All Vinyl A to Z of Africa - Episode 1 - Algeria to Burkina Faso

Lockdown here in London has had its challenges and I've been blessed with a fairly carefree life for the past month or so. Although I have missed my nights sketching in the clubs and nightspots of the capital I've used my time to research my first ever radio programme. Every evening I'm been trying to track down vinyl, records and shellac from Africa, and nearly every day a new package is brought by the postman. I've now managed to find a record from each African country and brought these together in eleven 20 minute programmes on SOAS radio.

Episode 1 is here for you to enjoy - https://soasradio.org/music/episodes/ep-1-algeria-to-burkina-faso-all-vinyl-a-to-z-of-africa

Our journey begins with records from Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana and Burkina Faso. We meet the Algerian Nightingale, the Angolan Minister for Sport and the Botswanan guitarist who studied in London.

Tracklist
1 – Rabah Driassa – El Mouhdjer (Casaphone)
2 – Ruy Mingas – Birin Birin (Zip Zip)
3 – Joachim Boya & Poly-Rythmo – Bon Week-End (Disques Tropiques)
4 – Hugh Masekela – Stimela (Jive Afrika)
5 – Georges Ouedraogo – Rimbalé (Dragon Phénix)

and please listen to A World in London on Wednesday evenings at SOAS radio and Resonance FM.

Partikel - The Fox

Duncan Eagles

Partikel
Duncan Eagles - saxophone
Max Luthert - bass
Eric Ford - drums

The Fox, Twickenham, UK
05/03/2020

2020 marks ten years since Partikel launched their debut CD. The band are celebrating this milestone with a new album with progressive German based label Berthold Records and lots of touring throughout the year.

Eric Ford

After four albums and a decade of working together Partikel still retain their youthful exuberance and a prickly wonder for the new challenges ahead. At The Fox in Twickenham they returned to their South West London stomping ground to share a handful of new compositions. Duncan Eagles has shed some of the lyricism of the early years, the meandering melodies have gone in favour of a more robust style, harder, more forthright. The same could be said for the drumming of Eric Ford, but he has always had a powerful cantankerous edge to his playing. Max Luthert will be forever the pacifier in this trio, playing the father figure to two boisterous teenage sons.

Max Luthert

Rapasa NyatraPasa Otieno - A World in London

Rapasa Nyatrapasa Otieno

Rapasa Nyatrapasa Otieno - vocals and nyatiti 

A World in London, Resonance FM, UK

4th March 2020

Listen to the full interview here on A World in London - https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/a-world-in-london-4th-march-2020/

Gifted Kenyan multi-instrumentalist & singer-songwriter, Rapasa Nyatrapasa Otieno, brought his raw, poetic, and passionate music talents to A World in London on Resonance 104.4fm ? He played live, exclusive extracts from his forthcoming debut album, Tipona, which is out on March 13th, and we learnt all about his main instrument, the nyatiti (eight-string lyre), for which he is a skilled ambassador. 

 Also on this AWIL, great global music by Grand Union Orchestra, Damir Imamovic, Matthieu Saglio [oficial], and Awale Jant Band.
Pics & production by Sophie Darling, Tanbir Johal, artist Alban Low, and Norman Druker, plus Bernard Bernard on sound!
#London #worldmusic #folkmusic #livemusic #music #radio #AWIL #RapasaNyatraopasaOtieno #Kenya #Africa #UK #singer #songwriter #composer #musician #educator #AfricanMusic #EastAfrica #nyatiti #Dhoulou #language

Sahra Gure - Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer

Sahra Gure

28/02/2020

Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer, London, UK

Sahra Gure is a Berlin born, London based vocalist who works across a range of genres. Born to a Somali father and German mother, Sahra grew up surrounded by different cultures and sounds that shaped her character and musical personality. Sahra began her musical life as a classical violinist. It wasn’t till she was 14, when she joined the Aldeburgh Young Musician program, that she discovered her love and passion for singing. Sahra was able to study with Brigitte Beraha, Cleveland Watkiss, Pete Churchill, Norma Winstone and many more before accepting a scholarship to study Jazz Performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance where she became the 2019 Jazz representative for the gold medal award held at Queen Elizabeth Hall. Despite her tender age of 22, her mature and versatile approach to singing has seen Sahra work with the likes of Orphy Robinson, Dele Sosimi, Cleveland Watkiss, Ashley Henry, Tori Handsley, Mark Mondesir and Kishon Kahn to name a few. Performing at London Jazz Festival, Havana Jazz Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, Dimensions Festival, WOMAD and many more.

Lokkhi Terra - A World In London

Sohini Alam

Kishon Khan - piano
Sohini Alam - vocals
Javier Camilo - guitar / vocals

29th January 2020
A World in London, Resonance FM, UK

Kishon Khan

Quintessentially London - Lokkhi Terra on A World in London! Click: https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/a-world-in-london-29th-january-2020/ 

We first interviewed Lokkhi Terra over a decade ago when AWIL was based at BBC London and the band was relatively new. Last year they supported the Bangladeshi Cricket Team during the ICC World Cup, performed at numerous festivals, and consolidated their long-time collaboration with Afrobeat don Dele Sosimi through the fantastic Cubafrobeat album. In this AWIL session, Lokkhi Terra were represented  by band-founder & keyboard wizard Kishon Khan, divine vocalist Sohini Alam (also of Khiyo and GRRRL fame), and Cuban guitar legend Javier Camilo. Together they delivered an exclusive & electrifying preview - steeped in virtuosity - of their forthcoming album, CuBangla. Lokkhi Terra’s influences reflect the unique diversity of our capital, combining jazz, reggae, Sufi music, Bangladeshi folk songs & lyrics, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and everything in between! ‘We play pure forms of music authentically’, explains Kishon. Born in Bangladesh, Kishon grew up in London before moving to Havana in the 90’s, seeking out the history, politics & innocence of Castro’s Cuba. Britishness and Asianness were already in Kishon’s musical DNA, and he gradually added the African/Spanish dimensions, absorbing each city he visited as his musical university. ‘Every city has its own musical identity and most musicians resonate with it.’ An outstanding pianist, Kishon was invited to perform at Cuba’s very first reggae festival in 1996, curated by Rita Marley. He was paid for gigs in bottles of rum and biscuits, before eventually returning to London which was revelling in the explosion of new musical trends like Drum n’Bass, Acid Jazz, and the Asian Underground scene.

Javier Camilo

Kishon set up Lokkhi Terra in 2006, building upon his global experiences and forging bonds with like-minded musicians based here. Acclaimed albums followed: Che Guava's Rickshaw Diaries and No Visa Required. The band boasts an international line up that includes trombone titan Justin Thurgur, Turkish percussionist Tansay Omar, and four Cuban members including Javier Camilo, who underlines the unlikely Cuba-Bangla link by saying 'Quien no tiene de Cuba tiene de Bangladesh!'

Lokkhi Terra’s modus operandi is sharing - music, cultures, food, and languages - and finding the sweet spots of harmony and dissonance between everything, but most of all this band’s heart beats in time with London. CuBangla is out on Funkiwala Records later this year but catch Lokkhi Terra in full 14-piece glory at The Jazz Café on March 2nd!

Tanbir Johal

Lokkhi Terra is a London-based world music collective. Their music combines Bangladeshi folk tunes with Afro-beat and Cuban rumba. Established by pianist Kishon Khan, the band played its first gig at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall in 2006. They have performed at numerous venues since then, including WOMAD, Ronnie Scott's, Barbican Centre and the opening ceremony of the South Asian Games. Lokkhi Terra have released two albums to date: No Visa Required and Che Guava's Rickshaw Diaries.

Chiarello, Preston and Mudge - Jazz at the Fox

Bill Mudge

Gianni Chiarello - guitar
Bill Mudge - organ
Richard Preston - drums

23rd January 2020
Jazz on Toast, The Fox, Twickenham, UK

Jazz on Toast is a relatively new staple for jazz fans in South West London. An informal gathering of maverick musicians, usually with a house band of three players, and a wild card guest thrown in. An opening set of an hour (8.30-9.30pm) gives way to an open jam session for whatever remains of the night (10pm+). The night opened in October 2017 with Tom Ridout (saxophone),  Mike Redfern (guitar), Matt Gedrych (bass) and Jack Yardley (drums). It is testament to this night that it continues to flourish in 2020. Other Jazz Jams have flared to life and died during the two and half years that Jazz on Toast has been alive in Twickenham. Like the infamous Grey Horse Jazz Jam (Kingston) that burned so brightly in the late 2000s and early 2010s the core of musicians that play are young or brim with a latent talent.

Local guitar hero Gianni Chiarello has gained a reputation as an extremely versatile musician, having professional credits as a guitarist, bassist, arranger and producer. His style is a preconception-free mix of jazz, rock, blues, funk and modern harmony. A Native of Italy, took up the guitar at age 8, inspired by blues/rock players. In his forming years he performed with some of his country’s finest musicians, always keen to develop different musical styles. In 1999 he moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music, on a scholarship program, where he gained a degree. 

Hammond organ specialist Bill Mudge has been part of the London scene since 2010. His debut album, Skylight, is a thing of beauty, and although hard to find is well worth tracking down. A Renaissance man of considerable talents Mudge remains one of the brightest sparks of the London Arts scene. 

See his photography here - https://www.billmudge.co.uk/ 

and listen to some of his music with Toy Rokit  https://toyrokit.bandcamp.com/ 

Peter Jones at Twickenham Jazz Club

Leon Greening

Peter Jones - vocals
Kelvin Christiane - saxophone
Leon Greening - piano
Andy Cleyndert - bass
Sophie Alloway - drums

Kelvin Christiane

14th January 2020
Twickenham Jazz Club, Twickenham, UK

Sophie Alloway

Lesley and Kelvin Christiane ushered in the new jazz decade at Twickenham Jazz Club with the Peter Jones Quartet. 2020 here we come!

Peter Jones

Peter Jones has taught film and media at a variety of London colleges, and published a short book on black cinema (BFI Publishing), followed by a handbook for media and film students (Hodder Arnold). During the making of his first album (`One Way Ticket to Palookaville' - 2013) he developed a serious interest in the work of Mark Murphy. In 2018 he published This is Hip, an outstanding book on the life and music of Mark Murphy. His second album (`Utopia') was released in 2016.  

Andy Cleyndert