Music can be a promiscuous art form, and a good musician will exploit all of its whorish tendencies. As genres evolve, they sleep around with different musical styles, take what they want and leave without calling the next morning. Few classifications are more worthy of the label “slut” than world music, that catch-all categorization for any style that combines the indigenous musical forms of different cultures. While that copy of Paul Simon’s Graceland you stole from your parents might still impress your roommate who thinks Dave Matthews is “far out,” here is a primer on some of the lesser-known engineers of musical hybridity that might strike your fancy.
Former Talking Head David Byrne’s crowning musical achievement was his marriage of American rock music with tribal African rhythms, epitomized in Remain in Light. Byrne wasn’t the first to do so, though owing much of his inspiration to the late Nigerian political activist Fela Kuti, better known as the father of Afrobeat. The genre he birthed was firmly grounded in traditional African polyrhythms, though it also incorporated the brassy elements of American jazz and funk. Fela spewed political dissidence in the form of egalitarian African chants, keeping the ass-shaking at a constant high with one of the tightest rhythm sections known to mankind. Start with “Zombie”, a scathing 12-minute diatribe against the Nigerian military that earned Fela an equally scathing beating from government officials.
Ali Farka Touré, another African luminary, synthesized traditional Malian music and American blues to concoct a genre known as African blues or desert blues. His guitar work earned him the nickname “the African John Lee Hooker,” though his sharp, rapid picking technique distinguishes him from any of the American bluesmen. Start with the graceful, stripped-down songs of his self-titled debut, before moving on to the more complex Savane, his second—and best—posthumous release.
In the 1960s and ‘70s, Ethiopia boasted one of the most vibrant music scenes you’ve never heard of. Alemayehu Eshete, for instance, earned the title of “the Ethiopian James Brown” with his sweaty rhythms, funk-laden guitar licks and loud cries of “huh!” On the mellower end of the spectrum, Mulatu Astatke pioneered the opium-laced grooves of Ethio-jazz, playing his saxophone with a slithering fluidity akin to that of a snake charmer. For an overview of the Ethiopian scene, check out the Ethiopiques compilation series. Volume nine chronicles Eshete’s work and volume four is devoted to Astatke.
Once you’ve collected each artist’s respective recordings, you’ll have the perfect soundtrack to a tribal dance party or a hazy chill-out session. Plus, these records make great gifts. Admit it—you really should buy your parents a Fela Kuti album to make up for that stolen copy of Graceland.
