Nneka – Europeanization Of African Roots

When Nneka travelled to Europe from Nigeria, her homeland, she wanted to study singing. She  grew up in Warri, the Delta region of Nigeria, where she had contact with gospel music. Nneka migrated at the age of 18 to Germany, the country where her mother was born. There, she studied Anthropology and later, she met Dj Farhot, a producer who lived in Hamburg who helped her to define a musical style. Despite the fact that her songs have European and Anglo elements, she has included some rhythmic basis in her tunes and has incorporated Igbo lyrics to her songs, since she and her father speak that language.  

 

Heartbeat  (2008)

 

Kangpe  (2008)

Ukamau Y Ke - Rap With Andean Music

Wow, it’s been so long since our last post. But no, Sound Energy Flux is not dead. Something that has brought so much to our life can’t simply die. Here we go again.

Ukamau y ke has been one of my favorite bands lately. Their lyrics denounce social injustice and economic inequality in Bolivia. Their fusion of hip hop with Andean folk music has, likewise, a social reason behind it, namely, the highlighting of the Bolivian culture and heritage, which is slowly getting lost due to the dominance of foreign interests in the media.

América Latina (2007)

In an unfortunate event, Abraham Bojorquez, Ukamau y ke's founder, recently passed away being only 26 years old in a vehicular accident. Abraham headed the Wayna rap movement, which is, in my opinion, one of the most original things that has happened to Latin American hip hop, featuring rapping in Aymara, a native Bolivian language, dressing with traditional Bolivian clothes (as opposed to the American hip hop clothing) and, of course, mixing traditional folk melodies with rap.

Medios Mentirosos (2007)

Asa – The Rhythm Of Finnish Hip Hop

Foreign languages can be barriers sometimes. In the case of ASA, I can’t  understand the political message that, according to the reviews, he sings to the listeners.  But the reason why I post today about this Finnish hip hop MC, is that his music is very attractive to me. His singing in Finnish, although not intelligible for me, is very rhythmic.  His arrangements (which are a combination of rap and genres from other parts of the world) have a non conventional instrumentation, including brass sometimes. The following song is an example of this:

 

Persepolis

 

Alas Virtaa Ararat

Daara J – A Rapper Boomerang

'The School of life' is the meaning in Wolof of Daara J's name, a Senegalese rap group. Through English, French and Spanish, they sing tunes in the Tassou style, a native musical form which recites the daily life and the opinions of the Senegalese people. This style is very similar to rap.

The band's name somehow reflects their commitment against the political issues of its land, such as the fight with the corruption in the elections of 2000. This rap doesn´t speak about bling-bling or hot girls. It is a very catchy style that clearly presents Africa as the place where the rhythm was born.

Boomrang

The previous theme, a song featuring the Malian singer Rokia Traoré, is a reference to boomerangs, those objects that you throw and they come back to you. Like a boomerang, hip hop music, whose origins are black, returns in its African version to its roots.

Slavery

Samitha & Iraj - A Fortunate Collaboration

This post is about two Sri Lankan artists, Samitha Mudunkotuwa and Iraj, who despite being from different generations and styles,  have got together to create a couple of great songs.

Iraj is currently one of the best selling artists in Sri Lanka, he’s the head of the hip hop movement there, while Samitha has a successful career spanning 20 years, with several Sinhalese pop hits in her bag.

They both deserve a blog post on their own, so I will skip further details and go directly to the fun part: the music!

Saara Sadisi


Oba Hinda (Kalpana)

Shadia Mansour - Free Palestine!

I don’t have anything to add to the eloquence of Shadia Mansour’s own words, describing the events that lead her to make the beautiful hip hop song Kollon 3endon Dababaat (below).

I wrote this song a couple of hours after witnessing the gruesome attack on the innocent men,women and children in Gaza on the morning of December 27th 2008.

I was in sheer shock, I was crushed, angered, disturbed, devastated, these are just a few of the emotions that ran through me. I am harsh in this particular song and feel that I have the right to express myself freely as an artist, as a Palestinian AND as a woman. I am a passionate believer in peace between the people, the fact that I am stating the facts from one side does not necessarily mean I have a personal grudge against another nations victims.

Kollon 3endon Dababaat was released as a tribute to Gaza. To all the men, women and children who stand on the front line of the battle field. Who are fighting the occupation of their land and daily offenses and abuses inflicted upon them for over 60 years. I grew up seeing pictures and clips of Palestinian kids as young as 5 throwing hand size rocks at military tanks, the image of Palestinian kids throwing stones at these tanks has become symbolic. It has become a significant trademark to the Palestinian resistance.

Ever wonder where all these rocks come from? These rocks are the remains of peoples homes, the rock is the pride, these kids hold their dignity in their hands. The rock is the pain within, the shattered dreams, the haunting memories, the loss and survival till the end.

Kollon 3endon Dababaat

Arme D'espoir

Visit her website for more info and songs. I don’t want to finish this post without saying something to all governments in the world: Fuck you.

X Plastaz – Masaai MC’s

Based in Arusha, a small town of Tanzania, X plastaz has become one of the most successful hip hop groups of East Africa. Its mix consists of a fast rapping in swahili (that sounds very rhythmic, by the way) combined with the traditional chants of the Masaai tribe. In fact, one of its members is among the best known masaai singers in this country. This first video shows us how is the life in a masaai village in the middle of the desert. A part of this song says: "We would make fire under a tree, consuming meat and milk in the traditional way... Please don't laugh, even if it's funny."

Aha! (2004)

The singer who appears in the first part of the previous video, Faza Nelly, was killed by a violent neighbour three years ago. Since then, X Plastaz has not recorded any album but has toured and played in different places of Africa. However, this year the members of X plastaz will come back to a recording studio.

Msimu kwa Msimu (2004)

Nameless - Good energy for everyone

“There are two kinds of people in the world, those who have got names and those who are nameless”. Thus starts the hip hop song Megarider, that in 1999 led David Mathenge, better known as Nameless, to fame.

Although he didn’t have formal training as a musician, after winning a music contest on a Kenyan radio station, he started a unstoppably successful career that has not only reached many African countries, but also USA and the UK.

The following song won the Channel O Music Video Awards for Best Male Video, the Kilimanjaro Music Awards for Best East African Song and the Kisima Music Awards in 2006 for Best Video.

Sinzia (2006)

The following song also won the Kilimanjaro Music Awards for Best East African Song in 2009. Nameless' formula for success is to create songs that are energetic and positive. “I like to describe happy and enjoyable situations that take place within the society. I want to make people forget their problems and look at life in a positive way.” And he does this very well.

Salari (2008)

Gipsy Cz - Czech Republic

Hip hop has been since its origin a style of music that criticizes the social system and denounces problems like unequal economic conditions, the dangers of streets and corruption. Now, with Gipsy Cz, hip hop is used for showing how the ethnic minority of romani people has been mistreated for ages and how discrimination against this nomadic culture continues.

The sound of a violin, an accordion and a guitar together with the beatboxing and voice of a gipsy hopper are the parts of the mix that have represented Czech Republic in the last Eurovision Festival. This band has demonstrated that a song in romani language can be a hit that sounds everywhere in cities like Prague, even when gipsy people have not been totally accepted in Europe.

Jednou (2008)


Love Love (2009)

Chocquibtown - Hip hop from Pacific region

When a journalist asked the members of Chocquibtown (Chocó, Quibdó, Town) how could they define their music, they answered: 'We are the folk for the new generations'. Chocquibtown, is a hip hop band that mixes different elements from the pacific region of Colombia (like marimba de chonta, tambora, and the singing of the cantaoras from Chocó) with rap music. This band, based on Quibdó, Colombia, is formed by the MC's 'Tostao' (Carlos Valencia), 'Goyo' (Gloria Ramírez) and Slow (Miguel Ramírez).

This first video is from the song ' Somos Pacifico', maybe one of the best known songs from Chocquibtown, and was filmed in Condoto, Chocó. The lyrics are about being black and born in this town, which is the poorest of Colombia.

Somos Pacífico (2006)

The second song, one of their first recordings made with a colombian reggae band, Kilimanjahro, is a cover from 'La palma del chontaduro' of Peregoyo y su combo Vacana, a traditional group from Chocó. This song is barely known, even to some of the Chocquibtown fans.

La palma del chontaduro

K'naan - It isn't fun to be a gangster

Smile (2007)


Somalia (2009)

Socalled - Canada

(These are) The good old days (2007)


Your are never alone (2005)

DJ Besho - Hip hop from Afghanistan

Afghan rap


Behzan Kabul Jan