West African mini-mix

Having watched the Lost Kingdoms of Africa - West Africa on BBC iPlayer over the weekend (in which somewhat tenuous links between Mali's Tellem art and Benin's bronze casting were mentioned), I was inspired to create another 8tracks mix:

http://8tracks.com/seewah/west-african-boom-box



Kayes-Ba Boubacar Traore

Trouble Sleep Yanga Wake Am Baaba Maal/ Taj Mahal/ Kaouding Cissoko/ Antibalas x Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra

Ndéleng Ndéleng Orchestra Baobab

Nous avons gagne Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou

Savane ali farka toure

Tapha Niang Toumani Diabaté's Symmetric Orchestra

Minsato Le, Mi Dayihome Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou

Mi Ni Non Kpo Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou

Suffering & Smiling Fela Kuti

Purists may be disgusted by how I'm bunging all these different styles together under one umbrella, but I think this is exactly what makes African music great - the fact that the sounds are so different across regions (or countries, as drawn up by colonialists) , and yet they all so successfully convey this extraordinary sense of emotion, whether it is the simple guitar finger-picking of Boubacar Traore from Mali, or the out-of-this-world psychedelic funk of Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou from Benin.

Enjoy!