African music--from hip reissues to popular to whatever...

i discovered an amazing website -- called oro -- filled with rare african pop albums, all downloadable.

my first reaction was to begin downloading title after title. then i began feeling guilty. these aren't legal downloads, are they?

now that, in a matter of minutes, i feel like i've loved and lost, i think it's better to have never loved at all.

that's awesome. never heard of that site. most of those albums are probably out of print

i'm sure that's true, given their age and the descriptions on the site.

but i still feel badly downloading any of them without the artist or family's blessing.

some of the album art is fantastic!, e.g., pondo kakou.

not saying I have downloaded about 15 excellent albums from that site. not out loud anyway.

Aster Aweke's newest song is wowing me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATdis9I9pFI

I was reading a NY Times article about special free outdoor music events that just happened in NYC on the day of the winter solstice and one jumped out at me:

a sing-along to the songs of Egypt’s favorite pop singer, Umm Kulthum, down Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens;

the events included a crowd that rang color-coded bells on command; a medley of holiday songs played by percussionists at 1/120th speed while walking the length of Broadway; a sing-along to the songs of Egypt’s favorite pop singer, Umm Kulthum, down Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens; a continuous performance of the prelude from Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 on F train platforms; an early-music processional with lanterns through Central Park; and a roving brass-band performance in which players read music projected onto buildings. (Four events are reviewed below by Times music critics.)

Sounds great. I hope some video from this turns up online. It's been years since I've been to Astoria, but the last (and possibly only) time I went, I hit up a shop with lots of Greek music on cassette.

Aster Aweke = a-ok with me

Alas, it doesn't look like she's coming your way on tour. The Sunday January 1st DC gig is running so late--promoter told me doors at 9:30, opening act at 11:45--that I am not sure I am gonna go.

http://www.yebbo.com/blog/?p=3172

You can vote for your fave Ethiopian artist of 2011

the status of Senegalese mbalax music and a look at the country's politics

http://www.afriqueavenir.org/en/2011/09/10/senegalese-%E2%80%98mbalax-music%E2%80%99-icon-joins-rappers-in-opposing-wade%E2%80%99s-candidature/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/RD-Congo-Ndombolo-Coupe-Decaler-Cote-DIvoire/185018588259951?sk=app_182222305144028

Congolese ndombolo dance music vs Coite D'voire Coupe Decaler dance music with links

10. Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Segal - Chamber Music

Whiney's 10th fave album of the year (on NPR guy Bob Boilen's list too)

Nice, tasteful Malian music

Segal adds a semi-classical, avante almost Velvet Underground feel to a bit of it

http://www.npr.org/artists/137109821/ballak-sissoko

Sissoko is a great kora player while Segal is on cello