The fear across the world that Trump’s ‘extreme vetting’ executive order was a poorly conceived smokescreen to appease an angry, xenophobic minority have been proved once again. After the US consulate initially granted visas to Yussef, Ahmad and Kareem Dayes, they have now been revoked. Between them, they make up...
All posts by Byron Biroli
The Grammy award winning group Konono No. 1 was formed in Congo in the late 1960s. Their distinctive sound is driven by three likembas (bass, medium and treble thumb pianos). What separates them from so many traditional acts is the rudimentary, homemade amplification of the likembas. This sound is also known...
More like The Brother from planet Niburu… The Brother Moves On begun their Jazz Café headline show with a spoken word tale from outer space. In their opening tune their spandex and war paint was juxtaposed with sumptuous five-part, male vocal harmonies taken straight from the post-colonial South African choral...
South African performance art ensemble, The Brother Moves On, bring their progressive afro-rock show to London Jazz Café. If Sun Ra was an indie kid born in a post-apartheid Johannesburg suburb, he would be in The Brother Moves On. These guys are conceptual artists whose line up and shows are...
Uganda, in east Africa, is also known as ‘The Pearl of Africa’. The three day Nyege Nyege festival, this year on September 2nd-4th, is establishing itself as the new African home of global bass and contemporary world music. Set in the lush, tropical environs of Jinja town, near the source...
A sold out Oslo was treated to a reincarnated Yeasayer, complete with their unmistakable lush harmonies, jangly guitars and New York swagger. It was their second album, the 2010 Secretly Canadian and Mute Records release, Odd Blood, that bought Yeasayer to the world’s attention, when they enjoyed much hype including...
Headliner Clap! Clap!‘s recorded works are experimental, African infused electronica, arguably, made to make you think. His DJ set is tropical bass, evidently, made to make you dance! He spectacularly collaborated on a few tracks on Paul Simon’s 2016 album, Stranger to Stranger. This onetime jazz musician has the cerebral...
Indulgent, complex, studied and immediate. Sons of Kemet’s criminally conceptual rhythms belie the overriding catchiness of a sound that dishes out hooks a plenty. Ominous lighting introduced the band who kicked things of with Tom Skinner and, newly cropped, Seb Rochford battering syncopated West African rhythms. This was tribal jazz...
Ariwo are a little-known, and newly-established, world fusion act. Led by sound designer, Pouya Ehsaei, they are a quartet of celebrated instrumentalists exploring Afro-Cuban, Iranian and electronic atmospheres. Their ever-growing list of accolades and projects is immense, including trumpeter Yelfris Valdes’ participation in the Buena Vista Social Club, and Latin...
![Album Review: Daniel Haaksman – African Fabrics [Man Recordings, February 2016]](https://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/man_092_small_res-335x335.jpg)
Daniel Haaksman is a superstar DJ in the making. His unique take on global rhythms has seen him receive many accolades, even filling in for Diplo on BBC Radio 1. With his distinctive, baile funk sound, this German selector and label boss has consistently been at the forefront of the global...
