AM Foreign World Cup: Round 1 - Central/East Africa (Part 1)

[Stephan]

Bracket 1.3.1
Richard Bona - Ekwa Mwato
Mahmoud Ahmed - Ere Mela Mela

Bracket 1.3.2
Master Musicians of Tanzania - Nhongolo
Papa Wemba & Nathalie Makoma - 6 Millions Ya Ba Soucis

Bracket 1.3.3
Yuma - Hoy puedes cambiar tu destino
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo sèw

Bracket 1.3.4
Maryam Mursal - Somali Udiida Ceb
Grand Kalle & l'African Jazz - Ambiance Kallé Catho

[Honorio]

The Spotify playlist with only 5 of the 8 songs (next week there will be only 4).


Bracket 1.3.1
Richard Bona - Ekwa Mwato (Cameroon, 2001)
Mahmoud Ahmed - Ere Mela Mela (Ethiopia, 1975)
Damn, my nomination faces a first class song, "Ere Mela Mela" is a magical song that made great impression in our 70s poll, so I won't complain at all if it wins the bracket. But I'm sure that some of you would like the Richard Bona song also (my friend Pepe introduced this song and artist to me as part of a fantastic compilat¡on he made named "World Pearls"). Bona is one of the best jazz bass players but he's a good singer too. On his "Ekwa Mwato" he begins sweetly but soon explodes with a contagious Latin groove.


Bracket 1.3.2
Master Musicians of Tanzania - Nhongolo (Tanzania, 1987)
Papa Wemba & Nathalie Makoma - Six Millions Ya Ba Soucis (DR Congo, 2010)
Well, it seems that now I'm going to vote against my own nomination. "Six Millions" is a delicious song with the optimistic ambiance that characterizes the sound of Papa Wemba and with the plus of the fresh performance and the warm voice of Nathalie Makoma. But I love the hypnotic sound of the kilimba, an African instrument (see picture) in wich Hukwe Zawose from the Master Musicians of Tanzania is an absolute master (jsut listen to the last few seconds of the song).



Bracket 1.3.3
Yuma - Hoy puedes cambiar tu destino (Equatorial Guinea, 2006)
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo Sèw (Ethiopia, 1974)
Very interesting contamporary sounds from Equatorial Guinea, the only Spanish-speaking African country (along with Western Sahara) but my vote goes to the fascinating Ethio-jazz grooves of Mulatu Astatke, one of the impressive musicians I selected for my World Cup special some weeks ago.


Bracket 1.3.4
Maryam Mursal - Somali Udiida Ceb (Somalia, 1998)
Grand Kallé et l'African Jazz - Ambiance Kallé Catho (DR Congo, 1954)
I really hate to leave out another lady (for the third consecutive bracket) but I simply prefer that delicious song from Grand Kallé, a song I discovered on the 1950s poll from a nomination by Charlie Driggs. Grand Kallé, along with Franco (we will meet him on the next week with his brilliant "Liberté") was the father of soukous, a fresh sound that mixed Latin rumba with Congolese traditional music.

[Greg]

Bracket 1.3.1
Mahmoud Ahmed - Ere Mela Mela

Bracket 1.3.2
Master Musicians of Tanzania - Nhongolo

Bracket 1.3.3
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo sèw

Bracket 1.3.4
Maryam Mursal - Somali Udiida Ceb

[Miguel]

Bracket 1.3.1
Mahmoud Ahmed - Ere Mela Mela

Bracket 1.3.2
Papa Wemba & Nathalie Makoma - 6 Millions Ya Ba Soucis

Bracket 1.3.3
Yuma - Hoy puedes cambiar tu destino

Bracket 1.3.4
Grand Kalle & l'African Jazz - Ambiance Kallé Catho

[nicolas]

Bracket 1.3.1
Richard Bona - Ekwa Mwato 4.25
Mahmoud Ahmed - Ere Mela Mela 5
"Ekwa Wato" is an excellent song, greatly performed and arranged, but cannot do anything against one of my very favorite songs of all time (and my cell ringtone)

Bracket 1.3.2
Master Musicians of Tanzania - Nhongolo 4
Papa Wemba & Nathalie Makoma - 6 Millions Ya Ba Souci 3.75
Beautiful intricate singing and some sort of trance inducting balafon, thumb piano and percussion against the contemporary Congolese rumba. I think I prefer the former, not because it is traditional, but it is more consistent and focused IMO.

Bracket 1.3.3
Yuma - Hoy puedes cambiar tu destino 3
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo sèw 5
The most easy win of the week. Yuma doesn't impress me, not only because it is recent and electronic and doesn't sound very African, but because I find it relatively unoriginal despite a decent melody. Astatke is incredible. This Ethiopian music from the 70s is one of the most beautiful things to be heard, and it always makes me think of Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers (jarmusch is one of my favorite directors)

Bracket 1.3.4
Maryam Mursal - Somali Udiida Ceb 4.25
Grand Kalle & l'African Jazz - Ambiance Kallé Catho 5
That Grand Kalle tune, one of the very first recordings of Congolese rumba is an immmense pleasure. Are you sure it wasn't one of my own picks in the 1950-60 poll, Hon (or maybe Charlie and I both picked it). The guitars are just incredible. I love the way Africans completely reinvented the guitar playing. Myriam Mursal Afro Arabic music is also very good, makes me thinkof the music of Zanzibar whuch is sadly absent from this selection (I should have picked a Zanzibar tune instead of 2 Congolese). Great music from a country in such a terrible political situation.

[Honorio]

Both Charlie Driggs and you picked that song, just go here. Are you talking about the political situation in Congo or in Zanzibar? I was planning to go to Zanzibar on holidays this summer.

[nicolas]

no, no, I was talking about Somalia in fact. Zanzibar is Ok, maybe a little unsecure at night (according to the French ministry of foreign affairs, but if you follow their advice by the letter , you don't go anywhere ) except maybe to Switzerland (you won't get assaulted by bankers)

This site is much more optimistic (it's the most popular tourist guide book in France); They only say you have to beware of the Beach Boys !!!

[Dan]

Bracket 1.3.1
Richard Bona - Ekwa Mwato
Mahmoud Ahmed - Ere Mela Mela

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to both songs. The catchy Latin groove of Ekwa Mwato really is contagious. The Mahmoud Ahmed song isn’t as immediately accessible, but by the end of the song I felt like I had almost experienced something spiritual, partly because of the rolling rhythm of the music but mostly because of that incredible voice.

Bracket 1.3.2
Master Musicians of Tanzania - Nhongolo
Papa Wemba & Nathalie Makoma - 6 Millions Ya Ba Soucis

Two more very enjoyable songs. Sometimes it’s difficult to say something different to Honorio and Nicolas when they describe songs so accurately. I agree that the contemporary Congolese rumba of Papa Wemba & Nathalie Makoma has a charming ambience, but that Nhongolo has the edge over it for being so hypnotic and consistent.

Bracket 1.3.3
Yuma - Hoy puedes cambiar tu destino
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo sèw

The Yuma song is fun but the Mulatu Astatke song gets my vote for being way more intricate.

Bracket 1.3.4
Maryam Mursal - Somali Udiida Ceb
Grand Kalle & l'African Jazz - Ambiance Kallé Catho

For some reason the Maryam Mursal song sounds a bit unbalanced to me. My ears are struggling to make sense of her particular blend of Arabic, African and electronic music. The Grand Kalle song, on the other hand, puts a big smile on my face from start to finish and is my favourite song of the week.

[Jirin]

Richard Bona - Ekwa Mwato 9
Mahmoud Ahmed - Ere Mela Mela 7

Master Musicians of Tanzania - Nhongolo 7
Papa Wemba feat Nathalie Mkoma - 6 Millions Ya Ba Coucis 5

uma - Hoy Puedes Cambiar Tu Destino 8
Mulatu Astatke - Yekermo sew 7

Maryan Mursal - Somali Udiida Ceb 7
African Jazz and Grand Kalle - Ambiance Kalle Catho 7

[Stephan]

Bracket 1.3.1
Richard Bona - Ekwa Mwato
Mahmoud Ahmed - Ere Mela Mela
What a phenomenal bracket. I believe I nominated Ahmed, but Bona is fantastic! Gotta check out more by him.

Bracket 1.3.2
Master Musicians of Tanzania - Nhongolo
Papa Wemba & Nathalie Makoma - 6 Millions Ya Ba Soucis
This week is ridiculously good; another really tough call. Papa Wemba makes me really happy but the Master Musicians really live up to their name.

Bracket 1.3.3
Yuma - Hoy puedes cambiar tu destino
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo sèw
Infectious electronic beats versus mellow Ethio-jazz; I can completely understand a vote either way but for me it's no contest. The album Yèkatit, or Ethiopiques 4 since it's easier to get, is pretty much required material for any music fan.

Bracket 1.3.4
Maryam Mursal - Somali Udiida Ceb
Grand Kalle & l'African Jazz - Ambiance Kallé Catho
This week just doesn't let up. This may go down as one of my favorite weeks in the tournament. I don't think any song this week would get less than an 8 from me, but Grand Kalle may actually make it into my top 500 songs.

[Henrik]

Bracket 1.3.1
Richard Bona - Ekwa Mwato
Mahmoud Ahmed - Ere Mela Mela
I listened to Ekwa Mwato and thought "Wow, this is really really nice music. I need to listen to more recommendations from whoever nominated this song." Then I read in Honorio's post that Pepe had recommended the song and everything makes sense. Pepe did it again!

Bracket 1.3.2
Master Musicians of Tanzania - Nhongolo
Papa Wemba & Nathalie Makoma - 6 Millions Ya Ba Soucis

Bracket 1.3.3
Yuma - Hoy puedes cambiar tu destino
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo sèw
I really like the mix of old and new in this game and after reading the comments it seemed that my nomination Yèkèrmo sèw (a potential winner of the whole tournament - well that was a stretch maybe) got a pretty tough competition in the first round. But this wasn't close at all for me.

Bracket 1.3.4
Maryam Mursal - Somali Udiida Ceb
Grand Kalle & l'African Jazz - Ambiance Kallé Catho

[Henrik]

Bracket 1.3.1
Richard Bona - Ekwa Mwato
Mahmoud Ahmed - Ere Mela Mela
What a phenomenal bracket. I believe I nominated Ahmed, but Bona is fantastic! Gotta check out more by him.

Bracket 1.3.2
Master Musicians of Tanzania - Nhongolo
Papa Wemba & Nathalie Makoma - 6 Millions Ya Ba Soucis
This week is ridiculously good; another really tough call. Papa Wemba makes me really happy but the Master Musicians really live up to their name.

Bracket 1.3.3
Yuma - Hoy puedes cambiar tu destino
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo sèw
Infectious electronic beats versus mellow Ethio-jazz; I can completely understand a vote either way but for me it's no contest. The album Yèkatit, or Ethiopiques 4 since it's easier to get, is pretty much required material for any music fan.

Bracket 1.3.4
Maryam Mursal - Somali Udiida Ceb
Grand Kalle & l'African Jazz - Ambiance Kallé Catho
This week just doesn't let up. This may go down as one of my favorite weeks in the tournament. I don't think any song this week would get less than an 8 from me, but Grand Kalle may actually make it into my top 500 songs.

Great example of the superlatives used in this game. Before the last sentence it sounded like every song would make your top 500.

[Stephan]

Yeah, it's weird. I find myself really enjoying the songs but then I find it difficult to place them anywhere on my lists. And so I don't put them in at all. Am I the only one who has this problem? I've tried to figure out why I do this, but I can't really pinpoint the reason. I have found place for Kuti so it's not like I'm completely opposed to the idea, but it's hard to compare these songs to the ones already in my list. Perhaps they're just too different?

Edit: I should clarify that for me top 500 songs is really the cream of the crop, a song can be very, very good and still fall outside of it.

[Dan]

I find myself really enjoying the songs but then I find it difficult to place them anywhere on my lists. And so I don't put them in at all. Am I the only one who has this problem?

Songs from this game are entering my all-time list left, right and centre. After listening to Cesária Évora's Sodade it became clear to me that it's the best song from 1992. And another song from this game will likely be my #1 for next month's 1993 poll. Participation in this game has made me realise how ridiculous it is to put English-language music on such a pedestal.

[Jirin]

There's a few songs here that have led me to purchases and entries on my all time list. I bought an Eleanoora Rosenholm album and I'm looking for something by Exuma.

[Stephan]

I've thought about it a little more and realized that I do have some songs (and, particularly, albums) that have entered by yearly (and even all-time lists) but these tend to be the songs I already knew before the tournament. I think it might just be an exposure thing, I listen to some of these songs twice or thrice and that's just not enough exposure. I'm going to go over the the songs in the tournament at the end and then some of them will indubitably enter my all-time lists.

[Stephan]

Somewhat lower turnout this week despite the really strong songs.

Bracket 1.3.1
Richard Bona - Ekwa Mwato - 3
Mahmoud Ahmed - Ere Mela Mela - 5

Bracket 1.3.2
Master Musicians of Tanzania - Nhongolo - 7
Papa Wemba & Nathalie Makoma - 6 Millions Ya Ba Soucis - 1

Bracket 1.3.3
Yuma - Hoy puedes cambiar tu destino - 2
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo sèw - 6

Bracket 1.3.4
Maryam Mursal - Somali Udiida Ceb - 2
Grand Kalle & l'African Jazz - Ambiance Kallé Catho - 6