Top 10 World Music Albums, October 2008

This month's Top 10 is led off by the funk-meets-Bollywood goodness of Chicago-based Funkadesi, a band that has the good fortune not only to have assembled a first-class group of musicians, but also to have a nice endorsement quote from the candidate now leading the polls in the US presidential race. Tune in to Spin The Globe on Oct. 10 to hear songs from all of these albums, or catch the show archive right here on SoundRoots.

SoundRoots / Spin The Globe Top 10 World Music Albums for October 2008
(click on title for sound samples and more info)

1. Funkadesi: Yo Baba
2. various artists: The Rough Guide to Romanian Gypsies
3. Lila Downs: Shake Away
4. Chiwoniso: Rebel Woman
5. MC Yogi: Elephant Power
6. Nation Beat: Legends of the Preacher
7. DeLeon: DeLeon
8. Michael Franti: All Rebel Rockers
9. Terne Chave: More, Love!
10. Afrissippi: Alliance

Funkadesi interview and other reasons to support KAOS community radio

This week's show featured music to pledge by, plus an interview with Funkadesi bass/guitar/sitar player Rahul Sharma about the band's new album Yo Baba and other musical topics.

There's a lot of funk in that desi.
- U.S. Senator Barack Obama

Like this? Please take a moment and a few dollars to support this unique programming and stick a thumb in the eye of consolidated corporate radio, by becoming a new KAOS member or renewing your membership.

Give a boatload of money if you can, but even if it's just 20 bucks, it helps -- and members are just as important to us as money. Call 360-867-5267 during Spin The Globe and I'll even hand-pick your thank-you CD. Or you can pledge online at www.kaosradio.org. Thanks!

Artist - Song - Album
hour 1
MC Yogi w/ Jai Uttal - Rock On Hanuman - Elephant Power
Oliver Mtukudzi - Kunze Kwadoka - African Party
Nation Beat - Mare Cheia ft. The Klezmatics - Legends of the Preacher
Funkadesi - Makhana - Yo Baba
interview with Rahul Sharma of Funkadesi
Funkadesi - Crash Da Party - Yo Baba
Bole 2 Harlem - Bole 2 Harlem - Volume 1
Baka Beyond - Wandering Spirit - East to West

hour 2
Red Buddha - Girl from Orissa - Rain Dance
Dr Didg - King Tut - Out of the Woods
Chiwoniso - Pamuromo - Rebel Woman
Getachew Mekuria & The Ex - Eywat Setenafegagn - Moa Anbessa
Delhi 2 Dublin - Apples - Delhi 2 Dublin
DeLeon - La Ner V’Livsamim - DeLeon
Think of One - Maconha Do Brasil - Chuva Em Po
Kokolo - More Consideration - Afrbeat Sudan Aid Project
Rhany - Un Mot de Toi - North African Groove
Lura - M’ Bem Di Fora - M’ Bem Di Fora

Music for 9-11

It's Sept. 11 again, and that means remembering the victims of terrorism. Victims of a plot to undermine a democratic nation. A plot that was planned and funded by the US government and carried out to perfection.

No, this isn't a conspiracy theory rant about 2001*. It's 1973, in the South American nation of Chile. Salvador Allende had been elected president in 1970 (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Allende ). And the US wasn't happy. Through the CIA and other agents, the US supported the Chilean military in moving against the president.

...by mid-afternoon on 11 September, 1973, Chile had lost its President, Democracy had been dealt a blow that it would take 25 years to recover from and the world was about to witness one of the worst cases of political cleansing.

Nobody knows how many people died during the coup, but it goes without saying that many more died in the ensuing weeks and the military dictatorship that followed. Chilean liberals of all walks of life were rounded up and were either executed or 'disappeared'. One such example is Victor Jara, the celebrated folk singer, who was executed in the very stadium where he had played to great critical acclaim.
(source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A716591 )

I don't have any Victor Jara music at hand, but how about a little music from a Chilean band that lasted slightly longer than Allende's government. Los Tetas formed in 1995 and dissolved in 2004, in the meantime pumping out some tasty funk-rap grooves.

[mp3] Los Tetas: Tómala
from the album Tómala

===
*With all due respect to the events and victims of 2001, I think it's crucial to keep in mind that US history also includes acts that could be considered acts of terrorism against other sovereign nations. After US-backed General Augusto Pinochet took power in Chile in 1973, as many as 3,200 people were killed and 80,000 imprisoned by his government.

911, september 11, chile, world music, democracy, los tetas, funk

Monday's mp3: Funkadesi

If world music is other people's local music, and other people's local music is a global mashup of ethnic sounds from around the planet, where does that leave us? Globalization is hard at work on the new album from Chicago group Funkadesi, a band that has been winning awards and impelling butts to shake for 11 years, but may just now be finding a wider audience for their funky multicultural sound. Congo player Carlos Antonio Cornier puts it this way:

When people see dreadlocks and turbans, men and women, African-Americans, Jamaicans, Indians, Latinos, all having a great time together and laughing while we're playing, that's what it's about ... we're together, and we're having fun!

The band also had the good fortune to impress a certain local politician who is running for president. "Funkadesi really knows how to get a crowd going," says Barak Obama. "I can't say enough how energizing this band is. There's a lot of funk in that desi."

Funkadesi imparts serious messages alongside the boisterous fun, none more topical this week than "No Leans," an account of people displaced (intentionally?) by the flooding of New Orleans ... in 1927! Ah, the circle of history...

For pure musical fun, you can't beat the Tamil-English Bollywood-reggae fusion of "Dolare" or the opening bhangra-flavored "Crash Da Party." Here's hoping Funkadesi get their show to clubs and festivals far and wide to share their message of multikulti conscious fun.

[mp3] Funkadesi: Dolare
from the album Yo Baba

Funkadesi website
Funkadesi myspace