A Musical Tour of the World: All Countries A-Z One Per Day

Yes, Djam Leelii is lovely and considered one of the best albums from the entire African Continent. I have a nice CD compilation album called 'African Connection Vol.2 - West Africa' which has a lot of Senegalese artists mentioned above: Various - African Connection Vol. 2 - West Africa

'African Connection Vol.1 - Zaire Choc' is even better so I hope to contribute a few things from it when we get to Z

 

Ooops, just realised Zaire isn't called Zaire any more so I guess you've already done it as the DRC. That's what comes from having a world map from 1979 on my wall!

 

And Uganda.

 

The West Africa volume has good songs on it, but it's only scratching the surface of all the great music made in West African countries. I didn't see any artist from Guinea and only one from Mali, whereas both countries have together with Senegal the richest musical tradition in my opinion. If you can still find it, I can highly recommend "Desert Blues 1 - Ambiances du Sahara" (Various - Desert Blues 1 - Ambiances Du Sahara ) and for classic tunes from West Africa I'd recommend "Golden Afrique Vol. 1" (Various - Golden Afrique Vol.1 ).

 

Yes, Mali is my No.1 for African music.

 

Yep, DRC already done. But, we have 'rest/catch-up days' where we go back in time. The next one is after Slovakia, and you'd be welcome to post about whatever countries you like then.

 

That was an unwelcome interruption, but glad to see we're back online. So let me post some more music from Senegal:

El Hadj N'Diaye is a Senegalese songwriter, composer and performer who sings in Wolof and French. Here is a beautiful acoustic song called "Sanu":


Senegalese musician Diabel Cissokho is part of the great line of Cissokho griots. Here he is with "Ndoni Ndoni":
https://youtu.be/IsvMYDLwkoU

And here Senegalese singer/songwriter Nuru Kane is welcoming us with his song "Welcome". Nice images of what I assume is Dakar:
https://youtu.be/leO5IXCxfNc

Positive Black Soul (also known as PBS) is a hip hop group based in Dakar. Founded in 1989 it was one of the first such collectives in the country. Here is "Wouyouma". Hip hop elements become more evident later in the song:
https://youtu.be/Re0pTzIkvN4

 

Thanks @Jamsterdammer. I got back in after the outage and you had already posted!

My favourite track from your latest post was the Positive Black Soul track. As while we've had a wide range of excellent music today, I'm interesting in finding something different.

I thought I'd like to find something a bit different, but what I first found was perhaps a bit similar to 'Pecc Mi' as posted by John. But, there's a story behind it. Another important artist I didn't know before this thread who sadly has passed on. Here is Doudou N'Diaye Rose with 'Rose Rhythm'. Quite a lot of people hitting things. Here is Rose's obituary in The Guardian: Senegalese drummer Doudou N'diaye Rose dies in Dakar aged 85



This page discusses some interesting to my ears modern Senegalese music. My choice from it is 'Thieb Bou Dub' by Guiss Guiss Bou Bess. The article says that Guiss Guiss Bou Bess have updated the Sarbar genre of music, which Doudou N'Diaye Rose was a proponent of.

I wasn't quite sure about including Marieme today. She was born in Mauritania, fled with her family to Senegal when she was two, and eventually her family reunited when she was seven. She's worked in the US since. However, this song 'Fi Moy Senegal' was recorded with Dixa and Shaheed, both from Senegal according to Marieme's Wikipedia page. So I think this fits. Dixa is a producer, so I would guess that Shaheed is the rapper.

 

In theory I should be able to edit the above, but the site is struggling again.

Doing a bit of search, I found another Senegalese hip-hop artist. This is Sister Fa with 'Amy Jotna'.

 

Thanks for the music, everyone.

Today we're in Serbia.

I'm going to start with a rather dark sounding song with an unusual animated video. This is 'Tata Brada' by Block Out.



I post very few Eurovision songs - but I always liked the 60s style of 'Caroban' by Nina. Serbia's entry for Eurovision in 2011, composed by Kristina Kovač, who was a pop star from the 1990s on.

Here is some slightly jazzy pop. 'Najlepše želje' by Zemlja gruva!. 'Najlepše želje' appears to be a brand of chocolate in Serbia.

It's possibly a bit unfair to countries later in the alphabet that we've done their neighbours already and some choices get avoided because a lot of music like that has been seen in the thread already. I have avoided posting any energetic ska music from Serbia today for that reason. But, it exists.

I'll end up with another quite modern hip-hop-ish song, which to my ears has a distinctive Baltic. 'Krasi' by ShazaLaKazoo.

Here's an extra. I had to fix an error in this post this morning, and I found a song I found rather fun. This is Prljavi Inspektor Blaza i Kljunovi featuring. Mile Lojpur with 'Sumadijski tvist'. Lojpur was a pioneer in Serbian rock music, and it was while searching for him I found this. The song is a cover of one of Lojpur's songs.

Tomorrow we're in the Seychelles.

 

Here's a song for the ages: Igra rokenrol cela Jugoslavija -or the entire Yugoslavia dances rock'n'roll. A massive single in the former Yugoslavia, a virtual anthem than helped to glue together the six socialist federal republics, has been played in bars and clubs forever, its sounds warping from the year 1988 to feed the aspirations of today's Yugo nostalgics. Credit goes to the legendary Belgrade based group Električni Orgazam.

 

Đorđe Balašević has become one of my favourite artists. While I have a sizeable collection of artists hailing from Anglo-Saxon countries, I have no trouble placing Mr. Balašević amogst my top five, all time artists that I like. Hailing from the second largest Serbian city, Novi Sad, Balašević has been a musician since the late 1970s, most notably as a member of the band Rani Mraz. Here's a link to a Rani Mraz song, by the way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmEcgDykBO4

As the years have gone by I've forgotten exactly how, when or where was I first exposed to Balašević's music- But his 2001 album Dnevnik starog momka (a collection of 12 songs each named after a different girl) was an instant favourite. It seems as though Mr. Balašević in his country has enjoyed a mixed reception especially since he has been politically and ideologically engaged throughout the years. Yet he continues to offer his traditional new year's eve concerts at Belgrade's Sava Centar, very often selling out the venue.

The song I'm posting here is called “Maliganska” from his 2004 album Rani Mraz. I admit that it has quite the slow start, so it wouldn't harm if you fast forward and start listening from minute 1:30 on.

 

Stanislav Binički was an important Serbian composer of the XIX century, who wrote the March on the Drina to commemorate a 1914 military campaign where brave Serbs drove back a powerful Austro-Hungarian invading army. The wikipedia article on the topic March on the Drina - Wikipedia makes for a very interesting read as it describes how the composition became an international hit largely transcending Serbian borders:

"Swedish composer Felix Stahl obtained the rights to the song which he published and promoted. Danish guitarist Jørgen Ingmann had a number one hit on the Danish pop singles chart in 1963 in a version arranged for solo electric guitar on the Swedish Metronome Records label. His recording was also released in West Germany, where it reached #5, in the UK, in France, and in the U.S. on ATCO Records, 6277. Patti Page, The Shadows, Chet Atkins, Frankie Yankovic, Horst Wende, and James Last also recorded the song".

 

Guča may be a small unasumming town of a couple thousand inhabitants clustered in the mountains of Western Serbia, but every year thousands of visitors, between 600.000 to 900.000 flock in from all over the world to attend the famous international Guča trumpet festival. The trumpet is a traditional instrument used in Serbian folk music and here below is one of the most famous trumpet ensembles and a regular at Guča, the Boban Marković Orkestar.

 

I normally avoid discussing new and upcoming talents – my musical referents are anchored in the past (in the 1980s and 1990s) and I rarely endorse or “give a blank cheque” to new artists. Nonetheless, I'm going to do it for the purpose of adding a little diversity to this section of the thread and because I think these artists are relevant now and may continue to be so in the years and decades to come ahead.

I recently stumbled upon this video featuring Danica Krstić (born 1995, from Kragujevac) one of the rising stars of Serbian folk music, in a collaboration with a Bosnian ensemble. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.



Next up is Naiva, another millenial that has drawn comparisons to Amy Winehouse and was a finalist at the recent Beovizija festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCNaP9v763s

 

No overview of Serbian music could be complete without the great Zvonko Bogdan. Another Vojvodina native and one of the most recognised voices in tamburaša music.

 

Thanks for all the Senegalese music yesterday; not curtailed by the site being AWOL for half of the day. A good selection from Serbia already, to which I will add a few YT finds

Back to 1960 for Vladimir "Duza" Stojilkovic with 'Devojko Mala' from the 1960 film "Ljubav i Moda"


Vlastimir Đuza Stojiljković – Wikipedija
Ljubav i moda (1960) - IMDb

A reggae collaboration between the Serbian Hornsman Coyote (aka Bemanja Kojic) and the Jamaican Jah Mason (aka Andre Johnson) plus an older man who appears at the beginning of the video; - 'Belly of the Beast' from 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv_GEGT0RMw&ab_channel=BalkanMusicBox
Coyote – Hornsman Coyote
Jah Mason - Wikipedia

And this is the "Serbian Country Legend" Momcilo Radosavljević Cile - obviously not country music as from Nashville; this is a 1981 7" single by a "Serbian-Roma violin player" - 'Kukuriku Juriš Kolo'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqeeiIN9THY&ab_channel=mrkosovac
and the B-side 'Staro Ripanjsko Kolo'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPmzhRHhqWA&ab_channel=Backopoljac
A (Google translated) comment posted by Zeljko Radosavljević under the latter track: - "Ćile and Žika (Radosavljević) recorded it in '81. The idea was born at a wedding where a rooster crowed to a certain violin tone. Ćilet liked it and played the same violin. So they later worked out the topic. and made a circle. Ćile was married to Bisenija Radosavljević-Todorović (my grandmother). He was a great virtuoso on the violin and a cheerful man who was always ready to joke."
Discogs suggests that it may have been his only record release.
https://www.discogs.com/Momčilo-Radosavljević-Ćile-Kukuriku-Juriš-Kolo/release/2486505

 

Thanks. I'm through @Laibach's selections. I do like to post responses, to at least show that I have listened to and appreciated the postings. But, I don't want to add too many tracks early on. I enjoyed the track by Naiva the most from Laibach's selection, and agree that she sounds a bit like Amy Winehouse.

Not having the time to research much yet, I wondered if I should post something in response at all. However, I had a quick look at the band Rani Mraz to see if other members other than Đorđe Balašević had a solo career. I found Bilja Krstic, and her song 'Uspavanka'. So, here it is. It's solo female voice over synth pads and saxophone with loads of reverb.



Now onto John's post. As other things are being done, I don't know how long it will take before I respond again

 

Wow! A lot of great music from Serbia already posted today, not in the least of course because of Laibach's expert contribution. Đorđe Balašević's song is great. I also liked Naiva, but let's pray she won't end up like Amy during her infamous last concert in Belgrade. Incredibly sad. Some of the videos posted by John made me chuckle, especially the start of the Hornsman Coyote & Jah Mason track.

So what to post after all this goodness? Let's try some Jazz. Branislav "Lala" Kovačev was a jazz musician, drummer, bandleader and composer and widely considered a key figure in the history of Balkan Ethno jazz. As a leader of European Jazz Consensus, International Jazz Consensus and Lala Kovacev Group, he developed a distinguished fusion style by integrating complex rhythmic structures from Balkan folk music into jazz. So let's listen to "Altana" by the Lala Kovačev Group from 1978. Good stuff, especially when the guitar comes in shortly after the 1 minute mark:


Šaban Bajramović, nicknamed Šabi, was a Serbian vocalist and recording artist of Romani ethnicity. He was one of the most internationally critically acclaimed Romani singer-songwriters. During his career, which spanned over four decades, he recorded 50 singles and 20 albums, and he is believed to have written 700 songs. Here is is with his band Dobrovoljno Kovačko Društvo (Association of Blacksmith Volunteers) playing "Kalav Mange Avera / Kamerav" at the Sava Centar in Belgrade in 2006:
https://youtu.be/otsZR1b_efA

And these buskers on the streets of Belgrade would definitely make me stop and listen:
https://youtu.be/kvE3DZwWQkY

Partibrejkers is a rock band formed in 1982. The developed a garage rock sound that became very popular. As of 2015 they have released 8 album. Here is the song "Hoću Da Znam":
https://youtu.be/33a71Ldbp3Y

The group Smak reached the peak of popularity in the 1970s when it was one of the top acts of the former Yugoslav rock scene. The band's leader, guitarist Radomir Mihajlović, nicknamed "Točak", is considered one of the top and most influential guitarists on the former Yugoslav rock scene. Here is "Daire" from 1977:
https://youtu.be/l3VGylw9iJo

 

Ekatarina Velika (EKV) was perhaps the most important and influential rock band that ever existed in Serbia. Formed in 1982, recorded six studio albums and achieved great popularity throughout Yugoslavia. The death of its members at a young age (Milan Mladenović at age 36, Bojan Pečar, 38 and Margita Stefanović, 43) after battling with several health problems and addictions elevated EKV to almost mythical proportions.



During the 1990s prevailed n Serbia a style of music known as "turbo-folk". During a context of war, international sanctions and rampant economic crisis, many were of the opinion that turbo-folk was a cultural mechanism that fed on Serbian nationalism and helped to preserve the stability of the Milošević regime. Some of the most notable turbo folk singers are Ceca and Jelena Karleuša (bofh of whom often draw comparisons to to Madonna). If you want to hear a sample of turbo folk you could try a Ceca song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIaMB2BSZA0

 

Thanks for the music everyone. I've got through everything at last

I seem to have been in the mood for riffy rock today, and enjoyed the tracks by EKV and Partibrejkers. Musically the most interesting was the - I'd describe it as - laughing violin of Momcilo Radosavljević Cile.

Unfortunately I've not been able to put the work in to this thread today due to be distracted. However, I found this song specially composed to mark the 70th anniversary of the UN, and I approve of the sentiment. 'Reach Out' by the Vasil Hadzimanov Band feat. Marta Hadzimanov & Vukasin Markovic. Serbian jazz fusion band injects energy into UN goals



I haven't got much, but I found this band that Discogs.com calls 'New Wave' but I'm not sure what I would call it. Jakarta with 'San je jak'.

 

Saveta Jovanović - Lazno je lazno sve sto je tvoje (1971)



This EP is famous for the cover, not for the music which sounds like typical Balkan gypsy pop-folk music.
Saveta Jovanović was active during Yugoslavia times. Her music is available today on all digital platforms. However I could not find any information about her origin - which part of former Yugoslavia she is from?

Saveta Jovanović

 

"Paket aranžman is a new wave music compilation album released in 1981 by Jugoton. Featuring eminent Belgrade acts Šarlo Akrobata, Električni Orgazam and Idoli, it is considered to be one of the most important and influential records ever made in SFR Yugoslavia. In addition to critical praise, it reached a cult status among the audiences and continues to be popular across the countries that emerged after the breakup of Yugoslavia". (wikipedia).

Track # 7 is Idoli's "Maljčiki".

 

Thanks for the music everyone.

Today we're in the Seychelles.

Like some other islands in the Indian Ocean, the music of the Seychelles combines influences from all over the place. One form of local music combines African rhythms, particularly Kenyan, and Reggae to make Mouggae. As an example of that style, here is Patrick Victor with the song 'Lewa Sega'. Victor was appointed an honorary cultural ambassador to the Seychelles. Seychellois musician Patrick Victor is appointed as honorary cultural ambassador



The normal sources didn't help me much in finding artists. Then I found this article about 13 Seychelles' singers. From that list, this is Jenny Letourdie singing Leokri. I chose a song to include here, and then Leokri auto-played. From a quick sampling, Letourdie sounds a very talented artist with interesting songs. At the time of writing, I suspect that there is much more to come from that article and I'm very likely to post more artists from it if nobody else does.

Returning to the combination of African influences with perhaps a bit of Reggae, here is Gou Kreol by Jean Marc Volcy.

Here is some more recent hip-hop style music with a sung chorus. This is Tu Peux Crier by Dezil'. Group Dezil' and artist Extra Big have been active in promoting music in the Seychelles. Master Emel from Dezil' and Herrance Etienne, known as Xtra Big, started Big Vibes, the first download store for Seychelles' music.

Tomorrow we're in Sierra Leone.

 

Thanks for the usual entertaining selection.

Jenny Letourdie's first name alternatively seems to appear as Jany (or Jeny). This is 'Ding Ding Kololo' ("an adaption from Seychelles heritage") by Jany from 2010. One comment has added "Best video clip ever made in Seychelles" - and following last week it does include another appearance by a sea turtle


The English translation of the lyrics does not make a great deal more sense
Jany de Letourdie - Ding Ding Kololo lyrics + English translation
"Q. If you weren't singing, what would you be doing?
A. I'd be a detective"
Artist profile – Jany de Letourdie: “Do as much good as you can…it will come back to you” | Ministry of Youth Sports & Culture

I don't believe any of my other selections appear on HitandRun's list of thirteen.

This is labelled as "Seychelles traditional music" - it's Ken (Accouche) & Paquerette (Labrosse) - 'Rann Mwan Mon Sennon' One comment has been added - "Great couple . Made us laugh so much till today. Greats souls. May they rest in peace" I couldn't find any information about them except that they were popular in the 1970s. Discogs lists two EPs by them; 'Songs of the Seychelles' by Ken and Paquerette; and 'Folk Songs of the Seychelles' by Paquerette and Ken ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlf6f_Bue0Q&ab_channel=musichannelnetwork
Paquerette Labrosse

Now for something considerably more serious, and concerning a topic seemingly troubling all countries - 'Les Bato Marse' by Mia & the Relations is from Mia's 2018 debut album, but the video for the track is new and premiered on YT last week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsV3L0mqgfE&ab_channel=MIA&TheRelations
Mia and The Relations - About

Now Keven Valentin and 'Laklos' from 2015 which includes a certain amount of men hitting things content, plus dancing around a bonfire - what more could you want?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCQ1Y4Ux97w&ab_channel=LewisCharlesEsparon
Koze lapo: the talking drums of Werner Schulz and Keven Valentin - Archive - Seychelles Nation

'Mouta Kas anbe' by Sly (aka Winsel Pothin) was posted to YT six months ago but appears to be from some time back - it was her first hit and she has been doing music for more than 20 years. Many Seychelles music videos appear to feature young women dancing on the beach....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9JhhDV7Rls&ab_channel=LewisCharlesEsparon
Sly launches two singles – Ou Lanmour, Reste Avec Moi

Now for some reggae. 'Roten sanz lanmen' by Jakim (aka Carlos Dorasamy) was posted to YT at the end of October
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV3zvnK0rw4&ab_channel=jakimSeychelles
Jakim celebrates 20 years in music with upcoming album and concert

Too much from me already, but for anyone with as much time on their hands as I have at present, this is an assemblage of clips from the "Laserenade - 34th annual Seychelles Festival Kreole" in Victoria, Seychelles in October last year. Unlike in the Caribbean no-one appears to have covered themselves in oil and paint, but despite that most seem to have been enjoying themselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToOfWV4q-lg&ab_channel=Caribvibetv