Felabration 3 @ The Shrine with DJ Ron Trent

The Shrine is once again hosting FELABRATION! The party, a celebration of the life and music of Fela Kuti, will feature Chicago's very own Ron Trent on the decks.

RSVP now via www.THESHRINECHICAGO.com

FELA SOUL= FELA + DE LA SOUL

Gummy Soul artist "Amerigo Gazaway" combined Fela Kuti and De La Soul in a 30+ minute, hodgepodge of afrobeat rhythms and classic hip-hop. The American (Nashville, Tenn) producer uses samples from Fela‘s vast catalog and combined them with eight acapellas that span over a fifteen years of De La Soul classics.

Redman, MF DOOM and Gorillaz also made the cut. For more head over to Gummy Soul

ASA TAKES FLIGHT

Asa, is a Paris-based Nigerian singer-songwriter. Her newest album 'Beautiful Imperfection" was released earlier this year, and is as sweet mix of retro soul, reggae, 60s girl group sounds and more. Genre hopping and genre defying. 'Why Cant We Be' and 'Be My Man' are endless summer grooves, while 'Fire on the Mountain' fuses a Trenchtown bounce, with deep conscious lyrics. Stay tuned, cos' we expect big things from this young artist.

Azonto Dance Fever Hitting Ghanians Around The World

Azonto Dance is a form of dance that originated from the southern parts of Ghana in the early parts of the 2000s. The dance mainly involves moving of all the joints in your body in a rhythmic fashion without taking any or very little steps. Just like most African dances bending your knees and hip movements are rudiments to learning it.
The dance has evolved with the fast pace dance culture of modern West Africa. A closer observation of the various performers also reveal break dance moves being incorporated to it and the skinny jeans/tight shirts movement being adapted to it also.

UK AFRO BEATS FESTIVAL 2011 HIGHLIGHTS

Check out the video report from the 2011 Afrobeats Festival which recently took place in London.

AFRODISIAC IS BACK!

Another scorcher! AFRODISIAC returns Saturday, September 10 with Top Donn on the ones and twos and your host Aurelien PV. The longest running African party in Chicago! The weather is a bit cool.... perfect for dance floor heat!

EVERY SECOND SATURDAY. Check the promo video:

VIDEO: Kanye West Surprise Performance With D’Banj @ The Koko Koncert In London (HQ)

Nigeria's own BET award winner "D'banj" is the newest artist signed to Kanye's GOOD Music record label. D'banj is considered one of the biggest Artists in Africa with so many hit songs produced by Don Jazzy. Don Jazzy is also considered one of the biggest producers in Africa. He recently produced the song titled "Lift off" on the "Watch The Throne" album featuring Jay-Z and Kanye West.


Kanye West Surprise Performance With D’Banj


D'Banj talks business with UK's own Tim Westwood



Some of D'banj's biggest videos are listed below;

D'Banj - Fall In Love



Mr Endowed Remix - D'Banj ft. Snoop Dogg



D'Banj BET Special - Welcome to America (Part 1 of 2)



D'Banj BET Special - Welcome to America (Part 2)



For more information on Dbanj: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D'banj

HYPNOTIC BRASS RECAP

August 25th was an amazing night at The Shrine! Hypnotic Brass Ensemble made their hometown return and absolutely tore up the stage. Five years of relentless playing and touring have made these guys bulletproof! Mad skillz on the mic, too. Don't sleep if they come to your town.

BULLETPROOF BRASS LIVE!!!!!!!!

BRASS GOIN' IN

Proud papa. Mr Phil Cohran and friends

Hypnotic Brass back in Chi-tilla ya'll!

Calm before the storm

Doin' work...

Say blow by blow backwards!

Fi-ya!!!!

Jazz Crunk...

Juke!

Let's take it to the stage, sucka!

SIJI: DANCING TIME

The second born of twelve children to Nigerian émigrés in London, Siji spent much of his early childhood in Lagos and London before coming to the US to further pursue his musical ambitions. His own cultural heritage combined with the political and social movements of the age, exposed young Siji to the insurgent, politicized music of the Afrobeat legends Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Tony Allen as well as the soulful grooves of Marvin Gaye, Al Green, and Otis Redding. His parents, in particular, his father, loved music, but like most children of hardworking immigrants, Siji was urged by them to pursue a career in the professional fields of medicine or law. But the lure of the music was too strong. In the nineties, when London was bursting at the seams with new music and groups like Loose Ends, Soul II Soul, and D-Influence dominated the scene, Siji’s attention was captured and he began to follow his passion for making and recording his own music.

After completing a Masters degree in Engineering Product Design, the self-taught piano, percussion and acoustic bass player released an EP, "Facets" followed by the single "My Lover's Embrace" on his own label IVY Records in 1996. These releases garnered much respect and admiration on the influential London underground music scene, gave Siji credibility as an artist, and eventually led to a lucrative worldwide publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music. His youth and inexperience made him open himself up to all possibilities in his music, but it also lead him to sign a deal that he would find limiting to his creativity.

With the publishing deal under his belt, Siji relocated to New York and performed in renowned venues—SOB’s, Bam Café and Joe's Pub. He has worked with a number of producers, but it is his collaboration with Osunlade, who produced music for Musiq Soulchild, Eric Benet, and classic R&B vocalist Patti Labelle, that fostered in Siji a love of production. He has contributed songwriting and production talent to projects for Salif Keita, Cesaria Evora, Vinia Mojica and Wunmi. Along with those skills, Siji brought with him the immediate feedback and positive energy of the live performance into the studio, creating songs that would eventually make up his debut album God-Given (BBE Records, 2004).

The album gives the listener the inspired reminiscences of the soul greats as well as traditional, Yoruba instruments, rhythms, and intricate drum patterns. Siji’s distinct vocals are an organic complement to the sound. His self-titled newest work, ‘Adesiji’, was mostly recorded in Baltimore, a city Siji suggests is “trapped in time.” The songs he wrote and recorded there too are soulful, but capture the mood of a seasoned artist. Siji’s recent collaboration with New York based producer/DJ Alix Alvarez, yielded the crowd pleasing, dance floor hit, ‘Irinajo.’ Sung in its entirety in his native tongue Yoruba, ‘Irinajo’ (“Journey”), is about the eventful journey of life. The album also features collaborations with DJ/Producer’s King Britt and Rich Medina.

Siji’s father opened up his debut album, (‘Oriki’). For Siji, it is “like a stamp of approval.” Although Siji does not consider himself an activist, he does sing about love, freedom, and self-empowerment. In this way, his music does inspire us to act—to observe, to love, to sing, and most of all to dance.

LOVE THIS TRACK! DANCIN' TIME FOR DANCERS!!!!

TRUSPOT: NU AFRICAN HI FI ON LINE

DJ Bonsu hipped us to this site. Listen to the newest African jamz, watch videos, get news and info on your favorite artists. Tons and tons of music on the site. With a search-able database, you can spend all day here! Available for your smart phone as well. Check it out! TRUSPOT

RAIL BAND BACK ON WAX x 2!

The great and rare Buffet Hotel De La Gare from the Rail Band – amazing Mali music from a most pivotal and groundbreaking time in the group's early history – and some its best! At this point, the group was essentially the house band at the Buffet Hotel De La Gare – blending traditional Mandingo melodies and instrumentation with boundary free jazz and funk. Truly amazing work!




A pivotal piece of Mali music history – the first LP by The Rail Band – the Orchestre Rail-Band de Bamako album from 1970! This legendary material comes from their early days from their time at the Station Hotel of Bamako and were sponsored by Mali's Ministry Of Information – modernizing traditional Mali music and combining it with cross cultural soul, Latin percussion and more – paving the way for Afro Soul and funk to come.

Lifted from DUSTYGROOVE buy it there!

HYPNOTIC BRASS: BULLETPROOF BRASS! LIVE: THUR AUG 25

Can't hardly wait! Going to be a mind blowing show. The Chicago Return of Hypnotic Brass. Let's hope that the eldest member of the family, Phil Cohran, takes the stage with his sons. You can draw a straight line from Sun Ra and members Earth Wind and Fire, alongside Cohran, to the Hypnotic Brass both literally and biologically, as well as spiritually. They are completing work on a new album with Flea and Tony Allen among others. They have been touring and recording all over the world since leaving Chicago nearly five years ago.

BUY TICKETS NOW: CLICK HERE

Bulletproof Brass in the NYC subway...



Check out Phil Cohran in 1968 - with electric kalimba that EWF picked up on