different waters

Fusion Festival 2011 Video

2011-12-17T23:21:00.000-08:00

when we started, Matchume just flew in from Portugal 2 hours before, and Congo from France the night before, and I had just played at Berghain the night before… so all 3 of us were running on zero to very little sleep. which might be reason that we forgot to bring a disc recorder to record off the board, so that’s why the camera stayed on the stage and didn’t move around this time, because it was attached to the sound board. also, the Camera man wanted to dance for the last hour, and stopped filming… which was too bad as that was the most amazing hour: 3000 jumping and screaming. But despite all this i’m still happy with the way it turned out.

NGOMA 11 - Northern Tropikal

2011-12-17T23:19:00.000-08:00

this one is entirely diasporic, and includes no tracks actually made in the Motherland... read more, stream, and download here.

My kind of Rock Music

2011-10-13T05:57:00.000-07:00

NGOMA Mix 9 – الخلود

2011-10-06T03:03:00.000-07:00

HERE

An awesome live recording of Konono No 1.

2011-09-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

high quality 1 hour sound-board recording of this amazing band here.

tonight and new blog!!!

2011-08-04T08:46:00.001-07:00

tonight High Life Stockholme bringing THE FLAVORS, THE FLAVORS. to educate tropically THE RAVERS, THE RAVERS.

Musikguiden i P3 Med High Life No1 by High Life

Paloma Bar @ KottbusserTor
Skalitzer Straße 135; Kreuzberg; 10999 Berlin
Berlin, Germany

10 - 5AM / 1 euro only!

_____________________________________________________________________________

long over due, here is the official NGOMA blog:

http://ngomasound.wordpress.com/

soon everything Ngoma will be there, and i will continue to post non-dance abstract sounds here!

MUZIK. NONSTOP.

2011-07-21T05:40:00.000-07:00

before the new program below starts, we will be bringing pure fire to a new location tonight! 10-4AM, FREE before 11!

Palomabar
skalitzerstr. 134 10999 berlin
Berlin (KottbusserTor), Germany

Ngoma Weekend

2011-07-14T07:41:00.000-07:00

Thursday 14. July -- TONIGHT!
NGOMASOUND @ Das Hotel - Mariannenstrasse 26A. / 11pm - 4am / 3 EUR
tasty beer is not the only good thing coming from the Czech Republic, Ross the Boss of Sonic Africa will arrive from Prague to lay down the law on block rocking beats from the Ivory Coast and beyond! And as always, with wicked live percussion by Marcel!

and on Sunday:

Sunday 17. July -- Women's Cup Finals After Party @ Cassiopeia - Revaler Straße 99 / 9pm - 6am / free

live performance: SISTER FA (great rapper from Senegal!)
djs:
MARFLIX [Tropical Bass]
DJ ZHAO [Ngoma]
DJ OBSTSALAT

Berlin: Day of the Dead

2011-07-09T07:41:00.000-07:00

NGOMA 10 - Umlilo

2011-06-29T14:39:00.001-07:00

Umlilo means fire in Zulu, and this mix takes us back to the Dirty South for a scorching ride through raw township sound. Exchanging smooth for ruff, Umlilo focuses on the connection between ghetto Rap and current Electro, between modern SA House and its Kwaito roots.

Futurism in Africa never disconnected at all from the body: sound design does not become a solipsistic end in itself (even though every timber and texture is perfection itslef); song form stays 100% intact in the electronic club music format; and the beats never bang on aimless and without purpose -- robust machine groove reinterprets but absolutely incarnates the magic and essence of timeless rhythmic tradition.

01 Dj Killer - Church Song feat. Chaka Chukwu
02 Big Nuz - Superman
03 Xavatha (Woza Chynaman)DJ Clock ft. Big Nuz, Tzozo & Sox
04 Big Nuz - Ungesabi (remix)
05 Zola - Khokhovula
06 Big Nuz - Izinja feat Tira and Tzozo
07 TKZee - Fella Kae
08 CNDO - Seducer feat. Tira & Big Nuz
09 Mgo - Yes
10 DJ What What - Unknown
11 Unknown - Woza Durban
12 Dj Sbu - Vuvuzela Bafana
13 Dj Vetkuk Vs Mahoota - Cina Feat. Dj Killer
14 Dj Skzi VS Big Dawg - Mbeleke
15 Dj Cleo - Egyptian Drum
16 B.O.P - Bop Killer [Featuring Zulu & Costa]
17 Dj Cleo - Akulalwa
18 Penny Penny & Joe - Nkosi
19 Mafikizolo - Sibongile
20 B.O.P. - Life' Iskorokoro
21 Dj Cleo - Ndizayitya Lemali

SINGLE TRACK VERSION download on the player above or:
media FIRE

SEPARATE TRACKS VERSION:
coming soon

Shangaan Berghain this Thursday!

2011-06-27T23:58:00.000-07:00

it is a new day, and change is coming. only 2 years ago who could have imagined Shangaan Super Groove Power and Ngoma Bass Action in the number 1 international temple of cold, hard, rigid and sexless techno?

// Date: 30 June 2011
// Venue: Berghain, Berlin
// Doors: 20:00
// Tickets: 15 € advance sale / 18 € box office
// Online pre-sale at Koka36

SHANGAAN ELECTRO featuring
NOZINJA, TSHETSHA BOYS, TIYISELANI, NKATA MAWEWE,
DJ ZHAO, DJ PETE

"It’s fantastic, best thing I’ve heard for a long time. It’s how music should be"
Karin Dreijer Andersson (The Knife)

Shangaan Electro is the street level dance phenomenon from South Africa that went global in 2010 on the back of a series of viral youtube clips (2 million hits and counting) and an acclaimed compilation on Honest Jon's that introduced the movers and shakers in this fast emerging micro-genre. Shangaan Electro replaces Shangaan music's traditional instrumentation with midi-keyboard sounds, re-pitched vocal samples and jacking four to the floor beats, then amps things up to breakneck speeds of over 180BPM. This is hyper-kinetic digital dance music custom made for weekly dance offs in Soweto, and it's getting ever faster...

This summer Shangaan Electro is hitting European festivals/clubs for the first time ever. Based on a Soweto street party, the live show will feature the stars of the Honest Jon's compilation – producer/mastermind and vocalist Nozinja aka 'Dog', the clown-masked Tshetsha Boys, alongside Tiyiselani, Nkata Mawewe and the fastest Shangaan dancers around.

Before an after DJ Zhao (Ngoma Sound System) and DJ Pete (aka Substance, Hardwax, Scion, Waxtreatment) will be spinning tracks fusing juke, footwork, sped-up reggae, kuduro, shangaan, kwaito, african house and more.

SHANGAAN ELECTRO - "KULUNGWANI" from s o u n d t r a v e l s on Vimeo.

"None of Shangaan Electro sounds quite like anything else we have at our disposal. Which, come to think of it, places it within a rich tradition indeed." - Pitchfork.com

"The music itself is stripped down to basics: synthesizer-produced marimba beats, high-pitched singing... But the most riveting aspect of the music is the speed." - The Wall Street Journal

"This is the cheetah of African music." - NPR Music

"Shangaan Electro is a small sign of an emerging future, improbable and necessary." - The Wire

right after... lol

[Glasgow] MZUKA BASS: June 24

2011-06-06T23:47:00.000-07:00

______________________________________
DJ Zhao [Ngoma Soundsystem]
DJ Kokoro [Neo-Tokyo Bass/B.A.S.S.]
TowerblockRockerz
...Zeb Mcqueen [Jahtari] - vocals
______________________________________

on the Bass Warrior Soundsystem!
______________________________________
DJ Zhao brings classic and modern dance music together from all five continents, with focus on Africa. With in depth selections spanning wildly different time periods and locations, DJ Zhao’s remix and mashup work directly connects "East" and "West", acoustic and electronic, traditional and hyper-modern. Amateur ethno-musicologist and professional booty shaker, Zhao is an ambassador of boom not only talking about, but demonstrating through raw sound experience, the underlying unity of all earth cultures.

http://listn.to/djzhao
______________________________________
DJ Kokoro is a Glasgow based dubstep dj and producer, also running a crew called "neo tokyo bass" longside dj Endless and dj Crash.

http://www.myspace.com/chikuma
______________________________________
TowerblockRockerz is a dj and vj from Glasgow, spinning diverse and heavy hitting grooves and making sick psychedelic visuals to go with them.
______________________________________
Zeb Mcqueen is a reggae and otherwise vocalist who has worked with many different artists and released on Jahtari Records.

______________________________________
Entry by Donation :£6 on the door..A proportion of any profits will got to buying beehives for Palestine.
______________________________________
BRING YOUR OWN BOOZE! (cans and plastic bottles only please..no glass)
As we are not licensed and can't sell anything at all make sure you bring sufficient supplies.We are adjacent to the 13th note Pub so you can get a drink there first!

Ngoma Sound Thursday June 9

2011-06-06T23:35:00.000-07:00

this thursday Sonic badman Pushking Noize will be coming from Zurich to share with us his unique bass perspectives! his recent interestingly pitched down remix of the huge Ghanaian tune Azingele for Akwaaba Music was my favorite on the remix EP.

Azingele (Pushking Noize & Tillup Remix) by Akwaaba Music

May 12

2011-05-08T11:04:00.000-07:00

Having just played with the Soul Jazz Orchestra, Dj Bongo (Colombia) confided in me on skype that he is on top of his deep boogie game. together we will re-enact the Afro-Caribbean connection: real life musical exchange and cross-pollination in real time. In other words, IT'S TIME TO GET FUNKY.

Ngoma for May

2011-05-02T20:56:00.000-07:00

Kicking off May, we pair up a Berlin legend with a young champ. first part of the evening will be the hottest Afro-Latin and Balkan flavors, and the bass will drop in the second.

lots of exciting extra special guests from various parts of the world coming up in May and June!!! stay tuned!

NGOMA, SKETCH, FAR-EAST, YAAM

2011-04-28T00:11:00.000-07:00

EVERY THURSDAY 11pm - 4am
@Das Hotel - Mariannenstrasse 26A

AFRO-ASIAN-TROPICAL RHYTHM AND BASS
Zulu Electro / Tribal Guarachero / Cumbia / Kuduro / UK Funky
_______________________

...APRIL 28 - DJ ZHAO + DOVECAKE + Marcel (percussion)
Special SHANGAAN FOOTWORK Action from Mozambique and Chicago!
_______________________

MAY 05 - DJ GRACE KELLY (MUNDO MIX) + ALEX (HAT’N’HOODIE)

come celebrate Spring with the sweetest and toughest rhythms from all sides of the multiverse: both heavy classic boogie and tech-soul floor killers.

an intimate club with great sound and no neighbors... see you on the dance floor!!!

Thursday 30 April @ Sketch Club: Ngoma Bass for Merano, Italy, in the beautiful mountains, Giorgio Moroder's home town.

Thursday 5 May @ Visionario Cinema: Ngoma Deadly Venom will MURDER the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy. 10 PM - 4AM

Friday 6th of May will be shaking the foundations at YAAM starting around midnight until 4PM the next day, alongside Silent Pressure, Marflix, and Sun Fire Sound. BOOYAKASHA!

THURSDAY 21 April

2011-04-19T03:41:00.000-07:00

this week we welcome special guests Boom Brothers on the wheels of steel, bringing you sweet ass afrocentric grooves deep into the night. for guest list action leave a comment here.

photos from the first 2 events:

Radio Ngoma 9: NGOMA Technologies™

2011-04-13T04:16:00.000-07:00

Afrocentric Tech-Soul.
Radio Ngoma #9 Ayoba Technologies™ by reboot.fm

01 Ngoma Sound intro/Dj Cleo - Good Deep Music
02 Cooly G - Love Dub Refix
03 Amazon - River Run
04 Dj Cleo - Unit 5
05 Julio Bashmore - Around the World
06 Boy 8-Bit - Baltic Pine (Greenmoney Baltic Porn Bootleg)
07 Julio Bashmore - Around the World Batak Groove (Reprise)
08 Mr. FM - Dragon Fly
09 Black Coffee ft. Zakes Bantwini - JuJu (Hao and Atjazz Deeply Minded Mix)
10 Dj Djeff – Elegom Bounsa feat Maskarado (Filipe Narciso Deepduro Mix)
11 S.Chu - You Got Me (Ft. Xara)
12 Rhythmic Elements - The Offering
13 Banana Clipz - Push Am
14 Jamie George - Flying Saucer (Roska's Crop Circle Mix)
15 Dj Tira & Bubzin - Beat Goes On
16 Siji - ijo (Original Vox)
17 Fisherman - Too Far Away
18 Ophex - Rainforest
19 Geoffrey Oryema - Piri Wango Iya (Boddhi Satvas Ancestral Dub)
20 Balani - Marimba Solo VS Jamtech Foundation - Too Fast
21 Nathan Soul - Hey Makarimba (instrumental)
22 Breach - Man Up
23 Unknown - Unknown
24 Mgo - Yes
25 Big Nuz - Umlilo
26 Skepta Feat. Jay Sean - Lush (Fuzzy Logic Remix)
27 Dj Mbuso - Soweto Funk
28 Mafikizolo - Unknown
29 Nutty Nys - Nka Modira
30 Dj Siyanda - Unknown Gospel Song

NEW NIGHT in BERLIN!!!!

2011-04-05T14:51:00.000-07:00

THURSDAYS:

APRIL 14 - DJ Zhao + MARFLIX (Tropical Bass/Faluma)
APRIL 21 - DJ Zhao + special guest TBA
APRIL 28 - DJ Zhao + DJ Dove Cake (DoveCakes)
MAY 05 - DJ Zhao + special guest TBA

come celebrate Spring to the sweetest and toughest grooves from Africa, Asia, Arabia, Balkans,and the Caribbean. RSVP HERE.

an intimate club with great sound and no neighbors!!! drinks pouring all night long...

see you on the dance floor!!!

FUSION 3: house of Eshu

2011-03-23T03:45:00.000-07:00

SEPARATE TRACKS VERSION: MEGAUPLOAD or MEDIAFIRE
SINGLE TRACK VERSION: OFFICIAL or MEDIAFIRE
________________________________________________________

In Yoruba spiritual traditions (contemporary Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria) as well as its descendant Afro-diasporic faiths like Vodou, Santeria/Lukumi and Candomble, Eshu is an important Orisha.

The divine messenger between Gods and Man, Eshu is the gatekeeper, protector of travelers, guardian of the Crossroads, offering choices and reveals possibilities.

Often identified by the number three, and the colours red & black, Eshu represents the balance of nature, Day and night, creation and destruction, old age and youth.

Yet more than conduit between this and other worlds, Eshu is also a spirit of Chaos and a devious trickster, playing games and serving up mischief with the ultimate aim of waking people up and teaching them lessons.

So, in the spirit of Eshu, FUSION 3 represents the balance between traditional and modern, "east" and "west", listening and dancing. This mashup album stands at the crossroads between the musical worlds of Yoruba talking steel drums, Cuban piano, Indonesian Gamelan, Cameroon Mbira (thumb piano), Black Panther poetry, South African Jazz, etc., and the House and Techno club sounds of today.

I think it will play a few tricks on minds which insist on seeing the world in discontinuously separate compartments.
________________________________________________________

01 [Nigeria/Germany] Etubom Rex Williams - Uwa Idem Mi <> Maurizio - M1
02 [Pan-Africa/USA] Guem & Zaka - L'Abeille <> Oasis - One
03 [Indonesia/Cuba] Django Mango - the wisdom of the fool <> Fast Vision Soul - Babatunde
04 [Burundi/South Africa] Chant d'enfant accompagne d'un arc musical umuduri <> Spikiri feat. Hugh Masekela - Spiyanko Bonus Beats
05 [Nigeria/UK] Wahabi Arowoshila - Gbogbo Musulumi Ododo (Fuji) <> Hector and Bryant - Tension
06 [Cameroon/Germany] Frances Bebey - Africa Sanza <> Basti Grub - oma vovo
07 [Cameroon/UK] Frances Bebey - Bameda <> AudioFly - Sweeter Than
08 [Indonesia/Germany] Sambasunda - Sumimaula <> Liapin - BlackMamba
09 [USA/Italy] Sarah Webster Fabio - Glimpses / Nigger Sweat <> Double Dash - Mas
10 [Nigeria/UK] Madam Mujidat Ogunfalu & Her Waka Group - Ololo Nise Awo Won Ni <> Chris Wood and Frank Leicher - Into the Jungle
11 [South Africa/USA] Ricky Rimbiandarison - Imamohamana Dry (The Wake Up Drum) <> Cpen - African Jack
12 [Ghana/USA] Charles Kofi Amankwaa Mann - Funky Hi-Life <> Yonurican - Lucha Machete (Ricardo Miranda Drum Mix)
13 [Mali] Oumou Sangare - Yala (Zhao Fix)
14 [Ghana/Netherlands] Guy Warren - BUILSA <> Gregor Salto - Classic Beat
15 [USA/Nigeria] Sarah Webster Fabio - Boss Soul <> Osunlade - Native Tongue
16 [Mali/Sweden] Ahmed Fofana - Balani <> Jamtech Foundation - Too Fast (Zombie Disco Squad Remix)
17 [Ethiopia/Germany] Bole 2 Harlem - Home <> Booka Shade - Hide and Seek In Geishas Garden

________________________________________________________

bigup This Is Africa for posting this!

Radio Ngoma 8 - Trans-Atlantic Rhythm Passage

2011-03-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

This Saturday another Ngoma Super Session!
Cake Club Kottbussertor
Oranienstraße 32
10999 Berlin........................................................................

following the musical diaspora from Africa to the Caribbean and back again, the story of Rumba is one of the central narratives of modern music. This edition of Radio Ngoma explores amazing sounds from places like the Congo and Nigeria to Haiti, Guadalupe, Colombia -- Soukous, Afro-Funk, Tropical Disco, Cumbia -- timeless rhythms to warm the heart and move the feet.

Dj Zhao - Radio Ngoma 8 Transatlantic Rhythm Passage by reboot.fm
click aarow on right side of player to download, or use this
ALTERNATIVE LINK: MEGAUPLOAD

01 Intro / Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu's Hideway
02 Issa Juma - Ateka
03 M'pongo Love - Basonguer
04 Syran Mbenza - Adjoa Sawale Mbanda Kazaka
05 Bozi Boziana & Jolly Detta - La Reine de Sabah
06 Charlotte Mbango - Dikom Lam La Moto
07 Kanda Bongo Man - Zing Zong
08 Coupé Cloué - Bel Ti Ange
09 Les Kilimambogo - Sarah Ngungembeti
10 Kakai Kilonzo & Les Kilimambogo - Ngungu Na Muoi
11 Orchestre D.O.7 & Shirati Jazz Giko Piny - Nyiego Thiro Oganda
12 Makasi - La Vie Ya Lelo
13 Makasi - Mbati
14 Sofrito & Tropical Treats - Rift Valley Groove
15 Moussa Doumbia - Keleya
16 Manu Dibango - Souk Fiesta
17 Kabbala - Ashewo Ara
18 Shina Williams & His Arican Percussionists - Agboju Logun
19 Sofrito Specials - Tabou For the People (feat. I. Barrabas)
20 Fair Nick Stars- Arrete Mal Parlé
21 Ti Celeste - Popilation Basse Terrienne Au Abois
22 Frente - Cumbiero Pitchito
23 Corraleros Del Majagual - El Ascensor
24 Corraleros De Majagual - Los Sabanales
25 Los Golden Boys - El Elevao
26 Afrosound - El Eco Y El Carretero
27 Camille Feruz - Cha Cha Cha Bay
28 Los De Abajo - El Indio (Macaco Rmx)
29 Tiken Jah Fakoly - Ma Cote d'Ivoire

people who i KNOW have never heard Congolese Rumba before deep in the groove... dance floor packed until 6AM!

Thursday 10. March. Super Cake!

2011-03-03T23:43:00.000-08:00

England / Ireland - MAY

2011-03-01T08:07:00.000-08:00

will be around Dublin, London, etc. during the month of May, open for bookings.

if you know anyone who might be interested in my classic, modern, and mutant Afro-Asian-Tropical sound please let them or me know!

Konono and Ngoma Cakes Next Week!

2011-02-17T23:40:00.001-08:00

really excited to play after Konono No. 1 in Leipzig next week. following their eyes rolling back, bodies epileptic ecstatic energy levels, going to be dropping a 2 hour set of 140+ BPM Proper Banging HARD STYLE African dance grooves both classic and modern.

and 3 days before that, something local and much more low-key, will be doing another groove session at Cake Club. this place is always jumping even on Mondays... will be joined for the first time by MC Galina, we're going to be rocking in relaxed mode all night long.

Radio Ngoma 7

2011-02-16T04:45:00.000-08:00

After the Valentines Day Love-Mix, the mood swings all the way back: 2 hours of dark and heavy doom-step with lots of Arabic, African, and Asian flavors -- from last friday's show on Reboot FM in Berlin. Against both political oppression and cultural hegemony: RESIST!!!

catch me first friday of every month from 12-2AM (Berlin time), streaming worldwide at www.reboot.fm

Radio Ngoma 7 Global Dub Resistance (2011-02-11) by reboot.fm

alternative DOWNLOAD: MEGAUPLOAD.

01 intro
02 Wedge - Overfiend (Gatekeeper Remix) / Eardrum - Nightblind / Mala - Miracles
03 Amina Alaoui - Itimad / L-Wiz - Smogged
04 Gargamel - Hotwax
05 23 Skidoo - G-2 Contemplation Dyed Dark / Marc Ashken Roots Dyed Dark (Skream Remix)
06 Sully - Flickers
07 Takahiro Kawaguchi & Shinjiro Yamaguchi - Hello / Guem - Viagem
08 Guem - Le Cedre / Johnny Clark / Mala - Sinners
09 Ahmed Abdullah / Steve Reid - Lions of Juda / Ramadanman - Revenue
10 coki - warlord_riddim / Andy Moor - From E to F
11 Mala - Left Leg Out
12 Muslimgauze - Red Snow
13 Substep Infrabass Monotonium / Unknown - Morrocco
14 Black Sun Empire - Cold Crysis
15 S.N.O. - Disturbance
16 Phil Thornton & Hossam Ramzy - Immortal Egypt VS Quest & Eskmo - Speakers Corner
17 Zen Militia - Pull of Guilt (Scuba Remix) / Unknown - Unknown
18 headhunter-prototype
19 Benga - The Cut
20 Sir Richard Bishop - Blood Stained Sands / Tunnidge - Face Melt
21 Therapy - Innocent X
22 Badawi - Anthrax Sandwich
23 Badawi - Evocation
24 RSD - Forward Youth
25 Grimelock feat Alchemyst - Test Your Mind
26 Eric H - The Lights
27 Danny Weed - Gator Riddim
28 Dub Collosus - Yeka Sub City Rockers
29 Dub Collosus - Azmari Dub
30 Mada Nile - Look!!
31 Robert Lee - Too Much War

NGOMA 8 - Saudade

2011-02-11T07:17:00.000-08:00

Historically the Afro-Caribbean connection has produced so much amazing music about romantic love. Particularly, Angola and Cape Verde has developed specific strands of musical expression which focus on a special feeling: that of loss and longing, of desire and nostalgia, of love mixed with sadness. (an example most are familiar with would be the Cape Verdean Morna artist Cesaria Evora) I firmly believe that the best love songs in the world are actually about not having it, and this mix is saturated with this vibe: hearts and lonely hearts roll into one.

Since Zouk arrived (back) in Africa from the Guadeloupe and Martinique islands, where rhythms and melodies of the African "expats" mixed with Rumba, Calypso, Gwo Ka, Compas, Reggae, and even Salsa (and where they must have looked across the ocean with infinite longing for home), it has since been influenced by another deeply emotional music: Portugese Fado. Long story short, during the last few decades Zouk, Kizomba, and related styles have become IMMENSELY popular and ubiquitous in many parts of Africa.

But, sadly, we all know what this kind of huge commercial success does to a genre: it becomes cheap and watered down, and quantity replaces quality. Thus 99% of the modern Zouk and Kizomba we encounter today is tacky and paltry rubbish of incredibly bad taste, garishly saccharine instead of deeply moving like the Zouk of bygone years. Yet in this sordid state of affairs there are artists who are producing music which retain more than a touch of the golden years, making songs that are soul stirring as they are irresistible on the modern dance floor. So if one digs deeper, there IS such a thing as good contemporary Zouk and Kizomba: this is what i hope to convince people of, especially long time lovers of African music who have given up on these genres.

and, of course, to satisfy all you sweet loving freaks out there for Valentines Day :)

01 DJ Rams - Intro
02 Rei Helder - Miu'da (feat. Master Jake)
03 Rei Helder - Ventoinha (feat. Nelson Freitas)
04 Aleluia 69 - Anos De Idade
05 Chico Viegas - Ta kieto
06 Quatros Plus - Slow Motion
07 Babete - Tarraxinha Da Noite
08 Dj Rams - Remake
09 Dj Znobia - Tarraschinha Proibida / Quero Te Sentir
10 Mulatu Astatke - Motherland
11 Unknown - Unknown
12 Malcom Pro - Love is Back
13 Unknown - Unknown
14 Georges Pionquitte - Pa Ni Koko
15 Chico Viegas - Saudades
16 Chico Viegas - Te juro amor
17 Marízia - Unknown
18 Mobass - Unknown
19 Unknown - Unknown
20 Master Jake - Carinho
21 Manya - Bola De Trapo
22 Chico Viegas - Samba makia
23 Chico Viegas - Mu d'zomba
24 Cabinda A Cunene - Bana
25 Falso Testemunho - Maria Alice
26 Sol Na Tchada - Maria Alice
27 Michel Pinheiro - SOS Enfants Soldats
28 Juana Molina – Tres Cosas

SINGLE TRACK VERSION: MEDIAFIRE

SEPARATE TRACKS: MEGAUPLOAD or MEDIAFIRE

Immortal Egypt / Revolution Dub

2011-02-02T12:23:00.000-08:00

ثوره ثوره في كل مكان ضد الخونه والأندال
For Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan, Yemen, and oppressed people everywhere.

Dj Zhao - Immortal Egypt / Revolution Dub ثوره ثوره في كل مكان ضد الخونه والأندال by djzhao

DOWNLOAD

this piece of first hand summary of what has been happening in Egypt is from Thursday 3 Feb: Sandmonkey's Last Blog Entry.

sleepy mbira

2011-02-01T00:34:00.000-08:00

a lovely and blunted album of gentle melodies and soothing song. i love mbira for the same reason i love gamelan: they come from a place where rhythm and melody have not been forcefully separated. this particular recording not recommended if it's 11PM and you still have a lot more work to do after procrastinating all day, because you'll drift off into a gentle magical world and get fired the next day. (much more gorgeous shimmering reverberating tones and micro-tones at mbira.org)

Afro-Step

2011-01-20T04:49:00.000-08:00

Those around me remember about 4 or 5 years ago when i was sooooooo excited about this new sound called Dubstep. And now 90-99% of the derivative bullshit leaves me not only cold, but running for the door. What took almost a decade to happen to Jungle/Drum'n'Bass took only half as much time with Dubstep: meat-headification.

But i believe one fundamental formal difference might give Dubstep more longevity. A vast mutability in the genetic blueprint, i.e. the spaciousness of the half-time beats, allows the virus to virtually infect any other musical organism, forming hybrid entities, and thus giving the "genre" much more room to evolve. This might be a bad thing in many cases (does anyone need Dubstep remixes of Stairway to Heaven?!?!) but i believe, in other instances, can point to interesting aural possibilities.

So here is a percussive Afrocentric Dubstep mashup refix i was looking forward to playing in Berghain, where i was to open up for Konono next month. But the club booker changed his mind last minute and booked Burnt Friedman instead, and I uploaded this to Soundcloud within an hour of getting the bad news. Oh well can't win them all and on to the next one!

Royal Panamax Snook Shed by djzhao

Radio Ngoma 6

2011-01-12T09:48:00.000-08:00

125bpm African and Afrocentric electronic music fit for both i-pods and dancefloors. includes more abstract tunes, refixes of tasty traditional sounds, a remix of Black Panthers poetry (preview of Fusion3), but mostly we are in deep and warm percussive house music territory. 2 hours is perfect for this journey, not 1 minute too short or too long.

to downloaded: just click the little downward arrow to the right side of the player.
Dj Zhao - Radio Ngoma 6 Afro-Futurism by reboot.fm

alternate link: MEGAUPLOAD

01 Africa Hitech - The Sound of Tomorrow
02 Doc Daneeka - Kushday Soundboy
03 Guem & Zaka - Danse
04 C.K. Mann - Funky Hilife VS. Yonurican - Lucha Machete
05 Basti Grub - Niccilied
06 Sarah Webster Fabio - Boss Soul VS. Osunlade - Natives Tongue
07 Burundi Traditional - Chant d'enfant accompagne d'un arc musical umuduri VS Spikiri feat. Hugh Masekela - Spiyanko Bonus Beats
08 Donga and Blake - Detroitus
09 Dj Sdunkero - Tops Of
10 Sheharzad - Yalla Yalla (Henrik Schwarz Remix)
11 Damian Schwartz - Salson
12 Mastiksoul & Dada - Tasty
13 Dr Duda and Dr M-Bee - Latin Soul
14 Angelo Agnell - Off the Wall (Tshwara Lebota)
15 Tira & Bubzin - Africa Part 2
16 Aero Manyelo - Mexican Girl
17 Digital Mystikz - Pathways (Doc Daneeka Remix)
18 Mulatu Astatke and the Heliocentrics - Esketa Dance VS. DJ Znobia - The Killer
19 Sean Paul - Bounce it Right There VS. DVA - Natty
20 Aidonia - I Like Her
21 Blackbone - Chalewote
22 Unknown - Yala (Zhao Refix)
23 4X4 - Miss Doctor (Dance Kill Move Remix).
24 Longombaz - Vuta Pumzi
25 Ishmael - Jinda
26 Dj Jesus - Long to Long
27 Dr Duda and Dr M-Bee - That Night Feat. Tantaswa
28 Rod Modell with Kevin Hanton - Untitled

Chop Chop Akwaaba Supermix!

2011-01-03T08:10:00.000-08:00

The super awesome and diverse Akwaaba asked me to do a mix to represent the first 2 years of their existence, and it was a challenge. The releases cover a wide range of both classic and modern sounds -- how was i going to move from Malian roots to African Salsa to Kwaito, Hiplife, Afro-pop, Jazz, Funk, House and Kuduro? This is what i came up with. enjoy!

Djzhao - ChopChop Akwaaba Supermix by Akwaaba Music

download: click arrow on right side of player.
FLAC version: MEGAUPLOAD

01 Baro - Ahmed Fofana
(from AKW001 VA - Akwaaba Wo Africa)
02 Alou Sangare Buranke - Kana Mine Mogo Kan Man
(from AKW006 Alou Sangare Buranke)
03 Mamou Sidibe - Noumou
(from AKW004 Mamou Sidibe - Djougouya)
04 Just a Band - Tingiza Kichwa
(from AKW015 Just a Band - 82)
05 Skeat - Basimanyana mamela Meroapa
(from AKW018 Skeat - Basimanyana Mamela Meroapa)
06 Iba Diabate - Sow
(from AKW013 Iba Diabate - Mouna)
07 Appietus - Ma Alomo (featuring KK Fosu & Reggie Zippy)
(from AKW020 Appietus - The Revolution)
08 Killamu - Vai Con Calma
(from AKW014 Killamu - A Minha Face)
09 Killamu - Não aceito, não
(from AKW014 Killamu - A Minha Face
10 Michel Pinheiro - Femme
(from AKW007 Michel Pinheiro - Agoh)
11 Bradez - One gallon
(from AKW001 Akwaaba Wo Africa
12 Quabena Philip - Wadaade Me
(from AKW002 VA - Move It Chaleh!)
13 Appietus the Revolution - Essabel (featuring Old Sodja & Mike)
(from AKW020 Appietus - The Revolution)
14 Ruff n Smooth - Swagger (feat. Stay Jay)
(from AKW023 Ruff'n'Smooth - Life Is Rough and Smooth)
15 Iba Diabate - Iba Nana
(from AKW013 Iba Diabate - Mouna)
16 Jali Bakary - Combination
(from AKW016 Jali Bakary Konteh Konteh Kunda)
17 Rabbi - Wedding
(from AKW002 VA - Move It Chaleh!)
18 Skeat - Dumelang
(from AKW018 Skeat - Basimanyana Mamela Meroapa)
19 DJ Djeff feat Maskarado - Elegom Bounsa
(from AKW024 DJ Djeff feat Maskarado - Elegom Bounsa)
20 Ruff n Smooth - Azingele feat. S.K. Blinks
(from AKW023 Ruff'n'Smooth - Life Is Rough and Smooth)
21 Killamu - Melodia De Semba
(from AKW014 Killamu - A Minha Face)
22 Killamu - Flaminguinho
(from AKW014 Killamu - A Minha Face)
23 Killamu - Yuya
(from AKW014 Killamu - A Minha Face)24 Killamu - Tchilu
25 Noite e Dia - Tiramakossa
(from AKW010 VA - Akwaaba Sem Transporte)
26 Just a Band - Kaa Ridho
(from AKW015 Just a Band - 82)
27 Jali Bakary - Kelefa
(from AKW016 Jali Bakary Konteh Konteh Kunda)

the original Ngoma

2011-01-03T07:51:00.000-08:00

More sweet, sweet Congolese Rumba and its roots: a pair of reissues from the original Ngoma, "one of the first record labels intended to provide local African music to the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The label was created circa 1948 by the Greek businessman Nicolas Jéronimidis, and was active until 1968. Its catalog included many known artists at that time including Camille Feruzi, who is said to have popularized rumba during the 1930s, Antoine Wendo Kolosoy, one of the biggest names of all-time in Congolese music, the Angolan Manuel d´Oliveira, Léon Bukasa, Antoine Mundanda and Albert Luampasi, the guitarist who is said to taught a certain François Luambo Makiadi (Franco) his first guitar chords. (!!!! - zhao)"

Ngoma: The Early Years, 1948-1960

Ngoma-souvenir ya l'indépendance

and if you want to read about the tragic turn of political events in 1961 which occured as the joyous sounds on the Souvenir collection were being recorded... the 1961 CIA murder of democratically elected Congo leader Patrice Lumumba, an assassination which had catastrophic consequences for the region which last until today.

Ngoma 7

2010-12-16T00:04:00.000-08:00

I don’t know what Kuduro means in the Kimbundu language of northern Angola, but its colorful translation in Portuguese is in some ways fitting of the music in both form and theme. Still, even though a lot of the music is hard, and a lot of the songs about fucking, the phrase is very much limited in describing the rich layers of word and sound, and becomes reductionist if taken only at face value. Kuduro can also be playful, humorous, soulful, emotional, ominous, scary, joyful, celebratory, and uplifting. It is also sonically adventurous in radical ways, fearless in its pushing and often destruction of dance music’s aesthetic boundaries, in ways often more bold and creative than sound-design obsessed electronic music from North America or Europe: from sweet accordions to reckless synths, from 8-bit game console palettes to near industrial noise, from samples distorted way beyond recognition to some of the deepest basslines in the world. And the vocals are just as wildly diverse: from “normal” singing to what sounds like children rapping to animalistic growling, grunting, yelling.

The many different flavors of Kuduro come from both its roots as well as later influence: mainly evolving from Batida rhythms (itself a fusion of African and Caribbean traditions) of the 1980s, Kuduro has since branched out to sometimes incorporate elements from many other styles including Cape Verdean Funaná, Coupé-Décalé from France and the Ivory Coast, Afro-Brazilian percussion, Western Hiphop and Techno. A concise example of this melting of tradition, current club culture, and ruthless sonic experimentation might be track 28: Batida – Tribalismo Com Sacerdote, in which what sounds like distorted Mbiras (thumb piano) coexist with Angolan rap, furious rave energy and absolutely mental synth lines which verge on noise.

And speaking of Western Hiphop and Techno, this mix adopts quite a few Detroit Ghetto-Tech and Chicago Juke samples, to draw parallels between inner-city Afro-diaspora underground and African urban sound. Because, at least from where i’m standing, the Parallels are many: relentless and insistent focus on rhythm; use of repetition past the point of monotony in becoming pure abstraction; fast tempo and intensity pushing the dancefloor near breaking-point; gritty, raw, and unpolished sound; and finally, ruthless libidinal energy which defies any attempts at restraint.

Also, besides a few entirely unexpected and thrilling use of cultural pastiche in the songs themselves, such as what sounds like Gamelan in Dj Clintonn’s track 09 and Arabic strings in Dj Znobia’s track 10, there are 2 of my mashups here: track 16 which incorporates Indonesian Jaipong drums and track 35 which transforms the orchestral version of an old rave number we all know. Mostly consisting of both older and newer Kuduro from Angola, this mix also includes a few songs from Cote d’Ivoire, Cape Verde, and Brazil. I tried to avoid Westernized hipsterized “blog-Kuduro” altogether, but 3 tunes feature non-African collaborating producers or remixers: their inclusion is testament of the strength of these tracks.

SINGLE TRACK: mediafire or megaupload

SEPARATE TRACKS: mediafire or megaupload

3 more Ocora discs on Africa

2010-12-16T00:03:00.001-08:00

Africa Centrafrique Musique Centrafricaine

Africa Central African Republic - Musique Gbaya-Chants A Penser Vol. 1

Africa Central African Republic - Musique Gbaya-Chants A Penser Vol. 2

tones for winter

2010-12-09T22:34:00.001-08:00

now some music to go with, rather than counter the freezing temperature (at least where i am) of these winter days. a composer, instrument designer, and theorist, Ivor Darreg was a pioneer of Microtonal or Xenharmonic music. not going to pretend that i understand the various tuning systems that he wrote about, but i know this music is very special. crystaline tones weave psychoactive latices in the interior of the listener's body and mind, sometimes eerie, sometimes simply beutiful.

Ivor Darreg - Detwelvulate!

and while we're at it, going to throw in a couple of solo piano outings by Terry Riley. music on this first link is the cats meow, don't miss! and the Moscow Conservatory concert is also pretty good (last 2 tracks deleted because they are substandard - if you have a problem with my editing, don't download it)

Terry Riely - Solo Piano Session

Terry Riley - Moscow Conservatory Solo Piano Concert

Radio Ngoma 5: Ancestral Rhythms

2010-12-06T20:30:00.000-08:00

classic dance music from a lot of places around the world. download this set of sweet music for the holidays: might be that perfect soundtrack you are looking for that everyone young and old might enjoy.

Radio Ngoma #5 Ancestral Rhythms with DJ Zhao (2010-12-03) by reboot.fm

download: click arrow on right side of player.
alternate link: MEGAUPLOAD

01 INDIA: MahndiMadhorama Pencha - Madan Bata Sindhu
02 PERU: Andre Tanker - Carapachaima
03 INDONESIA: Nasida Ria - Keadilan
04 MOROCCO: Nass Marrakech - Zeye Meyel
05 MOROCCO: Chalf Hassan - Zayani El Rifi
06 EGYPT: Hossam Ramzy - A Step in Time
07 EGYPT: Phil Thornton & Hossam Ramzy - El Moulid
08 LEBANON: Samir Siblini - Ya Wahechini
09 TURKEY: Zen - Seslen Bana
10 ALGERIA: Rachid Taha - Ya Rayah
11 FRANCE: Ninine Garcia - My Dream of Love
12 BRASIL: Seu Jair do Cavaquinho - A deus palhaço
13 HAITI: Coupé Cloué - Net al cole
14 CAPE VERDE: Cabinda A Cunene - Bana
15 CONGO: De Mi Amor - Lonlon Nyeku
16 CONGO: Solo Sita - Allah
17 CONGO: Mbilia Bel - Lisanga Bambanda
18 COLOMBIA: Colombiafrica The Mystic Orchestra - No Habla Na’
19 CAMEROON: Manu Dibango - Makossa Blow
20 ANGOLA: Unknown - Fogo
21 ANGOLA: Georges Plonquitte - Déséré
22 ZANZIBAR: Fumbo Ya Mungu - Pabah Salim
23 NIGERIA: Fred Fisher - Asa-sa
24 GAMBIA: Super Eagles - Love’s a Real Thing
25 ETHIOPIA: Mahmoud Ahmed - Bemen Sebeb Letiash
26 CAPE VERDE: Cinderela - Fantcha

Gorgeous Deep Jazz

2010-12-04T19:30:00.000-08:00

abstract and spiritual psychedelic jazz from 1975. not very rhythmic, but rich in sound and melody. i don't know nothin about this artist or recording, and if you want to find out, you can google it yo damn self. word?

Enrique Villegas-Inspiración

p.s. just realized that a few other blogs have shared this... whatever.

Radio Ngoma 4: Reggae Special

2010-11-08T12:13:00.000-08:00

Righteousness and rudeness; Smoothness and ruffness; Classics, hits, and specials: Reggae Music for the Soul, Mind, and Booty: mainly from Jamaica, also a few tunes from the motherland. This one to make both lovers and baddies skank. (tracklisting on soundcloud page)

Radio Ngoma #4 'Righteousness and rudeness' Reggae Special (2010-11-05) by reboot.fm

2010-10-12T12:41:00.000-07:00

next wednesday!

2010-10-10T14:58:00.001-07:00

on Wed. nights everyone working there is an artist, and all creative people get half price drinks.

http://www.kingsizebar.de/

and here is Radio Ngoma 3: MOODY BOOTY on Reboot.fm:

DJ Zhao Radio NGOMA 3 Moody Booty (2010-10-08) by reboot.fm

alternate download: MEGAUPLOAD

FUSION 2: ancient illbient [REVISED]

2010-10-03T09:33:00.001-07:00

It seems that the perfectionist in me is not above going back to a finished project and making revisions if he is not completely happy with it. (i can't believe the asshole either) So here we have a 15% improved Fusion 2, with 1 song taken out, 1 song added (to the fiery North African section in the middle), some edits in various places, and altogether better flow. -- all links updated Jan 05 2011
Traditional and contemporary music from 5 continents, 25 countries, mashed up, refixed, and dubbed out.

Whereas the first volume was Global Dubstep and Grime, this one clocks in at 105 BPM and explores uptempo hiphop-ish and dancehall-esque beats. The mood is on the cloudy side with some ominous moments -- there is a sunny volume at this tempo coming up, and further down the road, a collection of dark and menacing dungeon soundtracks.

The Fusion series is more for listening compared to the dancefloor heat of NGOMA, but there are certainly some bangers in here for you to get real jiggy or scrunch up your face to, alongside more tripped out and lyrical numbers.

stream and download single file:

01 [Ghana] Gordon Odametey - Flying Gods (Zhao Edit)
02 [Liberia] Seku Bundah, Troupe, and Townsmen of Jonjah - Topical Song (Zhao Edit)
03 [Cameroon/France] Francis Bebey - Binta Madialio >< Agoria - Solarized (dub mix)
04 [Turkey/UK] Yaşar Akpençe - Dreams >< Demdike Stare - Haxan Dub
05 [Unknown Africa/SA] Unknown - Patricia >< Sibot - Famon Nigiri
06 [Malaysia/Germany] Anggi anak Alang, Entirong Bayang , Enggang anak Sandom, Kira anak Rabong - Serunal/Taboh >< Log - Out 2
07 [Colombia/Spain] Cumbia Moderna De Soledad - Shacalao >< Lerosa and Donato - acid snake
08 [Algeria/USA] Flûtes-gasba du Nord-Est de l'Agérie - Hwa Mrabet Did Chabbi >< Omar D - Busaru Beats
09 [Nubia] Al-Nûbatiyya - Mann Koudoud Toa Yaa Naas (Zhao Edit)
10 [Morrocco] Unknown - Unknown (Zhao Edit)
11 [Egypt] Ahmad Adaweya - Salametha Omm Hassan (Zhao Edit)
12 [Algeria] Unknown - Danse Bédouine (Zhao Edit)
13 [Nigeria/Angola] Guem & Zaka - Nostalgie >< Dj Maginho - TarraxO 100 percent Agressivo
14 [Brazil/Angola] No Sapatinho - Batugue >< dj nuxito - nova inspiracio
15 [UK/Japan] Ian Middleton - Cycle AND Sakuteiki - Viewing Infinite Space
16 [USA/Japan] Dubadelic - Rise of the Fall >< Sakuteiki - Viewing Infinite Space
17 [Syria/UK] Lena Chamamian - Sariri Hovim Mernem >< King Midas Sound - I Dub
18 [Mongolia/Spain] Black Horse – Chingges Khaanii magtaal (with huumii) >< Lerosa and Donato - Gas Snake
19 [Uzbekistan/Sweden] Yulduz Usmanova - Schoch Va Gado >< Daniel Savio - Tough Guy Music
________________________________________________________________
SEPARATE TRACKS DOWNLOAD: mediafire or megaupload

The Harmonic Lyre of Pierre Jean Croset

2010-09-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

ok here is an "on brand" post: the kind of ethereal, meditative and mystical aural shenanigan somewhat typical of this blog (besides the gangsta booty bass lol)

truth is when i first heard this grandly titled recording i was somewhat underwhelmed and thought it dull (was kind of expecting an instant out of body experience). but after a few listens, and in the right mood for this kind of understated almost furniture soundstrack, its subtle beauty really seeped in.

from what i understand this is the singular work of one man on the 18 stringed Harmonic Lyre of his own design; but of course drawing upon vast sound traditions from many cultures.

Pierre Jean Croset - Harmoniques du Temps

1975

2010-09-14T18:03:00.000-07:00

"We discussed the possibility of synthesizing rock music with some of the older forms of trance music that have been developed over centuries to produce powerful, sometimes hypnotic effects on the audience. Such a synthesis would enable the older forms to escape from the mould of folk lore and provide new techniques to rock groups."

- William Burroughs' conversation with Jimmy Page

mid tempo trip around the world

2010-09-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

2nd outing on REBOOT.FM, in relative chill mode, at least until the afro and jamaican dancehall comes in on hour 2. starts with a couple of my new mashups of Francis Bebey, and ends with a special mix of "take it to the world".

DJ Zhao #2 mid tempo trip around the world by reboot.fm

alternate download link: MEGAUPLOAD
01 intro
02 Francis Bebey - Flute Aria VS Joey Suiki Apster - Stick it
03 Francis Bebey - Mbira Dance VS Chocolate Puma - WHohatnuffdrums
04 Grant C. Dull - El Remolón_ Pikatxu (w_ Los Putxos).
05 07. Chambacu - No Quiero Envejecer (Zhao Edit)
06 Unknown - Unknown (Bongo Bongo)
07 Rei Helder - Na Coladera
08 Badenya Les Freres Coulibaly - Boroto
09 Trompies - Ntshamme
10 Mapaputsi - It's Your Life
11 Bleksem - Ezibandayo
12 Browndash - Puff Puff Pass
13 Bleksem - Skepsel
14 Pitch Black Afro feat. Bravo - Matofotofo
15 Unknown - Omalatu
16 Brothers of Peace - Mapodisa
17 Skomplazi - S'khaba Mabahodlela
18 Skeat - Respect
19 Mapaputsi - Last Man Standing
20 Yasmin - Kalil I Hila (from album Shaklak Hatouwhachni)
21 Nancy Ajram - ya si el sayed
22 Ravinder Grewal - Jhanjraan
23 Harjit Heera - Udhju-Udhju
24 Ahmad Adaweya - Salametha Omm Hassan - (Zhao Edit)
25 Unknown Maroc (Zhao Edit)
26 Peter Miles Navio - Rukus
27 Chameleone - Bomboclaat
28 Earbc - Kube
29 Peter Miles - Muwala
30 Cookie The Herbalist - Inna Mi Car
31 Merciless - Countryboy
32 riddim transition
33 Popcaan - Up Inna Di Club
34 Kasambwe Brothers VS Negghead - Build It Up (Break it Down mix)
35 Dady Mimbo - Bouba (Cool)

8, 9 and 10 September

2010-08-17T02:23:00.000-07:00

Obroni Start Shakin by Akwaaba Music

September 8th in Prague, Czech Republic the night before:

8th August

2010-08-17T02:22:00.000-07:00

gigs Summer 2010

2010-08-17T02:19:00.000-07:00

Summer Film School Festival, Uherské Hradiště, Czech Republic:

EXIT Festival, Novi Sad, Serbia:

[Un]Defined Festival, Merano, Italy:

Two from Mongolia

2010-08-08T08:01:00.000-07:00

amazing sounds from this dude's vocal chords, chest area, and skull. turns his entire body into a hi-fi surround system doesn't he? i've met people like this: soft spoken and polite in person, but on stage choirs of angels and the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse come out his mouth.

Hosoo

this one is more about rhythmic jams with a full band. cowboy/girl music for cowboy/girls!

Ensemble Khan Bogd

taraab for ever

2010-08-07T01:31:00.000-07:00

immersed in this amazing music at the moment. and here is the world's oldest popstar, Bi Kidude, who is this year 100 years young:

a concert like this would be so amazing to attend!

Sauti Za Busara Festival is coming up in Feb. 2011...

Krakow: AfroMundial AfterParty Fabryka Klub

2010-07-14T01:34:00.000-07:00

Friday, July 16, 2010 at 10:00pm
ZABŁOCIE 23 , KRAKÓW

FABRYKA
FACEBOOK
(i didn't design the flyer by the way)

the live set was recorded and edited down to 2 hours for your enjoyment. it contains some of my best work to date, and is probably the single most comprehensive example of my Ancient Futurist club sound so far.
DJ Zhao Live - Afromundial, Klub Fabryka, Krakow by reboot.fm

Zhaoist Manifesto

2010-07-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

1. FUSION

"The boundaries of objects are vague - and that goes for us too... Describing the world in terms of discrete objects is a useful fiction." - Kees van Deemter

Well worn cliche or not, everything is connected. Borders and separation, in the spheres of physics, of politics, of "race", as it is of culture, are illusions fostered by narrow and fearful minds, often purposefully fabricated by those who seek control and to benefit from alienation, antagonism, and the suffering of millions.

Today our conceptions of the cultures of the world, of their history and relationships to each other, is sadly still under heavy influence of 18th and 19th century revisionist versions of history. During those colonialist times in the United States, education reform initiated by the wealthy elite of powerful industrialists applied sweeping changes across university campuses, teaching a fundamental and intrinsic divide between "East" and "West", painting the former as largely superstitious, backwards, repressive, and the later progressive, modern, liberal. While in Europe racist German and English scholars began erasing the African and Asian foundational influence of classical Greece out of history, replaced by an absurd Euro-centric story of the "Cradle of Western Civilization" developing more or less autonomously, with the only outside influence from "Northern Tribes", separate from much older and more advanced civilizations in close physical proximity. The dissemination of this fictional dichotomy between the "occident" and "orient" has always been politically motivated: it furthers the aims of the ruling class, provides a necessary ideological backdrop for colonial and neo-colonial agendas, and is still instrumental in world affairs today (the structural basis for "the war on terror" as related to the demonization of Islam).

But there is no essential divide between "East" and "West", their relationship being more like parent and child. And when it comes to music, the inter-relatedness of all cultures and the character of their specific relationships can be perhaps even more easily understood. For instance if one looks at the history of the guitar, one finds that it was descendent of the Oud, the first record of which appears in ancient Mesopotamia during the Acadian period (2359-2159 BC). The Romans around 40 AD made a version of it called the Cithara, which spread to the Vikings in Europe; and later Gypsies living in Islamic Spain created the modern guitar based on that. And if one traces the history of 20th Century North American pop and dance music, a crude and very abbreviated but basically sound genealogy describes a line going back to Disco, to Soul, to Funk, to Motown, to Gospel, to Blues, to Jazz, to work songs of the slaves, and indeed, to Africa.

Continuities are everywhere one chooses to look: the Balkans are connected to Israel to Iraq to Spain to Egypt to Morrocco to Mali to the Congo to Haiti to Cuba to Colombia to NYC. Yet there is still this prevalent vantage point that "World Music" is indeed somehow fundamentally different from "Western Music", and it is still shocking to some that non-Western sounds are making such a ripple in 2010 (the success of artists such as Omar Suleyman, and a new wave of indie musicians citing non-western influence). As if Rock and Roll itself wasn't African American, and less directly, African in origin. As if Led Zeppelin wasn't heavily influenced by Turkish music, or the Rolling Stones by Morroccan traditions, the Beatles by Indian Classical, Can and (early) Kraftwerk by East Asian sensibilities and African percussion, Debussey and John Cage by Indonesian Gamelan, Steve Reich and Georgy Ligetti by African polyrhythms, etc, etc, etc. Forward thinking and ground breaking modern music in the "west" has always taken cues from much older non-western sources (similar to the way modern visual art owes much to pre-modern, so called "primitive" forms).

2. RE-ENTRY

“Those piles of ruins which you see in that narrow valley watered by the Nile, are the remains of opulent cities, the pride of the ancient kingdom of Ethiopia. There a people, now forgotten, discovered while others were yet barbarians, the elements of the arts and sciences.” - Count Volney

Humans have surely forgotten much more than we know today, with the ravage of time, after countless wars, destructions of entire cultures, libraries burnt down. By the same token, ancient musical traditions contain forms which are more advanced, more inventive, more structurally challenging, more revolutionary in every sense of the word, than any "futuristic" electronic dance music today. And in terms of the expansion of minds or shaking of booties, the bits and pieces passed down to us, remnants of sound traditions reaching back to ancient times, often embody methods far superior to what you might find in today's dance clubs. One man sitting on the island of Madagascar, singing over an insistent rhythmic melody plucked out of a one string instrument contains more ingenuity, more innovation, more raw power, more soul, more fire, than anything produced in the last 30 years.

All rhythm certainly comes from Africa, as the drum itself was invented somewhere around Kenya tens of thousands of years ago. But African music is much more than drumming, for example the various Kora traditions weaving complex melodic structures that would make Bach dizzy. To be more precise, in much of African music one finds an un-differentiated oneness of rhythm and melody, never divorced from each other by over analytical minds. Examples of this can be found in Soukous guitar playing, the various Mbira (thumb piano) musics scattered through out the continent, and the "Shangaan Electro" phenomena which is all the hype right now, itself only the latest expression of age old tradition.

What we have seen in the last few centuries is a return to rhythm, after being largely divided from it for many centuries under the European Classical establishment, which reduced its importance and saw it as "primitive" and "plebean", emblematic of music of savages and the underclass. But in the melting pot of the Americas, a traumatic confrontation between European and African traditions became probably the most important source of innovation in the past mellenium, forming the seeds of the myriad kinds of musical styles we know today.

The only way to move things forward is to look back upon the treasures of our collective past. It is indeed this re-entry of indigenous musical heritage, fused with urban bass culture, this combination of ancestral musical ideas and modern sound, which is now giving rise to irresistible next level dance music on every continent. Crucial new scenes thrive and vital new styles are born in almost every corner of the world, challenging and displacing the centralized hegemonic culture manufacturing machine which attempts to fill the world with its vacuous regurgitation. But despite the spread of information technologies, there is a pointed lack of communication between musical communities of the world today, and many scenes remain relatively isolated and insular, inaccessible to their potential global audience who hunger after new sounds. For instance Kwaito, the South African House/Hiphop hybrid style based on traditional Zulu music, flourished for 2 decades within the townships while being virtually unknown outside, and only recently began to make waves in the world at large.

3. the Responsibility of DJs

"who cares? it's just music!" - anonymous

Economic, political, and other arbitrary factors entirely other than artistic merit often determine which music rises to global prominence, and which is relegated to obscurity and silence outside of it's region. As Alan Lomax put it half a century ago (i paraphrase): "mass media broadcasts the voice of the privileged, while often times more deserving, more beautiful voices in poverty stricken places remain unheard." Thus djs in these neo-colonialst times, as cultural workers whose particular role affords them direct access to audiences, must be aware of the many levels of inequity in the world, and do his/her job with this awareness in mind.

Of course, above all other concerns, djs must rock the party. We must create unforgettable experiences on the dance floor, and fascilitate that most important (no, it is not frivolous at all!) of social functions: the celebration of life despite its hardships. But there is more than 1 way to mash up the dance, and djs do not have to pander to the charts or appeal to lowest common denominators to please a crowd.

Djs can both entertain and educate the audience. They can transcend the here and now, go beyond or destroy the status quo, if they choose to. Music is never "just music", but always an expression of social reality. I would love to see the world around us and the situation we are in to inform more dj sets, which make site specific references and conceptual links, infusing the musical experience with many levels of meaning. A good Dj should do in depth research into her/his chosen styles, its history and lineage as related to other styles, find and make unexpected connections.

In this day and age, many members of society and especially other artists still view the DJ as a clown-ish, superficial, unsophisticated and unimportant character, who exists solely to entertain drunk idiots. If all other reasons fail, this might be motivation enough to start taking ourselves and what we do more seriously.

Riddims Tropicale, EXIT, and Fusion

2010-07-04T04:46:00.000-07:00

TONIGHT 04, JULY 8-10PM (Berlin Time) dj zhao on Riddims Tropicale set and interview streaming LIVE.

NEXT WEEK 09-10, JULY i will be rocking 2 sets on Friday and Saturday night at a little festival called EXIT in Novi Sad, Serbia, where some chick named... Missy Elliot is playing. there's also a bunch of obscure shit like... Ricardo Villalobos? Chemical Brothers? Faith No More? Plastician? Dj Zinc? Atari Teenage Riot? whatever.

LAST WEEK Fusion Festival was pretty good, but 3rd year in a roll and they gave me a difficult time slot: 7-10AM Friday morning. at 7AM after all night dubstep including Mala the crowd had significantly thinned already, and by the time i finished at 10 there were only about a dozen or 2 hardcore party people left, who continued to dance and cheer until the very end.

end of Mala's set:

by the time i was ready to go on:

at the end, 10AM, when i eventually admitted defeat in the fight against the Sun...

OCORA Africa continued

2010-06-29T05:22:00.000-07:00

Cameroun - Danses et Chants Bamoun: a very rare testimony of the traditional court music of Bamoun, warriors and landfarmers, and their life overseen by the Royal Family (Mbobo Sultan Seidou...), recorded by Michel Houdry in July 27th, 1957 at Foumban Palace.

for me the musical treats on this old school Ocora record, never released on CD, start at track 3, where the grooves begin. (pseudo theory alert:) seems to me in a lot of traditional african music, Melody and Rhythm seem to have never been torn apart by divisive, compartmentalizing, and overly analytical minds, and remain, inseparably, perfectly, one (much like the modern Shangaan music in the previous post). some tracks suffer from out dated recording technology, and sound a bit muddy. this vinyl rip comes from the one they call Op.

Centrafrique - Xylophones de l'Ouham-Pende:
"In Central African societies musical instruments have various functions linked to different musical repertories. First and foremost, instruments are used in ritual and initiation ceremonies, notably in connection with a heightened state of consciousness. The beating of musical instruments in particular, along with song, arouses that heightened state, which manifests itself in trance, auditory drive and/or music-colour synesthesia, allowing communication with the supernatural (often under the psychotropic influence of hallucinogens). Then there are such separate functions as sending messages from village to village by a slit-drum and providing entertainment for a group or an individual. The diversity of the functions of musical instruments is not, however, limited to these main contexts.

The instrument types found in Hornbostel and Sachs's classification of 1913–14 – idiophones, membranophones, chordophones and aerophones – are represented in Central African music. Notable among the wide distribution of instruments are the different kinds of xylophones, i.e. mentsiang of the Mpyemo (fig.3), kponingbo of the Zande (fig.4), zanga of the Pana and the Gbaya-Manza-Ngbaka, kalanga of the Banda-Mbiyi and kangba of the Manza, or the various forms of double-headed drums, i.e. ntumo of the Mpyemo, ndumo of the ‘pygmies’, kporo of the Banda Gbambiya, bio of the Gbaya and guru of the Zande."

in some ways a more straight forward enjoyable listen than the above, the pling-plong xylophones weave beautifully intricate rhythmelodies.

Centrafrique Anthologies de La Musique Des Pygmees Aka: 2 CDs of field recordings of the Aka Pygmies, originally issued on LP in 1978, are presented here (sorry the tracks from 2 discs are mixed in one folder)

"Music is part of daily life for the pygmies, as that's well illustrated here; every activity comes with singing, sometimes accompanied by varying forms of percussion, and some spare instrumentation, like the mo-beke, a kind of whistle, that features of "Nzombi." There are songs and music for activities, some with more sacred values, like "Mokondi," which is sung to dedicate a new camp. And there are song tales, songs of mourning, and for divination. There's some fascinating insight here, as well as some astonishing music. However, it's likely to be of interest to ethnomusicologists more than the general public, which is a shame, since there are beautiful melodies to be heard (great recording quality, too). ~ Chris Nickson, All Music Guide

The Aka are one of the three groups of Pygmies found in Central Africa today. They are monogamous and settle in small family encampments that comprise parents, children, sons, and daughters-in-law and offspring, groups of thirty to forty persons organized in democratic communities. Pygmy music, in the image of all their social activities, presents very similar characteristics, that is to say, relative autonomy of each participant within implied but strict structures. The recordings of this anthology, the first to be devoted to a single African people, offer in addition the distinctiveness of having been made in a single encampment, that of the old hunter Mbonzo, a group barely larger than forty persons. Music plays a central role among the Pygmies, there is no day without music."

Central Africa. Aka Pygmies - Hunting, Love and Mockery Songs: another beautiful collection of the delicate and dreamlike songs of pygmies. on this one more accompanied by plucked string instruments than the marimba type sounds of the previous one. layered polyphonic voices glide over simple rhythm patterns, gentle, lovely and mesmerizing... i hope it gives you both enjoyment and inspiration.

Shangaan Next Level Music and Dance!

2010-06-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

Next month, London-based label Honest Jon's will release a compilation called Shangaan Electro: New Wave Dance Music From South Africa.

Shangaan is an electronically enhanced form of South African traditional music that's popular in the areas between Johannesburg, Limpopo and Mozambique. Despite the genre's highly localized popularity and lack of digital distribution, tens of thousands of Shangaan records are sold each year. The music goes hand-in-hand with its own style of dance, which is extremely fast and energetic, as most Shangaan tunes cruise along at 180 BPM. "When you see them dance you feel like they have got no bones," says Nozinja, AKA Dog, a producer and centerpiece of the Shangaan scene.

Shangaan Electro was compiled by Honest Jon's boss Mark Ainley and former Basic Channel member Mark Ernestus. It collects 12 tracks recorded between 2006 and 2009 at Nozinja's studio in Johannesburg, a creative hub for Shangaan artists. - from Resident Advisor

World Cup Special This Friday

2010-06-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

i'll be joining DJ Matatu playing kwaito and SA house at the nice likkle club in Mauerpark for the Kickoff.

watch game - big screen - beer garden - Zulu Bass.

Mauersegler/Tandoori [Bernauer Str. 63/Mauerpark]

bankolo miziki 1 & 2

2010-06-02T08:10:00.000-07:00

original Congolese Rumba sound: the sweetest music in the world. tracklisting on back covers: volume 1 / volume 2.

thanks to Bolingo69 for the original. here both volumes together reupped on mediafire.

NGOMA 6 - UKULWA

2010-06-01T03:53:00.001-07:00

(as featured on Gen Bass and The Fader)

Framing house music, perhaps the most depoliticized of all urban musics, whose narrative revolve around unreflective pleasure seeking, in a political context may seem incredulous to some. Yet this incredulity would be based on a superficial reading of the essence of house music culture, despite what it has become in the commercial sphere: in its very inception, the escapism into a fantasy hedonistic world was an expression of the underprivileged and marginalized, and the creation of a sanctuary of acceptance was nothing less than a political act of the oppressed and discriminated against.

Perhaps even more than Chicago or Detriot 67, the political dimension is deeply interwoven into the urban musical fabric of South Africa, and has profoundly influenced its evolution. Zulu protest songs live on through Kwaito, the first musical expression of a free South Africa, and from there the current House culture developed: if less overtly rebellious, it nonetheless retains in its beats and voices the spirit of revolt: the urgent and passionate expression of a people who have been subjugated for too long.

The Zulu word Ukulwa means war and struggle. and in this context it can only mean a war against oppression and the struggle for freedom and independence. Apartheid may have officially ended, but its myriad effects can be unmistakably felt in a slew of social problems which plague the nation today, from crime to domestic violence as result of the break up of families, from poverty to various hardships which come from an entire generation having been systematically deprived of formal education. Thus even while many positive things are taking place, as South Africa is surely rising as a proud modern nation, even as we rejoice in these blissful rhythms, we must remember this war, and both continue, and continue to be inspired by, this struggle against domination, against injustice: Ukulwa.

SINGLE TRACK VERSION: fairtilizer

SEPARATE TRACKS VERSION: mediafire or megaupload

Ethnoport 2010

2010-06-01T03:26:00.000-07:00

17-19 June: amazing lineup this year at this very special music festival in Poznan, Poland: artists from Finland, Congo, Mongolia, Algeria, etc. click and listen on the website.

Staff Benda Bilili Super Soukous Dance Band AMAZING. so much soul, so much power. really taking classic Soukous to a new place, without losing one gram of the sweetness or groove. the kid who plays the self made little guitar-ish instrument is a young man now, and even got on the mic at the end, sounding great. they all speak French so when i met them the only thing i could say was "CONGO GOOD MUSIC!" and "I LOVE SOUKOUS!"

Motion Trio rocked the packed inside venue with their psychedelic motorik accordians, very satisfying concert. epic like good prog rock, and at times intense like quality techno, but with that special agility and emotion which is singular to their instruments. (these clips are not from this particular performance)

Nawal was an amazing surprise, hypnotic mbira, gorgeous sultry voice... melodies and rhythm from the Comoros islands completely new to my ears, a hybrid of Arabic, Indian, and African traditions, a little like Taraab in Zanzibar. and she was such a lovely energy in person... the real thing, unlike so many fakes in the California new-age hippie communities: people who preach love and spirituality, while in reality are all about selfishness and ego.

Wimme from lapland, the non-western part of Finland, is a Saami folk musician who carries the sonic magic of his people to the 20th century. he imitated Reindeers, sang beautiful songs, and made indescribably ethereal sounds... kind of like overtone singing.

the Duduk, voice, and "santoor" group, with Tigran Aleksanyan, Svetlana Spajic, and Andrew Cronshaw, had deeply beautiful moments. Tigran's Duduk was world class, rich timbres and amazing breathy sound - he studied with THE Duduk master for many years. Svetlana's voice was very powerful and sensuous, the spirit of Serbia itself. Andrew Cronshaw is a bit of a show-off old hippie clown, he played well enough, but was no match for the refined mastery of his band members.

and for all 3 nights i rocked the club after the concerts finished at midnight. 1st night was Soukous and Cumbia; 2nd night Egyptian Pop, Rai, Kwaito, Bhangra; 3rd night was SA House and Electro with some Fusion mashups and when i dropped the up tempo Soukous and Hiplife at 3AM the place felt a little more than merely a bumping party... everyone dancing with more than usual vitality and enthusiasm... felt really kind of transcendent.

^^ memebers of Algerian electric-oud rock band Speed Caravan.

FROM SA TO DE: LIVE AND DIRECT

2010-05-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

to celebrate Out Here records' release of Ayobaness: the Sound of South Afrian House, the first compilation of its kind in Europe (here is what The Wire said), SA superstars the Pastor, Mgo and dancers flew into Germany for a series of live shows, and i was lucky enough to be part of the one in Berlin. the space in Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt is very big and offical looking, so it was a little like dancing in a museum or the Reichstag, but the party popped off very nicely. AYOBAAAAAAAAAA-AYOBANESS!!!

TROPICAL SESSIONS 23/May/Berlin

2010-05-10T08:26:00.000-07:00

New sound for B-town: Hugo Mendez from legendary Sofrito (UK) and DJ Zhao of Ngoma Sound (DE) team up to bring the heaviest African, Caribbean, and South American rhythms, connecting the deep roots of modern club music with hard hitting contemporary urban flavors.

Simultaneously classic and urgent, sick and sweet, Tropical Sessions and guests brings you the timeless essence of groove: it is not "world music", it is simply the best dance music in the world.

25 MIN. PROMO MIX!

Happening at the newly re-opend amazing Terrasse by the river, with sound equipped patio and grill action.

FIRST 50 PEOPLE BEFORE 10pm GET IN FREE
after 10pm 12 Euro includes access to Maria - YAAM Birthday party
(check www.clubmaria.de for details)

___________________________________________
Hugo Mendez' DJ style is a unique blend of African, Caribbean and Latin rhythms - a percussive explosion that includes heavy Afro grooves, old school mambo, Tropical Disco, bouncing samba, calypso funk and heavy Cumbia, bringing vintage styles up to date with exclusive dubplate edits and a contemporary club slant.

Hugo Mendez has put together several albums for leading record labels, including the genre-defining Tumbélé! compilation for Soundway Records and the highly successful Tropical Funk Experience album for Nascente. The albums come from digging trips across the Caribbean – scouring dusty warehouses and shacks for forgotten vinyl treasures and painstakingly tracking down artists and producers from back in the day. Hugo also produces the cult Rhythmagic Orchestra project with Nostalgia 77, and runs the Sofrito Specials label.

http://sofrito.co.uk
http://soundcloud.com/sofrito

Prague Radio Set

2010-05-06T16:05:00.000-07:00

Prague Radio Set - a proper preview of what is to come in Fusion 2 and 3. no "cheesy" "ibiza" stuff here! lol

this one turned out pretty good, better than my sets at Herbst Radio Berlin, because there were several friends in the studio hanging out and bobbing along - amazing what a difference that makes. and the fact that i'm simply more used to playing on the radio now... so next time even alone i think it will be better.

track listing and a bit of text on this page, or you can go directly here, choose "Radio Wave" from drop down menu, and click 16.4.2010

The Concept of "Cheesy"

2010-05-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

what does it mean when someone says a piece of music is "cheesy"?

i think one of the common things is an adverse reaction to expressions of "genuine" feeling. I'm sure loads of kids think Louis Armstrong's sweet ballads are "cheesy". i don't, at all. when i hear his voice i feel it straight, without any irony what so ever. but there was a time i did. (though i do think Celion Dion is cheesy).

but why is genuine feeling ever considered cheesy? is it because substandard artists have cheapened it? too much indulgent, unreflexive, "fake" heart tugging, tear jerking; so that even when faced with "real" emotional content we think it's cheesy?

at times it has something to do with cultural age, like Louis Armstrong. or Marvyn Gaye or Bryan Ferry or Leonard Cohen, or, for that matter, Franz Schubert. so maybe a kind of expression i guess becomes so over used and loaded that many of the younger generations can no longer take it seriously. unless they really give it a chance, and "enter" the work; after which they see the substance and feel the power and are able to overcome the initial "cheesy" feeling -- i like Bryan Ferry now, but when my ex first played him for me i thought it was the cheesiest 80s shit ever.

Edward from Dissensus clarifies:

genuine emotion is never cheesy, fake emotion is always cheesy.

reality=lush, fakeness=pimping

minnie ripperton, a bit out of tune but so warm and human = not cheesy
any pop r&b singer singing 24 different notes up n down around the melody because she has the ability to do it but not imparting any feeling= cheese

i think using obvious signifiers instead of trying to express YOURSELF is cheesy.
so there are certain rock ballad chords that say "moody" but aren't really, certain techno sounds or snare fills that say "uplifting" but aren't really.... doing music by numbers, to a template, within a genre is cheesy.

originality, emotion, striving for self-expression: not cheesy

in addition to that, also something to do with personal age: seems that when i was younger i thought a lot of things were cheesy, like jazz as i mentioned. so as i get older, less things sound cheesy to me, and I'm able to appreciate more things on deeper levels. things like disco, R'n'B, Soca, Kizomba, are for sure in this category (but no not the horrible cheesy kind!)

also there are obviously cultural lines along with the Cheesy demarcation is constructed: 1 hour into my set at BOOMBX party last week, just got into some awesome sweet Hiplife (like this) after a few rather hard Electro-Kuduro hitters, this guy comes up to me and says: "can we move away from Ibiza and a little more toward Berlin please?" when i told him that this wasn't Hed Kandi, but Ghanian dancehall, he said "all this cheesy stuff sounds like Ibiza to me." ------ i guess all happy music is cheesy "Ibiza". and all cold, dark, monotony is "Berlin".

and someone called my South African House mixes cheesy in the comments a while back... i wonder if he thinks all club music is cheesy? or all feel good music is cheesy? or all non-angry/non-moody/non-"dark" music is cheesy?

i think more often than not, it is the person who cries "cheesy!" who has not given the work a chance on its own terms, enter its world, with its own logic. and it is only his/her own loss, naturally. it is really sad when people come to premature conclusions of a certain style of music based on exposure to only its cheapest or worst examples, which, admittedly, are both soul destroying and ubiquitous. for example cheesy Latin music and the cheesy "Latin Lover" archetype -- a lot of people in the west have robust prejudices when it comes to this music. it is sad when people close their minds so much, even if i can understand why - the amount of rubbish which they have been exposed to in the same style, that when faced with the real thing, they can not recognize it for what it is -- the most exquisite expression in the world:

i want to say to these people who write stuff off, who maintain ironic distances: forget your preconceptions, drop your prejudices, forget what you think you know, and give this new sound a chance. your life will only be richer for it.

(within limit, of course. no i am not going to give Celine Dion another chance, smartass.)

addendum:

and then there is the other side: the people whose ipods solely contain things like Hulk Hogan & His Wrestling Boot Band (real ipod owner, real band), which they would play for friends while laughing hysterically. there are the very popular parties in every major city across the world which only play 80s trash. it's an entire culture fixated by the "cheesy". irony for irony's sake. i think it's more than a sugar-high... something to do with The Uncanny? feels a bit necrophiliac... but i don't know enough about the scene to say what people get out of it exactly. if anyone has anything substantial to say about this i will post it below.

the badman from Singapore, my oldest friend on earth, Sufist drone architect, scribe of the apocalypse, the one and only Derek Wisdom, weighs in on the subject:

I've read a number of studies on kitsch in Gay American Culture that were quite interesting. Basically kitsch was used there historically as a means of re-purposing cultural detritus, to create a new language through inverting the oppressive values of american culture. This is a strategy typically employed by oppressed subcultures or cultures emerging against colonial rule, a means of collectively defining and then asserting themselves, a survival strategy. I'm sure some of that carries over into the pabst blue ribbon crowd but they obviously aren't oppressed. I think it's a mirror image actually, the Gay use of kitsch was to invert a value against an elite, whereas with "hipsters" (and I loathe to use that word, as it's most often used as a conversation stopping insult, but you know what I mean here) it's a technique used to assert themselves as an elite, the never ending series of name-droppings and irony contests.

I think there's an interesting territory here between cheez and kitsch, what can we laugh off and accept and even enjoy even if with heavy doses of irony and insincerity (which is still a form of social pleasure after all), and what just gives us the gas face? I think it's a social process, if we hear music we find cheesy when we are alone, we find it cheesy and reject it. It tends to only graduate to kitsch if it's experienced with other people if it gives us an avenue to assert our own social value via our allegedly clever sense of irony (and I'm making an unsaid distinction between music we find cheesy and later actually enjoy because of our tastes maturing as music listeners, and that which we accept explicitly as kitsch). One consistent use of Music in all cultures is as a means of creating and reinforcing cultural bonds. Back to the hulk hogan album example, I suspect if that music was heard in a vacuum, it wouldn't be interesting to the audience you mention. But as part of a social experience, it becomes valuable as a way to assert ones tastes and bid for status within that peer group. Hearing the same music alone, if one had no knowledge of a way to create such a social value or experience, one would then have to fall back on evaluating it's compositional values alone. The compositional factors though are actually bypassed in such a social group, instead what's focused on is the cultural apparatus, the fact it's music with lyrics by pro wrestling superstars about pro wrestling. Remove that apparatus and there's nothing of any interest to this social experience, as they aren't exactly sitting around examining the key changes and bpm of the songs in question. That's true of most pop culture though, very little of it makes sense to anyone who doesn't have fluency in the cultural signifier at use, and that can go both ways, it can be bewildering or it can also make it much more interesting and alien than it was in it's original context.

This Time for Africa... But Not Really.

2010-05-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

good article on the modern blackface that is FIFA's world cup song from Mahala blog. can't say i'm surprised -- another use for the paint metaphor: liberal progressive surface, racist structure.

people have brought up the fact that previous world cup songs have not always been representative of their host countries. while this is true, there are some differences:

this is a first for the African CONTINENT. a continent with an amazingly rich musical heritage (THE MOST amazing of all if you ask me, and a few musicologists).

Shakira is singing "waka waka" over an uncredited, unpaid-for rip-off of an old Cameroonian protest song.

Germany, Japan and France were colonialists, and have never been victims of colonialism, and they do not have a history of their music getting stolen and their artists being ripped off, because they were DOING the stealing and ripping off.

so given this context, this ABSOLUTELY should have been a chance for African voices to be heard, and African culture to take the spot light. but sadly, and expectedly, no.

in addition to the examples in the article, look into the history of The Lion Sleeps Tonight for a fascinating story. a documentary film has been made about this Zulu protest song from South Africa, whose lyrics mean "when the Europeans took over Africa, our king did not die, but only went to sleep, and will again wake someday" (a meaning all but entirely stripped from the words in the West). The Lion Sleeps Tonight has been a chart hit in America since the 1940s, covered many times by many different artists, and recently earned 15,000,000 USD in the Lion King alone -- but it's original author, living an impoverished life in the forbidden townships under apartheid rule, did not see a single penny until half a century later.

NGOMA 5 - Nomad Boogie

2010-04-13T12:57:00.001-07:00

stream and single file download:

here is one for the boogie: classic and soulful grooves designed for more intimate spaces.

i made this mix for the purpose of getting more employment in smaller and "normal" local bars and clubs: really tried to make something both for the general public, meaning anyone from any walk of life, as well as the music heads. the ideal is a CD that almost any bar anywhere in the world can pop in their stereo at any given night and have people nod their heads, tap their feet, and maybe even get a little jiggy. how close the actual product ended up being to this ideal is yet to be tested, as well as my thesis that one does not have to succumb to lowest common denominators to appeal to everyone. (we will see, i have already started giving these out to local establishments in berlin)

bass freaks need not worry: 6 is already finished and it's an Afro-Futurist banger! but i will give people a little time to digest this one a bit first...

separate tracks version download: mediafire, megaupload, rapidshare

April in Prague

2010-03-28T02:14:00.000-07:00

14th April: 10pm - 4am : Palac Akropolis - w. Ross The Boss + live drummers http://www.palacakropolis.cz

15th April: 9pm - 2am : Hushcafe - w. Ross The Boss
http://www.hushcafe.cz

16th April: 5pm - 7pm : radio wave- friday ripple /w. Craig Duncan
http://www.rozhlas.cz/radiowave/friday_ripple

16th April: 10pm - 4am : Confessions Club - w. Ross The Boss
http://www.confessions.cz/frames/bar/indexbar.html

thursday night Palac Akropolis:

(no photos from Hush Cafe.)
unscheduled appearance at Confessions Club on friday night. of COURSE i started with a 5 song block of Confessions Riddim!!!

Radio Wave:

vibrant global music scene in this city. more than Berlin i think. thanks to DJ Ross the Boss, Craig Duncan, and Keith Jones. Radio Wave set will be available soon.

Ayobaness!

2010-03-12T07:27:00.001-08:00

finally finished this package and sent off to printer... praying to Allah that there were no mistakes!!! the 20 page booklet was a small nightmare, but at least it was a project i believe in.

first of its kind in Europe/America, available in shops and itunes April/May:

Another Word for Drums

2010-03-12T07:17:00.000-08:00

besides Ngoma is Tambou!

For those of you who enjoyed the Tumbélé! compilation from Soundway records compiled by Hugo Mendez (one of the best re-issues of last year and a personal favorite - wow i can just listen to this stuff all day everyday...), my friend Crofton has put together a mix of classic and heavy grooves from Martinique and Guadeloupe. it is available at his excellent Musik Line blog, which takes an anthropological approach to soundsystem culture from Africa to Jamaica and the Caribbean, with in depth notes on the social and historical context of the music. and for those who missed it, here is the Hugo Mendez mix of material from Tumbélé!

NGOMA 4 - Generation Bass

2010-03-03T00:38:00.001-08:00

Continuing where NGOMA 1 stopped, this is an excursion into non-western 100 BPM urban beats and voices.

Heavy on Kwaito from South Africa, both more contemporary as well as earlier examples of the genre are presented. Arthur Mafokate with his track Oyi Oyi from 1993, for example, who is often referred to as the King of Kwaito, is both an innovative artist as well as pioneering businessman, having started 999, one of the first non-white record labels in South Africa. There are also offshoots from Kwaito, such as a style known as Guz - as represented by the track of that name by TKZEE. Also want to mention, in the classic Kwaito style, the immense talent that was Mawillies (rest in peace), whose effortlessly powerful voice graces the track GaGu.

tunes from other parts of Africa are also sprinkled all over. the AshThomas project is based in the US, but consists of members from Nigeria and other places. The incredibly clever DJ Rams who does Kizomba and Kuduro (or Kuzomba, a combination of the hard hitting aggresive and emotively smooth) in Angola; Marvelous Benji coming with the refreshing energy from Nigeria; and of course, Emmanuel Jal, the former Sudanese child soldier.

always great to find that one Bhangra tune on too many an album of otherwise generic numbers, and i have to sometimes edit out the bullshit cameo from some US rapper. far as cumbia goes i am almost entirely classics, you won't find any hipster blog-cumbia with shitty digital distortion and cliche electronic sounds on my mixes. and reggaeton, oh how i wish they still made them like they did in Panama back in the early 90s and even before. that percussive groovy sound exemplified by this huge hit by El General.

stream and single file download

separate tracks version download:
mediafire or megaupload or rapidshare

Live Radio Streaming Today Friday 19

2010-02-19T02:28:00.000-08:00

live dj set 23-01H Berlin, 2-4PM Los Angeles, 5-7PM New York, 12PM-2AM Capetown. On 99.1 FM in Berlin, streaming for the world at http://www.herbstradio.org/

will be doing what i do in the club, but more relaxed...

Scelsi Eating Duck in Java

2010-02-03T06:41:00.000-08:00

3 nearly completely random recordings with no direct connection to eachother, covering some familiar favorite topics (partially to appease my slightly guilty blogger conscience):

this week's favorite Scelsi: slightly eerie out of body experiences in solemn reverence of the first part gives way to sheer terror during the second.

Lyrichord 7456 Gamelan of Java Vol. 1. Kraton Kasunanan i noticed that this is commercially available after i uploaded. will take down if retailers has a problem...

i think mostly referred to as Mclaren's "hiphop" album, but this is an unlikely early precursor of "Whirled Music 2.0" from 1983 (not sure what exactly the definition is but i think the DIY cut-ups and sampling on this demonstrates an attitude of westerners toward non-western music characteristic of 2.0 --- i suppose early Can and the Bush of Ghosts also qualify) can't really imagine what was going on in the punk marketing culture theorists' head when he planned and executed this, but it has many interesting moments (if not entirely a great listen from beginning to finish). i suppose this was right before he went on to bang about 16bit gameboy culture in the 90s (which can be called "prophetic" if one was feeling generous...)

Feb - Netherlands

2010-01-27T09:57:00.000-08:00

Feb 12 2010 10:00P // Vechtclub
Brailledreef 9 3562 LA Utrecht Netherlands
Tel: 0302218206 Web: www.vechtclub.nl

Feb 13 2010 10:00P - 5 euro // Occii
Amstelveenseweg 134 1075 XL Amsterdam Netherlands
Tel: 0031-20-6717778 Web: www.occii.org

ABQ Trio

2010-01-17T10:08:00.000-08:00

uncompromising new improvised music from what appears to be a new band with electronics, piano, violin, etc. electro-acoustic soundscapes and sick sick piano, broken violin heart strings and music boxes of the apocalypse. is it me or are more and more post-jazz improvisers and electro-acoustic people warming to, flirting with, making use of electronic beats? i think it can be very interesting to marry these 2 opposite aesthetic tendencies (or at least traditionally delineated as such) which involve diametrically opposed procedural philosophies: the "live" and unpredictable world of improvisation and that of the "soul-less" drum machine. has to be of course judged case by case and in this one i think it is a fruitful combination - that first track is a monster... if i was a lazy (read: underpaid) music journalist i would say the Necks jamming with Throbbing Gristle.
listen and download

8-Bit Islamic Wonky Revolution

2010-01-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

on the new Skweeeeeeeeeeeeee so sweet :)

Killamu!

2010-01-12T10:56:00.000-08:00

too much winter lethargy we need some E-N-E-R-G-Y. Killamu’s full length album is coming out TODAY January 12. here is a short mix by BBRAVE, "squeezes the album’s potency into a 30 minute set of pure 140bpm Angolan batidas…" soundcloud or download.

Terry Riley - Poppy Nogood / Last Camel in Paris

2010-01-09T01:31:00.000-08:00

5 excerpts which comprise a 40 minute recorded document of Riley's late 60s Reichian tape loops manipulated live soprano saxophone mind expanding psychic furniture re-arranging stream of consciousness cut up meta-concrete time lag accumulating all night solo concerts reissued by the Cortical Foundation, with artwork, in the form of a fold out poster which surely does the original little justice, by the perhaps equally visionary visual artist Bruce Conner (stroke of genius on the part of label) and now again out of print. a glimpse into a psychedelic puzzle vision of infinite cosmic proportions so mesmerizing and psycho-actively ahead of its time the world will not catch up in another 3 centuries. brought to you by the tigers of love.

and a brighter, perhaps more "accessible" album: taken from a live recording at the Theatre Edouard VII in Paris from November 10th, 1978, Riley plays on a solo organ that has been modified to handle four channels - two live and two delayed, and tuned in just intonation.

2010 sneak peek

2009-12-23T23:19:00.000-08:00

a few examples of new mashups and re-edits i have been playing out for 6 months or so. been getting good response on the dance floor -- getting closer to what i really want to do with this DJ thing: infiltrate the club with unorthodox sounds and reconnect modern dance music with its ancient roots - all in service of the booty-shake, but something a little more than frivolous fun (with which there is of course nothing wrong). some magic moments during the course of the night, something different, playful or serious, but unexpected... why not a bit of real JOY or real SADNESS at the dance? instead of ONLY the kind of functionalism typical of today's club parties? are we not here to celebrate ALL aspects of life?

good bass music and innovative beats but then all of a sudden Malian melodies arise and bring rays of sunshine. or heavy steppas riddims rolling nice and out of nowhere a mournful Andalusian voice plunges the party into hypnotic reverie. making the strange familiar and the familiar strange... insurrectionary penetration of consensus reality by the other? a feeling and compositional dynamic not unlike the appearance of aliens in James Cameron films (thinking of the Abyss, which we just saw again)...

before i make everything available for download there is some time for changes and editing. so please do click on the wave forms and let me know your thoughts... happy holidays everyone.

Africa Sanza Oma Vovo by djzhao

Nduraga Ngwetereire Over the Horizons by djzhao

Bocarriba Terminator by djzhao

Schoch Va Gado Tough Guy Music by djzhao

Itimad Smog by djzhao

Contemplation Dyed Dark by djzhao

Ramta Jogi Manbass by djzhao

Heidelberg/ 11.Dec.

2009-12-06T22:09:00.000-08:00

a good party in this university town, don't think there was more than 2 people in the entire club over the age of 30. not sure what all the kids made of the Arabic, African and Indonesian remixes... one of the told me he was on acid and he seemed to enjoy himself. through out the night and interwoven with the dubstep there was grime, techno, kuduru, and even some Memphis gangsta music from Three Six Mafia.

RIP Jack Rose

2009-12-06T22:07:00.000-08:00

age 38... i guess if the good go young the best go very young... i am fucking gutted. the thought of future recordings from this man was a comfort to me, very special, bringing a smile every time...

now there will be no more. loss of an indispensable soul and pair of hands.

there are no substitutes and the void will go unfilled... that earthy deep swing, that twang which folds time and transcends location... i was a devout follower from the first 3 seconds of the first track i ever heard.

a few less/non commercial recordings:

The Black Dirt Sessions

Peel Sessions 20.05.2004

Nacht Blvd. and New Tracks

2009-11-23T15:04:00.002-08:00

played most of these and lots of other new mashups from Fusion 3,and 4 for the first time and good to know they work on the floor. party ratings:

VENUE: 9/10 new and a bit unconventional: beautiful theater house with tall ceilings so has that official vibe - not the usual dark and a bit dirty club experience. sound was good.
ATTENDENCE: 6/10 place could have been more full for sure.
ENERGY: 10/10 everyone there had a great time. lots of crazy moves. there was even some ace breakdancing.
FUN FOR DJ: 10/10 nice to relax behind decks and not worry about time restriction - lots of Afro-Dutch-UK house music, sprinkled with my ethno-techno remixes, and rounded off in the beginning with cumbia and at the end some dubstep.

Nov. 18 Cooly G / Udon Club

2009-11-10T00:59:00.000-08:00

drawing new lines for the frontier of dance music, Cooly G is in my top 3 favorite artists in the current global electronic music scene. a semi pro footballer and professor of sound design, she has been djing since age 7 and has risen very fast after her first single was picked up by Hyperdub label.

she told me the album is about 1/2 finished (!) until that drops, here is the mix she did for FACT magazine, which feature some of her production. and here is the cover story from XLR8R magazine.

party was good except for an unfortunate fuck-up: the mixer or one of the wires Cooly was using started buzzing 20 minutes in, and would not go away. the sound guys said they use the rig every week and it has never happened before. so Cooly's set was cut short - the little bit she did play sounded great though. a bit disspointing but i guess shit happens and no one could have prevented it. my set went well, and Curve DJ was dropping some ill electro-IDM funky, not a single track of which i could spot.

Voodooists reissue

2009-11-03T23:19:00.000-08:00

(don't know how i managed to forget putting this up until now) speaking of bybridity, this 4 track EP was the result of some sessions between members of post-punk electro legends Ike Yard and Haitian Voudou singers, and has been reissued recently.

"Yeah, real voudou and gawd could they sing ...
The tape ended and they went on powered by Hennesy!" - Stuart Argabright

(a great interview with this man who showed New Order a thing or 3 back in the day here)

recorded in NYC 1979 and 1981, but the music often transcends both the temporal and geographic location. some real magic happened between the Haitian singers and these punk mavericks, and it's interesting to think about the reasons for this sounding as fresh and powerful today as ever, while other records from that time sounds hopelessly dated.

available on i-tunes and other places, watch out for the remix EP coming soon from REC label including names you should all be familiar with.

zhao selects: guitar

2009-10-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

some of my favorite avant-folk guitar music arranged in an 80 minute compilation. mostly the younger generation in the lineage which stretches back to Charlie Patton and the Mississippi delta blues (and beyond). a few of the tracks have some Middle Eastern influence, and of course the sound of the Sitar weighs in heavily on these compositions as Brij Bhushan Kabra (thanks Duck!) among others have inspired a lot of these players directly.

another great example of magic produced by cultural hybridity, this music explores and revels in the expansiveness of the blues (insert clever rhyzome stuff here), and in my mind testament to the deep interconnectedness of all cultures. but this connection is not as fantastic as i make it sound, all these styles are simply genetically linked: the Guitar came from Gypsies imitating the Arabic/North African Oud, which also became the European Lute, and it's all descendent of the Ethiopian Lyre (or something like that...), why, it's like being shocked that a child looks like his brother!

all are acoustic except track 08, all are solo except a couple have a harmonium or other minor additional instrumentation. i realize the Hisato Higuchi doesn't really fit with the rest so much in terms of style, but i think it sounds nice in there, a bit of a breather like.

James Blackshaw is playing here on monday! woooooo-hooooo! :D

made it for someone's birthday but thought i would share here as well. hopefully will introduce a name or 2 to a few out there.

this kind of compilation is a good way to share music that is in print and made by living artists methinks... suggestions for future volumes welcome!

01 Steffen Basho-Junghans - A North Thuringian Raga
02 James Blackshaw - The Elk with Jade Eyes
03 Robbie Basho - Seal Of The Blue Lotus
04 Jack Rose - tower of babel
05 Sandy Bull - Triple Ballade
06 Hisato Higuchi - Borei No Ude
07 John Fahey - when the springtime comes again
08 Sandy Bull - Gospel Tune
09 Sir Richard Bishop - provenance unknown

enjoy!

Coptic Ethiopia

2009-10-18T01:46:00.001-07:00

without knowing much, my ears tell me that this is older music in the service of newer gods... need to read about the ancient ethiopians before the christians arrived, the empire from which egyptian civilization owed much.
and this one... love the sound of those strings. timbre reminds me of prepared piano. anyone know the relationship of ethiopian lyre to the santoor feel free to drop a line. so simple, so rich, so efficient at what it does. (thanks to Rob Mcd for alerting me to these)

exhibition/party this friday October 2

2009-09-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

Bonaventure is a curator/artist from Cameroon, and always puts on really fun art exhibitions with good after parties.
this friday after a few live acts i will play from 22 or 23h until morning:
Consciences and Frontiers

Vernissage 02.10.2009

DJ Zhao – Mal Skene – Daniel Arruda – Aaron Dall – Robert Wiyden

at the historic Alte Poste

i am certain it will be a great time for all. hope to see you there!

whats going on

2009-09-27T23:16:00.000-07:00

trying to finish Fusion 2 and 3. 2 will be a continuation of 1, in an Ancient Dubstep stylee, while 3 will navigate terrains from around 100 -125 BPM. too much material! will have to take longer to sort through and piece together. its like giant 3 dimensional musical jigsaw puzzles with multiple layers... working on them can be a bit mad. i suppose the last one was finished Jan. 09 so i think Jan 2010 is a workable deadline.

and then there are some new ideas for dj mixes: an all jazz mix, an all rock mix, a "boogie" mix for small bars and more intimate settings, an all tropical mix focusing on Latin and African rhythms, and a sweet mix of mostly traditional music both old folks and babies would love.

the big decision right now is whether to keep these experienes more "pure" and specific in terms of sound and style, or more mixed up like NGOMA 1? on the one hand it would be a thrill to mix cosmic disco with deep jazz, or Can with minimal... on the other an all kraut rock mix would be just so, so killer. i suspect the choice will have to be made for each specific project... any ideas or suggestions welcome.

and i would really like to get back to the "experimental" side of music... NEED to make the pure overtones project happen. so much to do, so little time.

please add me on facebook, where its much easier to keep in touch and exchange ideas:

facebook.com/zhaoism

and i will get to more re-ups this week. cheers!

Report from Tilburg

2009-09-23T06:28:00.000-07:00

a great weekend in the Netherlands for Incubate. i arrived Saturday night in time to see:Shackleton doing a more techno-y set than last i heard him, a frantic jump up rave kinda style, before closing his set with some classics like Blood On My Hands. wikkid threads as well.

played all the new South Asian and Arabic dubstep. glad i stayed the course and did what i set out to do: the more challenging and heavy material with no compromises and no apology. no one dropped to their knees and burst into tears as i had hoped, but a few people did head for the door, so it was basically a good show.

30 minutes later Cooly G on point as usual. not sure how many in the bar was hip to the now sound...

on sunday the West African legends Orchestre Poly Rhythmo de Cotonou was superb. felt kind of bad for them as the park behind the "rock'n'roll highschool" (where Sun Ra's Archestra played last year) was still pretty empty at 2 PM, and only like 4 people including myself was dancing. I'm sure these guys burn the house down when they play at home - the grooves were HOT and the melodies sweet as can be - but the largely Dutch audience just sat and stared.

later an all African set from me. started with some recent Frances Bebey remixes and Haitian VouDou Techno rounded off by SA House, and gradually slowed down from 120+ to around 100 BPM with some Ngoma favorites; ending with a mashup of Rhythm and Sound with Madagascar tribal singing.

and of course these guys sounded fucking great. no mistaking it this time, new material in the classic style: some roots, some ragga riddims. and Paul's voice is as amazing as ever. deep and varied with so much soul... and delivered many tunes in a rough and tough style not heard on the records: like some kind of introspective badman in deep spiritual reflection. had to take the photo op as it presented itself. (Marcus if you have a problem with these pictures let me know and i will take them down)

kicking myself after for missing James Blackshaw play in a small church. friends who saw it affirmed that it was sublime. also missed the headliner Hermann Nisch performance involving a dead pig, its entrails and loads of blood... but not terribly sad about it.

and a great surprise on Sunday night: last party of the festival and everyone was gathered in a crowed bar, where the man known as Rummelsnuff did a set of original, REAL German Elektro-Punk. NOT like the annoying shit trendy stupidsters in their day-glo nu-rave outfits spew all over the world these days, which has given the genre a terrible name -- this was like DAF, like Einsturzende, like old Laibach, like the best of the NDW and early industrial punk. and such a friendly and humorous dood too, full of good vibes!

thanks to all the nice people at Incubate who made this amazing event possible. so great to finally meet Vince the Prince and DJ Umb, although regrettably didn't get to spend enough time with them -- but of course there is next year!

and a little groceries from the Grass Company on the way to train station monday morning - legal weed is good weed :)

At.Tension Festival

2009-09-14T01:19:00.000-07:00

last weekend at At.Tension festival of theater, performing arts, and dance:Salon De Baile, the same venue where we played during Fusion 2 years ago, was packed for the entire night. since this was a theater and performance festival, the crowd was diverse and also ready to dance after watching so many shows sitting down.should have taken more photos and video but there was no time - only went out from behind the booth, which was in a corner and not on stage like last time, once during a long track...started with a few Ngoma favorites to warm up the crowd, and went straight for the African Techno and UK-Funky. besides a bunch of new tunes never played out before, i tested some new mashups and remixes with Haitian voudou drums and Yoruba percussion (worked exceptionally well). also added some Detroit Techno and House to the set - sort of going back to my dj roots a little bit. when i dropped Cooly G's monster "Narst" after a soulful sequence of Black Coffee and Moodyman everyone went NUTS. and another major uproar when some Underground Resistance hit after the Funky session -- that cold, dark and brutal Detroit sound is so good after a warm and polyrhythmic sequence. towards the end even played some dubstep and bassline before another dj took over at 6AM. felt good to do a proper 5 hour set during peak time on great sound with no restrictions... it should and will happen with more frequency.

Steve Lacy says hello from beyond

2009-09-04T11:55:00.000-07:00

the weather is getting colder again (at least here), and it's time for this man who has stopped by here a few times (not enough) to visit us again with his soprano saxophone.

the experience of listening to Steve Lacy for me (can not help but wax poetic here) is not unlike (forgive the perhaps vulgar metaphor, i'm a bit tipsy) the best scotch that money can buy, which goes down so easy and smooth beyond words can describe, tastes like heaven itself, and leaves the finest aroma in its passing -- an exquisite subtlety which transcends the fleeting moments of its duration, and with each phrase, effortlessly speaks volumes.

first, a re-up of the duos recording Five Facings.

now 2 solo recordings:after cutting his teeth playing bop with the best in the 50s and 60s, and having developed a mature solo style during countless loft concerts in NYC in the 70s free jazz scene, by this time (1991) the decades of exploration, reflection and refinement had distilled to a simply transcendent sound... what REMAINS is a style beyond mere mastery, past simple virtuosity... constructed of actual intuition, real empathy, and pure wonderment.

from the liner notes:
"The Tao cycle (Existence, The Way, Bone, Name, The Breath, Life On Its Way), is a work that I have been pursuing for more than 20 years. Based on a 2000 year old chinese text, Tao Teh Ching by Lao-Tzu, translated into clear english by Witter Bynner in the 40's, I set 6 of the pieces to music in the late 60's, and have been busy reworking them, since. In the 70's we elaborated this music further, and performed it in many different settings, recording it several times, as a solo, or as a group piece, with and without the words. Here then is my current view of this work (sti ll in progress), in a solo context.

Pearl Street is another old story. Sketches, scenes, souvenirs of New York late 50's, it was written in '72 and dedicated to Arnold Schoenberg.

Remains, composed '91 as a "commande d'état" from the french ministry of culture, for an original music for the dancer, Pierre Droulers. The starting point was the drawing by James Ensor, "My portrait in 1960", which was done in 1880! The music explores the nature of decay by means of iteration, reiteration, deterioration, disintegration, obliteration, so as to make a proper dance music, for a skeleton in a tomb!

Pierre and I have performed this piece, quite a few times, in France, Italy and Belgium (the choreography is amazing), the sax part is quite difficult to play and contains much fixed material, as well as three sections, which are improvised, within very tight confines. Remains is dedicated to the late italian sculptor, Giacomo Manzu, who created the famous "Death's Doors" on St Peter's cathedral in Rome.

Afterglow is a kansas city style blues in Bb, inspired by the great pianist and band leader, Jay McShann and is one of a series of pieces written in the early 80's, called "Luminaires".

Epistrophy is Thelonious Monk's deathless classic. When I worked with him for 16 weeks (Jazz Gallery, New York) in 1960, we played every night 4 sets, sometimes doubling 3 shows in the day at the Apollo Theatre. Epistrophy ended every set as it was Monk's theme, so we played it hundreds of times and Thelonious always treated it (and every piece) as 'brand new', never failing in his solo to come up with something l'd never heard him play before. What a thrill!

Improvisation (play) is, of course, a vital part of all the living arts. Zao-wou-ki, who also lives in Paris is one of the greatest living masters of improvisation in the world of painting and drawing."

Axieme includes a live version of the Tao suite recorded almost 20 years before the one above - Remains (1975).

"This relatively early solo effort (1975) by Steve Lacy on soprano saxophone succeeds in ways that some of his later work does not. The four tracks are all part of Axieme, which explores sound, timbre, and rhythm in Lacy's inimitable style. Some of the licks that are so identified with the saxophonist are here (including snippets of Monk), but what makes this so appealing is the freedom expressed. The first "Part" starts with a theme, and repeats it over and over again with minor changes until it becomes something new. Elsewhere, Lacy displays some of his more radical work, with extended technique predominant. As with all of his solo improvisations, the recording is demanding of the listener; but there is enough variety to easily hold the listener's attention for the entire length of the CD. Between Lacy's over-blowing, distortions, and explosions (relatively speaking, as Lacy is not by nature a screecher), and his exquisite use of sound, this is a rewarding recording." ~ Steve Loewy, All Music Guide

from Liner Notes: Oct. 20 77

"Thanks for the cassette.

I agree with you that the music is very good. (I taped it myself at the concert).

Steve Lacy"

and now a couple of group outings:

this from 2002 and features Steve Lacy soprano saxophone, voice (3), Anthony Cox on double bass, and Daniel Humair on drums.

i'm running out of time and could not find a review in english so here is a short one: Awesome.

and finally something perhaps less adventurous, but more sweet and relaxed, his duo with Mal Waldron from 1986, on which they play a bunch of classics by Ellington and Strayhorn.

September 11th - PARTY!!!

2009-09-02T12:37:00.000-07:00

on this historic date i will be making booties large and small synchronously vibrate in a wide variety of aesthetically pleasing and freaky manners from 1:30 - 5AM as part of AT.TENSION 3 festival of dance, performing arts, and theater.

Ocora: Africa part 3

2009-09-02T11:54:00.000-07:00

hot off the heels of the Namibian Kwaito here's some more traditional Namibian sounds - from the most anthropologically studied pre-modern and pre-tribal people of all time: the Dobe Ju/'hoansi. i wrote a bit about their fascinating and indeed in many fundamental ways far superior lifestyle (relative to ours) here (will re-up the lecture very soon).

about the same latitude to the east, here is another great recording from Madagascar.

and finally, some more of that exquisite Kora music, from Gambia this time (instead of Mali).

Kwaito Berlin Photos

2009-09-01T04:20:00.000-07:00

me and Congo doing a chilled warm up set.the crowd is made up of random tourists who happened to be at the Brandenburg Gate that afternoon and people who came to see the show.Gazza and EES break into their collaborative hit "International"boom boom boom bass music from former German colony Namibia rocks the Brandenburg Gate. these guys really bring the heat in a big way. the dancers / back up singers were awesome. Gazza is so calm, humble and soft spoken in person, but becomes a raging storm on stage.too bad there are no photos from the YAAM show, which was fire as well. and afterwards, gazza and his dancers were just dancing and goofing around like regular clowns: certainly not like American rappers! no attitude, very friendly, open and warm people. bigup Swetlana from the Namibia Society for making all this happen!

late summer popular electronics

2009-09-01T03:58:00.000-07:00

contemporary europe has felt a bit neglected in recent times on this blog, so here are 3 albums from the soundtrack of my late teenage years. fond of them in nostalgic ways, but i do think the music has stood the test of time (10+ years... is that long enough?). a lot has been said about them already so just a brief description for the few visitors who haven't encountered them before. all 3 are over-priced and/or difficult to find outside of particular regions; but not super rare on the blogosphere -- though perhaps higher bit rates here than some other places.

neglected and "seminal" proto synth-industrial new-wave pop-noir, or whatever people are calling it these days. on early Mute records alongside other then unknown strange electronic pop bands like The Normal and Depeche Mode; released 1980.

for all the silly theatricality and their pretentious UK magick thing, these guys of course produced some good and memorable music. this one is from 1999.

second volume from 2000.

Incubate Festival Tilburg Sept 19/20

2009-08-24T01:04:00.002-07:00

Incubate Festival (formerly known as ZXZW, blog here) in Tilburg, Netherlands is coming up in September. on the 19th, as part of Generation Bass, i will do a solo set of all new material, heavy on the South East Asian and Middle Eastern flavors -- all the more abstract, emotional and "difficult" pieces which are too challenging and not suited for normal dance floors will get a chance to shine. on the 20th, as part of Car Free Sunday, i will be supporting dj for the legendary Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou (whose music you know from the Psychedelic Sound of West Africa (will re-up) and African Scream Contest compilations) -- expect appropriate Afro Funk both old and new.

the lineup looks fantastic, of particular interest to readers of this blog might be: James Blackshaw, Mark Ernestus (Rhythm & Sound) & Tikiman, Shackleton, Cooly G, Sensational and Spectre the Ill Saint from Word Sound -- and probably 2 dozens more i am not familiar with -- i hope to see some of you there. thanks to Vince the Prince for making this possible, check his great and often updated Generation Bass Blog for some of the coolest boom boom around the world.

Morrocco part 2

2009-08-24T00:30:00.000-07:00

once again our western aesthetic prejudices might make the casual CD browser on the streets of Marrekesh pass by this awe inspiring recording. the photo of this woman might look like a 2nd grade teacher to us (not that 2nd grade teachers are necessarily anything to be taken lightly), but her voice, both sensuous and earth shaking, rivals those of the greatest Rai singers ever. make no mistake: this is some of the most powerful and beautiful Rai music i have ever heard, with enough depth of emotion and epic force to move mountains. (anyone know the english version of her name?)

thanks to Abdullah and Yves Thibord, i now know that this is Cheb Zahouania, whose name:

(from Yves) "could be tranlated "Happy-go-lucky", a star of algerian rai since the mid 80', and still today. Her "scandalous" duo with Cheb Hasni "we make love in a Shabby Shack" started their careers, Hasni was murdered by the islamists in 94. He is still a big star in Algeria...

Maghni is credited , this guy was the keybord player for a lot of recording in Oran (Algeria), Boualem (her husband) is the editor of the "label" DiscoMaghreb, meaning this cassette was probably recorded at the end of the 80's (in one night) the tracks are some of her best known tunes. you must have an moroccan edition printed in arabic caracter, the algerian original was printed in latin caracters. one thing is that the singers were recording many versions of the same tune, Zahouania must have recorded many hundreds of cassettes... A Cd version of this cassette has probably been released since (it is what i bought and presented here - zhao)."

another classic similar to but different from the one in the first Morrocco post.

and here is that Berber Reggae i was talking about. to me the elements of this hybrid music are reminiscent of Mongolian, Russian, Celtic, as well as North African and Jamaican traditions which stretch back across the centuries.

since they are a contemporary group, i was not going to share this (or at least not in its entirety), but after a search i could find no place to purchase the CD or digital files. if anyone finds such a place please let me know and i will link to it, and remove the download.

oh, and to the racist asshole who left a message in the last Morrocco post, don't bother trying to broadcast your ignorance and stupidity, it's not worth anyone's time.

video

2009-08-18T05:47:00.002-07:00

big thanks to Arlei for the excellent camera work, Carolin for making connections, Nuwella, Jessica and Maya, for their support and just being amazing.

time was 1 - 3:30 PM. most people were just waking up i think (but some already on what looks like some good drugs :) due to the time of day and mood, Congo played pretty straight and sunny (maybe a bit overcast), and did not get into his crazy effects boxes too much... we need to record an evil-dead apocalypse dub night time set soon. and Robbie usually plays with at the very least 3 kongas, preferring to have a dozen or more drums in front of him, where his hands just become a blur... but at this they only had 2 kongas for him.

we look forward to playing many more shows and also recording (if you know some promoters or festival organizers in your city please don't hesitate to send this to them!)

onward...

3 + 3 avant C. for peace and calm

2009-08-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

(before we begin, a few re-ups: the gorgeous bird symphony, Kaija Saariaho's "L'Aile Du Songe", as well as the 2 for solo post which contains Feldman's "For Bunita Marcus" and Scelsi's "Complete Clarinet".)

the following is my favorite installment in the Avant Garde Project - 4 pieces of music by Robert Erickson. words in the original article:

"The composer of all four tracks, Robert Erickson, was born in 1917 and was a founding member of the Music Department at University of California San Diego, starting in 1966. He wrote a number of books, including Sound Structures in Music (1975).

Night Music is the standout piece in this set, and is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard (same here - zhao). It is based around the agile, sinuous trumpet playing of David Burkhart, supported by flute, clarinets, trombone, cello, bass, and percussion. If the first two AGP installments have been too chaotic for your taste, check out this lovely meditative fantasy. It starts off quite softly for the first few minute--no adjustment to your equipment is necessary.

The other three tracks fill out the remaining Erickson pieces I was able to find in my stacks (minus Pacific Sirens, which is currently in print). The Idea of Order at Key West features the soprano Carol Plantamura singing Wallace Stevens’ poem, backed by flute, clarinet, Burkhart’s trumpet, viola, and cello. It includes some nice harmonies and ensemble scoring. General Speech is an interesting novelty piece in which Stuart Dempster plays trombone while forming his mouth around the words of General MacArthur's retirement speech at West Point. The timbres that result are intriguing, and one can even somewhat follow what is being said. End of the Mime is a choral piece to a text from Finnegan’s Wake.

These tracks were drawn from CRI releases SD 325 and SD 494, and New World Records NW 254. The text file has liner notes from all three LPs, including biographical material on Robert Erickson and the lead musicians as well as commentary on the pieces. "

download

for those unfamiliar with this classic set of music: ideas from Gamelan and African xylophones meets Satie-esque minimalism, realized on carefully messed up pianos performed by the one and only John Tilbury.

download

and finally when you are ready for some serious meditative depth. a performance of Cello music by La Monte Young. of course it takes some patience, as the first section is a single tone which does not change much, if at all. but it does pay off, as ever so slowly other layers of ebb and flow gently swell in the composition...

download

Molam...

2009-08-12T13:27:00.001-07:00

take a break from filling out your TPS report and enjoy a piece or 2 of sweet Molam:

(better to view full screen or go to the youtube page as this blog cuts off 20 pixels from the right - i tried adjusting but it doesn't work)a friend (hi Danielle!) just pointed out that this is actually from Laos, and not Thailand as i previously thought. but i think the style can also be found along the border and in other parts of Thailand.

my Thai friend says this is the music people from the country side prefer, while the big city folk are all listening to Rihanna and Kanye.

i was thinking about why a style like Molam from Southeast Asia is unheard of in the west, while it is as funky and enchanting as anything, for instance Cumbia, the third-world darling of the hipster world at the moment. these sounds feel more strange to western ears, but why? for sure the reasons lie in history, trade, access, interaction between cultures, and a slew of economic and political factors.

for instance why has Reggae become by far the most internationally popular music from the Caribbean? and not the incredible grooves from the Dominican Republic, wicked VouDou sounds from Haiti, or of course, the amazingly rich musical traditions in Cuba? El Congo, my Cuban trumpet man, explained that this is due to trade agreements between Jamaica and US from early and mid 20th century, Cuban politics which isolated it from the world, and large scale migration of Jamaicans to the UK, etc., etc. in other words, arbitrary reasons little to do with the artistic merit of the music.

the above are more traditional examples, in Thailand there is an urban Molam sound system culture -- in poorer parts of town they would just set up a stage and speaker bins anywhere, and people come and dance all night:and this, my friends, is what the information age is all about: was ecstatic to encounter braingoreng, a treasure trove of South East Asian cassettes and vinyl. i'm still in the stage of frantically downloading, and have not yet reviewed the material, but there has to be some quality Molam hidden in the depths of this blog, along with all kinds of Gamelan, Muay Thai (Thai boxing) soundtracks, Afro-Arabic-South Asian hybrid pop (!!!), and who knows what else. the author writes of one recording: "... unfold like stratified mandalas" -- words that can likely describe the blog itself.

Kwaito in Berlin

2009-08-11T04:11:00.001-07:00

aweh!

Namibian kwaito superstars Gazza and EES will be doing 4 shows in Berlin this week. jislaaik! i will open up for 2 of them.

come have a dop with us, light up the dagga, take off your broekie and jol!!!

Gazza:

Gazza and EES together:

EES:

Ocora East Asia 1

2009-08-10T06:40:00.000-07:00

i know i have been a terrible blogger. not to mention stupid: lost a lot of links a few weeks ago when the rapidshare account ran out, and i didn't know about the "transfer links to collectors account" thing. (grrrrrr...) so there are a few requests to get to... going to get to them one at a time. (the 2 most recent OCORA Africa ones, "Bruitset Ambiances" have fresh links)

and now, onward and foward!

____Chen Zhong is one of China's most revered musicians and teachers. Seventy-five when this recording was made, he has spent a lifetime playing several instruments and keeping the Shanghai style alive. This is music for two, three, or four play and Zhong is accompanied by two Chinese musicians and the French Sino-musicologist Francois Picard. In various combinations they play flutes, ocarina, fiddles, and zithers. The ocarina in question is not the Western ocarina of course, but a round clay flute with a 7000-year history; reviving its use in secular music is one of Zhong's many achievements. Zhong plays solo pipa (lute) on one track and exhibits some impressive fingerpicking. On another, Zhong plays end-blown flute (something like a recorder) and is accompanied by Yang Lining on the zheng zither, which in this piece is strummed gorgeously in the manner of a harp.

Teruhisa Fukuda performing six of the most representative pieces of the Kinko School, developed in the 18th century from traditions of itinerant komusô zen monks for whom enlightenment could be reached through the sound of the shakuhachi flute.

Fusion 1 tracks

2009-08-10T06:26:00.000-07:00

the majority of Fusion 2 (and maybe also 3) are finished, but will take more time to put together. in the mean time here are some individual stand alone tracks from Fusion 1, for radio, for playing out, whatever!

in my little way i wish to remind the world of the interconnectedness of all music, all cultures, all religions, all ideas, all ethnic groups...

corny? maybe. the truth? absolutely!

http://www.divshare.com/download/7366619-16a
http://www.divshare.com/download/7366618-115
http://www.divshare.com/download/7366617-a79
http://www.divshare.com/download/7366616-b58
http://www.divshare.com/download/7366276-6be
http://www.divshare.com/download/7366275-61f
http://www.divshare.com/download/7366274-7e7
http://www.divshare.com/download/7366271-756
http://www.divshare.com/download/7366269-692
http://www.divshare.com/download/7366135-c63
http://www.divshare.com/download/7366134-e19
http://www.divshare.com/download/7366133-f6d
http://www.divshare.com/download/7366132-9af
http://www.divshare.com/download/7366130-7a3
http://www.divshare.com/download/7298928-3b5