I tend to agree with one of Johan's points here about ghettotech. While democratization of digital technologies helped produce ghettotech, it means that its going to be looking less and less 'ghetto'. Not in where it comes from, but what it looks/sounds like.
There's huge differences recently, some stylistic changes which favors a cleaner sounds, as well as tech/production changes. There tons of examples, but i admit my new interest in Namibia's music industry which seems to have blossomed crazy in the past few years, with flashy new video..
Lady May won best dance video for that song, its a really fun video. also this!
Namibia produces a lot of artists/sounds, and its rising to join ghana, nigeria, senegal, kenya, S.A., etc as a strong african music industry. I'm a huge fan of Tate Buti, who calls his genre Kwiku, "a music put together by Tate Buti and his producer Pedrito between 2000 and 2003. The two mixed traditional-oshiwambo dance music, known as shambo, with Western-Africa's sounds of Kwassa kwassa, to create a quick ovambo music." I hear kwaito in the mix too flowing up from South Africa.
!!!!!!
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These are old videos, so i dont know what happened to this uzbek reggaeton group, but it might explain why its showing up in uigher music.
Its not subtle at all, notice the PR shirts they're flaunting @ :37
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i missed this. I guess Olu doesn't shy from the controversy.
Wondering about connects.. the little lamp looks like the RaiNB symbol, which involves actual connect between N & S Africans, all the silly magic lamps and camels associated with that packaging vs this which seems similarly/ yet differently fetishwise & maybe says something.. tons of nolly stars are lebanese mixes, i dunno.. the song makes no attempt to sound arab.
I just saw Dj L-Vis 1990's new video on Mad Decent. In the video he used basically unedited footage of the popular congolese dance videos by the Soukous Vibration Dancers.
from:
Generally, i dont have a problem with mixing dance videos. Theres a huge number of videos like this on youtube, often producing interesting results. But If youre a professional musician, and you release that as yr official music video, and you have a "growing career as a freelance video producer", shouldn't you at least give the ladies a holla?
And when does something fun get creepy? When does appreciating the seriously sweet dancing and lofi creativity of african music videos go wrong? When is it just using them to give a video some exotica/arty flair with the bodies of POCs? Im sure there could be ways to use and get inspiration from these videos in ways that seem less off, I'm thinking in the lines of MIA's Boyz video.
And does it matter? After all, the original video has 194,158 views while L-Vis 1990's has 5,821. Which might mean they have more clout than he does. I'm not sure those dancers have anything to fear from niche Djs. Either way, I think we should expect DJs to use the same respect & give appropriate credit to video makers and dancers as well as the musical artists they use and work with, vs. assuming it doesn't mater, b/c those 'are the real artists, not like those endless, expendable video girls'.
I've always dug Iran's changing national anthems, and its fun too look at them all together and figured Id post on it. Shifting Iranian patriotism seems kinda topical + feminist rappers & youts, old revolutionary/patriotic songs, etc
We begin with Iran's very awesome firat national anthem, Salamati-ye Shah, used until 1933. It was recently reworked with new lyrics by poet Bijan Taraqi.
best line: "Show your face in the sky / Like the immortal sun / Listen to the pain of my words/ I am your companion singer"
Second Iran Anthem, Sorood-e Shahanshahi, used 1933-1979 and chronicling the exploits of the Shah. imo grating, dreadful.
best line: "Of Right we've been and still are champions / What is right is all we ever demand."
3rd national anthem, the Soroud-e Melli-e Jomhouri-e Eslami-e Iran of the Islam Republic, only slightly less dreadful.
best line: "Your message, O Imam, of Sovereignty and Freedom / is imprinted on our souls"
And finally, Ey Iran, which despite immense popularity has never had anthem status, although apparently its occasionally used as such by opponants of the Islamic republic.
best lines: "The stones of your mountains are jewels and pearls / The soil of your valleys are better than gold / When could I rid my heart of your affection? / Tell me, what will I do without your affection?" & "Your water, soil and love molded my clay /If your love leaves my heart it will become barren/ Your love is my calling"
+ with dope female vocals:
more vids..
No more lies - Etteham, with vocals by mahour. they say 'leave youth alone', clip includes scenes of iranians -- most of them women -- being warned or detained by police because of their appearance. over a million views..
Sahand Quazi and Shaya two Iranian rap singers who sing a song to support Mir-Hossein Mousavi during 2009 presidential election talk about rap music philosophy and roots, their intentions and ideas about this genre in Iranian society. (in farsi, dont know whats being said, find somebody to translate!)
rediculously sweet video of a guy playing 'flute' through larynx, sort of (not really) in the same line of tuvan throat singing, never seen anything like it before.
Recently returned from ~ 5 months in Haiti/Hispaniola
& i just wanted to share 2 fav clips of mine:
Barikad's Tou Pou Yo is currently the biggest hiphop single in haiti so far this year from probably the biggest name in haitian hiphop. Its long in an epic way, an interesting shifty beat and an original take on the sort of trancey sounds which were echoing thru hh last year.
Its also refreshing to see better quality sound and video from global artists these days. Something about seeing global pop present itself outside of grainy video changes perspective a bit.
note the awkward 'tourist presence' in the video, depicted as nerdy / harmless..
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Right now I'm rediscovering/falling in love all over again with the internet! Not that Haiti has none, just nothing in my neighborhood that id use for anything unessential. This made me worry about keeping in contact with friends in Haiti, as I am not a phone person.
Luckily there's another simple, impersonal, noncommittal my generation friendly way of doing so. God bless SMS. So far we've been keeping in touch by sending cheeky, inane life updates with twitter style texts on my phone. Theres a wide range of free online text messaging sites with international service, but mostly to already fairly connected countries in south America, Europe, and southeast Asia. Techie NGOs/entrepreneurs/smartie pants - think of ways to make texting free and easy between global north and south & between fellow southers. Maybe improve current tech/communication than dreaming of, say, one laptop per child.
map of Digicel coverage in Haiti
Haitian phone service is cheap, & dominated by Digicel, 'whose initial investment of US$260 million was at the time ( and remains today ) the single largest investment made by an international company in Haiti'. Which is interesting b/c digicel is a Jamaican company. Only been in Haiti 3 yrs and seem to be owning. What they gonna do with all that CARIB MONEY?
You know whats sad and sort of endearing? The amount of hits ive gotten recently from poor souls searching "lalala halehelohalow" like "english translation for lalala halehelohalow", "lalala halehelohalow helabalahehelebalo meaning", "arab money hook halehelohalow", "main chorus arab money halehelohalow", etc. I have no idea why he thought he could get away with that chorus in this day and age..
Over @ Ben Loxo, Matt recently had a guest post about Zouk, a genre worth defending. The english wikipedia zouk article is meh (but the french article is fun) ex:
"Zouk is a style of rhythmic music originating from the islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique and the former French colony of Haiti. Zouk means "party" or "festival" in the local creole of French with English influences. In Africa, it is popular in franco/luso countries, while on the African islands of Cape Verde they have developed their own type of zouk. In Europe it is particularly popular in France, and in North America the Canadian province of Quebec."
Im no expert, but does 'rhythmic music' mean anything?
Usually id post all my fav videos, but I doubt i'll win any converts. Sadly zouk is not a genre about to be featured in Fader. Esp zouk-love. The most saccarine of afro-carib 'post-colonial pop', to me its the panultimate slow dance music, influenced heavily by other sweet musics like Compas (and :. cheesy french chanson music) as well as american RnB. Its a music I probably wouldnt dig if it hadnt been such a staple in west african clubs, accompanied by riskee-for-senegal intricate grindin.
francosphere/lusosphere
There are a number of reasons zouk is fun for me to dig a bit into. For starters, im always curious as to how music spreads thru spheres, and zouk in particular leaves me with a million questions. Why does zouk travel across francophone and lusophone countries but completely misses bordering language spheres? If the music isnt bound by one language sphere (sharing french and portuguese) why has it practically never crossed into anglo or spanish speaking territory? - especially when zouk has been so localized /adapted and embraced differently by various regions in these spheres, as Neva Wartell says:
"Today we can hear the influence of zouk in dance rhythms around the world, from Brazilian lambada to Caribbean styles as diverse as merengue and soca; from Cameroonian makossa, Congolese soukous and Cape Verdian funana to zouglou from Ivory Coast and even zouk-mbalax from Senegal."
Zouk-Mbalax : Philip Monteiro - Gainde njaay
Cape verde and west african zouk are closely linked, sharing some of the same artists (similar location, not language?). In Angola, zouk is known as Kizomba and shares a similar dramatic dancing style with brazilian zouk (language link, not location?) West African and Angolan zouk operate totally independantly (um, continant not country!) Also, Zouk is popular in France, with many crossover hits and steady influence on french RnB, but is much less visable in Portugal (France is closer linked to former colonies?). Finally, some stars tour thru / crossover everywhere. Congo-Brazzaville Zouk/coupe-decale star Kaysha's 'REPRESENT' tees and tour locales are give a good image of the widest possible zoukosphere, or Coupe-Decalesphere.
I also hear zouk in Akon's singing, subtly influencing while being influenced by the current sounds of hip-hop and RnB. Not just in its super slick vocals, but also because along with rai, zouk is something I associate with interesting autotune uses, esp as its becoming an RnB staple, as it has been in zouk for the past ~ 7 years.
old pop-zouk french crossover hit, sweet video : zouk machine - maldon
**just wanted to highlight a few reactions by Arab-Americans to arab money:
"Busta Rhymes is a genius to me musically, he is someone who pioneered a style and someone I grew up listening to since the age of 13. ... But man, you know, the time and effort put into the hook by Ron Browz was really really really really depressing. At a time when our brothers and sisters are dying worldwide, we are subject to so much racism and insanity, I would want or expect a brother of this stature to speak on our people in a way that is intellectual, understanding and of growth. " - via The Narcicyst / Yassin Alsalman's clever response to arab $$
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"My first thought when I heard the offensive chorus sandwiched in between gibberish "Arabic" ("The way i make the people wanna sing the hook in Arabic : LaLaLa HaleHeloHaLow/HelaBalaHeHeleBalo/We gettin Arab Money/We gettin Arab Money"): WTF Busta?" - Maytha @ Kabobfest
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"At the end of the day, its up to the artist to win over the crowd. As an artist i dont do music to cater to just my people. I make music and I make a living off of it. I make it for the love of hip hop. I love my people and always represent and will always let the world know who I am and where I come form. I recommend to other up and coming artists to cater to all types of demographics and not just one group.. be diverse in your message." - Noose / Naseem
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"Sometimes, people like to twist things. We ain't mockin' the culture. We ain't tryin' to be disrespectful. Ain't no racism going on right here. If you listen to the song, you see that we are actually acknowledging the fact that the Arabian culture, a middle East culture is one of the few cultures, that value passing down hard work riches that's been built amongst the family. It would be nice if a lot of other cultures did the same thing. Feel me? So, I would like for it to be like that in my culture where we could build things to the point where we got so much that we don't need to rely on other cultures to contribute majorly in a financial way, or in whatever other way, to societies, communities or whatever governments we might live in. So, we are actually biggin' up the culture. At the end of the day, I want to be like that. I think a lot of us want to be like that." - Busta HISSESLF
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The real real arab money. Those Khaleeji arabs might get one Khaleeji $$$
Obama coupe-decale created by dj Kadhafi based in the Bronx @ club Zoodo, a center of nyc francafrique. Its website is in french but you can manage. They occasionally bring in some pretty big Ivorian stars, check them out!
This past week ive been skitzo & range from this / omg to unbelievable rage and sadness at the passing of prop 8, which affects family friends personally as well as totally fucking breaks my heart. It may not be that bleak but it feels like the entire gay rights movement which I have participated in during my lifetime is a failure, backfiring across the country w/ at least 41 states that now have statutes and/or constitutional provisions that prohibit same-sex marriage.
I guess the narrative is that we need to step back and win the affections of the people. (o rly? gag) we laugh and joke and act all cute on tv, and people love us and presidential candidates are hamming it up with ellen and you turn around and no everyone haaates us. [ ahem .. where were you barack] I always thought courts were the way to go, pushy but less humiliating than propositions. And we're right, not with this psuedo democratic mass rule but b/c we're created equal. I dont really know whats going to happen to the gay rights movement, but for now it feels like we are back to ZERO and its mindblowingly frustrating.
I cant avoid the personal. Esp when these scum have the audacity to call themselves things like Focus on the Family. My little brother just transfered from community college and entered his first semester at SCAD in Georgia studying achitecture. I'm so proud of him! But as my only sibling who is gay, he gets the bulk of my worries. Will his generation be as scarred and dysfunctional as my parents? Like them, will his friends be refugees confined to urban centers?
Theres a quote about fellow gayspawn in this 2004 article:
"For every kid who champions the brand-new world his gay parents have created, there's another one who sees his gay parents as so banal that they're not worth mentioning, or another who resents the way her parents' sexuality has become the central feature of her life. One young woman I interviewed, an academic in her late 20's who is still close with her out gay father, recently started dating a man who told her on their first date that he didn't believe gays should raise kids. She kept seeing him anyway, as if to prove she wouldn't let that one issue define her life, wouldn't use it as the litmus test by which she judged every person she encountered."
ugh, the dreaded litmus. I hate that i feel confined to an urban liberal bubble, and I always try to escape it but no it folloooowwws me. and it will always be the test by which I judge my nation.
"At present, Africa has the largest growth rate of cellular subscribers in the world, its markets expanding nearly twice as fast as Asian markets. The availability of prepaid or 'pay-as-you-go' services, where the subscriber is not committed to a long term contract, has helped fuel this growth in Africa as well as in other continents." ~ wiki
To people going global south, esp Africa, i'd say avoid internet & get a cell! a. You can integrate / meet up better b. they are cheap and c. as Carlos recently reminded me, its the main way virals and memes and such get spread. Its youtube, boombox, AIM. Plus, its the only way to learn text languages. Im particularly fasinated with Arabizi, which is easier for me b/c I can't really read arabic w/o harakat anyway and I gratefully <3 the simple grammar.
Being able to understand chat language is really useful & surprisingly hard to get w/o traveling. Ive been really pissed off at wordreference.com, whose message boards have always been godly while trying to write french papers or translating messages at work. But the moderators have actually deleted my recent posts asking about west african french e-speak b/c they 'werent inquiring about correct french grammar', proving once again how commited most of french language academia in the US is to maintaining their own irrelevency. porkoi?!!
Above are the strangly appealing graphics of Kosovar youtuber Legoistat, who contributes to a long line of 'local' refurbishings of universal tech noises,in this case Nokia ringtones. He also made an amazing nationalist / homophobic video which gays up all the the flags of countries that did not recognize Kosovo. Somehow the hate ends up as a magical art.
These refurbs appeal to me as a nerd and lover of what may be now "contemporary post-colonial urban electronic dance music"
Colin Powell - "haha god bless africa... damn I love this song ... what does it mean?"
**update that first link was broken, this video has poorer quality. Now that ive seen a few more, despite the fact he cant do it well its clear he actually knows the yahooze dance!! Did they teach him or do we both share a love of dance virals??
No, Im not going to forgive him for failing his job and country and presenting us with evidence as fact that he himself doubted. I dont think anyone should. Yet I understand he was in a bad place at a bad time. And its not so much his endorsement as his well spoken defense of american muslims that i'll give props to. amen!
With style ranging from crunk to afrobeat/rasta, he also sports a kufiya and pals around with terrorists. Theres some orientalist / che vibes in this notorious brat's latest video.
true story -
Mia mama recently found and returned my old kufiya from Oman. Her girlfriend Marisa is German and grew up as a young punkette when the wall fell. When she saw it she said: "ohhh a Che scarf!" "No" my mom said. "Its islamic" I try to explain: "its like a revolutionary chic thing b/c the palistinians wear it." "In Berlin we call it a Che scarf b/c its bad karma for us" Marisa explained. "We already killed too many jews"
Understandable yet weird that people would vibe with and embrace its revolutionaryness w/o embracing the content of its specific revolution.
ps. the wackest aspect about the obama bin laden thing is that its a product of africas mixed heritage, arabs and islam mixin up east to west coast. And when you think about most black americans with araby/islamy names, i think talib kweli, aaliyah, queen latifeh, etcccccc ie parents giving their kids afro-centric names. why? cuz US slaves are mainly from west africa, which ranges from 95% (senegal) to 20% (cameroon) percent muslim. Sooo if we really have such a problem with people with araby/islamy names or ancestry, maybe we shouldnt have forcibly brought them to our country for hundreds of years.. /rant
I am currently interning as UN assistant liaison for the Global Youth Action Network, working to promote and connect global youth to the United Nations. I attend conferences, NGO committees, report on UN events and recently created a consultation and intervention on youth employment for the Commission for Social Development.
My work with global youth issues is particularly inspired by my involvement with student organizations during countrywide strikes and blackouts while doing research and studying international development as an exchange student at Universite Gaston Berger de Saint Louis, Senegal in West Africa.
A recent graduate, I have a BA from Hobart and William Smith Colleges where I majored in critical social studies and minored in religious studies. I am interested in interdisciplinary approaches to global issues and have studied world film, global Islam and Christianity, political theory and international development. This summer I interned at the Archive Institute in Harlem, and have recently done French translation for the Linguistics and Literacy in Africa & the Diaspora Research Network.
A NYTimes, le Monde, and AlJazeera junkie, I enjoy reading, traveling, drawing comics and blogging.
