Dream Beach

Tegadelti Bana Band

2011-09-26T03:42:00.001-07:00

The Eritrean People's Liberation Front, an intellectual left-wing movement who lead the fight against the Ethiopian occupation of Eritrea, not only prioritised the equality of women in their society, but stressed the importance of Culture in helping to bring about revolution. The part that music played in Eritrea's fight for independence from Ethiopia is not just fascinating, but shows the power that music can have on a massive social scale. While European and American musicians were writing about girls and cars, Eritrean artists were helping to end the occupation of their country. Not that writing about girls and cars isn't important, but sometimes it's nice to realise that music can have a pretty huge impact on society.

The Tegadelti Bana Band are musically pretty far removed from the norm in terms of Western musicality - the auto-tuned vocals, the loping beat, the incredible repetition and the melodic phrasing all sound pretty alien to Western ears. It's pretty fascinating sonically, and unbelievably hypnotic. But maybe the most interesting aspect of these videos is the musicians themselves - Tegadelti Bana translates as Freedom Fighter Women. From what little i've been able to learn about these musicians, they themselves fought during the struggle for independence in the 80s and 90s. Oh and if anyone has information that might help me get in contact with them, please drop me an email.

El Houssine Taousse

2011-06-20T02:36:00.000-07:00

A few months back i went on a spiritual journey of self-discovery to Marrakech, because that's just the kind of hippy waste-man i am. I'd be lying if i said actually discovered anything about myself, but I drank a lot of mint tea, ate a lot of couscous and bought a lot of music. I picked CDs and cassettes mainly based on the quality of the mustaches on the cover, and on that criteria alone El Houssine Taousse is basically the Elvis of Morocco. The dude is a king amongst men. It helps that the music inside is genuinely incredible. So frantic and groovy, it sounds like West African funk mixed with traditional Moroccan music and auto-tuned vocals to me and that is a pretty awesome mixture. Check out this vid and a track after.

Here's a sweet 10min+ mp3 . The horns and drum beat on it are mad funky, and the autotune is ridiculous. And the "HEY HEY! WOAH WOAH!" bit is killer. It's win win.
El Houssine Taousse - Lagrame by Dream Beach Records

Expect some more from my Moroccan trip soon.

Kawethei Sisters

2011-05-20T03:49:00.000-07:00

i keep coming back to this band as i trawl through Youtube. its becoming a daily thing for me to hit these videos up now and its about time i shared them.

There really doesn't seem to be a lot of female-fronted music coming out of Kenya - please feel free to correct me, i'd love to hear more - and i find it pretty refreshing to hear music i love with something a bit different about it.

Anyway, Kawethei Sisters are Kamba music just like our boys Nguuni Lovers Lovers - full of endlessly bouncy cowbells, sweet vocals, relentless kick drums and the usual spiraling Kamba guitars. How great is it to hear women fronting this kind of music?

Get real and get down, for real.

Listen to my Guardian podcast and the soundcloud set.

2011-05-12T09:09:00.000-07:00

I did an interview for the Guardian Music podcast, and a little compilation of tracks which i whacked into a soundcloud set.

You can use your ears to hug those very sounds in this handy little embedded player. Futuristic shit gwannin.

Guardian Playlist by Dream Beach Records

NGUUNI LOVERS LOVERS - CHEZA NGOMA/BETH KATHINI

2011-05-12T06:47:00.000-07:00

It has been a long while since i last updated the blog, and that has filled me with guilt and regret - but all of that is about to change.

So allow me to usher in this new era of DBR blogging by finally announcing the first ever Dream Beach release.

It has taken a lot of time, and a lot of work, but finally our first 7" is here.

A double A-Side of super infectious, heart-racingly fast Kamba guitar pop - Nguuni Lovers Lovers with Cheza Ngoma/Beth Kathini.

listen to the tracks, and buy the 7" here:

http://moshimoshi.greedbag.com/buy/cheza-ngoma/

How amazing is that?! I can't even begin to describe how happy and excited i am about this. Really hope you all enjoy it.

Kurdish Shred Music

2010-06-17T06:10:00.000-07:00

The Saz is a hugely popular instrument all across Turkey, i played one once and i fucking sucked at it - turns out that's because i can't SHRED. The Kurds can shred though, and its amazing. Most Saz music is pretty boring, but the Kurds seem to like distortion pedals and having three drummers. THREE. That's as many as slipknot.

Check this out, Bismilli Ceto (Shred) and Hozan Muzaffer (Hollering) playing what i think is a traditional song because ive heard other versions of it. It is awesome.

Now check out Grani Tufan busting out some palm muting and endless shred ontop of a sick beat.

Finally, this is wedding music apparently. I hope my wedding is like this. Super repetitive, super distorted, super shred. I think this is Grani Tufan too.

What i'm trying to get across here is that Kurds can SHRED. And it is so good.

Kenyan Country and Western music

2010-06-15T03:33:00.000-07:00

I know a lot of people who really hate Country music. Really hate it. More than they hate Trance. More than they hate dudes with ponytails and sandals. True, deep seated, overwhelming, musical hatred. Turns out, none of those people are Kenyan. I mean, look at this guy - does he look like he hates Country?

No. No he does not. He looks like he really really likes country.

He likes it so much, that he makes music like this:

Joseph Kamaru by Dream Beach Records

That is Joseph Kamaru, a Kikuyu musician who is a big deal in Kenyan music - just check out his wikipedia entry for the lowdown on his tumultous 40+ year career. Though its fair to say that most of his stuff is nowhere near this blatantly Country influenced, theres definitely a strong current of Americana running through his stuff.

Apparently this shit is huge in Kenya, lots of bands in cowboy hats busting out Nashville guitar lines. Look up Mugithi or Kamaru on Youtube for more of this, its pretty amazing to hear the mixture of Kenyan drums and singing with such hugely American guitar lines.

Huge thanks to Colin Crowley for the hook up here, that guy knows his Kenyan Country music.

Agyeman Opambuo

2010-05-07T01:27:00.000-07:00

If you're looking to find African music in London, i recommend heading down to Dalston market and hitting up every shop that isnt selling offal. As well as all the amazing Nigerian film stalls selling Fuji and Hip Life music along with the DVDs there are a good handful of shops covered in flags selling music from all across Africa. This track is by Agyeman Opambuo, and i got ripped off buying it from the Ghanaian shop halfway through the market. I had to haggle the guy down from £15 for what is basically a CDR, but it was worth it because the music is genuinely amazing. If you're going to go into Dalston market looking for African music, get ready to get laughed at a lot. and ripped off. a lot. But when the dudes aren't laughing at you or fleecing you, they seem genuinely excited that some moron hipster is interested in their music. I've encountered nothing but good vibes, offers of tea and high fives when going into these shops - its an awesome experience and you get to have a bunch of people playing you their favourite tunes whilst looking super bemused.

From what i can tell Agyeman Opambuo was a pretty big deal in Ghana. The music is so weird tonally and the sounds are so subtle and groovy that i think its worth the download. Did i just say groovy? thats not ok. sorry.

Agyeman Opambuo - Woagye Aboso by Dream Beach Records

Here's a link to a post about him with more music from Highlife Haven http://highlifehaven.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html

Anyway, this is rad and that little cheap synth happening all the way through is one of the best things ever.

Booyah. etc.

Luanda Doho Jazz Band

2010-03-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd put up another track I've ripped from my 7"s, this time from an awesome Luo band called Luanda Doho Jazz Band. Again, I can't seem to find anything about them on the internet at all - maybe I'm just horribly inefficient at research. What i do know is that they were a Kenyan band from the Western Province playing Luo-based Benga music. The guitars are all over the place and the guitarists play over each other throughout the whole track. The singing is rough and verges on out of tune, the fidelity is low and its super repetitive, so basically - its amazing.

I'm only posting the a-side because the b-side is basically identical, I've got a couple more 7"s from this label and they're all pretty great so i'll upload them at some point.

I should also make clear that these tracks I'm uploading have nothing to do with Dream Beach Records, we're not releasing them or anything, just some cool hard to find stuff for you to check out

Luanda Doho Jazz Band - Rose Mary Mugoya

Anyhooey, i'll upload more soon, no diggity.

First DBR post - Orchestra Gem Lucky Friends

2010-03-13T03:28:00.000-08:00

So this is the first posting on the Dream Beach blog, and i'm damned excited.

Dream Beach Records has been set up to release raw sounding modern underground music from Africa in super limited runs. We're not a big deal, and the people who we release probably aren't going to be playing the Barbican or Jools Holland any time soon, but they are going to be awesome. All we're hoping for is that this little label can go a small way towards making punk and indie kids want to buy records by Kenyan or Ugandan artists, just like they'd buy records by a bunch of hipster dorks from London or LA.

This isn't "world music", this is just awesome music.

So to celebrate the first posting on the Dream Beach blog i thought i'd put this up for download. This is a Kenyan Benga record from - im guessing - sometime in the mid 70s. The only mention i've found of them on the internet is in a list of Kenyan releases associated with Daniel Misiani and Shirati Jazz, seems these dudes were on a compilation with them. So with no information save for the awesome music, here's the a and b side to this record.

Orchestra Gem Lucky Friends - Rispher Adero by Dream Beach Records
Orchestra Gem Lucky Friends - Joseph Oloo by Dream Beach Records