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good african artists or groups

#21
frstr8dmusician said:
True, there is a lot of variety in African Music.
I agree, Angelique Kidjo(Togo) has great pop beats. Real Funky!
Baba Maal (Senegal) kind of Raggae-ish. Really nice too.
And don't forget Youssou Ndour (Senegal), Mory Kante (Mali), Salif Keita(Mali) etc... All great Afro-Pop Artists.

All the folks talked about in this thread are awesome.
However, based on your preferences, you might have to go through a lot to find what you are looking for.

I have to say though, If you are looking something that compares to Richard Bona's Bass playing, rythm and harmonic complexity, you are going to have to go with something a bit Jazzier than some of the artists were mentionned earlier.

One thing is sure there is a mine out there for music lovers because African music is all about the Groove.

Actually, Here is a link to some samples of different styles of African Music by a band based in New York: Link Removed
Some are cover tunes and some are originals. This is a Promo page. I would however recommend buying the CD from them Link Removed. As you well know Artists gotta make a living. ;-)

For the record, my favorite is "Full Time". Listen to the Bass & Drums...
And no, this is not my Band. I only wish I could play like that :-)

Hmmm... I like the idea of an Afro-Pop/Afro-Jazz forum on TalkBass.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure Angelique Kidjo is from Benin, not Togo.
 
#22
Just thought I'd mention this here...
My fiance and I just made plans last night to go to Benin (West Africa) for two weeks next December. She was a Peace Corps volunteer there for 3 years and has been wanting to take me for a long time. Should be one hell of an adventure. :hyper:
 
#25
As said, there are sooo many kinds of African music, it’s a challenge jumping in.
One approach could be to do it regionally. Being you like Bona for starters,
pick at the west. You can’t go wrong w/ Cameroon, who wields some amazing musicians, including bassmen Bona,Sabbal-lecco,M’bappe, and Nsangue to name a few.
That’s also where Vincent Nguini, the gtr/m.d. of P. Simons band was from.
Great bands from there include, Les tetes Brulees, Ray Lema, Manu Dibango, and Prince Eyango ( whom I went to school on the bandstand with). Some styles from there are, bikutsi, makossa, and pedal. *some spelling is approximate*
Senegal is another great place to look. Great artists include Youssou n’ dour, Kine Lam, Diamond Lemzo, I believe Babba Maal, and Ismael Lo. Habib Faye is a bass monster from there who did most of Youssou’s stuff and produces a bunch. A few styles are,
Mbalax and sabar.
Mali has amazing music. Any Salif Keita is great. Sikouba Bambino and Issa Baggayo have great music. Mandinka is one of the styles there.
There’s so many more…..
Have fun!
 
#26
MixBass said:
As said, there are sooo many kinds of African music, it’s a challenge jumping in.
One approach could be to do it regionally. Being you like Bona for starters,
pick at the west. You can’t go wrong w/ Cameroon, who wields some amazing musicians, including bassmen Bona,Sabbal-lecco,M’bappe, and Nsangue to name a few.
That’s also where Vincent Nguini, the gtr/m.d. of P. Simons band was from.
Great bands from there include, Les tetes Brulees, Ray Lema, Manu Dibango, and Prince Eyango ( whom I went to school on the bandstand with). Some styles from there are, bikutsi, makossa, and pedal. *some spelling is approximate*
Senegal is another great place to look. Great artists include Youssou n’ dour, Kine Lam, Diamond Lemzo, I believe Babba Maal, and Ismael Lo. Habib Faye is a bass monster from there who did most of Youssou’s stuff and produces a bunch. A few styles are,
Mbalax and sabar.
Mali has amazing music. Any Salif Keita is great. Sikouba Bambino and Issa Baggayo have great music. Mandinka is one of the styles there.
There’s so many more…..
Have fun!
Click to expand...

Great post!
Hit the nail on the head with a lot of that stuff.
Definitely check out some of the Bikutsi stuff, crazy!
Les Tetes Brulees play some very tough rhythmic ****...apparently while at times passing a soccer ball on stage according to a teacher of mine :eyebrow:

Etienne M'Bappe was another great call!
 
#27
MixBass said:
(...) bassmen Bona,Sabbal-lecco,M’bappe, and Nsangue to name a few.
That’s also where Vincent Nguini, the gtr/m.d. of P. Simons band was from.
Great bands from there include, Les tetes Brulees, Ray Lema, Manu Dibango, and Prince Eyango ( whom I went to school on the bandstand with). Some styles from there are, bikutsi, makossa, and pedal. *some spelling is approximate*
Senegal is another great place to look. Great artists include Youssou n’ dour, Kine Lam, Diamond Lemzo, I believe Babba Maal, and Ismael Lo. Habib Faye is a bass monster from there who did most of Youssou’s stuff and produces a bunch. A few styles are,
Mbalax and sabar.
Mali has amazing music. Any Salif Keita is great. Sikouba Bambino and Issa Baggayo have great music. Mandinka is one of the styles there.
There’s so many more…..
Have fun!
Click to expand...


Wow MixBass! You do know the West African Music scene. May I ask how you know so much?
 
#28
First, thanks!
I was lucky to see Les tetes @ of all places, the Palomino, which was a small country/punkish/alt kind of room here in L.A. Those guys were nuts! Dressed in madmax/punk/tim burton-esque clothes and paint, they played that mad bikutsi @ crazy fast tempos while, yes...playing soccer!
It was nuts, they didn't lose a beat while at any random time kicking or heading a soccerball. I have some friends that grew up w/ those guys so we hung out while they were in town and had a jam/bbq. It was some funny stuff.A few of the guys rode a skateboard for the first time and all I could think was...."tour cancelled due to broken ----"All turned out well!
As for the music, the first time I heard it, Salif's "soro", I was hooked.
Lucky that there was a bit of an African scene here for a while and I did my first gig w/ Makina Loca, who opened for (sp) Samba n'go. He has an amazing touch. On that gig after the first tune, the drummer Paul Tchounga from Cameroon, said I would play in his band. And he was right! He was a mentor of sorts and introduced me to tons of great music and musicians. It's been on ever since in one way or another.Cheers!
 
#29
So the legend of Les Tetes is true!
That bikutsi stuff, if it's what I'm thinking of, is none to easy to get right rhythmically at slow tempos in austere concentration, I can't imagine how those guys pull it off at the speed they do with all the antics at the same time.

<--------- feels very, VERY white.
 
#30
Yeah, the bikutsi is like a rhythm jungle jim. I've been working on how best to feel/understand it for years.I've come up w/ some exercises and a friend and I have pitched a workshop like article to a few places. We'll see...There's another band,Jaojoby, from Madagascar, that does something very similar @ times.I played a fest. and they were on after us.It was so cool, I could walk behind each guy and focus on what he was playing and what part of the groove was his domain. Wish I had a recorder as that was a rare opportunity. They don't call it bikutsi, it's another name, but after much listening and debate, I'm convinced it's bikutsi starting on 2! It's the same rhythm arrangements for the most part but bumped over a beat.
There's a few bits of the Cameroon stuff on the last 2 Brecker Bros. records. M. Brecker was doing the P. Simon gig around that time and Armand Sabal-lecco was on it too.If you haven't heard those,get them as they're worth admission for those cuts alone. Plus, Armand tears it down. He is a BADDDDD dude! When he plays any 3 based music, get out of the way boy!!!!
 
#31
I remember having been shown a few Bikutsi parts, thinking "I can get this stuff down in an hour". 3 days later I was sitting in a rhythm section class with my eyes crossed. I appreciate the hell out of it, but I don't think I'm ever going to have the discipline to learn it. Hell, I haven't even picked up a bass in 6+weeks...darn medical school.
 
#36
Jacobo said:
Bumping this all thread because last Friday at London a Malian band called Tinarawen. Check this pearl with Santana last year at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4mbQdzILPA BTW, is the bass playing a righthanded bass , being himself lefthanded? If you go to see all videos, check tinarawen at womad 2004, the person who recored this loves bass!!
Click to expand...

www.tinariwen.com with link that work to youtube, check the second clip with Santana.
 
#37
Some stuff other people have not mentioned-

Prince Nico Mbarga
Brice Wassy

Kora players from Senegal/Gambia/Mali-

The Late Kaouding Cissoko (played with baaba maal - released an album with Ira Coleman)
Toumani Diabaté
Foday Musa Suso

For Soukous beyond Franco-

Kanda Bongo Man
Diblo Dibala

For afrobeat in addition to Fela and Femi-

Tony Allen
Afrodesia from SF is great
 
#38
rontalsaurus said:
Yeah, I'll second that in a major way. If you're not familiar with Fela, you MUST go buy some this minute. I recommend anything with his Afrika '70 band (Opposite People happens to be my favorite album).
Click to expand...

As someone who owns 30-40 Fela albums, it is hard to recommend a specific era/band. The Afrika '70 is the most approachable, Zombie, especially. It was the most commercially viable group and it had the highest output of albums. But Koola Lobitos and the Nigeria 70 are completely different. I don't think Fela quite found his voice with these groups prior to the Afrika '70, but they are cool if you are more in a highlife or West African Jazz mood. I really enjoy Fela's direction after the military assault/invasion of the Kalakuta Republic. Although there are not nearly as many Egypt '80 albums as Afrika '70 albums, with albums like Beast No Nation and O.D.O.O., Fela was not holding anything back - he did what he pleased.
 

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