The Case of the African Folk Jazz Train Hop

The first hour of this week's show is another installment of the Desert Passage... African Folk, mostly from current acts. We devote an hour to the cause this week in honor of Tinariwen, a great desert blues combo from Mali who are playing Tuesday April 15 in Portland. We will hear 2 songs from the new Tinariwen album at the bottom of the first hour.

The second hour this week is devoted to a rare and exotic niche genre from Africa... a theme that some listeners are requesting... a theme that has a special connection right here in Portland. That theme is Ethio Jazz.

The Portland connection here brings me back to Mississippi Records, the Portland-based record store and vinyl reissuing powerhouse. This local group has been a leader in the recent revival for Ethiopian music, reissuing 4 LP titles from the Ethiopiques series that I will play from today. 

One more interesting fact about the Portland - Ethiopia connection:  Ethiopian music great Mahmoud Ahmed has never toured extensively outside of Ethiopia... but he has played 2 shows in Portland in the past few years, perhaps his only US appearances ever (?). For that we can thank a local group of promoters, including ownership for a Portland Ethiopian restaurant, and the fine folks at Mississippi Records.