Reggae video of the week; Obama-mania

October 31, 2008

Barack Obama and Cocoa Tea

Just like the African artists, dozens of Caribbean artists have done numerous praise songs for US presidential candidate Barack Obama. Here’s a list of some of them:
Mighty Sparrow: Barack the Magnificent
Sarah Lufungula: Barack Obama
Rootsman: Calypso For Obama
Coco Tea: Barack Obama
Ziggy Marley: Get Ready
Damian Marley: Barack Obama-the Mission riddim

We are unable to feature all these videos here but they are all available on You-tube. However, we will feature one. Our pick for reggae video of the week is Barack Obama by Cocoa Tea.

REGGAE VIDEO OF THE WEEK
BARACK OBAMA BY COCOA TEA

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African video of the week-Obama mania

October 31, 2008

International Musicians Line Up Behind Obama
Democratic Presidential candidate inspires musical tributes from Kenya, Jamaica, Japan and more.
by Tom Pryor
10/27/08

Mighty Sparrow: “Barack The Magnificent”
Cocoa Tea: “Barack Obama”
Jose Conde: “Respondele a Obama”
Kenge Kenge: “Obama For Change”
Samba Mapangala: “Obama Ubarikiwe”
Extra Golden: “Obama”
It’s been a long, strange Presidential campaign season here in the U.S. – the longest in modern history, in fact. And it’s gone on long enough to spawn all manner of campaign-related musical weirdness—from the
Obama Girl to “It’s Raining McCain”.

But outside of the U.S., things have been getting even weirder. In an unusual twist for an American Presidential campaign, musicians from around the world have been recording songs in support of the Obama campaign. Jamaican reggae stars, African guitar slingers, Japanese pop bands and more have been throwing their support behind the Democratic nominee. And, predictably enough, they’ve been finding their way onto YouTube and, occasionally, the radio.

DJ Rob Weisberg of New Jersey radio station WFMU has been collecting these songs for months. On November 1st, Weisberg will host a special pre-election program focusing on world music songs about Obama.

“I first heard about a couple of ‘official’ campaign songs in Spanish, in particular a mariachi song called ‘Viva Obama’ credited to ‘Amigos de Obama’ that emerged on YouTube during the primaries,” He explains. “Then something popped into my inbox about Kenyan back-to-the-roots group Kenge Kenge doing an Obama song in [the] Luo [language]. And then I learned of a song by the Congolese singer Samba Mapangala… So it occurred to me that there must be more - and indeed, there is.”

In fact, the first track to kick off the international Obamamania was actually released back in 2007, by Kenyan-American group Extra Golden on their album Hera Na Mono. A truly international outfit, Extra Golden teams up American indie rockers Ian Eagleson and Alex Minoff with veteran Kenyan musicians Opiyo Bilongo and Onyango Wuod Omari. In 2006, Bilongo and Omari ran into difficulty securing visas for entry into the United States before their first major tour. Extra Golden’s label, Chicago-based Thrill Jockey records, contacted the office of Senator Obama and asked him to intervene. Mr. Obama, whose father came from Kenya, wrote a letter of support that helped the two secure visas. In gratitude, Extra Golden recorded “Obama”, a guitar-driven praise song based around the sparkling benga guitar pop sound made popular by the Luo people in Kenya. Since then some of the most popular songs to emerge have been the aforementioned Kenyan group Kenge Kenge’s “Obama For Change” and singer Samba Mapangala’s”Obama Ubarikiwe”(”Obama Be Blessed”).

It’s not surprising that Obama is attracting such fulsome support from African musicians, given his Kenyan roots. But the musical love is coming from other parts of the globe, too, especially the Caribbean and Latin America. Trinidadian calypso legend Mighty Sparrow kicked things off back in February with “Barack The Magnificent”. Which was soon followed by “Barack Obama” from Jamaican reggae veteran Cocoa Tea’s (picured). Perhaps the most effective song, campaign-wise, Cocoa Tea’s easy-skanking roots jam repeats the candidate’s last name a whopping 67 times.

Meanwhile next-generation Cuban-American musician Jose Conde has led the Latin musical continguent with ” Respondele a Obama”, and Japan’s somewhat obscure Anyone Brothers Band has turned in a kooky J-Pop rave-up ” Obama Is Beautiful World”. And, according to Weisberg, there are even more Obama recordings out there.

“So far I have over twenty songs,” he says. “Including a couple contributed specifically for the occasion: The NY-based West African trad group Fula Flute is currently in the studio recording their second CD. The group’s leader Sylvain Leroux spotted my call for Obama songs online and whipped something up … And a listener named Ruben Gonzalez sent in a nice earthy alt-Latin tune he composed called ‘Voy Por Obama’.”

Though both the Obama and McCain campaigns were both unnable to comment before this story’s deadline, it’s a fair assumption that Obama’s appeal to musicians and artists from other parts of the globe is based on the candidate’s background and international upbringing. Born to an American mother and Kenyan-American father, Obama also spent part of his childhood in Indonesia. Says musician Sylvain Leroux, “I feel like [Obama] is someone who understands the world we live in… his international background gives me hope that he has a little more understanding of what this world is really about. Especially with regards to Africa, which is my own area of interest.”

And whatever your own political predilictions are, don’t forget to vote on November 4th

WATCH OBAMA UBARIKIWE MUSIC VIDEO BY SAMBA MAPANGALA FEAT. FANAKA

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Ugandan group Ngoni rocks Minneapolis

October 31, 2008

Ngoni is the name for a traditional West African musical instrument. But in this case, we are talking about the Ugandan duo of Pato and Aydee. After entertaining fans in Scandinavia, Ngoni kicked off their US tour with a performance at the Uganda North American Association Convention in Florida on August 27th. After that they hit several cities including Houston, Chicago and Minneapolis, where they performed to a mostly East African audience. The duo drove their fans wild with their choreographed dance moves and infectious energy. Most people present will agree that the future is bright for Ngoni although they have only been around for a couple of years or so.