Suso: Gambia's Global Griots by Afropop Worldwide

Toots Hibbert was a titan of Jamaican popular music. With his harmony group the Maytals he indelibly changed the island’s music scene in the early 1960s by infusing ska with gospel and went on to captivate overseas audiences by blending blues and funk with reggae, becoming one of Jamaica’s best-known performers. Never Grow Old: A Salute To Toots And The Maytals is an homage to Toots, whose incredible career only ended when he tragically died of Covid-19 in September 2020, aged 77. On this show, producer David Katz will trace his evolution, using select archive interviews with the man.

APWW #861

Yes, it’s the age of South African House, Afrobeats, Afro R&B and the likes, but roots music lives on in South Africa. This show updates the Zulu pop music known as maskanda, with a look back at its history and a survey of the current scene--rich musically, but troubled by fan rivalry that can lead to violence and even deaths. We’ll hear nimble ukapika guitar playing, heavy Zulu beats and bracing vocal harmonies. We’ll meet maskanda legend Phuzekhemisi and veteran South African radio broadcaster Bhodloza “Welcome” Nzimande, long a champion of maskanda music and a would-be peacekeeper in the fractious current scene. We’ll also hear from Zulu guitar legend Madala Kunene, and check out some of the recent gqom music that has largely replaced maskanda and other roots styles in the lives of young South Africans. Produced by Banning Eyre.

[APWW #803]

[Originally broadcast in May 2019]

The Indian Ocean island of Mauritius is perhaps best known for sandy beaches and, recently, a catastrophic oil spill. It is also home to a unique folkloric pop music called sega. Sega is a product of an unusual history on an island that has been populated by humans for less than five centuries. In this episode we meet three musicians traveling the world to highlight environmental issues through music as part of the Small Island Big Song project. They take us deep into the history and current state of sega music. Narrated and produced by Banning Eyre

On a visit to the U.S. Virgin Islands in winter 2018, we took the pulse of the national music of St. Croix – quelbe. Rarely recorded, rarely exported, quelbe is an energetic form, led by sax or flute with percussion and banjo, and it fuels the traditional dance style, quadrille. St Croix is the largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and sits alone 42 miles south of St. Thomas and St. John. That’s part of why traditional music and dance forms have remained strong on St. Croix. Meet bandleaders Stanley Jacobs of Stanley and the 10 Sleepless Knights, and Dmitri Copemann of the Renaissance Band, who are cultivating a vibrant next generation. Produced by Marika Partridge and Banning Eyre.

APWW #782

Originally produced in 2018

The latest music craze to hit South African dance floors is a dark, pulsating and energetic sound called gqom. For the past seven years, a young and technologically skilled generation in Durban, KwaZulu Natal, has created and finessed a sound that has the world hooked and wanting more. It is an entire cultural movement complete with distinctive dance moves and styles. We talk to some of the deejays and young producers of this genre, like DJ Lag, Citizen Boy and Distruction Boyz, as well as Gqom Oh! record label owner Francesco Nan Kolè to understand where gqom originated, how it’s made and where it’s going. We also look at how this rough and raw party music has evolved to accommodate a more commercial market.

Produced by Akornefa Akyea in 2018

APWW #784

The square gumbe frame drum was created centuries ago by enslaved Africans in Jamaica. It traveled to Sierra Leone with freed Maroons from Jamaica’s highlands in 1800. From there, the drum and its evolving, pan-ethnic music spread to 17 African nations. In this program we trace the history and legacy of this joyous and surprising music with field work in Jamaica, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Mali. Produced by Banning Eyre in 2020.

APWW #817

When Ugandan American writer and producer Jessica Kariisa moved to the San Francisco Bay Area early in 2022, she did not expect to find a thriving African music club scene where DJs spin the latest hits, be they Afrobeats from Nigeria or Amapiano from South Africa. In this episode, she goes deep to tell the story of how this scene emerged. Narrated and produced by Jessica Kariisa

In its 36th year, the Nuits d’Afrique festival in Montreal pulled out all the stops to meet the expectations of an audience that was hungry to see and hear some of the world’s biggest stars. The Afropop team was there recording two nights of kora mastery, plus Gnawa roost from Moktar Gania, Haitian pop from Wesli, Femi Kuti & The Positive Force and more. The program is a deep dive and a solid salute to North America’s best African music festival. Produced by Banning Eyre.

APWW #859

Changüí is a little understood, loose and lively, community-based music of eastern Cuba. In this program we sample recordings from the 2021 box set Changüí: The Sound of Guantánamo, and hear from Gianluca Tramontana, the man who made the recordings. Rooted in Afro-Haitian music, pan-Caribbean styles, Spanish poetic traditions and more, Changüí emerged in the mid 19th century in plantations, not unlike the blues. We also hear from musician and scholar Ben Lapidus, author of the only English language book on Changüí, and we update the story with Changüí fusions into jazz, salsa and hip-hop. Prepare to dance!

Produced by Banning Eyre in 2021

APWW #840