It doesn’t happen everyday that online music platforms champion the cause of musicians, but Bandcamp has showed us, more than once, to be different from the vast majority of music platforms. Today (until 11.59PM Pacific Time), to support all the artists affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Oakland-based company will be waiving its revenue share on sales and redistributing 100% of sales profit to the artists.
Since we can’t bless enough every initiative that helps musicians, we also can’t avoid spreading the word about the Bandcamp’s COVID-19 fundraiser. So, we thought we would put together our own buyers’ guide and suggest to you some albums to support.
Check out our favourite albums of 2020 (only the ones available on Bandcamp) and join the campaign!
Italian electronic and global beats scenes’ best youths come together to support the Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome.
This is a particularly meaningful and momentous entry in our list, because it’s not only a well-needed spotlight pointing out the new vibes coming from Italy, but it is also a fundraiser campaign for one of the Italian hospitals most involved in the current battle against COVID-19.
The compilation gathers together some of the most up-and-coming acts and labels in the Italian dancy panorama, featuring 14 unreleased far-reaching tracks exposing the richness in ideas, grooves and beats that were igniting the dance floors across the peninsula before the coronavirus outbreak.
The fast paced and powerful music of Irreversible Entanglements is just what you need to get you through you those slower days. Politically charged, aggressive jazz that fuses melody and message to pure perfection. Led by Moor Mother, moments on the record recall her more experimental solo music, but don’t get it twisted: this is a jazz album, and one hell of a jazz album at that. (Alex Fox)
Hamish Napier’s series of gentle Scottish folk albums has resulted in The Woods, a musical journey through Anagach Woods in Grantown. After playing an exciting set at Celtic Connections, this is an album that has been on my ‘look out for list’. The album is inspired by woods local to where Napier grew up, and throughout the album you can hear the fiddle fluttering like highland birds and the pipes groaning like trees in northern winds. (Alex Fox)
The music industry may seem a little shaky at the moment, but DIY is alive and well. Portland’s Sahel Sounds has come up with an ingenious series Music from Saharan WhatsApp, which does exactly what it says on the tin: a monthly release recorded on a mobile phone, fired off across WhatsApp, and uploaded to Bandcamp.
Part 3 presents a fine selection of Mauritanian WZN riffs played by Jeich Ould Badou on tidnit and Boss DR-770 drum machine ready to transport you to the souks and squares of Nouakchott. Looking for an antidote to panic buying and rationing? Try some of this! (Eero Holi)
Hailu Mergia reminds us why it is important to look away from London for some truly mesmerising contemporary Jazz. Hailing from Ethiopia, he reminds us why we turn, time and time again, to the African continent for musical inspiration. With all the talk of the British Jazz scene, all one must do is listen to Mergia’s back catalogue and upcoming album to realise that he was breaking these frontiers all along. Pre order Yene Mircha this Friday or pick up some of his back catalogue for something to listen to while isolating! (Chloë Cochran)
The London based all female group consisting of Alba Cabral, Béa Shantifa, Lizzie Ogle and Tuca Milan have created an album that is charming and simmering with energy. A beautiful take on folk and Afro-Brazilian music with a London flair that not only has deep appreciation for the music they are influenced by in Brazil, but also for the other influences from the band, which breathe life into the music. (Xi-mali Kadeena-Guscoth)
Always had a soft spot for visionary talents like Spoek Mathambo, whom year after year, album after album and side-project after side-project has grown into one of the most brilliant musical daydreamers of the prolific South African music scene.
The man behind TEKA music has just released a sequel to Mzansi Beat Code. With Tales from the Lost Cities, he doesn’t make any compromise about his country’s state of affairs. He hits – and hits hard – at the powers-that-be, by employing plain-spoken lyrics and a renewed passion for hip-hop rhymes and beats. (Marco Canepari)
We didn’t have to go too far into 2020 to find one of the best albums of the year. In Search Of The Lost City Of The Monkey God is 40 minutes of pure groove. Inspired by Mulatu Astatke as much as 1970s psychedelia, the second album of Leeds-based The Sorcerers is a misty and atmospheric instrumental voyage to the bottom of jazz, funk and soul. (Marco Canepari)
Sao Tomé & Principe might not boast the most hyped music scene in Africa, but still the island nation sitting in the Gulf of Guinea a few miles from the Equator has an incredible and almost unspoiled music heritage uniting the dot between the Lusophone repertoire and the West African one.
Thanks to the research work done by DJ Tom B. and behind the scenes efforts of Les Disques Bongo Joe, you can revel in the lush islands’ vibes and discover how they resonate between the 1970s and ‘80s. The French DJ and Swiss label have indeed put together a 16-track compilation brimming with far-reaching influences from Cape Verdean coladeira to Nigerian afrobeat, from Ghanaian highlife to Angolan semba, and from Congolese soukous to across the ocean Brazilian and Caribbean feelings. (Marco Canepari)
Two albums unfolding the present and future of gnawa. Simo Lagnawi’s Afrika Soyo and Cheb Runner’s Tagnawit are two close, yet very different perspectives of the 800-year old African tradition.
Their authors, who both come from the region where gnawa originated, are at the same time, bas
ed miles away from it. They are both dedicated torchbearers for the entrancing music and at the same time, inspired experime
nters in their very own way.
If Simo Lagnawi transposes gnawa imaginary and relentless rhythms to London and the UK, widening his musical horizons with a blend of Pan-African and global influences, Cheb Runner conjugates gnawa in the future tense and boosts up his roots with techno and house.
Still, both Afrika Soyo and Tagnawit feature all the quintessential elements characterizing African music, from the emphatic sound-defining guembri lines, to incessant krakebs and handclaps, from vigorous tbel beats to calabash energic pace. (Marco Canepari)
We are all in desperate need of some dancy and uplifting vibes in these times. So, there’s no better treatment for the widespread blues than an energetic and upbeat album that will (sadly only mentally) transport you directly onto the dancefloor.
Onipa (Kweku from K.O.G. & the Zongo Brigade, Nubiyan Twists’s Tom Excell and Finn Both, and Wonky Logic) have what it takes. They finally released their debut album titled We No Be Machine, on Strut Records, and are here to juice up your quarantine and self-isolation days with a full load of afro-grooves and Pan-African rhythms. (Marco Canepari)
The heart-warming sound of marimba! Guess you weren’t used to listening to albums entirely focussed on the marimba, and arguably even less accustomed to such a punk and exciting way to play it. But Son Rompe Pera is here to strike you with awe as much as they energetically strike the marimba’s bars.
Batuco, the debut album of the Mexico City quintet, is one of the most exciting releases of 2020. They are able to blend together traditional melodies of Latin American folk with smooth cumbia rhythms, punk aggressive drive and even rockabilly rowdy attitude. All led by the marimba and its innate expressiveness. (Marco Canepari)
It might be titled Continuation, but the third album of Collocutor released by On the Corner Records at the end of February, moves on different tracks to its predecessors. Not too faraway or discordant, still parallel but not coincident.
In Continuation, Tamar Osborn and her ensemble fully embrace spiritual and modal jazz but outpace and almost overcome them at the same time. The album is indeed animated by more vivid and glowing feelings: each member of the quintet enjoys and makes full use of the additional musical breadth and space they granted themselves, setting free and fully expressing their creativity. (Marco Canepari)
You must fully own and belong to a tradition to rework and reshape it with the due respect. Lina and Raül Refree succeed in the arduous task to “give a face lift” to fado and its repertoire deep-rooted in the Portuguese tradition.
The duo formed by one of the most inventive Spanish producers and guitar players (Raül Referee) and talented Portuguese singer and Amalia Rodrigues’ devotee (Lina) have achieved their original aim to “do something different with fado”. They paid tribute and at the same time, transcended the Portuguese style’s strict borders, transposing Amalia Rodrigues’ timeless songs to the present and possibly future days, through distorted arrangements, protracted notes, sudden noise explosions and abrupt silences. (Marco Canepari)
Portuguese producer of Cape Verdean descent, DJ Doraemon is one of the rising names of Lisbon’s innovative music scene. Following the footprints left before him by producers like DJ Nigga Fox and many others, DJ Doramon’s music is an explosion of complex and relentless rhythms – tracing back to the dance tradition of his native land – mixed with heavy electronic beats, row basslines and funky voices. Dressed with a creative use of samples – the bird chirp in “Tayla” is a perfect example – these nine powerful and bouncy bangers are perfect for the dance floor lovers, be them DJs or clubbers. (Stefania Vulpi)
An explosion of sound and compositional courage, Musica Infinita is a re-press of the 1978 original release by Mexican drummer and composer Tino Contreras, who was discovered by the world music selector Gilles Peterson. It’s an ecstatic voyage into Mexico City’s 70s psychedelia, evidently grounded in jazz but enriched with daring musical experimentation, such as strident string sounds, lyrical singing and polyrhythmic percussion breaks. Creative, visceral and explosive – a nice little gem for your own personal joy. (Stefania Vulpi)
On Friday the 2nd of September, we officially launched Arsenal of Sounds, a year-long music series happening every first Friday of the month at Woolwich Works organised by Rhythm Passport with the support of Arts Council England. …and we did it in style, hosting two bands enriching, diversifying and jazzing up the London music…
Artists: Let Drum Beat , Malphino
Sunsets, swimming and sound systems. Tropical Pressure, set on a cliff on the coast of Cornwall, returned after a covid hiatus in full blossom. This year the ecologically ethical festival managed to supply a wholesome, colourful and conscious curation of diverse music celebrating many musical traditions. Spread out across 4…
Artists: Bcuc , CubAfrobeat , Dele Sosimi , DJ FIFI , Hailu Mergia , Kiko Bun , Kishon Khan , La Cumbia Chicharra , Matondology , Mulele Matondo , Prince Fatty , Stunflower , The Mauskovic Dance Band , Village Cuts , Yeamanjo
Download this exclusive FREE Rhythm Passport album TODAY! Preview of the album: This Album is no longer available however if you want to receive exclusive access to a free album like this each month just sign up to our monthly newsletter by filling in the form below: Holiday season might be…
Artists: Alina Maldonado , Captain Planet , Golden Hornet , Jambada , Let Drum Beat , Malphino , Mitchum Yacoub , Nim Sadot , Ray Perez y El Grupo Casabe , Russo Passapusso , Sidi Wacho , Waggles , Zuzuka Poderosa
After a 3 year wait, and returning on its 40th anniversary, to say there was anticipation around Womad ’22 would be a vast understatement. The line-up played it safe in some respects, with old favourites looming large; but there were bright spots of new musical energy, hungrily met by pent-up…
Artists: Al-Qasar , Alostmen , Bab L’Bluz , Bcuc , Comorian , Electric Jalaba , Fantastic Negrito , Folknery , Fulu Miziki Kolektiv , Gwenifer Raymond , K.o.g. , Osibisa , Peter Gabriel , Simo Lagnawi , Son Rompe Pera , The Mauskovic Dance Band , Yazz Ahmed
The countdown has officially started… in two months’ time, the 2022 edition of Womex will get underway to spread the sounds, words and images of the world-music world throughout Lisbon. After a thoroughly successful experience in Porto last year, the Worldwide Music Expo is indeed going to be back to…
Artists: Afrotronix , Aguamadera , Al Bilali Soudan , Alicia Edelweiss , Alligatorz , Ana Lua Caiano , AUNTY RAYZOR , Aywa , Bia Ferreira , Brenda Navarrete , Dani Larkin , Daniel Herskedal , Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek , Djazia Satour , Djely Tapa , Duarte , Duo Ruut , Etuk Ubong , Firas Zreik , Fra! , groove& , Israel Fernández , Karyna Gomes , Khalil EPI , La Brigida Orquesta , La Mambanegra , Les Mécanos , Lia de Itamaraca , Mark Eliyahu , Ngulmiya , Pedro Joia , Pilani Bubu , Poil , Sara Correia , Savan , Selma Uamusse , Sheila Patricia , Son Rompe Pera , Startijenn , Tęgie Chłopy , The Dizzy Brains , Tito Paris , Windborne
Out Of Africa – An in-depth trip throughout world music and global beats from an African perspective!! As an intro for this show, we kick off with Cochemea (“All My Relations”) …we then travel to the blues by the Bongo Ikwe, from Nigeria…as some say, the blues came from Africa,…
Artists: Alton Ellis , Americo Gazaway , Augustus Pablo , Bongos Ikwue , Cochemea , Cornell Campbell , George Clinton , Hot 8 Brass Band , Hugh Masekela , Kokolo Afrobeat Orchestra , Lwanda Gogwanda , Michael Wimberly , Nithin Sawney , Rocky Marsiano , Songhoy Blues , The Sorcerers , Toshio Matsuura Group , Yoruba Soul Mix
About time! We have grown so fond of Son Rompe Pera and their marimba-driven incendiary mixture of cumbia and punk that we were almost planning a trip to Mexico City to enjoy one of their live shows. But, luckily, the music lovers at Womad and Movimientos might have read our…
Artists: Son Rompe Pera
A world of music, arts and dance awaits at the world’s festival this year. Charlton Park will once again be visited by artists and performers from round the globe, for an extra special celebration in honour of the festival’s 40th birthday. Six stages will host over 150 acts across the…
Artists: Abel Selaocoe , Angelique Kidjo , Bab L’Bluz , Barmer Boys , Electric Jalaba , Fantastic Negrito , Fatoumata Diawara , Fulu Miziki , Gilberto Gil , Greentea Peng , Joji Hirota , Kae Tempest , Nihiloxica , Nitin Sawhney , Pauline Black , Son Rompe Pera , Taxi Kebab , The Flaming Lips , The Mauskovic Dance Band
Friday 4th of November at Woolwich Works will be all about the Mediterranean rhythmic connection! From the thrum of the tamburello to the clacking of the qraqab, there’s a hidden rhythmical fil-rouge that links the apparently worlds’ apart of pizzica and gnawa. We are going to pull it out, unfold…
Artists: Amaraterra , Gnawa London , Simo Lagnawi , Simo Lagnawi And Gnawa London
Rhythm Passport holders, welcome on board! Despite delays and cancellations, our monthly round-the-world music flight is perfectly on time and ready to take off from RTM.FM So, sit back, relax and enjoy the ninth episode of Rhythm Passport Presents This month we are going to move in the opposite direction,…
Artists: Anadol , AVUA , Bad Bunny , Biga*Ranx , Bocafloja , Cable Street Collective , David Walters , Djam Neguin , Etyen , Ezra Collective , Ferkat Al Ard , Fleur! , Flox , Ghetto Kumbe , Havana Meets Kingston , Kaleema , KMRU , Maia Barouh , Martin Boder , Prisma , Raz and Afla , Salwa Jaradat , Son Rompe Pera , Tamada , TE KAAHU , The Koreatown Oddity , The Super 20 , Thus Owls , Tiken Jah Fakoly , Tinariwen , Vito-Lalinga , WEMA , Wesli
This year, we decided to have a different go at the usual end of the year list. Thanks to RTM.FM and Taco!, we could change the medium and move from written words to on-air ones… Our first podcast of 2022 and third Rhythm Passport Presents… features a “best albums of…
Artists: Abdul And The Gang , Arooj Aftab , Baianasystem , Balimaya Project , Bareto , Bejuco , Blue Lab Beats , Cochemea , Combo Chimbita , dal:um , Farhot , Giacomo Sferlazzo , Go Dugong , Guedra Guedra , Hailu Mergia , Imed Alibi , Joao Selva , K.o.g. , Khalil EPI , Little Simz , Moor Mother , Oliver Nayoka , Tanya Tagaq , Urban Village , Xenia Rubinos , Zohra
Rhythm Passport holders, welcome to a new round-the-world journey to discover some of the freshest tunes coming from the four corners of the world… In the second episode of Rhythm Passport Present, in collaboration with Thamesmead-based radio RTM.FM, we set things in motion in Japan and in around two hours’ time…
Artists: Anthony Joseph , Carthnage , CIMAFUNK , CK Mann Big Band , Cumbiasound , Dat Garcia , Dj Farrapo , Dubamix , Emmanuel Jal , Etran de L'Air , Franz Von , Go Dugong , Ibeyi , Ìfé , Joe Driscoll & Seckou Kouyate , Kaleema , Kifu Mitsuhashi , Kiko Villamizar , Kiyoshi Yamaya , M.anifest , Mulele Matondo Afrika , Oké , Park Jiha , Sho Madjozi , Small Island Big Song , Spoek Mathambo , Walaa Sbait
Nightshop for November via Radio Campus Bxl and shared on Rhythm Passport & Groovalizacion Radio with +3 hours of new global sounds. 3 songs of the day via Angola, Lebanon and Colombia (La Perla). Our albums of the month take us to Mali via mandinke guitar strings of Boubara Badian…
Artists: Atongo Zimba , Bachar Mar-Khalifé , Boubacar Badian Diabate , Deli Teli , DJ Abbas , Irreversible Entanglements , La Perla , Los Kamer , Luca Ferraris , Machance , Maiuka , Monsieur Doumani , Nidia Gongora , Obeka , On Our Own Clock , PT Musik , Quantic , Susobrino
This week The Selenites Band takes us Behind the Mask to discover their original compositions where Ethiopian music of “Swinging Addis” encounter kraütrock, psychedelic music and afro-jazz, made in France. We also discover more tracks from the second Global Afrobeat Movement compilation, out on NYP Records, including He K Tombe from…
Artists: Azmari , Haitch , He K Tombe , IKOQWE , K'boko , Makala , Nihiloxica , Protassov , Rhabdomantic Orchestra , Spoek Mathambo , The Selenites Band
Nightshop show for April ’21 for Radio Campus Bxl & Rhythm Passport with 3 hours of new global sounds. 3 songs of the day; semba by Joãozinho Morgado (Turma da Bênção), Persian hip-hop jazz by Roforofo Jazz and Colombian tropical artists Abelardo Carbono & Meridian Brothers. Our albums of the…
Artists: Abelardo Carbono , Ahmed Ben Ali , Ayuune Sule , Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble , DJ Black Low , Joãozinho Morgado , Meridian Brothers , Omar Sosa , Roforofo Jazz , Simo Lagnawi , Stella Chiweshe
‘Nefas New Zemedie’ is extracted from a “newly unearthed” album by Hailu Mergia out in early June on Awesome Tapes From Africa. “Tezeta is the first full length album by The Walias Band recorded and released in 1975 by the band’s own label […] Sourced by Awesome Tapes From Africa…
Artists: Hailu Mergia , The Walias Band
This Corona stuff really sucks ey! Since we might all be bound by borders for a while, we’d like to come together and share some happiness in the shape of a playlist or mix! In the next days and weeks, check out Safe & Sounds, where we will figuratively introduce you…
Artists: Safe and Sounds , Spoek Mathambo
During this month of March, the fourth edition of Black History Month Belgium will be taking place through virtual performances at AB & many other venues, including Belgian-Ghanian multi-instrumentalist Esinam and the Afropean slammer Badi. Check blackhistorymonth.be for the full programme. Radio Mukambo offers you Afro-grooves all year long, but…
Artists: Badi , Baloji , Bantu , Big Gad , Boddhi Satva , Daniel Dzidzonu , Eparapo , Esinam , FTP , Joey Le Soldat , Jupiter , King Ayisoba , Leeroy , London Afrobeat Collective , Max le Daron , Omar Perry , Spoek Mathambo , T'challa
Hard to believe that such a dire and dramatic year could inspire such an abundance of remarkable albums. Or maybe, on the contrary, the multitude of emotions sparked by the pandemic and our new life’s circumstances might have been the main reasons why musicians were able to write, record and…
Artists: AKKAN , Al Breadwinner , Bab L’Bluz , Chouk Bwa , Clap! Clap! , Derek Gripper , DUMA , Hugh Masekela , Khruangbin , Let Drum Beat , Nat Birchall , ONIPA , Santrofi , Son Rompe Pera , Songhoy Blues , Spoek Mathambo , The Ångströmers , The Sorcerers , Thundercat , Tony Alln
Have fun with us at A Mid-Summer Evening’s Live Stream. On the Rhythm Passport and Movimientos pages, we will be ringing up the curtain on talented female singer-songwriters and zigzagging across the Brazilian-Venezuelan musical border with traditional, contemporary and far-ranging tunes. Throughout the event, we will have the pleasure to…
Artists: Colectivo Futuro , Dj Amarall , Let Drum Beat , Luzmira Zerpa , Miguel Colmenares
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