Global Grooves -- Recently Added  

Revolutionary work from one of the most important talents you never heard of -- 2 jazz/world classics from the amazing Ahmed Abdul-Malik! The CD begins with The Music Of Ahmed Abdul Malik from 1961 -- a record that has the bassist working in a very sophisticated cross-cultural mode -- pulling... read more

An amazing array of Afro Funk from the legendary Tony Allen -- 4 of his greatest albums ever, packaged together in a single set! The work here was all recorded hot on the heels of Tony's key years with Fela Kuti -- and shares a very similar approach to the groove -- long, stretched out passages... read more

Haunting vocal work from the republic of Georgia -- choral recordings that remind us a lot of the famous Bulgarian voices sides that circulated decades back -- but with a male-based membership that makes for a deeper sound overall! The CD's one of the first in a line of new ethnographic recordings... read more

A seminal bit of funky Afrojazz from the DC scene of the 70s! The album features work by percussionist Okyerema Asante, and also includes sax work by Plunky Nakabinde -- best known as the leader of the group Oneness Of Juju. Plunky's influence can really be felt strongly on the set -- and the... read more

Funky African work from Fred Fisher -- a Nigerian trombonist who crafted his own unique groove at the end of the 70s! Fred both sings and plays trombone -- the latter with a Fred Wesley-like soulfulness -- and his rhythms here are really wide-ranging, and embrace a host of new styles coming into... read more

A great album that Roy Ayers cut after his co-led record with Fela Kuti -- and one with the same sort of hard-driving Afro-Funk grooves that you'd find in Fela's classic recordings! The songs are shorter than Fela's, and with more of Roy's usual smooth jazzy production style -- but the overall... read more

One of the jazziest bits of Afro Funk we've heard in a long time -- thanks to some excellent work on piano and keyboards by group leader Funsho Ogundipe! Funsho's not content to just copy some Fela-inspired groove -- and although there's definitely a skittish sense of Nigerian rhythms in these... read more

Balkan Beats galore -- a sweet set of remixes handled by Nickodemus, Dub Gabriel, and others -- all in a mode that follows strongly in the spirit and strengths of the originals! As with the core BBB grooves, the rhythms here are pretty contemporary, but the instrumentation carries echoes of older... read more

One of the hippest groups of the Nigerian scene of the 70s -- presented here in two classic albums, back to back on a single CD! Chapter One is a landmark set of African grooves -- very unusual in both conception and execution -- with a feel that's unlike anything we can think of! There's... read more

How this burningly bad set has remained under wraps for so long is beyond us, but thanks to the folks at Honest Jon's, it's been brought to the much needed light of day! An excellent set collecting work from throughout the career of Cedric Im Brooks, spanning a wide assortment of styles, but all... read more

A killer blend of African roots and American rhythms -- and a set that definitely lives up to the disco promised in the title! Buari's working here with a host of New York musicians -- jazzy players who include Randy Brecker and Jon Faddis on trumpet, Barry Rogers on trombone, and Michael Brecker... read more

A really wild little album -- and exactly what it says in the title: hard rock from the Middle East! The album takes eastern instrumentation on oud, bouzoki, tamboura, and accordion -- and fuses it with some hard grooving bass, guitar, and drums -- all hitting heavy late 60s acid-tinged modes,... read more

An incredible record -- even if it was a worldwide hit! Before this one came out, Manu was a funky sax player grooving away in Cameroun, cutting tight but obscure soulful sides. In 1972, though, he exploded with the track "Soul Makossa" -- a choppy hard-riffing number that blew up on... read more

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A great little Fela compilation of some of the Black President's most iconic material! This 2CD set features Fela's classic mid 70s recordings - with some of them edited down to shorter takes than the extended ones that appear on the full LPs, or "part 2" versions, but the track on the... read more

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A groundbreaking set of work from the team of Jef Gilson and Hal Singer -- a uniquely cross-cultural session recorded in the Paris scene of the 70s, and easily some of the best work ever from both musicians! Singer's probably best remembered on these shores for his older R&B tenor work of the... read more

One of the wildest albums on the Sublime Frequencies label -- really amazing music by a West Saharan group -- one that features some of the most incredible guitar you'll ever hear! The music is all of recent vintage, recorded especially for this CD project -- and the tunes have some incredibly... read more

One of the two albums issued in the US by Ice, also known as the Lafayette Afro Rock Band. As you probably know from the compilations on the group, the material by Ice is a bit more up-tempo than some of the slower Afro Funk material by the band -- but it's also still got a lot of their same... read more

One of the most roosty albums on Blue Note -- and a fairly straight session of African percussion tracks by Solomon Ilori and his Afro Drum Ensemble. Unlike similar albums by Art Blakey, this one lacks any strong sort of jazz component -- and really just features fairly straight African tracks,... read more

The first album by the group that later went on to become Oneness Of Juju! The album was recorded with a group that featured Plunky Nakabinde and Lon Moshe on reeds and percussion -- plus Babatunde on congas and drums -- and the overall sound is very much in kind of an Art Ensemble Of Chicago mode... read more

An incredible double pack of African Funk -- featuring 2 albums' worth of material by the legendary Orlando Julius! Julius was one of Nigeria's biggest soul artists in the 60s -- and has been credited with virtually inventing the Afro Funk sound, and for being the inspiration to some of James... read more

A group with a sound like no other -- one that features home-made electronics and amplification, and an array of highly-percussive instrumentation that includes thumb pianos, megaphones, microphones, and old car parts! Konono's been making this music for the past 25 years -- working in the suburbs... read more

Mid 70s material by Erkin Koray -- hypnotic melodies, leftfield elements and psychedelia soaked grooves from Turkey! The Turkish and other points Middle Eastern sounds are in effect, with resonant strings and great percussion, but Koray cross cultural elements of folk, rock, bits of funk and... read more

Excellent mid 70s work from one of the hippest dudes in Turkey -- guitarist Erik Koray, a player who had a wonderful talent for mixing together a range of cross-cultural influences! The style here is a lot more sophisticated than that of Koray's first album -- in a mode that shakes off some of the... read more

A global funk gem from Lightning Head, aka Glyn "Bigga" Bush of Rockers Hi Fi -- an artist who takes a surprising, truly funky, and wholly credible left turn into Afrobeat! Lightning Head doesn't forsake the electro grooves of earlier work so much as steep it very heavily in organic... read more

A global funk gem from Lightning Head, aka Glyn "Bigga" Bush of Rockers Hi Fi -- an artist who takes a surprising, truly funky, and wholly credible left turn into Afrobeat! Lightning Head doesn't forsake the electro grooves of earlier work so much as steep it very heavily in organic... read more

Killer salsa work from Peru -- rare albums from Mag Records by Los Kintos & Sonora Nelson Ferreyra -- on a single CD! We haven't seen a heck of lot of compilations of material from the Peruvian salsa scene of the 60s & 70s, and this set has tightly grooving material -- loads of wonderful... read more

Plenty of drum magic here -- a highly rhythmic outing that's built from the talents of a battery of great percussionists, working without any other instrumentation at all! There's a romping, funky sensibility to the music on most numbers -- drums and percussion handling not just the grooves, but... read more

Hugh's first album for Uni -- and one that really lets him open up his groove! The record moves way past the short trumpet instrumental sound of earlier albums -- into a complex groove that mixes Afro soul, LA funk, and loads of nice jazzy bits! The record's got a sound that's nicely messed up --... read more

Massively wonderful work from the mighty Hugh Masekela -- easily one of his hippest, most soulful sessions ever! This double-length gem really has Hugh letting go -- moving way beyond the pop modes of the late 60s, into a long-flowing, open-rolling groove that's played by a spare quintet lineup... read more

Heady work from the Ngozi Family -- a Zambian rock band that was the first to be dubbed as "Zamrock" -- a cool fusion of older African rhythms and 70s rockish modes -- never too polished, but with a tightness that might have made Anglo groups up in London sit up and take notice! The... read more

An Afro Funk treasure from the 70s -- a rare album recorded by Pax Nicholas, a singer and percussionist who was part of Fela's legendary Africa 70 band! The album's got a sound that definitely echoes that heritage, but with a groove that's pretty weird too -- more stripped down than most of Fela's... read more

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The second volume of rare Afrofunk from Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou from Analog Africa -- a killer set of material recorded at EMI Studios in Lagos, Nigeria for the Albarika Store label -- impeccable sounding and feverishly played by the group! This one's fairly jaw dropping, catching us off... read more

One of the most incredible African collections we've ever heard -- almost more amazing than the African Scream Contest set from the same label! The package focuses on work by Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo De Cotonou -- a group who really live up to their name, by bringing in a host of complicated rhythms... read more

Brilliant work from two of the most dynamic artists of the past few decades -- coming together here in a really boundary-pushing set of music! Tony Allen got his start with Fela, but has moved on to do some mindblowing work on his own in recent years -- music that really moves far beyond the... read more

Trippy rock from the three Hurel brothers of Turkey -- a fuzzed-up, freaked-out trio that comes off with some great psychedelic touches! The sound here is a great blending of modes -- similar to some of the other Turkish rock from the time that merged electric guitar with folkloric inspirations --... read more

One of the coolest Afro Funk groups of the 70s -- and an outfit who definitely earn the "poly rhythmic" in their name! TP Orchestre have a jagged, jaunty sound that's totally great -- really playfully rhythmic, in a way that breaks from the mold of most of their 70s contemporaries on the... read more

A heady brew of guitar-driven numbers from Sir Victor Uwaito -- a key force in the Nigerian music scene for many years, and an instrumentalist with a really mindblowing sound! Some of these tracks have Victor playing a weird double-necked guitar, others a straighter version of the electric... read more

Yes!! It's as if the folks at Honest Jon's have unearthed a great lost Fela session, and for all intents and purposes, they have! Mr Big Mouth is a session written and led by trumpeter Tunde Williams, a mainstay in Fela's group for many years and one of the most distinctive voices in the horn... read more

A long-overdue collection of work -- one that really gets at the unusual appearance of Latin rhythms on the African scene of the postwar years! Latin sounds from Africa are nothing new, but they're one of those things that's always taken for granted, too -- kind of assumed in most discussions of... read more

One of the coolest African collections we've seen in years -- a beautiful assortment of untapped grooves from the 70s, put together with a massive booklet that sets a whole new standard in packaging! The grooves here are different from other Afro Funk collections of the time -- definitely more in... read more

A great collection of tracks -- even if it does suffer from the same sort of embarassing postcolonial colonialism that tinges most of the other Luaka Bop compilations. But once you get past that, the music's pretty darn great -- and the set does a very valuable job of unearthing lost funky and... read more

Get ready to discover a whole new realm of African Funk -- because this collection digs deeper than any we've ever had before! The mighty Soundway Records have come up with a blistering batch of grooves that push way past the bigger hits on the global scene -- to the real roots of the Afro Funk... read more

A cool collection of funky grooves from the Caribbean -- tracks that take a strong influence from American soul and funk, then blend it heavily with hip rhythms from the islands! A few of the names here are familiar, but most are relatively obscure -- and put together, the tunes on the set... read more

Fuzzy, r&b fueled, raw and rocking garage numbers from late 60s Africa -- with Nuggets style jams, surf rock styled numbers, psyche gems, and pulpy soul from Angola, Ghana, Mozambique, Madagascar and more! The sets a real eye opener, to say the least -- and on top of being an excellent... read more

A compilation of Ghana music like we've never seen before -- and straight up beautifully put together by Soundway -- 70s sounds that fused regional traditions with boundary free soul, rhythm & blues, and rock! Ghana in the 1970s was in a transition from a more prosperous, and less militarily... read more

Weird and wonderful sounds from India -- Konkani music with its roots in the state of Goa, filtered through a range of modern influences from the recording scene of Bombay! The sounds here are quite different than more familiar Indian modes you might know from sitar records or Bollywood... read more

A stellar batch of Afro funk and native groove from Lagos! Strains of western funk and soulful sounds work their way into the material -- thanks again to Fela's mighty influence -- but there's a lot more to it! Simmering along with the Afro funk and soul are some truly riveting native folk sounds... read more

An incredible batch of African funk and heavily percussive groove -- featuring a varied, yet cohesive selection of tunes that run deeper than most compilations! Lagos Chop Up manages to work a little bit of magic in its overall consistency -- the tracklist features tunes from the mid 60s all the... read more

Brilliant work from Benin -- an ear-opening compilation that's filled with wonderful grooves we've never heard before! The rhythms are unusual, instrumentation hypnotic, and vocals really offbeat -- making the whole thing sound very different than more familiar African work we've stocked --... read more

Like so many other Caribbean nations, Trinidad had a large emigrant populace in London, who'd brought their musical traditions with them. This set, highlighting calypso numbers recorded in England in the early 50s, is filled with the sort of bouncey, good time numbers that helped bring the music... read more

The 4th entry in the amazing London Is The Place for me -- a seemingly endless collection of some incredible work from the postwar post-colonial years in the UK! As with other volumes, there's an array of Carribean and African influences at work here -- often highly rhythmic and performed with... read more

A great follow-up to the first volume in this series -- and one that shows the evolution of the Spanish groove in great ways since the 70s! The last collection featured older work, but this one's almost all contemporary -- yet most of the groups here more than live up to the funk promised in the... read more

One of the coolest compilations we've seen so far on Mississippi Records -- a set that almost pushes them into the territory covered by Honest Jons with some of their vintage EMI collections! The package documents a lost history of Greek music -- work recorded from the mid 20s through mid 40s --... read more

An incredible musical discovery -- and some really mindblowing grooves from a previously untapped source! As the title implies, Panama's a real crossroads of musical styles -- bits of Latin, funk, and other Caribbean influences -- all simmering together in the hot sun of the Isthmus, cooking up in... read more

A second heavy dose of sounds from the Panamanian scene of the 60s and 70s -- a long-overdue companion to the previous volume of the series on Soundway, filled with rare gems that are finally getting their first exposure to the world outside the isthmus! The sounds here are completely fresh --... read more

A sprawling set of tropical grooves from Panama, and the third in the series from Soundway -- compiled by Roberto Gyemant and Miles Cleret, with a little help for this set from Will Holland, aka Quantic -- as soulful and brilliant as it is essential! These rare recordings blend cultural styles... read more

The Republic Of Afro Beat keeps on pushing further into the global scene -- breaking down borders in a rich new revival of older African modes -- showcased here in a range of great grooves from around the world! The package follows on the other two entries in the series -- and like those gems,... read more

A huge batch of Peruvian rock from the late 60s & early 70s -- some hard driving and garagey, others more soulful or more psychedelic -- fantastic stuff from groups like Los Incognitos, Los Texao, Madera Fresca, Free Love System and Opus! The groups work in a number of global rock influences,... read more

A bit more than a Rough Guide, if you ask us -- actually a great little set that capable shows the range of Afrobeat and funk in a new generation -- featuring tracks by Souljazz Orchestra, Tony Allen, Kaleta & Zozo Afrobeat, Afrodizz and more! Compiled by Pablo "DJ Bongohead"... read more

Gritty, garage grooves and organ, guitar and percussion rich numbers from several mid 60s Thai combos -- revolving around industrious singer (although these numbers are mostly instrumental) and ringleader Payong "PM" Mukda! The pulpy groovers are top notch, mostly done with a small combo... read more

Wild grooves from Thailand with more than a little bit of soul and funk -- but a real kaleidoscope of pop sounds -- blending influences with a global reach that's really catchy & groovy all the way! There are more touches of psychedelia and otherwise bright and colorful sounds than you might... read more

Amazing grooves from the Lollywood scene of the 70s -- the Pakistani equivalent of the films coming out of India's Bollywood at the time! The grooves here are often quite different than what you might hear from Bollywood -- still touched with an Eastern, exotic sensibility (at least to our Western... read more

A collection of tracks that amount to some of incredibly deep audio archaeology -- a wonderful, consciousness wakening collection of globe spanning 78s from the first half of the 20th Century -- all from the darkest corners of the EMI Vaults! Honest Jons does an impressive job of collecting... read more

Driving rhythms, rave-up guitar licks, groovy mod organ and proto-psychedelic guitar -- from 60s Thailand! The Thai Beat series shines a warm light on the rare rock from "the Land of Smile" -- and it's a worthy endeavor! The freewheelin' sunshine 60s groove stretched all across the... read more

A very weird little collection -- a bit short on notes, but done with a wonderful packaging job that includes a hand-stitched bag, a special poster, and a limited, numbered pressing! The music here is supposedly all from the Thai scene -- and is often as funky as the title would imply, and with... read more

A really mind-bending collection of African grooves -- one that digs deep into the West African scene of the early 70s -- and comes up with a massive batch of tunes that really opens up our understanding of the music! The sound here isn't just 70s Afro Funk -- as the tunes include a range of... read more