Field & Flow

Urban and rural sounds from Colombia, Italy, Kenya, Lebanon, Spain, and Vietnam.

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Minor Legends

Six sets by minor legends from the six corners of the world: Abranis (Algeria), Little Fujiko (Japan), El Polen  (Peru), Siekiera (Poland), The Triffids (Australia), and Wells Fargo (Zimbabwe)

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Le Punk Français!

Punk rock, proto-punk, new wave, no wave, and post-punk from l'Hexagone.

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MALI

TONIGHT, Wednesday April 18, from 7-10 PM EDT, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio spins three solid hours of scorchers from Mali. From classics and contemporaries to field recordings and unfairly forgottens ...

Bookmark the page and see you at 7!

Astoria Stories

Music found in the bodegas of our neighborhood, from Albanian, Algerian, and Bosnian, to Egyptian, Greek, Lebanese, Panamanian, and beyond!

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Blessing Udeagu

With the exception of King Sunny Ade's 1984 Aura, I came to Nigerian music late -- embarrassingly so. And it wasn't through Fela. It wasn't through Now-Again or Soul Jazz. And it wasn't through any of the amazing African music blogs of the last decade or two. 

It was all because I stopped for water at a bodega on the corner of 99th Street and Lewis Avenue in Corona on a hotter-than-usual early June day in 2012, two years after I'd moved to Queens. After quenching my thirst, I took a look around my surroundings, spotting the words "AFRICAN MOVIES" in red on a yellow awning two doors down. I walked over and stepped inside.

Blessing Udeagu moved to the U.S. in 1986 and opened her eponymous tax preparation / Nigerian video and CD shop on Lewis Avenue in Corona, Queens, two days before September 11, 2001. 

On Wednesday, April 4, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio played some of the most incredible pop and folk we've ever heard, all plucked from the shelves of Blessing's remarkable store.

Listen to the show now in the archives

Νοσταλγία | Nostalgia

On Wednesday, March 28, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio spun favorite tracks from the Pathé 100 Hong Kong + Shanghai series, early Jamaican mento and R&B, Greek garage and laïka, Krautrock from Brain Records, 70s mor lam from Soi 48, and nascent hip-hop from the U.S.A.

Listen to the show now in the archives

Ould Mbarek & Milouda Ouhada | Great Concert in the City of Khouribga

Thanks once again to Tim Abdellah Fuson of Moroccan Tape Stash for translation and a bit of context. Take a listen, read a bit, download (link in comments).



A terrific Moroccan cassette with superfine playing, frenetic energy, and expressive vocals. Likely from the late 1980s or early 90s. Tim has posted other rocking examples of Zaêri on MTS; if you like this one, there's a lot more of this kind of thing there. (Though I should admit that I'm altogether unclear what, exactly, Zaêri means.)  

Another incredible gem from last year's massive haul at Naseem Meat Market & Grocery right in in Astoria, Queens.

Dust-to-Digital

On Wednesday, March 21, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio celebrated 15 years of incredible releases from bar-raising re-release label, Dust-to-Digital. From brilliantly curated international 78 rpm collections to focused releases featuring early recordings from Africa and Southeast Asia, DTD has changed the way we think about -- and listen to -- so-called "world" music.

Listen to the show now in the archives

Rare & New CDs | WFMU Fundraising Marathon!

WFMU's 2018 Fundraising Marathon continues and I've got 9 more new and rare CDs to give away to winning Bodega Pop Live listeners. All CDs were found in bodegas and media stores catering to immigrants in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. 

This Wednesday, March 14, from 7-10 PM ET I'll be joined by my Give the Drummer Radio stream mate, Continental Subway's David Dichelle; in addition to playing some really great tracks, we'll be giving away the nine CDs shown aboveto lucky pledgers of $20 or more.

Here are a few details on what's up for grabs:

1. Brazilian hip-hop crew Racionais MC's 1994 compilation of their first two albums, plus bonus tracks. It doesn't get funkier than this.

2. Polish post-punk pioneers Siekiera's 1986 debut. One of the most influential eastern European albums of all time. Plucked from the shelves of Music Planet in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

3. Niemen's 1968 Sukces -- one of your humble proprietor's favorite albums, ever. I mean, look at him. Look at his haircut. Look at his jacket. Look at the freaking lettering. Is Niemen going to disappoint? Nie, man. 

4. Bappi "The Big Bappi" Lahiri's 1987 Dance Dance soundtrack. Holy freaking s#1t, this is like ... well, first of all, good luck finding a copy. No one's selling it on Discogs, and there's a reason: It's drugs. "Zooby Zooby"? "Super Dancer"? "Dance with Pa Pa"? Powerful drugs.

5. Biddu and Nazia & Zoheb Hassan's Disco Diwane and Star. Bollywood's two greatest disco albums, bundled into a single CD. 

6. R.D. Burman's Hare Rama Hare Krishna and Heera Panna soundtracks. Asha's finest moment. Ultra-rare original EMI CD found in a wee, unassuming bodega next door to Battambang Market II in the Bronx. 

7. Holy bejeebus, but this is an amazing CD. Millie (aka Millie "My Boy Lollipop" Small)'s 1970 comeback album, Time Will Tell, with covers of songs by Nick Drake, from Hair (the musical), and Jimmy Cliff's absurdly catchy bubblegum earworm, Honey Hush.

8. Total Reggae Chart Hits (2 CD set) -- reggae versions of chart toppers, from Sugar, Sugar, Puttin' on the Ritz, and Da' Ya' Think I'm Sexy, to Fast Car, Knocking on Heaven's Door, and Amazing Grace.

9. Finally, this 40th anniversary 3 CD set of one of the greatest reggae albums of all time, Lee Perry's production of The Congos' The Heart of the Congos, with the original album, a disc's worth of bonus tracks, and never-before-heard original mix versions.

If all this weren't enough, listeners who pledge $75 or more will receive a copy of our 2018 DJ Premium, Burma Pop, a collection of Burmese hits and crazy cover songs from the 1960s to 1980s.

Bookmark the page and see you Wednesday night!