A friend sent me this video of a 1971 concert of Fela with Cream drummer Ginger Baker.  It was most likely lifted from a great documentary, Ginger Baker in Africa, a must-see for any Fela fan.   The show overflows with dionysian energy, an African counterpart to love-in shows of the countercultural 1960s.  For anybody in LA considering going to the Ahmanson Theater to …

I’ve never been a fan of Iggy Pop (b. James Newell Osterberg, Muskegon, Michigan, April 21, 1947), though like most 66 year olds I feel envy and awe at his utter lack of body fat:  he’s all muscle and sinew (is he a gym rat in secret?)  I did feature his song “I Wanna Be Your Dog” from his very first album with the …

On this week’s audio post, I’m featuring some new cd’s I really like.  The focus is on the talented women who sing on them.  I’m playing deejay, something I love doing as you no doubt know by now.
Laura Mvula: Sing to the Moon
The minute I heard her music I was struck and became an instant fan.  I wrote another RP post on her too. …

One of the first modern genocides began on this day in 1915, when Ottoman Turks systematically killed one and a half million minority Armenians.   Far more is known and has been written about the Nazi genocide of Jews than what happened here during World War I (I would include Cambodia’s two million citizens murdered during Pol Pot’s regime as well….less is known there, …

I heard today on the news that the new Pope Francis may nominate Father Antonio for beatification.  Archbishop Oscar Romero (in his song Ruben Blades took creative license and named him Antonio, but it’s the same person)  was top prelate in the war-torn El Salvador in the late 1970s and early 80s.   He practiced Liberation Theology, which the contras and government thugs didn’t …

 
I heard today on the news that Richie Havens has died.  I first heard his music on Somethin’ Else Again (1968) the cover has has him playing a sitar.  He was always an unusual figure on the late 60s folk scene.    The album was popular and made the Billboard charts.   He was more hippie than revolutionary, though he had strong messages in his songs. …

I’ve written earlier about the 1950s U.S. State Department policy of using jazz musicians as American ambassadors spreading good will around the world in the 1950s, during the cold war. A great example is Louis Armstrong’s trip to Ghana in 1957, shortly after the West African country’s independence from Britain:

After being with you for over 20 years on Sundays — and for 34 years since I started producing radio shows for KCRW — today will be my last live broadcast show.  It’s been a joy and incredibly rewarding for me to share my favorite music with you over this long stretch of time.  That’s me in the old John Adams Middle School studio …

 
The musical Fela! returns to Los Angeles at the end of this month.  It’s amazing to me that there is a Broadway musical devoted to the dynamic Nigerian musician, let alone one that its coming back to LA by popular demand.
KCRW has a long relationship with the Nigerian firebrand known as Fela Anikulapo (one who carries death in his/her pouch) Kuti.  It started in …

When I first heard Laura Mvula’s “She” on the radio I was struck by her originality.  Then I heard “I Can’t Live With the World”, another cut that sounded (wonderfully) like one of Miguel Atwood-Ferguson’s inspired arrangements.  No, it was Laura’s.  She did all the arrangements on the debut album.
I immediately thought that with a surname like Mvula that she was South African, but …