Congolese guitarist, singer, bandleader and composer Francois Luambo Makiadi (Franco) “the sorcerer of the guitar” was 20th century Africa’s most important musician; he was the greatest. My opinion is amply supported by the recent release of two double CD retrospectives Francophonic Volume 1(1953-1979) & 2 (1980-1989). The sets demonstrate Franco’s amazing longevity, prolificacy, and innovation. From 1950 until his death in 1989, he record over a thousand songs, created a dominate style of African guitar playing, trained generations of musicians, and attained a status equivalent in Africa to Elvis or the Beatles in the West. These collections allow the listener to discover not only the evolution of a musical genius, but also the history of one of the world’s great dance traditions, Congolese rumba.
1953-1979 charts Franco’s progression from hotshot Afro-Cuban guitarist to a master bandleader. 1980-1989 features fluid guitar work and the distinctive fully mature rumba sound of TPOK Jazz (Tout Puissant Orchestra Kinois or all-powerful Kinshanan Orchestra). Both collections include a 48-page booklet filled with photos, recording notes, translations, and biography. Compiler Ken Braun distilled Franco’s vast catalogue down to twenty-eight essential tracks on the first set and thirteen on the second; even the most fanatic Franco-philes have nothing but praise for his choices. I prefer the second for personal (memories of my lost youth working in Africa) and musical reasons. In the 80s OK Jazz stretched out in long complex jams (sebenes) of percussion, guitars, and horns, which build in tempo and rhythm, sounding a bit like an Afro-Latin Grateful Dead.
Franco was popular across Africa. Living in 1980s Cameroon, Franco’s music...
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...btleties, punctuated by horns, and occasional choruses by Franco’s favorite singers, culminating in the sebene, a race between drum and guitar. Guitar skills undiminished, the aging Franco began to use his rich baritone to admonish listeners on the social issues of the day. The complexity and depth of these epics earned him the nickname “the Balzac of Africa.” Braum’s tight selection insulates the listener from Franco’s later misses (drum machines and occasionally monotonous instrumentation). 1980-1989 is a triumph and amply demonstrates why OK Jazz was revered and all-powerful.
Franco and OK Jazz were one of the world’s greatest bands. Congolese music remains sadly under represented. You owe it to yourself to discover Franco’s musical legacy and these CDs. Franco’s music remains as vital and thrilling to me after thirty years of listening and dancing.
Music is magical: it soothes you when you are upset and cheers you up when you are down. To me, it is a communication with souls. I listen to different genres of music. When appreciating each form of music, with its unique rhythm and melody, I expect to differentiate each other by the feelings and emotions that it brings to me. However, I would definitely never call myself “a fan of jazz” until I witnessed Cécile McLorin Salvant’s performance last Friday at Mondavi Center. Through the interpretations and illustrations from Cécile’s performance, I realized that the cultural significance and individual identity are the building blocks of jazz music that create its unique musical features and support its development.
As a result, Buena Vista is basically a commercial product aimed at foreign audience. The album provides fourteen songs of different genres, most of them originated from Afro-Cubans, including son, darzón, bolero and the so-called Latin Jazz. However, the CD should not be considered the representative ...
Latinoamericanitas, 1976. Print. Vélez, Germám. Phone Interview. February 10th, 2011. Waterman, Richard Alan. Folk music of Puerto Rico . Washington: Library of Congress,
According to Albert Murray, the African-American musical tradition is “fundamentally stoical yet affirmative in spirit” (Star 3). Through the medium of the blues, African-Americans expressed a resilience of spirit which refused to be crippled by either poverty or racism. It is through music that the energies and dexterities of black American life are sounded and expressed (39). For the black culture in this country, the music of Basie or Ellington expressed a “wideawake, forward-tending” rhythm that one can not only dance to but live by (Star 39).
World music may sound as simple as its name suggests, however the world music phenomenon expresses a deeper story that many people seem to miss. There is so much that makes up a world music genre, but what we hear about it is not always the easiest to decipher and generally comes from powerful and large organisations, where not all of it is explained thoroughly. A lot of their understanding comes from what they are only interested in and most important stories and factors are either ignored or incomplete (Stokes 2003, p. 297). Not receiving the full picture, gives us a limited understanding of world music and its sub genres. Different genres of music over the globe have been shaped in many ways by influences such as the; historical and traditional root, people and their culture, migration, globalisation, politics and commodification. Nueva Canción is one example of a world music genre that has been influenced in such ways, and of which has a strong historical and political story worthy to be recognised. This essay will focus on the way the genre, Nueva Canción has become a significant genre of world music, by exploring the influences stated previously.
Teachout, Terry. "John Hammond's jazz." Commentary 122.3 (2006): 55+. Academic OneFile. Web. 16 Nov. 2011.
Last Sunday I went to jazz bar in Manhattan and I listened “Latin Jazz?E Latin jazz is “a fusion of African and indigenous rhythms from the entire Latin American Diaspora with the language of jazz?E It was first known as coop, but you are now familiar with it as afro-Cuban. When talking about afro-Cuban jazz, it is difficult to not mention certain turning points in history that made this music possible. The roots of much, of the music might be traced back to African Cuban slaves. In Cuba itself, music and dance are so essential to national character that you can not disentangle them from the country’s history. “The story of Latin jazz music is thus one of religions and revolutions, power and liberation, the collision of civilization?E In the United States we can never completely understand our own music, without referencing it to Cuban music. There are various characteristics that can define Latin jazz ranging from the savant grade to more popular forms. Some forms of popular music that most people are familiar with would have to be the mambo, salsa, cha-cha, and afro-Cuban jazz. These types of music were originated from north America, but to elaborate further, Latin immigrants can to new York and brought with them distinctive rhythms that blended together. Theses types of music and other music are contagious and an evolutionary process. No one person can take the credit for Latin jazz of any form of music that comes into the united s...
In her essay, Brown uses a Creole term, “gumbo ya-ya”, which is at the essence of jazz, to weave a musical metaphor to explain that history is comprised of many rhythms played simultaneously, and which must be brought together to form a complex narrative, which is both multiple and asymmetrical. She sees African American culture as a means to rethink history and politics in an inclusive way.
The Fusion of Acid Jazz and Funk: A Critical Musical Analysis of Jamiroquai’s "Emergency On Planet Earth"
The jazz band I observed played a series of six different songs. Although all the songs were categorized as jazz, each song had its own special style and sound to it. The band consisted of three different players. Paul Meyers, the guitarist and composer, Andy Eulau, the bassist, and Dave Rataczak, on drums. The songs performed were entitled “Love for Sale” by Cole Porter, “Once I Loved” by Antonio Carlos Jobim, “Stars” by Paul Meyers, “Blues for Mel” also by Paul Meyers, “Last Night When We Were Young” by Harold Arlen, and “Samba Novo” by Luis Eca.
“How Musical is Man?” was published in 1974. This book was written by John Blacking, a musician turned social anthropologist. His goal in writing this ethnography, and several other papers during this same time period, was to compare the experience of music-making that takes place within different cultures and societies throughout the world. In this book, he discusses and describes the musicology of the Venda people in South Africa. Though he does go to Africa to research and learn about the Venda people and their music, he specifically states that his book is “not a scholarly study of human musicality” (ix), but rather it is a summary (written from his point of view), which is both expressive and entertaining, of several different issues and ideas that he has seemingly been contemplating for some time.
New Orleans has always been a big music town, for there has always been brass bands that played in the streets for parades, or for families to give comfort during a funeral.... ... middle of paper ... ... (The Influence of Jazz & Blues on Modern Music.”).
jazz/) Works Cited:.. Andrews, John. The. a. The adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of What bebop means to jazz history. A review of Scott Devine’s book “The Birth of the Bebop: A Social and Musical History.”
The Latin American music scene is an amazingly diverse, engaging and entertaining music culture. Thomas (2011) explains, “…Latin American music has engaged in ongoing dialogue and cultural exchange that has profoundly affected music making in Europe and the United States and, more recently, in Africa and Asia as well”. This paper will be describing different aspects of the music culture from its musical features, to the historical aspect of this interesting music culture. Also, I will discuss a personal experience with Latin American music. After researching the music culture, I attended a concert performed by Boogat, an Emmy award nominated Latin American musician from Quebec who has toured all over North America.
...atin American popular idioms. Sonia Possetti is a leading contemporary tango artist that has formed a sextet including the unusual addition of a trombone. POssetti is receptive to the possibility of assimilating outside influences, as she is fully aware of the political implications of creating and performing tango in a country controlled by globalized economic and cultural interests. She uses the standard percussion with djembe, cymbals, bongo, and wood block. Possetti’s “Bullanguera” is based on a milonga rhythm that first sounded in the djembe, a large African hand drum. She layers a salsa clave pattern in the percussion over the milonga foundation. Jazz techniques, improvised solos and sixteen bar progressions add new dimensions to the piece. Her conception remains true to the roots of the tango, yet engages with a sophisticated range of current popular musics.