Sublime Frequencies Communiqué

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24 January 2015

BABA COMMANDANT AND THE MANDINGO BAND - FULL LENGTH AUDIO CLIP

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES COMMUNIQUÈ

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES 

 PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA



http://www.sublimefrequencies.com

https://www.facebook.com/SUBLIMEFREQUENCIES

BABA COMMANDANT AND THE MANDINGO BAND: JUGUYA

— AVAILABLE ON CD AND LP —

SF - 097CD / SF-097LP


To hear Samples and to Pre-Oder from Forced Exposure (cd version):http://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/baba-commandant-and-the-mandingo-band-juguya-cd/SF.097CD.html

To hear Samples and to Pre-Oder from Forced Exposure (lp version):http://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/baba-commandant-and-the-mandingo-band-juguya-lp/SF.097LP.html




16 January 2015

The List Review for Various Artists – The Travelling Archive: Folk Music from Bengal

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES COMMUNIQUÈ

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES 

 PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA



http://www.sublimefrequencies.com

https://www.facebook.com/SUBLIMEFREQUENCIES


The List Review for

Various Artists – The Travelling Archive: Folk Music from Bengal (4 stars)

Captivating glimpse of a diverse musical culture



The latest batch from Sublime Frequencies includes a smokin' live album from Lebanese / Egyptian guitar legend Omar Khorshid and a compilation of mesmeric Sahel folk, but this collection is of particular interest, representing the first fruits of the label's relationship with Bengali musiciansand researchers Moushoumi Bhowmik and Sukanta Majumdar. Their field recordings from Bangladesh, India and the Bengali diaspora offer a captivating glimpse of a diverse musical culture: wedding songs, Hindu devotionals, and songs from those travelling bards, the Baul. The striking instrumentation across these ten tracks includes tabla, violin and the brittle twang of thedotara. Taped in an office off Brick Lane, Ahmed Moyez's acapella performance of his Sufi poet grandfather's 'Paradhi Hoilam Ami' ('Friend and Master, by what law of yours am I made guilty') is deeply moving, while the Tea Garden singing and stories of a group of young women are a delight.

15 January 2015

Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band | Juguya - Reviewed at Global A Go-Go

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES COMMUNIQUÈ

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES 

 PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA



http://www.sublimefrequencies.com

https://www.facebook.com/SUBLIMEFREQUENCIES

Global A Go-Go Review for

Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band | Juguya



ARTIST: Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band
TITLE: Juguya
LABEL: Sublime Frequencies
The Sublime Frequencies label is best known for its audio verite recordings and for reissues from Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Recently they’ve dipped their toe into releasing studio recordings of current artists, most famously Omar Souleyman. Now they have another winner in Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band from Burkina Faso in West Africa. They’re a soulful, gritty, funky band, playing a variety of local rhythms with the forward thrust of Afrobeat and the attitude of rock ‘n’ roll. Baba Commandant has a gravelly voice that growls and moans like Howlin’ Wolf or Moussa Doumbia (the James Brown of Mali); his donso ngoni(West African hunters’ harp) playing provides the harmonic center for stinging guitar and saxophone solos that occasionally spiral out into space like free jazz and are brought back to earth by an in-the-pocket rhythm section of bass guitar and drum kit. Is this folk music, pop or jazz? Yes, it’s all of the above and then some. The recording is basic and spends more time in the red than a pro might recommend – it sounds just like they must sound in a sweaty little nightclub. This is the real sound of Africa today – don’t miss it.
TOP TRACKS:    1    3    5    6    8
ALSO RECOMMENDED:    2    4    7



14 January 2015

MARK GERGIS: RADIO VIETNAM - FULL LENGTH AUDIO CLIP

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES COMMUNIQUÈ

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES 

 PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA



http://www.sublimefrequencies.com

https://www.facebook.com/SUBLIMEFREQUENCIES


13 January 2015

NEW! FEBRUARY RELEASES NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER! BABA COMMANDANT AND THE MANDINGO BAND: JUGUYA / MARK GERGIS: RADIO VIETNAM / MUSIC OF TANZANIA: VA

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES COMMUNIQUÈ

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES 

 PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA



http://www.sublimefrequencies.com

https://www.facebook.com/SUBLIMEFREQUENCIES

NEW! FEBRUARY RELEASES 

NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!


 BABA COMMANDANT 

AND THE MANDINGO BAND:

 

JUGUYA

AVAILABLE ON CD AND LP

SF - 097 CD / SF - 097 LP


To hear Samples and to Pre-Oder from Forced Exposure (cd version): http://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/baba-commandant-and-the-mandingo-band-juguya-cd/SF.097CD.html

To hear Samples and to Pre-Oder from Forced Exposure (lp version): http://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/baba-commandant-and-the-mandingo-band-juguya-lp/SF.097LP.html




Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band are a contemporary group from Burkina Faso. Coming from Bobo-Dioulasso, the group is steeped in the Mandingue musical traditions of their ancestral legacy. The enigmatic lead singer Baba Commandant (Mamadou Sanou) is an original and eccentric character who is well respected in the Burkinabé musical community. A sort of punk Faso Dan Fani activist for traditional Mandingo music, Baba continues to redefine the boundaries between traditional and modern. In 1981, he joined the Koule Dafourou troupe as a dancer. Later, he embarked on his current musical direction as a singer, first inDounia and then in the Afromandingo Band. His current band -- when he's not playing with the now-famous Burkinabé musician Victor Démé -- is the Mandingo Band. At present, he is a practitioner of the Afrobeat style, drawing inspiration from the golden era of Nigerian music. Fela Kuti/Africa 70 and King Sunny Adé are big influences, as is the legendary Malian growler Moussa Doumbia. Baba Commandant plays the ngoni, the instrument of the Donso (the traditional hunters in this region of Burkina Faso and Mali). His audience comprises multiple generations and strata of Burkinabé society; he accordingly adapts his repertoire to his surroundings, which range from cabaret Sundays in Bobo-Dioulasso to the sound systems of Ouagadougou. Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band are a formidable force steeped in Ouagadougou's DIY underground musical culture.Juguya is their sound. Limited edition LP housed in a Stoughton tip-on sleeve.

NEW! FEBRUARY RELEASES 

NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!


MARK GERGIS: 

RADIO VIETNAM


SF - 095CD


To hear Samples and to Pre-Oder from Forced Exposure: http://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/gergis-mark-radio-vietnam-cd/SF.095CD.html



Radio is an audio compass; the radio antennae, a divining rod. Positioned anywhere, it opens an exclusive window directly into the location in which it sits. Signals received on the medium wave (AM) and FM bands reveal programming intended for a local population by governmental, independent, pirate, or corporate media broadcasters. Anything from low-powered ethnic minority transmissions, high-powered westernized pop stations, and omnipresent state-run radio can be found on these bands. Shortwave bands expand the breadth and scope, pulling in regional and international receptions. Everything received factors into the experience. Music, news, talk shows, advertisements, station IDs, cross-phased interference, errant or intentional static-generated sounds, distant detritus, and random broadcast anomalies all become equally relevant. This disc continues the Sublime Frequencies locale-specific radio collage series with Vietnamese radio recordings culled and assembled from signals received in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City between December 2013 and November 2014. Inside the 70-minute program are moments of outstanding folkloric, traditional, and pop music, including performances on the electric guitar and the dan bau (a one-stringed guitar-like instrument), eclectic Vietnamese folk and rock stylings, dramatic effects-laden radio theater and musical segues, new wave pop forays, traditional percussion and vocal chants, news segments, dynamic radio bumpers, jingles and advertisements, comedic interludes, phoned-in karaoke sing-a-longs, English-language programming, early-morning exercise regimens, and coded messages from the outer ether. The grand total sum of these radio recordings doesn't aim to present a certified ethnographic study of contemporary Vietnam. Rather, the material here aims to distill and replicate the excitement, engagement, and discovery gained during heavy exposure to Vietnamese broadcasts over an eleven-month period during the teenage years of the twenty-first century. CD comes in a beautiful digipak with full color images, a booklet, and liner notes by Mark Gergis, who recorded, compiled, sequenced, and produced the project for Sublime Frequencies on location in Vietnam.


NEW! FEBRUARY RELEASES 

NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!


MUSIC OF TANZANIA: VA

SF - 096LP


To hear Samples and to Pre-Oder from Forced Exposurehttp://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/va-music-of-tanzania-2lp/SF.096LP.html


Music of Tanzania is a spectacular collection of field recordings gathered by Laurent Jeanneau between December 1999 and March 2000. This debut volume of Sublime Frequencies' exploration of indigenous Tanzanian music compiles sacred and profane songs and dances of the Hadza, Datoga, and Makonde people. Highlights include stoned ecstatic dancing in a Hadza encampment; a drunken celebration of preteen sexual initiation from a Makonde fishing village; baboon imitations performed on the malimba; electrified Islamic trance percussion; and useful tips for amateur hyrax hunters. Many of these poignant, exhilarating performances come from dwindling minority groups whose way of life stretches back to the Stone Age, and who are capable of creating breathtaking music with anything from agricultural tools to tin cans and plastic tubes. Laurent Jeanneau is absolutely fearless in his pursuit of rare, exceptional and vibrant performances. He views his ongoing documentation of ethnic minority music as an act of resistance to globalization, state-sanctioned "peasant traditions," and cultural homogeneity, and accordingly spends months living under harsh and dangerous conditions in order to capture impromptu performances in their everyday cultural context. Using this method, Jeanneau has self-produced almost 100 albums preserving threatened musical traditions from some of the most remote regions on earth, in addition to compiling multiple volumes for Sublime Frequencies. This limited edition double LP tip-on gatefold package includes striking photographs by James Stephenson and detailed liner notes by Jeanneau.