Next Tuesday, April 27 Dutty Artz will release Techno Rumba, official debut EP from producer/DJ-extraordinaire Chief Boima. Techno Rumba is Boima’s elegant and fresh take on Afrobeat and contemporary African dance music. Head over to XLR8R now for an exclusive stream/preview of the entire EP – which features two original tracks from Chief Boima and a pair of remixes from Dutty Artz own DJ /rupture & Matt Shadetek and Uproot Andy.

You can download DJ /rupture & Matt Shadetek additional refix with original vocal contribution from performance artist Kalup Linzey.  Also downloadable is the free remix EP African By The Bay – to hold you over until Tuesday when Techno Rumba drops in digital shops.

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/Ahmed_Janka_Nabay-Eh_Congo.mp3]

Ahmed Janka Nabay – Eh Congo

Janka Nabay is a countryman of mine (which means he is from Sierra Leone, West Africa) with a very interesting backstory you can read on his MySpace.  I’m not fluent in Temni, but I understand what Janka is singing about in “Eh Congo.”  I spoke to him last year to confirm my interpretation and draw some connections, because the lyrics to this song sounded like a free association exercise (that’s what happens when you leave your home country and get lost/immerse in foreign culture –language, communication changes/words are forgotten.) I could write about the song’s lyrics, but I won’t –that will spoil the mystery, or just diminish the song’s already understated mystique.  After all, this is music/rhythms used to soundtrack rituals involving secret societies, coronations, burials of village chiefs and prominent society members. But I must say, that has nothing to do with the lyrics here, which makes it even more intriguing. Anyway, Ahmed Janka Nabay Bubu King is coming out soon True Panther. You can pre-order  a 12″ EP here.

African By The Bay
[Artwork/cover design by Lupo Avanti]

Dutty Artz is proud to present The African By The Bay EP, an exclusive collection of irresistible remixes from San Francisco/Bay Area producer Chief Boima. The EP is available for free download, and features a healthy dose of Afro dance remixes and instrumental reworkings of songs by Birdman (“Money To Blow” feat. Drake and Lil Wayne), Akon (“Right Now”), The Jacka (“Glamorous Lifestyle” feat. Andre Nickatina), Fabo & T-Pain (“Own Step”)

African By The Bay EP is a potent batch of new stateside rap tunes given the remix treatment by Boima, our favorite African-American (in the Obama sense) producer, whose trail-blazing approach weds percussive patterns from sounds like Ivorian Coupe Decale and Senegalese Mbalax. (Not to mention Angolan Kuduro, Nigerian Club, and South African Kwaito, and his Sierra Leonean Highlife and Palm-Wine refix of Cold Flamez “Miss Me, Kiss Me”.)

African By The Bay (62 megabyte ZIP file), feel free to to download and re-post on your site.

01 Chief Boima – Shake Them Dreads
02 The Jacka – Glamorous Lifestyle feat. Andre Nickatina (Chief Boima Remix)
03 Sean Garrett – Smooches feat. Young Joc (Chief Boima Remix)
04 Birdman – Money To Blow feat. Drake and Lil Wayne (Chief Boima Remix)
05 Akon – Right Now (Nananana) (Chief Boima Mbalax Decale Remix)
06 YV – Own Step feat. T-Pain & Fabo (Chief Boima Remix)
07 Cold Flamez – Miss Me, Kiss Me (Chief Boima Remix)

(more…)

Ahmed Janka Nabay gets mentioned in a New York Times CMJ rundown;

There was also an African apparition: Janka Nabay from Sierra Leone, wearing a straw skirt and singing and dancing to recorded tracks of what he said was a 500-year-old tradition called bubu music. The tracks were modern, and the beat, fast and skeletal and driven by bell taps, was unstoppable, demanding wider dissemination.

[audio:http://www.strawvsgold.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/janka3-introduces-true-music-bubu-music_.m4v]

listen to more audio from an interview Janka did with Straw vs Gold several months back.

flickr_little_fatma_medium
[picture of Little Fatma from Photoma’s World]

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LAMIN FOFANA – FATMATA WAS HERE

INGREDIENTS
Bvdub – Return To Tonglu
RHy-s on – 2
Bijan Mofid – Shahreh Ghesseh, I & II
Co$$ feat. Blu – Angelic
Jamie Vexd – In System Travel
Zomby – Tears in the Rain
Dred Man-Gi feat. Nell – Não Ta Se Entender
Kasai Allstars – Tshitua fuila mbuloba
King Midas Sound – Cool Out
Alpha Blondy – Jerusalem
Cauto – Despartar
G-Side – Alpine Tick

it’s here & here & here also – big up Dave, Chris, and thecrookedclef for the uppage. in between the multiple daily posts of other people’s stuff, i manage to patch together a series of sounds, and it runs deep! i made it a few weeks ago, recorded some of it at WFMU-FM, edit in Logic.

papoose

About two years ago, Papoose was a promising, young rapper with heavy street buzz (countless mixtapes, hot97-radio love, magazine/blog exposure, etc.) and a 1.5 million dollar record deal in the works with Jive Records.  Well, the deal fell through, and Pap bragged on subsequent tapes that he kept the 1.5 million from the label, but plans for his debut album The Nacirema Dream never actually materialized. Pap has been releasing mixtapes (and greatest hits from his previous tapes) and newer bits/leaks surfaced every now and then. On this particular track, he’s disgruntled, disgusted with the whole music industry and he’s letting his feelings known, keeping it one hundred/real (as “real” as rappers can keep it anyway.)

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/papoose-_i_jus_want_the_paper.mp3]

Papoose – I Just Want The Paper

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/PlayazCircle-HoldUp.mp3]

Playaz Circle – Hold Up

I found this one on my desktop. Playaz Circle with (insert big name/famous rapper) is usually pretty good, but this is the first time I’m hearing the group without Lil Wayne, Ludacris, or OJ Da Juiceman and it’s surprisingly nice.

Chief Boima will be joining DJ Rupture, on what appears to be the 2nd anniversary of Mudd Up with DJ Rupture on WFMU this Monday, July 6th at 7PM. Chief Boima, an interesting, emerging voice in African diasporic music is based in San Francisco, California, where he organizes a weekly party Descendants United, and a monthly party The Highlife. He also produce music under his name, as well as in the groups Banana Clipz, Beaten By Them, and Chief y Chango. He will be discussing production influences and playing the sounds he’s currently into, everything from Ivorian Coupe Decale and Senegalese Hiphop and Mbalax to Nigerian Club, Angolan Kuduro, South African Kwaito, and the Sierra Leonean sounds he’s been specifically digging. Yeah, it’s a lot, so tune in!

ayatollah

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/Jackie_Mittoo-Ayatollah.mp3]

Jackie Mittoo – Ayatollah

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/The_Willows-Moses_Version.mp3]

The Willows – Moses Version

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/Barington_Levy-Rock_and_Come_In_Scientist_Extended_Mix.mp3]

Barington Levy – Rock and Come In Scientist Extended Mix

If you like these shattered songs, do come in early tomorrow! I’ve got loads more (rare vinyls in digital format), and I plan to to play a dub-heavy set tomorrow night, 10PM – 11:30-ish.  I might drop in two or three recent favorites/freshness, but I’d like to keep it 97% dusty and mystical! Also, I don’t feel the pressure/anxiousness I felt last/first time I deejayed (although NY Tropical 6 was quite massive!) The nervousness is dissolving, and quickly being replaced by excitement and optimism.  If I lapse into a state of irreverence or just absolute enjoyment… I’m only letting the music take over.  Reality is hard right now, goal is to get lifted and transported. Enjoyment!

bajah

Check out that flier on the top right of the picture – the note reads: Da Young Rising presents Tumba Nite…  It makes me somewhat homesick.  Anyway, I came across Papa Bajah  and Dry Eye Crew’s music around 2005 when visiting a recently arrived cousin in Maryland. My cousin gave me a compilation CD and DVD showcasing artists from Forensic Studios/Recordings (top Sierra Leone rap label, studio, and crew, and also the place where Bubu Music champ Janka Nabay recorded.)  Dry Eye’s track “Grap En Clap” (meaning “Get Up and Clap” for none Krio speakers) was featured on the CD and DVD comp.  It is easy to imagine this song getting huge in Freetown, and why not? It  is on some serious Salone vibes, “bread and butter with ginger beer.”  I’ve actually heard people playing the song from London to Washington DC, and it was also included on the soundtrack for the action/adventure/drama-fantasy Blood Diamond.
Dutty Artz and Modiba (Bajah + Dry Eye’s label) are friends.  In fact, Bajah and his crew have been popping up at our New York Tropical parties (get ready for the next one, just around the corner!)
With all that said, check out Bajah + Dry Eye Crew‘s myspace and preview their upcoming album, which contains a blazing cut with Jahdan Blakkamoore.

dutty artz ny tropical

New York Tropical is exactly a week from today! Check the flyer – we are designers, you already know. To get ready, I have put a podcast together containing mostly women voices over beats and sounds composed by men. I wasn’t specifically looking for female voices on male constructed instrumentals, it just happened most of the tracks I gather are refixes and songs with women voices recorded by gentlemen producers (I was tempted to call this Women… In The Vicinity Of Men. Thankfully, I settled on Mousso.  We need some more gyals in here… too many man, too many, many man!

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I was going to post the tracklist a little later but we all know how Björk feels about writers not giving credits, so here it is –

Umalali – Uruwei (The King)
Clouds featuring Tiiu – Protecting Hands Part 2
Oumou Sangar̩ РDugu Kamelemba
Bj̦rk РNattura (Switch Refix)
Geiom featuring Marita – Reminissin’ (Shackleton Refix)
Amadou & Mariam – Sabali
Taken By Trees – The Sweetness of Air France
Dirty Projectors – Stillness Is The Move
Various Production – Deadman (Milanese Remix)
Filastine featuring Jessika Skeletalia Kenney – Fitnah
Love Joys – Stranger
Tanya Stephens – It’s A Pity
TOTAL FREEDOM and NGUZUNGUZU – Total Ciara (Like You Refix)
Matt Shadetek – (Tanya Stephens) Can’t Breathe Remix
Nicki Minaj – Beam Me Up Scotty
Uproot Andy – El Botellón Remix

boima

Dutty Artz west coast family member Chief Boima just upped a sweet toetapping guest mix for Eddie Stats’ Ghetto Palms Faderlandia archipelago: GO GET IT!

There are Forces At Work ensuring that Boima comes to our overpriced, deliriously compressed city with its decaying public transit to share his Akon mbalax/decale remixes and generally hype afro-hypen-positivity with us.

Dutty Artz Rupture-Shadetek Boima remix coming soon, Matt & I will find time to lab up ASAP.

The days between Xmas and New Year’s are good days, always.  Here in Alexandria, VA, I went to a naming ceremony (Sierra Leonean/Islamic style, culture and religion) for one of my uncle’s children, a beautiful baby girl named Fatima, which is the name of her great grandmother.

Sierra Leoneans are party people (okay, maybe not as much as Jamaicans, but nevertheless Salone people party hard too) so after all the formalities with the imam, the old men and women, the soundsystem was turned on, & the disc in the system Best Of Africa, Vol. 1 – a fantastic party compilation, containing a series of mini-mixes plus a few original songs by one Sierra Leonean artist, whose name is shouted, reverberated, and unclear.  The CD booklet and case are nowhere to be found, but from what I can make out (and I might be completely wrong here), the DJ is Ousmane Sayyid and the singer is Succulent The Bug.  Here’s the opening mix, with the first/title track performed by Succulent.

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/TumbaMix.mp3]
Tumba Mix

And in fact, my love for you is like a water with many fishes…

The comp is buyable here.

Look below for  Sierra Leone autotune tumba worship music (via youtube)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3K8BM8BkXE[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCmgPHoJcjU[/youtube]