicago due to one of our most respected disc jockeys, Herb Kent, “The Cool Gent.” Kent had been on Chicago radio, until his death this year, for more then seventy years. He closed each show with the Gospel Clef’s, “Open up our Eyes.” All Chicagoans who dig radio know this song. We leave you with hope for all of our futures, and the Gospel Clef’s rendition of “Sand in the Storm,” on the Savoy label, out of Newark, New Jersey. We wish you peace and joy, and again give thanks to the producers at Doghouse and Bone and the LaNoire record series for giving these beautiful voices the ability to shout as long as these records are played.

[engl] The Queen of the Ahoko It makes sense that Antoinette Konan’s eponymous album features nothing more than her ahoko on the cover. The deceptively simple traditional percussion instrument transformed Ivory Coast’s Baoulé music scene when Konan deployed it against a roaring electrified backdrop of synth, bass guitar and drum machines. Released in 1986, the album is a veritable UFO of instrumental force and contemporary pop sensibility landing in a boiling pot of diverse, creative characters inhabiting Abidjan, Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire). Known as the “Queen of the Ahoko” among Ivorians, Konan single-handedly put the central-Ivorian instrument on the map when she gave it a 20th-century re-introduction. The three-piece wooden idiophone is handmade from a thin, ribbed, flexible stick, against which a smaller chunk of wood is rhythmically scraped. A hollow nutshell held in the non-scraping hand amplifies and manipulates the resulting overtones. Despite the ahoko's diminutive appearance, Konan and her powerful voice have remained at the forefront of Ivorian music for decades now, in an extremely diverse country—approximately 70 indigenous languages—with a competitive, internationally-recognized music industry. Music plays an important role in Baoulé cultural life, heard and seen in festivities, funerals and more. They are the largest ethnic group in Côte d’Ivoire and descend from Akan peoples who migrated from present-day central Ghana. Baoulé vocal music is characterized by polyphony, melodies built on parallel thirds and call-and-response. All of this can be heard in Konan’s music. In 1976, she got her start with Ivory Coast’s National Television Orchestra (ORTI), backing major Ivorian stars on Podium, a program featuring youth culture hero Roger Fulgence Kassy. By 1980 she was playing in Musicaria, visionary Ivorian bandleader Boncana Maïga’s group. With Maïga, she expanded her creative horizons and learned new approaches. She also worked with influential producer Jimmy Hyacinthe’s band. His artistic agency in Treichville—Abidjan’s music industry epicenter at the time—further inspired Konan. She would hang out there after school. Konan had a difficult time balancing school and music but enrolled in a music program at INA (National Institute of Arts, where she later also taught classes) and was able to both travel for concerts overseas and study music. Meanwhile, she managed to work with some of Abidjan’s key arrangers and music-makers. Music manager Amedé Koko Tanoh, who was also involved in the agency where Konan socialized, provided the original impetus for her to learn the ahoko in 1981 as a way to distinguish herself from other artists. He took her to study with a professional ahoko player, an old woman who began to teach Konan. But she soon brushed the young lady off and wouldn’t teach her any more. Konan continued on her own until her mother asked where she got the instrument. It turned out her mother knew how to play also, so Konan began to study with her mom. She taped her mom’s ahoko playing so she could practice back at university. During this early period, Konan borrowed clothes because she could not afford performance attire. Despite some ridicule she persevered. Music impresario George Tahi Benson, one of her key mentors, told her, “It’s good to dress the way you do. But what if you instead make the difference by promoting the local cloth, the Baoulé cloth.” She again got some negative feedback when she changed to traditional gowns. But it became her trademark look and gradually became trendy among Ivorians all over the country. Konan’s fingerprints are all over Antoinette Konan, she says, as it was meant to be a highly personal recording. She wanted to portray the suffering, injustice, frustrations, humiliations, personal career struggles, experience of child birth and poverty she sees in society. Taking on the producer role for the first time, Konan was the architect of her dancefloor-ready neo-traditional sound. But crucial to the recording was arranger Bamba Moussa Yang. A creative and versatile musical mind who was known for his work with legendary Ivorian singer Ernesto Djedje, Konan met him in 1986 after she had already released two albums. Yang brought a touch that matched Konan’s expectations, she says, because he knew her work so well. As she reflects on her long career today, Konan remembers Yang as her favorite arranger. Over the years Konan’s popularity grew to the upper echelons of Ivorian society: Ivory Coast’s first president Felix Houphouet Boigny’s would regularly invite Konan to perform at official ceremonies with foreign dignitaries. Through her charity and advocacy work on behalf of female musicians, Konan is still a force in the country’s music community. You can see her performing or speaking on television and around the country all the time—yet she still maintains several entrepreneurial projects in the farming sector. Konan has recorded more than 15 albums so far and plans more recordings soon.

[engl] Well as I sit here on a back porch in Chicago I can hear the “el” train rumble by. Cars honk, and jets rumble above and around me as the world is on the move, constant progress. Back here in the garden, if I block out the noise, things probably don’t look or feel much different from when this house was built in the early 1940’s. World problems then, and music was there to restore us. The States are as confused and divided today as I have ever experienced. On the radio this morning I heard my good friend James Porter spin a dusty classic by Jerry Butler and the Impressions. The song really grabbed me, and moved me so that I had to stand still for a minute and give it a listen. I was moved almost to tears- that is what a good song can do. What I know dear friends of the LaNoire series is that we are linked to our pasts. We are linked to our family members and friends. All of us touched by the reached out hand of that song on the radio. The Blues are not always sad; it’s that music that brings us close to each other on the dance floor. It shows us the way in hard times. The Blues allows us to drink that juice together, fall in love, get happy and forget for a minute our plight or the darkness. So let’s do our thing together on this record full of soul. The producers at Doghouse and Bone and LaNoire once again bring us these very rare 45 records as the original recording masters intended. We start this one off with a soul groover on the Loma label. “Barefoot Beefus,” by Barry Beefus. Barry is none other than Al Jones. Al cut the rocking classic, “Loretta.” One listen and you can hear the voice. The Northern soul aficionados have come to love this soul growler from Joe Johnson. “Rattlesnake, Baby, Rattlesnake,” was cut for Galaxy records which was a division of Fantasy records owned by the Weiss brothers. This one is almost a novelty song, but you can’t resist its ability to pull you on to the dance floor. Sinner Strong, aka, Joyce Harris cut “Don’t knock it” for the Serock label. This harmonic infused call and response shouter was produced by Ed Townsend. Townsend also produced records for Fats Domino and Maxine Brown and the Impressions among others. Serock records was a label owned by Big Al Sears, who is famous for replacing Ben Webster in Duke Ellington’s band. Just as interesting is that Al was a member of Alan Freed’s band during all the Moondog shows. Can we please have a drink with Big Al Sears…. Billy Harner was a blue-eyed white soul singer from Philadelphia, PA. Here he gives us the side, “Don’t want my loving.” Harner cut some sides for Cameo records and then moved to its imprint Kama Sutra in the late 1960’s. He had some success charting in Los Angeles and New York, but fizzled in the rest of the states, so Harner quit music and opened up a barbershop near the area he first started recording. Our title track is written by Vernon Harrell who shared many writing credits with J.R. Bailey. Bailey was a member of the great Cadillac’s, and together they wrote some sides for the Platters among others. Harrell was known as a great singer as well, as he replaced the Coasters legend Billy Guy who tried his hand at a solo career. Vernon never recorded with the Coasters, he only was part of the live-act...all in all not a bad day's work...His fantastic side “Slick Chick,” on the Lescay label is from 1962. Slick Chick is followed up by “Take a trip” by Jimmy Vick and the Victors. Cherry records was almost a one-shot and poof label…but what could have been…This record was recorded at Chime recording studios and features William Lee “Billy” Nichols on guitar. Nichols would later come to be none other than Marvin Gaye’s musical director. The soul clappers continue as we traverse the sixties era with “Noah” by Grainger Hunt from 64’. Recorded in Fort Worth, Texas this record today is worth a pretty penny and brings much more for one 45 than Mr. Hunt got paid for the session… We follow that up by the Ike Turner written cut, “I’m Hurting,” by Billy Gales from 1961. A Louisiana Red shaker is featured on this record on Laurie records out of NYC. Red’s father was horrifically murdered by the disgusting Ku Klux Klan in 1937, and in spite of childhood setbacks, Red went on to cut some tough blues numbers for the Chess and Checker labels after cutting some fine soul. 1970’s slow jam king Barry White makes an appearance here from early on in his career with a Barry White and the Atlantics recording, “Tracy (all I have is you),” from 1962 on the Faro label. It is hard to connect the dots to his later styling, but this early vocal is on time. Nathaniel Mayer is not a household name. He should be. Here we have him on the cut, “From now on.” This Devora Brown written song was recorded with the Fortune Braves featuring Arthur Wright on guitar, for Fortune records in Detroit, Michigan. Nathaniel Mayer was a rhythm and blues shouting king, and I would put his vocal manner up to James Brown any day of the week. Mr. Mayer sang his last show in Las Vegas in 2008, but after cutting his sides for Fortune in 1966 he disappeared for more than twenty years living in Detroit’s inner city. Almost thirty years later he made an improbable comeback due to some record industry insiders discovering him for the first time. He still tore down the house and got down and dirty until a stroke claimed his life after a series of concert dates. The Fortune record label was run by Jack and Dorothy Devora Brown and featured a spontaneous and downright greasy sound. If you have not heard of Nathaniel Mayer, you will know that voice from now on! “Get it,” by Jay Dee Bryant was recorded on Enjoy records. Enjoy was run out of Bobby Robinson's record shop on 125th Street in Harlem. Robinson was a king in the doo-wop era recording the likes of the Mello-moods, the Rainbows, and the Du Droppers. This is a soul ditty from 1967. The fitting final track on this record is “Help Yourself,” by Little Johnny Taylor. Taylor was influenced by Little Willie John, both of whom started their singing careers in gospel. Little Johnny Taylor was a member of The Clouds of Joy. Blues, soul, and gospel is indeed a recipe to help all of us-we thank you and our producers for once again giving these voices the ability to shout!

[engl] Austrian band Shake Stew has become something of a phenomenon. With their premiere at Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2016 and their following debut “The Golden Fang” they seemingly exploded into the scene out of nowhere. Since then their high energy mixture of hypnotic afrobeat and jazz grooves has made them enormously successful not only on home turf but across Europe. Led by rising star bassist Lukas Kranzelbinder they quickly became one of the hottest live acts on the circuit, while the impact of their second album “Rise and Rise again” (featuring Shabaka Hutchings) enabled them to spread their unique sound further afield, including an extensive tour of Canada, Mexico, Morocco and stand out shows at prestigious festivals like Montreal, Rochester and North Sea Jazz Festival. The band has also attracted the attention of Germany’s leading newspaper Die Zeit who, in an unusual move, sent one of its writers to spend 5 days with them to cover the formations summer residence at Jazzclub Unterfahrt; the resulting feature was euphoric in its praise: "What I heard blew me away. Captivating rhythms, melting brass, hypnotic funk-beat-swing-afro-jazz-rock-rhythm-and-something. I was glued to my seat and could barely get up. […] Meanwhile I know that other listeners had similar initiation experiences; something comes from this band that is new and special - and very attractive.” Despite being on the scene for only a short time, German Radio NDR already called them a “Cult Band” and everyone who could witness the septet's two-day residency at Viennese Jazz Club Porgy & Bess earlier this year might understand why: Both evenings sold out, a total of nearly 900 listeners, who crowded into the club to hear the latest sounds of a band whose journey has only just started. Riding on all this success Shake Stew are now releasing their third studio album Gris Gris on 1 November. Not content to do anything by halves (their first single was 19 minutes long), Gris Gris is a double album of what they do best: A high-octane mix of fiery jazz and trance-like groove injections combined with mysterious soundscapes and spiritual free jazz eruptions - or as one Austrian newspaper described them “an intergalactic road movie for the ears!”