Also, here's a link to my review of ivorian zouglou stars Magic Systems new, rather dull album Touté Kalé in Svenska Dagbladet. My main points: Auto tune used as a mark of contemporariness, without finesse and (of course) not as a singing aid, which could have been excused. But worse is the surprising lack of interesting rhythms.
Their pre auto tune stuff is sharper though and I'm still looking forward to the concert 3/6 at Münchenbryggeriet here in Stockholm, if a little less than before.
The minor news is that I decided to switch to English in this blog. Due to the visitor statistics and the quite international subject (and of course at the risk of being ridiculed). A bit more interesting perhaps is the fact that Ebo Taylor is playing in Stockholm tonight at Göta Källare. Just having an old highlife star playing here is something. But Ebo Taylor is more than that, he is also a living example of the connections between highlife and afro beat. I didn't get the chance to meet him in person in Accra but I got to hear a lot about him from mr Essiebons, a gentleman in his eighties and also head of the family run Essiebons Music, with Ebo Taylor and CK Mann as its biggest stars.
Anyway, here's Taylor talking about the development of highlife and the influence of Nigerian music in Ghana.
And a Spotify link to Life and Death, the album Ebo Taylor released last year, mixing re-recorded classics and newly written songs. All in a slightly more psychedelic setting than you would have expected.
27/5: Linking to my review. A reader has commented on me not mentioning how good the concert in fact was. I thought I did, but maybe I got too stuck in the history of afro beat and other fascinating topics. Reading this review of the same concert, it does strike me that I sound a bit theoretical. So, just to be clear about it, Ebo Taylor indeed was awesome.
Den här bloggen ska inte förvandlas till en kyrkogård för länkar till mina egna artiklar, men de senaste veckorna är det ungefär vad jag hunnit med. Här är i alla fall recensionen av det chilenska nueva cumbia-bandet Chilombiana, som spelade på Etablissemanget (det som brukade kallas Mosebacke) i lördags. Och cumbia är en stil som ni kommer att få höra mycket mer av framöver. Se det som ett löfte, inte som ett hot.
Låt mig också få tipsa om Jo/No's utmärkta blogg eller eklektiska smorgasbord. Där kan man bland annat kan läsa om min nubiske favorit, Ali Hassan Kuban. Och lyssna förstås. Låt mig rekommendera låt nr 2.
Addis through the looking glass är Dub Colossus andra skiva och betydligt mer lyckad än debuten. Ja faktiskt en skiva jag, utan att ha vetat om det, har gått och väntat på. Här recenserar jag den i dagens SvD. (När den dyker upp på nätet får ni en lyssningslänk)
