Alhaji Chief Dauda Epo-Akara | Omo Yoruba FLAC

 

A recent find, this Nigerian Yoruba artist hailed from Ibadan, a city of 6 million people, about 80 miles north of Lagos.

According to this website, Dauda Epo-Akara (1943-2005) recorded over 80 albums; Discogs lists half a dozen. Based on the overall look of the cassette, I'm guessing "Omo Yoruba" is from the 1990s, possibly late 1980s.

Although the J-card and each side of the cassette list individual tracks, there is no break between them on either side; thus, our rips of Sides A and B consist of a single FLAC file each.

The music is terrific, rhythm-driven. Opening Side B, there's about a minute of harmonica added to the mix; otherwise, the talking drum and a variety of other percussion is all that accompanies the vocals.

Sound is terrific for all of Side A; a bit mottled on Side B, but decidedly listenable all around.

Get it here.

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

Flashback 1 | Nigerian Pop 1970-1980

Listen to Wrinkar Experience's "Fuel for Love"


Listen to The Semi-Colon's "Slim Fit Maggie"

Reupped once again on March 23, 2015, by special request, here.

[Originally posted in June 2012.] It's true: You can't judge a CD by the lack of a cover. This is one of the greatest things I've ever found; although, truth be told, it was handed to me with a very, very strong recommendation.

So, I returned this weekend to Blessing Udeagu in Corona, Queens. The younger woman who was working there last time wasn't there; instead, there were two women, older than the first, hunkered down over a computer where they were gossiping about a mutual friend or acquaintance: "How can she put all of her life like that on Facebook?" 

When they saw me come in, one of the women asked me: "Have you been here before?" I said that I had, last weekend, in fact. "Did you buy music?" I nodded my head. "Did you like it?" Very much so, I let her know in uncertain terms. "My daughter told me about you!" she explained.

After establishing that, indeed, I was the guy who was there last weekend, the shop keep rose from the computer and came over to where I was standing by the CD rack and began pulling things off the shelf. "You need this one," she said, handing me the sleeveless CD you see above. I asked what it was. "Nigerian pop," she explained, "from the 70s." My heart began to race as she took the CD to the computer and popped it in. I nearly collapsed when I heard the first song. 

"Uh, this is great--I definitely need this!" I blurted out. She smiled and popped the CD back out of the computer.

I'm not sure how to classify this music--it doesn't sound like highlife--other than, simply, "pop." It's incredible. For those who know something about Nigerian pop, I've provided a track list below.

1. Fuel For Love, Wrinkards Experience

2. Be My Own, Founder 15

3. I've Been Loving You, The Wings

4. Nobody Fails, Ofege

5. Still Searching, Bongos Ikwe

6. Love Rock, Strangers

7. Slim Fit Maggie, Semi Colon

8. Nobody Called Me, Strangers

9. It's Gonna Be A Good Day, Blo

10. Money To Burn, Wrinkards Experience

11. She's My Choice, Sweet Breeze

12. Whizzy Ilabo, Ofege

13. Sitting On The Beach, Bongod Ikwe

14. Come Back Love, Tony Grey

15. Kissing You So Hard, The Wings

16. She's A Dropout The Apostles

17. Palmwine Tapper, Sweet Breeze

18. Dancing Time, The Funkees

19. Give The Beggar A Chance, Joni Maastrup

20. To Whom It May Concern, Tunji Oyelana

Madam Maria Anokwuru, Madam Rose Nzuruike + Obi Wuru Otu Dance Group | Nwanyi Ma Obi Di Ya

Listen to Track 2

Grab the whole album here

Ihiagwa is a Christian township of 8 villages a bit south of Owerri, the capital of Imo State (and former capital of Biafra). Obi Wuru Otu is the all-women dance group of the township, led by Maria Anokwuru. Their lead singer, on this album at least, is Rose Nzuruike.

There are four tracks on this stunning CD, two of which top 15 minutes a piece. I picked this up, along with I'm-really-not-quite-sure-how-many other terrific albums, at Blessing Udeagu, a copy shop and Nollywood DVD store in East Elmhurst that also sells used books and Christian and secular music from Nigeria in CD and VCD form.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I'll be devoting tonight's Bodega Pop Live episode to mostly Sub-Saharan African music, and in preparation, pulled the 60 to 70 related CDs I've managed to accumulate over the last couple of years off and out of my various shelves and plastic bins. And realized that, oh, gosh, I guess there's a lot I still haven't shared with you guys yet.

Better late than never? 

10 Best Albums of 2013

Merry Christmas, everyone. With a mere week to go until the ball drops in Times Square, listeners all over the globe have been compiling their Best Of lists for the year. For the Bodega, 2013 was a complex but often exciting time to be paying attention to international music. In early March our superfriend Carol hipped us to a program at BAM that would change our lives: Mic Check: Hip-Hop from North Africa and the Middle East. Later in the month, the Bodega returned the favor, taking her to see pioneering Palestinian rap group DAM at Drom on New York’s lower east side.

As more of our regular CD-findin’ haunts in the city dried up, new doors were opened, including two previously undiscovered stores selling Czech and Latin music, allowing us to exponentially grow our stock of both, literally overnight. For more recent music, there’s the endless rabbit hole that is Bandcamp. In fact, most of our 2013 faves came from this revolutionary end-run around the terminally ill Music-Industry-As-Such.

Above all, our fellow music bloggers kept their little rooms on the Internet warm even when the sun wasn’t shining anywhere else. Special Big Love to stalwarts Awesome Tapes from Africa, Jenny Is in a Bad Mood (Japan), Jewish Morocco, Jugo Rock Forever (former Yugoslavia), Madrotter Treasure Hunt (Indonesia), Monrakplengthai (Thailand), Moroccan Tape Stash, Music from the Third Floor (India), My Passion for Ethiopian Music, and Turkish Psychedelic Music 2, to say nothing of fellow eclecticists Flash Strap, Ghost Capital, Global Groove, Inconstant Sol, Kadao Ton Kao, Music for Maniacs, Snap Crackle & Pop, and Terminal Escape — to name but a few of the dozens whose offerings fill our hours and ears.

Two great but seemingly dead blogs got new life this year: Brain Goreng (Indonesia) and Voodoo Vault (Japan), though whether either will keep up the good fight into 2014 is anyone’s guess. Meanwhile, Interstellar Medium | Foreign Lavish Sounds stormed onto the scene to raise the bar unconscionably high and show us just how awesome a music blog can really be. We’re humbled, shamed even, but genuinely grateful for their existence.

2013 was a year of personal triumph for the Bodega: We not only published some of our least egregious nonfiction to date (in Burning Ambulance, Indiewire, LA Review of Books and Roads & Kingdoms), we received the ultimate worldly acknowledgement of our humble efforts in poetry: Inclusion in a Norton anthology. 

But there were setbacks. In April, our then-host, Divshare, kicked us out of the file-sharing playground, citing multiple complaints about our *cough* copyright infringement *cough*. Tail between our legs, we hooked up with ADrive and began to restock the shelves, offering customers a new feature: The Bodega Pop Comp (see “hot comps” in the sidebar to the right).  

Then, in May, Super DJ, creator and director of WFMU’s Give the Drummer Radio stream, and music blog supporter extraordinaire, Doug Schulkind asked if we’d like to bring the bodega to WFMU in the form of a weekly broadcast. Our ego said yes, yes, oh god let us, yes. Our ego has never been the brightest bulb in the tulip patch, but he tends to get away with pretty much whatever he wants.

So, every Wednesday evening from 7-10pm ET, starting on January 15, we’ll be hosting Bodega Pop Live on the aforementioned stream. Shout outs are due to several fabulous people—in addition to Doug, of course—who helped make this happen: Brandon Downing, Andrew Maxwell, Andrei Molotiu, Sianne Ngai, Mel Nichols, and above all, Carol “Craftypants” McMahon, who donated a Macbook we desperately needed to do the actual streaming. 

Still awake? Hello? Awrighty, let’s move on to the sole reason you’re even here tonight: Bodega Pop’s Top 10 Albums of 2013 …

DAM
Dabke on the Moon ($8.99)
December 15, 2012
As we intimated earlier, middle eastern and north African hip-hop reigned supreme in our ears this year, including this album, technically released last year, but for all intents and purposes not readily available until 2013. It wasn’t the first album we’d heard by the pioneering Palestinian rappers, but it was easily the best of their work to date. The album blasts off with the unlikely-sounding rocker “Street Poetry” and doesn’t let up, kicking out jam after jam all the way through the anthemic “I Fell in Love with a Jew” and final deep groove of “Handcuff Them War Criminals.” If I was Christgau (“Christmas with Christgau” has a nice ring to it, eh?) I know three very talented young men who’d be getting a big ol’ A+ in their stocking.

The Girl
UR Sensation ($8.99)
January 9, 2013 (planned December 19, 2012)
I almost can’t breathe when I think about the awesomeness that is Aiha Higurashi. Her first band, Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her, was easily the best rock group of the Aughts, and with every subsequent project Aiha has shown us a new or at least slightly different side of herself.  The Girl, who released their second album this year, brings it back home to the stripped-down, noirish rock Aiha first explored with SSKHKH—but the sound is grittier, more disconcerting. Our sole complaint? Try setting up a Google alert for “The Girl.” 

Various Artists
Spanish New Wave, The Golden Age (6 Vols.) (Free)
January 20, 2013
See, I told you music bloggers were awesome this year. Compiled by Sebi and Jose Kortozirkuito for free download on Boozetunes, this six-volume set of post-punk music from Spain is everything the bodega dreams of: A vast, and vastly entertaining panorama of pop from a faraway time and place, lovingly introduced with a smart and relevant preface. 

Various Artists
Khat Thaleth (Free)
January 22, 2013
Goodness gracious: The year really started out with a bang, didn’t it? This late-January Arabic hip-hop compilation, released two days after the awesome comp above, is pretty much the coolest international rap collection we can think of since 1988’s Brazilian overview Hip Hop Cultura de Rua. And the download is gratis on Bandcamp. Yep, you heard us: Free.

Satanicpornocultshop
Picaresque ($10)
February 2013
The Japanese sound-collage trio put out seven albums and EPs in 2013, which makes them among the most prolific groups of … dare-we-say all time? A perennial favorite here, the shop’s funked-up February release had the bodega rawkin out on the 7 train as we rode it in to work every morning. 

Various Artists
Harafin So - Bollywood Inspired Film Music from Hausa Nigeria ($5)
April 23, 2013
Holy crap, but Christopher Kirkley’s label is amazing. 2013 was a stellar year for Sahelsounds, beginning with a January release of the second volume of Music from Saharan Cell Phones. This Bollywood-inspired, auto-tuned Nigerian pop was a real revelation to us, having had no prior idea that such a thing even existed. 

Nisennenmondai
N (iTunes store, $9.99)
July 2, 2013
OMG I love these women, who put out what was easily my favorite music video of the year. (Don't stop watching before the 3:20 mark, seriously.) A must-have for all fans of the N-group and for any lover of the industrial / instrumental / experimental wing of J-rock. 

MWR
Because I’m an Arab (Free, if link works)
August 14, 2013
A publicist for this Palestinian rap trio sent me word of this album—a retrospective of the band’s brief but thrilling career-to-date. Hailing from Gaza, these guys are as sonically rich as they are politics-forward. I’m not sure if the Dropbox link I’ve provided is going to work for you — but I have no earthly idea how else to get a hold of this album, let alone pay for it. (If you know, send the info/link our way.)

P.K.14
1984 ($8)
September 13, 2013
The fifth album by one of Beijing’s oldest post-punk bands, formed all the way back in 2001. (It must be liberating having such a short music history.) Though they’ve mellowed slightly with age, they’re still awesome—in fact, even more so this decade than last. You can listen to the whole album on Bandcamp for free … so go listen to it, not to me.

Various Artists
Sounds and Colors: Brazil ($11.43)
November 25, 2013
I have heard the future, and it sounds an awful lot like the República Federativa do Brasil. Seriously, this record is fabuloso. Also, this label looks like it’s gearing up to give Sahelsounds a run for its money. Blaspheme? No, blashphe-you. Get over to their Bandcamp page and start digging around — and don’t miss out on their earlier “name your price” collections. You won’t be disappointed.

Celestine Ukwu | Igede

Reupped in case you missed it the first time, here.

[Originally posted on April 13, 2013.] I know I promised you more Fairuz this weekend, but it was such a warm day today I wound up spending all of it on my bike. And I think you know what that means. Yes, that's right: I wound up at Blessing Udeagu (99-08 Lewis Avenue, Corona, Queens), where I picked up a dozen or so mostly Nigerian CDs, including this mind-blowingly great collection of 70s hits by the legendary Celestine Ukwu.

From LASTFM: Celestine Ukwu began his musical career during the 1960’s with Michael Ejeagha’s Paradise Rhythm Orchestra in Enugu, capital of the former Eastern Region of Nigeria. He left four years later to launch his own band, the Music Royals. Following a hiatus caused by the Biafran war of independence from 1967-70, the Music Royals were resurrected as the Philosophers National, who distinguished themselves with a series of sparkling, subtle highlife releases during the 1970s. Sadly, Ukwu perished in an automobile accident in 1977, depriving Nigerian music of one of its shining stars.

Abigbo Cultural Group | Ahia Ndu

Reupped here.

[Originally posted June 12, 2012.] Abigbo is dance music of the Mbaise Igbo, who live in southeastern Nigeria. I'm starting to think that the women who run Blessing Udeagu, where I found all of this recent music, are either from Igboland or have ties there. 

Patrick Radden Keefe's The Snakehead, which chronicles the rise and fall of one of the most notorious human traffickers in history, explains that, while the first wave of Chinese in America was Cantonese, the second, beginning in the 1970s, was from Fuzhou, the capital of the Fujian province. Most of the Chinese in Manhattan's Chinatown are Fujianese, if that's the right word. And most of those who aren't are Cantonese. Imagine a reverse wave of American immigrants into China, all from, say, New Orleans. And Boston.

Super Negro Bantous + Super Five International | "Super Duo"

Reupped by popular demand here.

[Originally written September 9, 2012.] I like to think of the Bronx as the birthplace of what more or less defines contemporary popular music, not just here in the U.S., but all over the world. It's an insane proposition, of course, and I know that. But if we can all agree that hip-hop has in a way become global pop's lingua franca, then it's not, like, KRAZY-crazy to think along these lines, is it?

Whatever. This is merely a fancy way of saying that I spent a good chunk of time today in the Bronx, walking up White Plains Road from the intriguingly named Gun Hill Road to 232nd Street, stopping in African DVD stores, drug stores selling DVDs and CDs, and two black-music focused record/CD/cassette stores: Moodies Records (3976 White Plains Road) and Millennium Records (4045 White Plains Road).

My first stop--where I found the CD above--was a combination drug/variety and DVD/CD store. The idea of combining one's music, movies and remedies all in one place is not unique to a single culture--there is, for instance, Tu Quynh Pharmacy in Manhattan's Chinatown, where I found at least one Vietnamese CD I've been meaning to add to the shelves here.



"This music is in African language," one of clerks helpfully reported to me as I bent down to dig through the two-three dozen CDs they had relegated to about half of one side of the store's middle aisle. I wanted to say something clever in reply, something like, "Music is the universal language of mankind," or better yet, "Music is the language of the soul, and yet the soul can never translate it!"

Instead, I looked up, met his warm smile with one of my own, and said, "That's exactly why I'm here." It turned out to be the perfect answer and he left me to my digging. Several minutes later, I stood back up, now holding five promising-looking CDs in hand.
"How much are these?" I asked.

"Five dollars," he replied.

"See?" I said. "They're totally speaking my language."
This album, contrary to what the title suggests, is not a collaboration between Super Negro Bantous (who may have originally been from Camaroon) and Super Five International. Rather, it's a compilation containing three SNB songs and seven by SFI (including the sample above, "Do Me I Do You"). It is, as you'll soon discover, a totally kick-ass record.

And, in case you're wondering, the answer is yes. Yes, I did get a number of other Nigerian CDs I'll be upping this week or next. As well as things from Ghana, South Africa and Jamaica. Stay tuned.

Ikenga Super Stars of Africa | Greatest Hits Vol. 1

Reupped here.

Found at an African drug store on White Plains Road in the Bronx last September. 

The Ikenga Super Stars of Africa, led by Vincent Okoroego, a former member of Steven Osita Osadebe's Nigeria Sound Makers, were a leading Igbo "guitar highlife" group of the seventies and eighties in Nigeria. The Ikengas called their style of music "Ikwokilikwo," a word which has also been used to describe the early recordings of Oliver deCoque and Kabaka Opara of the Oriental Brothers, among others. About the meaning of this term, Fidelis N. Umeh writes, "...'Ikwokilikwo' actually has a 'vernacular' type of meaning in the Igbo language. To set it in context, take a look at a word like 'ngwo-ngwo.' Its meaning has been derived from the act of 'igwo abacha' (preparing cassava - normally in rich oily mixing bowl), 'igwo ncha' (preparing a dish called ncha with a special type of mixing bowl), etc. It has come to be used to describe any preparation which entails the act of 'preparation in a special mixing bowl.' Ikwokilikwo is derived from 'ikwo oka' (grinding corn into pulp form), 'ikwo okpa' (grinding beans and peas into pulp form) and denotes the grinding process. The type of music to which it refers is similar in vernacular to 'cooking' used in the U.S. in the 70's to refer to really 'heavy' music in rock, jazz, blues, etc."

Chief Akunwata Ozoemena Nsugbe | Omenana

Reup by popular demand, here.

Another wonderful item found at Blessing Udeagu (99-08 Lewis Avenue, Corona, Queens).

Awutolo & Fada | Ogene Nkpakija Enugwu Ukwu

Reupped by popular demand, here. [Apologies for no longer hosting a sample; but trust me, you'll enjoy it.]

Unlike yesterday's post, this morning's features what I can only assume to be Nigerian folk music. The sample track above opens with what sounds like a homemade brass instrument of some kind, not uncommon in Nigerian folk, and Awutolo and Fada laying down a terrific, complex rhythm while singing at times in a kind of call-and-response and at times in unison. The total effect is of an intricate soundscape that snaps, pops, buzzes and honks far enough above the level of ambient to keep the listener's ear keen, while never swerving into catchy hook or melody.

I found this sublime recording, along with yesterday's offering and a few other things, at Blessing Udeagu (99-08 Lewis Avenue, Corona, Queens). Perhaps it's just a coincidence, but after I posted yesterday morning's--the first western African recording to appear on this blog--my traffic shot up to rather insane levels. I typically have about 600 visits in a 24-hour period; this morning, at not quite 6:30 a.m., I already have nearly 1,200, and the day still has about 17 hours left to go.

So, uh ... you like the western African music, yeah?

In other news, I'll be reading tomorrow night (Thursday) at 6:30 at RH Gallery with Catherine Taylor and Sandra Liu at this event, which is in part a celebration for the publication of Ernst Herbeck's Everyone Has a Mouth, which I translated from the original German (some poems in collaboration with Oya Attaman and Ekkehard Knoerer). While the book has not yet been officially released (they're still hand-stitching the covers), I'm told there will be about 50-60 copies there the night of the celebration.

And, finally, I reserved bodegapop.com, which I've currently set to redirect to this blog. Ultimately, I'll be creating something that I think is sorely lacking: a portal to music blogs and other sources of information about and samples of international musics. It seems insane that no one has yet put something like this together. Write to me if you'd like in some way to be involved at: bodegapop@gmail.com.

Prince Nico Mbarga | Aki Special

Listen to "Aki Special"


Listen to "Sweet Mother"

Get the 7-song CD here.

Another winner found Saturday afternoon at Blessing Udeagu in Corona, Queens, Nico Mbarga's Aki Special includes what I believe might be not just a couple of his own most popular songs, but at least one -- "Sweet Mother" -- that is reputedly the single most popular song of all time in Africa.

It was a song that he actually had to shop around: Both EMI and Decca rejected it and it was finally recorded in 1976 for a small local publisher, Rogers All Stars. 

It went on to sell more than 13 million copies. 

Ha, ha.

Track List
1. Aki Special
2. Christiana
3. Sweet Mother
4. Wayo In-law
5. Free Education in Nigeria
6. Onye Ori Ori
7. Nature

Orits Williki | Mubalamumbe

Listen to "A Way We A Go Do"

Get it all here.

In the contentious field of contemporary American poetry, nothing is ever as hotly contested as issues around identity and self-expression. I believe this, in part, having been involved in a particularly public, at times brutal debate around this poem in 2006.

But American poetry is hardly the only arena in which ideas and expressions of identity can be cause for controversy. In Orits Williki's case, his claim to Ethiopian roots is, in his home country of Nigeria, a cause for ridicule--not that I personally understand why that should be so. (Read more about this here.)

What strikes me as odd in this case is that no similar questioning seems to arise around Williki's decision to use reggae as the musical vehicle for his social/religious protest songs. His claim to having Ethiopian roots seems perfectly reasonable, especially after reading the interview above; it is in his use of reggae wherein he is, literally, adopting a cultural persona.

That, of course, is what I would argue makes his music remarkable--more interesting, I would argue further, than a measurable percentage of "legitimate" contemporary reggae. And not simply because it is an example of someone playing with identity, but because the music, at least on this particular album, is good enough that it makes me genuinely excited about the genre. 

I found this gem at an African grocery store in a southwestern suburb of Dallas this weekend while on the way to a Vietnamese restaurant that had been highly recommended. Though the pho was merely so-so, accidentally finding this treasure on the way more than made up for it.

Osadebe | Best of Osadebe

Listen to "Osadebe 77"


Get it all here.


This will likely be the last Nigerian album I'll post for a while, although I do still have a couple more I found at Blessing Udeagu. For one thing, my Burmese connection came through last week and I'm gearing up to post the lot of it. (It's fabulous.) For another, since I started posting the African music a week or two ago, the traffic on this blog has gone through the roof. I assume it's because most people wandering around the various interlinked music blogs are looking for African music, but that's just an assumption. Maybe I've just got more visitors. If the stats take a dive, I'll know for sure.


This is an odd collection of Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe--a couple of the tracks have surface noise, having been clearly ripped from LPs. There is not a single hit on the publisher's name anywhere online, so I'm guessing they're out of business, or just internet shy, which seems impossible in this day and age.


In any event, this is a pretty fabulous collection and I hope you enjoy it.

Flashback 2 | Nigerian Pop 1970-1980

Listen to "Nmere Giri" by the Apostles



Listen to Aktion's "Sugar Daddy"


Get it all here.


By way of explanation, here is the email I received last night from John B at the fabulous Likembe in response to this earlier posting of Flashback 1:

Gary: I've uploaded "Flashback II" for you (sorry no cover). Feel free to share. I got this from the Comb & Razor blog a few years ago, so if you post it, give Uchenna some props.

Thank you so much, John and Uchenna!

Osadebe | Classic Hits Vol. 1

Listen to "Akonam"

Get it all here.

Another stunner from Blessing Udeagu in Corona, Queens.

Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe, better known as simply Osadebe, was among the most famous Igbo highlife musicians, known for an elastic style that accommodated everything from bolero and calypso to jazz and waltz. He released about 250 songs in his lifetime, though reportedly wrote more than 500. He died in 2007 at the age of 69.

Sir Victor Uwaifo | Greatest Hits Vol. 1

Listen to "Guitar Boy"

Get it all here.

My God, but I love Queens. Have I expressed my undying love for this borough before? As far as I'm concerned, it's the greatest city in America. 

As I've hinted in the last week or so, I've been waiting for My Burmese Ship to Come In--specifically, Zaw at Thiri Video has been culling his archives for a number of CDs he says he has of older, more traditional Burmese music, which he promised to have ready for me last weekend. Well, on the appointed day I made the trip to Elmhurst ... only to find that, in fact, the CDs weren't ready for me.

But in Queens, when one door shuts, other doors open. As I wandered around the eastern edges of Elmhurst, suddenly realizing I was lost, I scooted under an awning to check the GPS on my phone. When I looked up, on another awning, two or three doors down, I saw the words "African Movies." What? Oh, my.

Blessing Udeagu (99-08 Lewis Avenue) is ostensibly a copy shop, with several photocopy machines, that also happens to be a used bookstore (there were dozens of old, dog-eared books fading in the storefront windows), a Nigerian DVD store (a whole wall of them, in fact) AND an outlet for African music, mostly from Nigeria and Ghana.

I asked the shop keep if it might be okay if I looked through the CDs. "They're African," she warned me. I nodded my head and proceeded to dig through what they had. After determining that each CD was $5, I chose a few that looked most promising and brought them up to the register. "These are in African," she reminded me. I gave her a Readers Digest version of my Ye Olde "I Happen to Like Music From All Over the World" assurance, which didn't, frankly, seem to assuage her concern that I might be buying the wrong music. With a pitying look, she put the handful of CDs I'd plucked out into a plastic bag and, shaking her head, took the money from my now visibly shaking hands.

"Sir" Victor Uwaifo is the legendary inventor of Joromi, which to my ears sounds like Highlife, which tells you just how little I know about Nigerian music. Uwaifo started recording in the 1960s and became famous for playing his guitar, live, with his tongue and feet in addition to his rather impressively dexterous fingers.

I'm supposed to check back in with Zaw next weekend; if I do, and if My Ship has come in, I'll be posting an awful lot of Burmese music in the next few weeks. Until then, if you like Nigerian music, you might want to check back here a few times in the coming days.

In other news: I think I'm going to try Twitter. Follow me here.

Rap Around the World | A Bodega Pop mix

Listen to "Phnom Penh Hip Hop" by The Khmer Rap Boyz (Cambodia)

Listen to "Haiti" by Elza Soares (Brazil)

Listen to "Eat Around" by Missile Scoot Girl (Japan)

Listen to "Γουστάρει Η Παλαβή" by Εισβολέας (Greece)

Listen to "DK Anthem" by Divided Kingdom Republic (Zimbabwe)

Get the 24-song mix here.

As anyone who has spent a bit of time in the Bodega knows, this here shop keep has a particular predilection for international rap and hip-hop--the further the language from English, the better. That said, rap & hip-hop from around the world comprise a small percentage of the CDs in my collection, maybe 1%, if that. But you wouldn't know it, looking at the BP tag cloud.

I'm not exactly picky when it comes to pop; though I suppose I do have some standards. But, while there is certainly a goodly amount of bad hip-hop out there--mostly stuff that simply mimics rap in the USA--there are people in all corners of the world who, picking up cues from Western examples, take it somewhere else, occasionally somewhere totally unexpected. 


I'm not going to sit here this morning and tell you that every hip-hop artist in this mix is some sort of insane genius, turning rap & hip-hop up to 11. But some of them are. And those that aren't, at least among what I've tried to include here, are at bare minimum making the genre their own.

If you visit here often and have partaken of the dozen or so hip-hop related CDs I've posted over the last couple of years, fear not: I tried really, really, really extra-special hard not to duplicate, whenever possible. So there's Fama in here, but not the Fama you can get elsewhere on this site. I didn't actually count, but I think maybe 4 or 5 songs in this mix can be found in other full CDs or mixes on this blog.

I also didn't just rip stuff from YouTube videos, although--Jesus God Almighty, it was certainly tempting. Everything here is from my own personal CD collection, with a few things I downloaded myself from other sites that I wasn't able to find in CD anywhere (e.g., the Khmer Rap Boyz).


Okay, I'm going to shut up now and let you get to this. Would love to know what you think. It's my personal favorite Bodega Pop mix, and--at some point in the future, assuming people like this--I'll probably put together another (or two, or three).