sublime---frequencies

[sublime---frequencies]

SF126 - TSAPIKY! Modern Music from Southwest Madagascar

https://sublime-frequencies.bandcamp.com/ Tsapiky music features wild ecstatic guitars, rocket bass, and the amphetamine beat! Unlike anything else, this is THE high life music you've always wanted – funeral & ceremony music played with abandon and extreme intent, honoring the living and the dead alike. @_maximebobo #sublimefrequencies #madagascar #malagasy #tsapiky

[sublime---frequencies]

NEW RELEASE!!! SHARE THE NEWS!!! SF127 LP Born in the City of Tanta - Lower Egyptian Urban Folklore and Bedouin Shaabi from Libya's Bourini Records 1968-75 Links in bio "Libya's Bourini Records, a small independent label that released local diy 45's from 1968-1975, FINALLY gets reissued. The tracks compiled here comprise a full range of styles from the southern Mediterranean folk and the raw sounds of Egyptian chaabi covered by the label. Highlighting some of its most gob smacking moments, from Basis Rahouma’s beastly transformation into a growling and barking man-lion by the end of “Yana Alla Nafsa Masouda,” to Reem Kamal’s hopeful-if-bitter handclapping party pivot “Baed Al Yas Yjini,” which descends into an almost Velvet Underground outro-groove of nihilistic dissonance." Produced by @garysgotabanger Audio mastered by @oticsound Layout and design @psychic_sounds

[sublime---frequencies]

Ousmane Sembène, Caméra d'Afrique (African Cinema: Filming Against All Odds)

[sublime---frequencies]

Bolga, northern Ghana December 2019

Recorded by Hisham Mayet

[sublime---frequencies]

Ghana. Tamale- Dec 2019

Recorded by Hisham Mayet - Sublime Frequencies

[sublime---frequencies]

Coming soon ...

[sublime---frequencies]

[sublime---frequencies]

In the early 80s, an anthropologist left his recording equipment and tapes behind in a remote Wakuénai (Curripaco) village along the Upper Río Negro in Venezuela. When he returned almost a year later, he discovered that the village headman and his sons had used the equipment to record 12 hours of tape documenting a bewildering array of local narrative and musical genres – sacred chants, place-names, spirit languages, and, as featured here, the astonishing and mesmerizing sounds of trumpet and flute ensembles.  Recorded in a wide range of settings – during all-night sessions in and around the village, while paddling on the river by canoe, and at various locations deep in the surrounding forest, including the mythical homes of the ancestors and animal spirits, these tapes are not only a stunning artifact of indigenous ethnomusicology, they also reveal the deep connection between sound and the shape-shifting animism of Wakuénai (Curripaco) society.

As you will hear here, the music of Wakuénai (Curripaco) wind ensembles range from the deep bass drone of handmade trumpets to the high-pitched dissonance of various flutes. Sometimes the trumpets and flutes produce distinct rhythmic and melodic patterns associated with animal species, ancestors, and spirits – the hissing sound of jaguars; the low-frequency sounds of the river filled with spawning fish; or the “voices” of birds, frogs, and spirit animals. At other times, they are played together to produce cacophonies representing the undifferentiated chaos of primordial space-time – “the [cosmic] sound that opened the world” associated with the mythic trickster-creator.    

The anthropologist in this story was Jonathan Hill (1954-2023), who spent many years studying the music and culture of the Amazonian lowlands. This LP is dedicated to him and his legacy. The first two recordings here were made by Jonathan and feature catfish trumpets and ceremonial flutes performed during ceremonial exchange (pudáli) at Gavilán, Río Guainía, Venezuela, October 24, 1981. The remaining tracks were recorded by Feliz López de Oliveiros and focus on the trumpet and flute ensembles performed during a rite of passage in a remote village along the Tomo River, Colombia, 1985.  These recordings are presented here for the first time.  Produced by Radio Is A Foreign Country.

[sublime---frequencies]

NEW RELEASE OUT TODAY. SF124 The Handover Digital and pre-order LP Links in bio There is, and has been, a prevailing orthodoxy permeating the Egyptian musical hierarchy that would render this spectacular piece as scandalous. But let us remember that over the past 100 years, Said Darwish, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Halim El Dabh, Ahmad Adaweya, and the modern Mahraganat movement have all experienced their fair share of scandal and opposition. Music must always be pushed forward – it may not always succeed as revelatory, but in this particular case, it does. Much like the venerable magic carpet, the Handover slowly builds to escort you into its swirling, ascending expression of the psychedelic, eventually descending, step by step, back to earth, landing as a wondrous spaceship with wide open doors inviting us inside for repeat listening. Perhaps this should have been happening in Egyptian music 50 years ago but it's here right now, and that's what matters. We are often asked an impossible question to answer: "What constitutes a Sublime Frequencies release?" For the moment, we can point to this record as the answer to that question. - Alan Bishop/Sublime Frequencies (March 2024) #sublimefrequencies #egyptianmusic

Edited · 3w

[sublime---frequencies]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sublime Frequencies (@sublime_frequencies)

It is with tremendous sadness that we announce that Mamadou Sanou (Baba Commandant) passed away in his home town of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso yesterday. All we know at the moment is, a fatal bout of malaria was the reason.

I would like to thank everyone who was a part of this incredible tour in 2023 that we all helped to make such a success. Baba was truly beaming with joy from the love and hospitality that was afforded to all of us.

Sincerest condolences to his family, friends and all who had the honor of witnessing one of the greatest to ever do it!

A library has burned.

-HM

[sublime---frequencies]

2023 Reissue now shipping!

[sublime---frequencies]

Sublime Frequencies Presents 20-Year Anniversary show with co-founders Hisham Mayet and Alan Bishop featuring Dwarfs of East Agouza (Egypt) and Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band (Burkina Faso)

Wednesday, Oct 18, 2023

at TV Eye, The Ballroom

Ridgewood, NY

Doors: 7:00PM | Show: 8:00PM

Event Location:

1647 Weirfield St, Ridgewood, NY

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is a collective of explorers dedicated to exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers via film and video, field recordings, radio and short wave transmissions, international folk and pop music, sound anomalies, other forms of human and natural natural expression not documented sufficiently enough by various communication channels.

BABA COMMANDANT AND THE MANDINGO BAND

Burkina Faso has always marched to its own drummer. The small West African nation has sometimes been overshadowed by its more populous northern neighbor Mali, and was once the southeastern frontier of the sprawling medieval Malian Empire. This empire spanned 10 modern nations and dozens of ethnic groups, and was knit together by the Mandé or Mandinka language and cultural complex—a language of kings, scholars, and epic poetry still spoken today. But “The Land of Upright Men” is a cultural powerhouse in its own right, and few artists embody the creative, independent spirit of Burkina Faso as Baba Commandant & the Mandingo Band, a four-piece ensemble that reimagines ancient Mandé musical traditions for the 21st century.

The group is led by the charismatic, enigmatic singer Baba Commandant (aka, Mamadou Sanou), an activist for traditional Mandinka music who began his career as a dancer with the Koule Dafourou troupe, before making his mark as a singer—or shouter—with various local bands. Baba originally hails from Burkina Faso’s second city, Bobo-Dioulasso—a bustling railway town with deep Mandinka roots. There he grew up immersed in Mandé traditions, and attended initiation rites for the Donso hunter society, from whom Baba learned his signature instrument, the donso n’goni.

A traditional, six-stringed harp with a gourd resonator, the donso n’goni conjures up earthy tones that create hypnotic, trance-like patterns. The instrument’s name translates as “hunter’s harp” and originated among the Senufo hunters of Burkina Faso, one of the regional Donso hunter societies of Mandinka culture. These semi-secret fraternities are spread across the historic Wassoulou region of Mali, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, and Burkina Faso, and its members are highly respected as traditional healers, mystics, seers, and storytellers. The Donso accompany their storytelling and songs with the n’goni, preserving genealogies, proverbs, esoterica, and generational knowledge.

Today Baba Commandant & the Mandingo Band make their home in the capital, Ouagadougou, and are a fixture on the city’s burgeoning music scene. Their debut album, Juguya, caused a stir in 2015—winning critical acclaim for its unique fusion of traditional Burkinabé instruments; propulsive, Afrobeat-inspired horns; and raw guitar power that created an unstoppable groove. Their sound is anchored by Baba’s donso n’goniand gravelly vocals, as well as by the electric guitar heroics of Issouf Diabate, and a battery of traditional and modern percussion, including the balafon (the West African predecessor of the xylophone), which adds a piquant, rhythmic punch to so much Mandinka traditional and pop music.

Baba Commandant draws on his intimate knowledge of Donso traditions whenever he takes up his n’goni; alternately growling, whispering, and chanting his way through the group’s repertoire. Their sound has evolved over time, jettisoning the horns in favor of a tighter focus on the interplay between Diabate’s sparkling guitar and the n’goni’s gutbucket funk. The result is a leaner, meaner, four-piece touring outfit who are bringing their road-tested sound to North America for the first time in 2023.

DWARFS OF EAST AGOUZA

Dwarfs Of East Agouza are a leading force of improvised musical excitement and stand apart from wider parts of a post-punk underground scene that doesn’t fit neatly into any post-punk genre of the last twenty years. Founded in Cairo circa 2015 by Alan Bishop (ex-Sun City Girls and co-founder of Sublime Frequencies) with Sam Shalabi (Land Of Kush, Karkhana) and Maurice Louca (Karkhana) the trio developed a unique and always recognizable sound, but with many faces to show. The group started playing together in Cairo’s Agouza district in 2012 to explore hypnotic local traditions, as heard on their excellent debut album “Bes.” Improvisation on the highest level. Organic, never arty. On their latest recording, The Green Dogs of Dashur, the band breaks off all constraints and reveals a resolutely free album offering the listener variations of seductive melodies and unhinged improvised trance.

https://sublime-frequencies.bandcamp.com/community

https://sublimefrequencies.com

[sublime---frequencies]

Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band Mid-Tour -

[sublime---frequencies]

Sublime Frequencies is thrilled to announce the Baba Commandant and The Mandingo Band are returning to the USA after an absolutely legendary first American tour in the spring of 2023. A tour that has been hailed unanimously as “show of the year” by anyone who had the privilege to see any of the spring concerts.

Touring on the success of their latest LP -- Sonbonbela, the third LP released by Sublime Frequencies with the band, recorded in 2022 in the Republic of Burkina Faso. The group continue to hone their trademark fusion of Mandingue and afro-beat styles. The Mandingo Band are a hit machine, sculpting seven new tracks of near Beefheart/Magic Band dynamics, Fela inspired groovers dusted out in the Sahel zone, rather than the humidity and sweat of Lagos, creating one of the most original and propulsive musical statements to come from the contemporary West African cultural juggernaut. As with previous releases, the band features the legendary guitar pyrotechnics of Issouf Diabate, truly one of the greatest West African (or Earth for that matter) guitarists of the last forty years. The band is completed by a near bottomless barrel of artistry from the Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso musical talent pool. On bass guitar, Wendeyida Ouedraogo and on drums Abbas Kabore. Leading the charge again is the captain himself, Mamadou Sanou on the Doso Ngoni featuring one of the most distinctive voices of the modern era. The opposite of the banal trends of auto-tune that have pervaded most of West African popular music, Baba’s voice still impresses with its gravel and grit, showcasing a range that is ancient and defiant in equal measure. This LP and the power of the band’s live concerts showcase a non-stop hit parade of afro-beat bangers destined to light dance floors and living rooms ablaze!!!