Episode 60: Africa Underground 2

Today’s episode is a new installment of the “Africa Underground” theme, a chance to play some of the sounds that don’t get distributed or widely heard here in the United States. There will be a mix of old and new sounds on the show today, but plenty of material from recent releases by contemporary artists. The show kicks off with some of those deep rootsy sounds from West African countries like Mali and Guinea, songs that show the evolution of musical ideas passed down through generations of griot artists. We will go deeper as we progress through the first hour, ending up with some of those gritty desert blues sounds associated with the Tuareg and neighboring communities along the southern fringes of the Sahara desert. The second hour today picks up in the deep end of the pool with some moody African rock sounds of the 1970s, eventually bringing in elements of Afrobeat and Highlife from Nigeria and Ghana. Deep sounds all the way through today.