In 1991, Dan Storper saw the Nigerian highlife band Kotoja playing in the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. He remembers being struck by how the afro-beat band’s music brought people of all ages and backgrounds together to dance in one place. Ever since then he’s been on a mission to bring music from all over the globe to western listeners’ ears through his record label: Putumayo.
Putumayo is the wise old uncle of the world music section. You can spot the distinctive ‘Putumayo Presents’ album sleeves in independent groceries, museums and record stores all over the globe. These albums, compiling tracks united by a common theme or artist (‘New Orleans Brass’, ‘Celtic Dreamland’, ‘Acoustic Africa’, ‘Oliver Mtukudzi: Tuku Music’), always feature the distinctive art of British illustrator Nicola Heindl, whose colorful, folkloric style symbolizes the company’s main purpose: to connect the traditional and the contemporary. Storper can be proud to know that Putumayo’s effervescent motto, ‘guaranteed to make you feel good’, is now found on sleeves in over 80 countries worldwide.
For the first time on August 30th, 2011, Putumayo released two compilations in digital versions. A hard copy of one of the two, ‘African Beat’, fell into my hands while teching CKUT radio’s Tuesday morning African music show, ‘Basa Basa Soukous Soukous Soundz’. I’ve listened to little else since.
‘African Beat’, in the words of Putumayo’s press release, “features artists who are as likely to have traditional African drumming, soukous and mbaqanga on their iPods as they are the latest European dubstep and US hip-hop’. If you’re inclined to think this hybrid of tastes is wonderful, you will not be disappointed by this record. If you’re sceptical, there is surely enough creativity packed into these 11 short songs to win you over.
Listening to the opening song might feel somewhat lack-lustre at first. South African Busi Mhlongo takes a very simple house rhythm and bass-line and embellishes it with sung vocals in Zulu. As simple as it is, the song has a delicate beauty to it, and if you give it time will grow on you; Mhlongo’s voice is stunning. Lëk Sén’s ‘Rebel Blues’ is familiar Putumayo territory: guitar, bass, chorus, and lead vocals all intertwined in a danceable West African blues form.
‘Alapomeji Anthem’ by 9ice leans heavily on the tropes of much recent Western pop music. From the breakdown into rap after the second chorus to the triplet-snare hits dotted throughout, the song sounds very contemporary. Yet 9ice intrigues me in a way that Western pop starts don’t. Perhaps it’s the completely natural way he mixes English with local languages; he even sings about wanting to speak ‘good English’ in the song. Perhaps its the almost naive beauty of the song’s persistent flute melody, which stands in stark contrast to the overproduced bombast of American mainstream music. Whatever it is, the song possess a wonderful melody, and leaves enough space for the listener to find hidden subtleties within the music with each new listen.
The fourth track, ‘Kalan Nege’ by Issa Bagayogo, is where the compilation really starts to pick up. Bagayogo’s vocals remind me of Tinariwen’s trance-like singing, except here the vocals come on top of a pounding 4×4 beat. The call and response pattern so often found in traditional music is present and delightful, but it is the addition of traditional Malian acoustic instruments to the electronic mix which lends the song a unique and utterly re-playable value.
Freddy Massamba’s ‘Zonza’ is equally as addictive. The song is built around a simple blues guitar riff but flutes, horns, and a chorus of ebullient singers elevate this above mere blues. Drum patterns dart in and out of the mix as the chorus oscillates between singing, ululating and shouting. There are more flutes on Yode & Siro’s ‘Quel est Mon Pays’, but the song isn’t quite as excitingly new as the previous two.
The same can’t be said of ‘Mogoya’ by Donso. This is probably the most accessible song on the compilation, especially for any westerners familiar with the globe-trotting music of The Very Best or the modern indie-funk of TV on the Radio circa Dear Science. A mesmerizing electronic riff, which reminds me of The Very Best’s excellent ‘Julia’, is backed up by such a brilliant range of instruments and rhythms it feels a disservice to try and to do it justice in text. A fantastic pre-drink song.
Speaking of funk, the penultimate track ‘Wosoubour’ treads a wonderful line between modern funk and old fashioned West African blues. It makes complete sense to learn the song is a remix by American DJ Chris Annibell of Vieux Farka Touré’s original. The musical web that descends from the African blues of Vieux Farka Touré’s father, the legendary Ali Farka Touré, through slavery into America, and then to modern day Brooklyn, is united here in a glorious 4 minutes.
Of course, the lineage was never that simple. The blues might have originally descended from the music of African slaves, but Ali Farka Touré admitted to being hugely influenced by the American blues of the 1950s, as well as the guitar work of Jimi Hendrix in the 1960s. Music has consistently criss-crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and it is wonderful to have some idea of how contemporary western music, often contemporary black music, is being reinterpreted and re-created in Africa. ‘African Beats’ is a great place to start.