BIXIGA 70! MODERN AFROBEAT FROM BRAZIL

It's no secret that Afrobeat has enjoyed a resurgence over the last ten years, with bands from all over the world taking cues from the sound Fela Kuti created in Nigeria forty+ years ago. Bixiga 70 hail from Sao Paulo, Brazil. The band, while clearly influenced bu Kuti in both sound and name, also mixes elements of jazz, funk, soul, latin and dub into its heady musical stew.





LISTEN/DOWNLOAD TO THEIR ENTIRE ALBUM: CLICK HERE

INSPIRATION INFORMATION: SKATING DURBAN SOUTH AFRICA

Super inspiring video of young kid from the streets of Durban, South Africa, who's life was changed by skateboarding. Love what he says about skating to make him deal with his problems. Makes you want to stop complaining and dig deeper!



lifted from: BANGERS AND NASH

RON TENT & RICH MEDINA: Ilé Feb 3 CHOP N' QUENCH!

Ilé jumps off yet again on Friday, February 3. This time around Ron Trent is joined on the decks by Philly, PA's very own Rich Medina! Medina is well known for his Afro Beat-heavy sets at his signature party Jump n' Funk in NYC.

 It has been five or six years since these two have rocked a party together, so you don't want to miss it! A musical journey for the mind and body!

GET TICKETS NOW: CLICK HERE

ADELE SEBASTIAN-DESERT FAIRY PRINCESS

I tend to get obsessed with certain artists or groups and end up trying to track down there records. Adele Sebastian was a flute player who played with Horace Tapscott's People's Pan African Arkestra. I have been reading "The Dark Tree", a book written about Tapscott's group and the Los Angles community art scene that grew up around it. Sebastian's one LP is a holy grail among Spiritual/Soulfull Jazz collectors. Tragically, she died at the age of twenty-six or twenty-seven years old. You can pick-up the CD at dustygroove.com for around eleven bucks. Wax is going top cost you a lot more...! All but the last track posted here for your listening pleasure.

SONIC DIASPORA + COUP D'ETAT RISING

Invite the familia!

Chicago Nu Latin DJ ITZI NALLAH and Afrobeat specialist AFROQBANO of the Peoples DJs Collective team up with ITCH13 of Gramaphone Records to bring one of Chicago’s hottest African underground dance parties to it’s rightful place - the Shrine in Chicago.

The Shrine, a bumpin' African-inspired club-lounge combo in the South Loop, may be known for it’s high-caliber Hip hop nights, but its Coup d’Etat room, where SONIC DIASPORA will be Friday, January 13, is the perfect venue where Fela Kuti will proudly look on as Chicagoans desegregate the dance floor with tunes from Mali & Ghana to Nigeria & the Cape of Good Hope.

We all know Chicago is home to House Music, but have we connected with its home in Africa? Chitown, have you heard or been looking for the best in Kuduro, Kwaito, Soukous, Afrobeat, AfroLatin House, Nu Dancehall & Global Bass?

According to the Zhaoist Manifesto by way of Berlin’s Zhao, “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.”

This isn’t your normal world music party.

Sonic Diaspora DJs & hosts Tifflove & the Wolfpack promise to groove you to high-energy classic & urban music of Africa and the Diaspora and indeed to invoke the magic of the original drum and the boom of a bangin’ sound system for your booty-shaking enlightenment.

This party will also be the Chicago release for our guy Brotha Onaci's OkayAfrica.com Sonic Diaspora Mixtape- have a listen! He'll be guesting with us in upcoming months.

//http://www.okayafrica.com/2011/11/29/africa-in-your-earbuds-7-brotha-onaci/

Save the night. Every 2nd Friday.

//SONIC Diaspora @ Coup d'Etat (next to The Shrine)
2109 S. Wabash, Chicago IL
No Cover, 21+, Space is Accessible
Red Line at Cermak/Chinatown
$6 Drink Specials
Mention SONIC DIASPORA at the door

//JEWELRY BY:
Roots of Life Designs

//PHOTOGRAPHY BY:
theCrapper.net

//SPONSORED BY:
www.Haveplentymusic.com (NAMIBIA)
www.ThisIsAfrica.me (EUROPE, AFRICA)
www.Gozamos.com (CHICAGO)
www.facebook.com/PeoplesDJs (CHICAGO)

Ilé + 718 Sessions = RON TRENT x DANNY KRIVIT!

Ilé goes even DEEPER this month with very special guest DANNY KRIVIT! Danny has been a fixture on the New York scene for decades, manning the decks at legendary parties like 'Body and Soul' and his '718 Sessions'. But his unparalleled DJing skills are only part of the story. He is also well-known for his masterful edits.

He makes a rare Chicago appearance alongside Ron Trent for a special edition of Ilé!

Dancing shoes required!!!!

TICKETS ON SALE NOW CLICK HERE

ZULU BIDI AND BATSUMI: NEXT STOP SOWETO 3

Zulu Bidi was a member of the South African jazz group Batsumi, who recorded an incredible album in 1974. Here is a piece of a cool BBC documentary about ZB.

BATSUMI (1974)

Dusty Groove's take:

One of the most compelling albums we've heard from the African scene of the 70s – a rare set from a Soweto group, and one that's got a heavy dose of spiritual jazz in the mix! The album almost feels more like the kind of set you'd hear by a Paris group, extrapolating African sounds in the post-colonial era – or an American group, inspired by roots from the homeland – and the group sports some especially great work on tenor, played by Themba Koyana, a player we've never heard before! Rhythms are great, with lots of percussion, and some nice funky undercurrents at times – and other instrumentation includes organ, which often works well with the echo-ey production. The album does have some occasional vocals, but the main focus is instrumental, which is very jazzy too.

Itumeleng is on the 1974 self-titled LP recently re-issued in a very limited 500 copies worldwide. Massive props to Matsuli for dropping this!!!! It's sold out now.

But you can also find the track on the astonishing "Next Stop Soweto 3" compilation. This volume focuses on jazz and it's massive. Deep spiritual jazz, township grooves, funky fusions, modern modals... It's available on Strut




The video here is edited and shortened by about four minutes, missing the classical inspired intro.

PROMO VIDEO FOR NEXT STOP SOWETO 3

CUMBIA THE SOUNDWAY!

Soundway Records delves deep into the great history Colombian cumbia and porro – beautifully putting together an expansive set that traces the evolution of the sounds throughout 3 decades – and keeping it coming feverishly and furiously well paced the whole way through! They do a terrific job of making this set reverent of the history – it was very well researched by Will "Quantic" Holland – with one half featuring earlier Columbian cumbia and one half of the evolving sounds and instrumentation that came into play over the years. The sound is beautiful, even on the earliest recordings, and it's heated, intensely rhythmic all the way. Holland and Soundway's Miles Cleret here deliver as exciting and informative a set of benchmark cumbia as we could have hoped for – and it includes nice set of notes and photos.

WE WILL HAVE A RELEASE PARTY IN Coupd'état IN JANUARY - STAY TUNED FOR DETAILS....

VOL 1 & 2 ON CD OR VINYL!!!

BUY IT WHERE WE LIFTER IT! DUSTYGROOVE

BLITZ THE AMBASSADOR: REPRESENT(S) AFRICA!

REPRESENT AFRICA! goes harder in January!!!! BLITZ the Ambassador will guest host as well as perform at the monthly talent showcase for rising African artists in Chicago! The Ghana-born, Brooklyn based Hip Hop artist is making big waves with his conscious lyrics and globe-hopping sounds.

Guest performers are backed backed by house band BoSA and can earn a spot opening for a national act at The Shrine!

Artists wishing to perform at a future REPRESENT AFRICA! should send a youtube clip and/or MP3 to: representafrica@gmail.com

REPRESENT AFRICA! Thursday, January 19, 21012. (Doors open 8pm)

CHECK OUT HIS COMPLETE NEW ALBUM BELOW!!!!



NEW VIDEO FROM NATIVE SUN!!!!

DJ JEREMY SOLE - THE BIG (CHICAGO) PAYBACK

Chicago's very own JEREMY SOLE makes his hometown return on Friday, December 16.
(With resident - The Voodoo Killer DJ NewLife and very special guest DJ Jesse De La Peña)

Sole is a beast on the ones and twos. He is a fixture on the influential KCRW radio in Los Angeles and DJs and hosts long-running parties like Afro Funké and The Lift. He is also a prolific producer/re-mixer and bandleader (Musaics)

Here's what some heavyweights have to say about Mr. Sole's DJing prowess;

"If I was a DJ full time, I would most likely spin like Jeremy Sole. His mind and soul hears exactly what I hear. He makes Sunset Blvd feel groovy, and that's hard to do in my book." - Raphael Saadiq

"Jeremy Sole is a man of good taste & tasteful mixing. Los Angeles is lucky to have him ...he's a goldmine of music." - Quantic

"Jeremy Sole is not only a world class DJ, but a world class citizen of the world. One of the nicest ugly dudes I've ever worked with haha. AND, his beard is great for storing snacks and small tools on those long hot nights in the DJ booth. Jokes aside though, one of my favorite dudes in the game hands down, and a fucking phenomenal talent." - Rich Medina

"Jeremy is a great DJ, presenter, producer and knower-of-music ...an extremely cool dude. I cannot stop listening to his remix of 'I Put A Spell On You' ...it's irresistible." - Henry Rollins

"Jeremy can get your grandma out of her rocking chair & doing the wop, the smurf & the bus stop! Jeremy's in my top 2 for good Global dancefloor DJs out there." - Nickodemus

“One of the only successful AND good DJs in LA (those are usually mutually exclusive)." - Peanut Butter Wolf

"Jeremy Sole is one of the consummate tastemakers in the U.S. and a bad ass DJ to boot! I'm honored to have to played alongside him and I'm proud to call him a friend." - DJ Day

“Jeremy constantly shatters World Music boundaries and catapults his audience on a sublime international journey." - DJ Nu-Mark

LISTEN TO AN INTERVIEW + MIX FROM JEREMY SOLE!

Afro Funké
TheLIFT
KCRW
Jeremy Sole's Musaics
Jeremy Sole on FACEBOOK
TWITTER

Ilé - WINTER BLESSINGS - w/ DJ Ron Trent ~ FRI DEC 2

Ron Trent returns with another edition of Ilé on Friday, December 2!!! This is the party strictly for the dancers. Follow the drums from the past and into the future....!

****

We come together and collectively celebrate love, passion and dance through music. Afrobeat is the center, but we rebel in diversified rhythms and melodies - no genres necessary!

Winters Blessings as we refresh for the New Year!
ILÉ brings you another installment of music and praise.

Your offering is your energy!! Get involved!!

Hosted by: Boogie, Gus, Kristen, Sean & Christopher
Sound design by: Mark Bell

Dig the new promo video for this month's offering...

REGGAE SUNDAYS From JA The Mighty Diamonds!!! LIVE! SUN DEC 18 THE SHRINE Free!!!!!!

Straight from Jamaica! THE MIGHTY DIAMONDS Live in concert. Classic Reggae for FREE!!!!
Yup, NO COVER For ROOTS LEGENDS DJs Craig / Andju / Special / Tropical Storm + dancehall+reggae+dubstep+soul+++

RIGHT TIME: LIVE AT THE SHRINE!
THE MIGHTY DIAMONDS!!!

THE FIRST ALBUM

GHETTO ROOTS!

45 STYLE!!!

7Os Diamonds

Recent shot: The Mighty Diamonds!

Killer tracks. Killer art for Single...





FREE! LIVE! REGGAE SUNDAYS!!!!