28/09/2010

African Music Degree Zero

I watch this video very often and it never loses its appeal and beauty. Watch it and share it!!!



"The slaves' drums were taken away and for lack of better tools, the slaves then played the rocks they lived and worked on. You can see the grooves in the giant boulders where they have been chipped from the music. They didn't have their drums, so they used the hard earth".

20/09/2010

Last Copies



DJ Cool Brocoli / DJ Bongo Man summer mixtape sold out from the label but we still have a handful of copies... Please contact us if interested: lanouvellecite *at* gmail*dot*com

11/09/2010

Sound Poetry from the Rain Forest



Nature Recordings Vol. V: Jungle (Nature Recordings, USA, 1987, tape)
Producer and recordist: Richard Hooper.

In the early 1950s Dutch based
sound explorer Ernie McCracken traveled to South America in order to locate and record the Xul people, one of the most mysterious tribes of Amazonia. After months of research and observation, he was finally able to approach them. Although the Xul people first refused McCracken to record their music, they decided to make him one of them, kept him in their village, married him to the king's daughter and eventually initiated him to their secret rituals. Although it has never been proven, it is thought that McCracken never returned to Europe.

In 1985, a team of researchers from the Audubon Society,
a US organization committed to restoring and conserving birds' natural ecosystems, accidentally bumped on what seemed to be the ruins of a long left Xul village. In one of the empty huts, among the primitive stone tools, next to a broken amulet lied a few dusty reel to reel tapes bearing McCracken's writing on them and a torn, incomplete notebook where fragments of his story were related. It is thought that these recordings were later edited and mixed with original material for a tape release.

The South American jungle comes alive with exotic birds, chattering monkeys, the Amazon river, and the occasional downpour of the rain forest, along with native drums. Exciting, mysterious - a hint of danger lurking in the dense, dark steaming jungle of sound. A recording for the truly adventurous.

07/09/2010

The Golden Kings Band 76


The Golden Kings Band 76: Hera Thaga / Omiya Jossy (Kenya, Pluto, 1976, 7")

Led by Luo musician Peter Rachino Owino, The Golden Kings Band from Kenya played rumba and typical benga - as it can be heard on this stomping 7" published by Pluto records in 1976. Owino also played in The Golden Ugenya Band also known as The Golden Ugenya Boys. With one or the other of these bands, he recorded for the local Sokota, Apollo, Pluto and Rachar labels (Rachar being run by Owino himself) and for the US based Makossa imprint. Thanks to the helpful Ken Tanza Vinyl website for all the info. This one is for Fabian, who has been waiting for it for quite a long time.