I feel like there is so much going on there (and has been for decades) that never really reaches Europe or the US. So there is a lot of digging to be done.
music from Saharan cellphones is an amazing collection but many of these artists don’t seem to have other releases
rush hour had this amazing reissue of a Senyaka track who despite being a rapper had this deep house-ish gem
I also really enjoy some of the sahel sounds releases although I think the quality varies quite a bit
If you haven’t heard about him, Awesome Tapes from Africa does a lot of reissues on older records from Africa.
I don’t dig particularly deep in this scene, if only because it’s really hard to do so without having boots on the ground, but this page’s listing of legally licensed compilations has been a good way in for 70s stuff.
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/SJB/70s_african_reissues__v_a_compilations/
Yeah, there’s definitely quite the cottage industry around African music reissues…Awesome Tapes from Africa has been a long-time fave tho and Brian’s a solid DJ as well.
Here are a few of my fave labels you might not know yet…
Since you mentioned Music from Saharan Cellphones, you may be familia with Sahel Sounds, which was one of the results of the founders of Portland’s legendary Mississippi records legendary break-up (ok, over-stating a bit;) As anyone familiar with Mississippi can likely infer, Sahel is heavy on the guitar music–not a dig, just gravitate more towards electronic jams tho this is a killer–but has also released some incredible electronic music, these two being my faves:
Nyege Nyege Tapes landed on my and many others’ radars last year with their bonkers Sounds of Sisso comp and the other stuff on the label is solid as well.
Also, can’t mention the Sisso comp without mentioning the Shangaan Electro comp put out by Honest Jons back in 2011 and gave us Nozinga and so much more.
Though JT The Goon’s Goon Club All-Stars gets the cred for releasing the first Gqom record outside of Africa–and continue to release solid Gqom records (a dark strain of South African house music), the Gqom-Oh! label released the first comp and has been a great resource all around. Saw Rudeboys and DJ Lag last year and was one of the best dances I’ve been to in years.
Also, the Congotronics comps from Crammed were always a personal fave and that label has been focusing on music from the continent mingling with European sounds since the 80s.
Am mainly just focusing on my limited knowledge of contemporary African electronic music and leaving out loads, but hope these are a good start…when you start digging into the ethnographic stuff, then you really are in trouble $-wise so I’ve purposefully avoided that for the time being…but checking out old Nonesuch mbira comps and the like are always a good time.
Gilles Peterson has always been presenting really interesting world music, including music from Africa. He compiled this compilation back in 2005. His radio station Worldwide also brings really fresh music from all over the world, might be worth having a dig through there, might find some gold.
nice recommendations! I love digging through the Dailyleftover blogspot (dailyleftover.blogspot.com), countless beautiful mix/compilations of african shtuff.
personal faves i found from there are anything by Super Djata, they have a really slow hazy style… A thing I’ve noticed with a lot of music from the time/region is the percussion acts like stones skipping on the surface of the water, rather than the ‘boom bap’ of western music… gives me a real feeling of levitation
also led me to this stunner from Eddy Okwedy
somehow i haven’t got round to checking much contemporary stuff, but pretty much anything Mbalax is certified keeper, the idea of pop music with the intensity of Jungle is too hot to handle, really no need to be picky.
Sun City Girls’ label Sublime Frequencies has been putting out decent ‘world’ comps for years. Not all from Africa but so much interesting stuff.
http://www.sublimefrequencies.com/
Now Again have reissued a few decent African 70s rock records including the excellent Ngozi Family.
https://www.nowagainrecords.com/
Blackman Akeeb Kareem
This is a cool record. I bought the reissue a couple of years back after hearing it at a friend’s house. 70s psych rock again with synthy noodlings for added trippy.