Times are difficult for us all. I hope you find a little peace with these mixes. Feel free to download and share. I like many other artists/performers am out of work and your donations really help.
Here is a Saturday Quarantine playlist. Mixing a little Turkish psych, latin psych, cumbia, a few balkan gems, and some old school punk. Kick out the jams!
SATURDAY OCTOBER 12
ALL FOR ALL BLOCK PARTY
(3pm – 10pm)
ALL AGES – PAY WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY
featuring
[RAM] melds the past and the future, consistently West African in its Haitian-ness as it strives to define the future sound of traditionalism.
Cumbia River Band’s music draws from a festive repertoire of Colombian Cumbia and Riverside music. These sounds will take you back to the golden years of Cumbia as well as inspire you to dance and contemplate the joy and energy that this Cumbia River brings along.
Mourning [A] BLKstar a multi-generational, gender and genre non-conforming amalgam of Black Culture dedicated to servicing the stories and songs of the apocalyptic diaspora.
plus… Jacquea Mae, May Day Marching Band, 1Hood, Huny, and DJ QRX
WHERE: Outside of Kelly Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty
Doors at 3pm
Food Trucks
Artisan Vendors
Cash Bar
This is part off the Inclusion and Diversity Summit hosted by ALL for ALL
big thanks to All for All (Betty Cruz and co for including us in the program).
First US tour for this female powerhouse group from Niger.
Fatou Seidi Ghali, lead vocalist and performer of Les Filles de Illighadad is one of the only Tuareg female guitarists in Niger. Sneaking away with her older brother’s guitar, she taught herself to play.
LES FILLES DE ILLIGHADAD
The Tuareg society, a nomadic people living throughout the Sahara, are known for their tende—a style of music and the mortar drum played—and their traditional folk guitar playing. Tuareg guitar has gained notoriety locally in the Sahara and internationally due in part to Tinariwen, a band from Mali that won a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for their 2011 release, Tassili.
While Fatou’s role as the first female Tuareg guitarist is groundbreaking, it is just as interesting for her musical direction. In a place where gender norms have created two divergent musics, Fatou and Les Filles de Illighadad are reasserting the role of tende in Tuareg guitar.
SUNDAY OCTOBER 13 @ 25 Carrick Ave
7pm doors (live music starts at 8pm)
Busline 51 (exit as Biscayne)
5 Brothers playing together since 1969 and legendary Peruvian chicha pioneers Los Wembler’s de Iquitos celebrate their 50th anniversary with an all-new album,Visíon del Ayahuasca Availableon Barbès records and return to Pittsburgh (for their 2nd ever US Tour).
Date: Sunday September 15
Location: 25 Carrick Ave Pittsburgh PA
Bus line 51 exit at Biscayne
Time: 7pm doors show at 8pm
25 Carrick Ave and Pandemic Present:
Los Wembler’s De Iquitos
Plus Pandemic Pete & tbd
Legendary Peruvianchichapioneers Los Wembler’s de Iquitos celebrate their 50th anniversary with an all-new album,Visíon del Ayahuasca Availableon Barbès records,September2019.
LosWembler’s haven’t lost any of their creative edge. To watch them perform or record is to witness musicians at the height of their powers. Their happy first experiments with cumbia and indigenous rhythms were not the product of chance. These are accomplished musicians in tune with their environment but also infinitely curious about the world. The style LosWembler’s pioneered more than forty years ago has finally found an audience around the world, and LosWembler’s intend to keep it relevant by finding new ways to experiment.
In 1968, in Iquitos, the capital of the Peruvian Amazon, a shoemaker named Solomon Sanchez decided to form a band with his five sons. They were the first band in the Amazon to play popular local rhythms with electric guitars. The new hybrid they were creating would go on to have an enormous impact on South American popular music. Some of their songs, such asSonido AmazonicoorDanza del Petrolerobecame the most emblematic of this newcumbia amazonicamovement.The brothers were born and raised in Iquitos – the largest isolated city in the world. Iquitos boasts close to half a million inhabitants, but its nearest road is six days away by boat. The river and the forest are a big part of the culture, but the city remains a large urban center. Indigenous folklore and urban living have created a singular culture with the river dolphin and the moto-taxi as its primary symbols.
The brothers’ main link to the outside world was the radio. In addition to their daily diets fTahuampa,PandillasandCriollowaltzes, long wave radio broadcasts would expose them to Colombian Cumbia, Brazilian Carimbo, Ecuadorian SanJuanitos, Venezuelan joropos – and psychedelic rock.Curious to a fault, and willing to experiment, LosWembler’s managed to incorporate all these styles into their playing.
Dance to live music performed by local and international artists. Eat delicious food from around the world. Check out work made by local artisans.
Presented in partnership with All for All, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, and Pete Spynda of Pandemic and Pittonkatonk.
Featuring
RAM (from Haiti) – “Vodou rock ‘n’ roots”, and has been one of the prominent bands in the mizik rasin musical movement in Haiti. The band’s music incorporates traditional Vodou lyrics and instruments, such as rara horns and petro drums, into modern rock and roll. The band’s songs include lyrics in Haitian Creole, French, and English.
CUMBIA RIVER BAND (NYC)
New York based Cumbia River Band’s music draws from a festive repertoire of Colombian Cumbia and Riverside music. These sounds will take you back to the golden years of Cumbia as well as inspire you to dance and contemplate the joy and energy that this Cumbia River brings along. Featuring tuba, accordion, clarinet, percussion, guitar and voices, the band delivers a captivating performance, supported by the band’s particular approach to orchestration, which honors both traditional and contemporary sounds found in today’s tropical music scene.
MOURNING [A] BLKSTAR (Cleveland)
We are a multi-generational, gender and genre non-conforming amalgam of Black Culture dedicated to servicing the stories and songs of the apocalyptic diaspora.
Les Filles de Illighadad come from a secluded commune in central Niger, far off in the scrubland deserts at the edge of the Sahara. The village is only accessible via a grueling drive through the open desert and there is little infrastructure, no electricity or running water. But what the nomadic zone lacks in material wealth it makes up for deep and strong identity and tradition. The surrounding countryside supports hundreds of pastoral families, living with and among their herds, as their families have done for centuries.
It takes its name from a drum, built from a goat skin stretched across a mortar and pestle. Like the environs, tende music is a testament to wealth in simplicity, with sparse compositions built from a few elements: vocals, handclaps, and percussion. Songs speak of the village, of love, and of praise for ancestors. It’s a music form dominated by women. Collective and communal, tende is tradition for all the young girls of the nomad camps – played during celebrations and to pass the time during the late nights of the rainy season.
In the past years, certain genres of Tuareg music have become popular in the West. International acts of “desert blues” like Tinariwen, Bombino, and Mdou Moctar are synonymous with the name “Tuareg.” But guitar music is a recent creation. In the 1970s young Tuareg men living in exile in Libya and Algeria discovered the guitar. Lacking any female vocalists to perform tende, they began to play the guitar to mimic this sound, replacing water drums with plastic jerrycans and substituting a guitar drone for the vocal call and response. The exiled eventually traveled home and brought the guitar music with them. In time, this new guitar sound came to eclipse the tende, especially in the urban centers. If tende is a music that for women, the Tuareg guitar was its gendered counterpart.
Fatou Seidi Ghali, lead vocalist and performer of Les Filles de Illighadad is one of the only Tuareg female guitarists in Niger. Sneaking away with her older brother’s guitar, she taught herself to play. While Fatou’s role as the first female Tuareg guitarist is groundbreaking, it is just as interesting for her musical direction. In a place where gender norms have created two divergent musics, Fatou and Les Filles de Illighadad are reasserting the role of tende in Tuareg guitar. In lieu of the djembe or the drum kit, Les Filles de Illighadad incorporate the traditional drum and the pounding calabash, half buried in water. The forgotten inspiration of Tuareg guitar, they are reclaiming its importance in the genre and reclaiming the music of tende.
There is no room for hate! LINK While we are saddened by the recent occurrences in Winston Salem we will not tolerate this hatred and let it destroy our work to build bridges. We proudly present and support artists and musicians from all over the world and continue to do so.
Excited to have these very special guests at our August Party coming direct from MALI.
BKO Quintet is a journey into the heart of contemporary Malian music, combining two of the West African nation’s most well-known traditions, and bringing together four of Mali’s finest veteran musicians: Ibrahima Sarr, Fassara Sacko, Nfali Diakité, and Abdoulaye Kone with French percussionist Aymeric Krol.
BKO is a fresh and modern super-quintet from Bamako (BKO=airport code) who performs an electrified and highly danceable set of Malian music. This band is known for their groundbreaking interplay of the guitar of the griots with the lute of Bambara hunters. It is indeed two opposite worlds that BKO have decided to bring up together in order to develop a resolutely urban music style rooted in secular tradition.
5 Brothers playing together since 1969 and legendary Peruvian chicha pioneers Los Wembler’s de Iquitos celebrate their 50th anniversary with an all-new album,Visíon del Ayahuasca Availableon Barbès records and return to Pittsburgh (for their 2nd ever US Tour).
Date: Sunday September 15
Location: 25 Carrick Ave Pittsburgh PA
Bus line 51 exit at Biscayne
Time: 7pm doors show at 8pm
25 Carrick Ave and Pandemic Present:
Los Wembler’s De Iquitos
Plus Pandemic Pete & tbd
Legendary Peruvianchichapioneers Los Wembler’s de Iquitos celebrate their 50th anniversary with an all-new album,Visíon del Ayahuasca Availableon Barbès records,September2019.
LosWembler’s haven’t lost any of their creative edge. To watch them perform or record is to witness musicians at the height of their powers. Their happy first experiments with cumbia and indigenous rhythms were not the product of chance. These are accomplished musicians in tune with their environment but also infinitely curious about the world. The style LosWembler’s pioneered more than forty years ago has finally found an audience around the world, and LosWembler’s intend to keep it relevant by finding new ways to experiment.
Ghali is one of two women in the Niger who play the guitar. And my can she play. The desert blues sound that streams from her fingers is deeply enigmatic. She pours it into the village’s tende music, infusing traditional sounds with the strumming of strings and softly sung melodies. She’s joined by her cousin Alamnou Akrouni, who also provides vocals. Together they are Les Filles de Illighadad, the daughters of Illighadad.
Rio Mira is a project named for the river that separates Ecuador and Colombia, the group brings together the marimba masters Esteban Copete and Larry Preciado with Ecuadorian singer Karla Kanora and an incredible ensemble of Afro Latino folkloric musicians from the cities of Cali and Esmeraldas.
As an ensemble, Rio Mira’s cultural identity is rooted in the Pacific Coast of Ecuador and Colombia, a musical habitat of East African diaspora traditions with the marimba playing a unifying role, both in the local culture and the ensemble’s unique sound. The marimba music of Colombia and Ecuador was declared Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2015 and this group aims to preserve this cultural treasure.
After making their debut in May of 2013, Dos Santos has been steadily making the rounds at Chicago’s premiere live music venues and festivals—from the prestigious Millennium Park Summer Music Series to the exclusive Chicago World Music Festival. In March of 2015, they released their critically-acclaimed self-titled debut cd Dos Santos and subsequently toured the United States, making appearances at SXSW, the Pachanga Latino Music Festival, and the Ruido Fest Latin Alternative Music Festival along the way. In 2016, the band released their follow-up EP entitled “Fonografic” on Electric Cowbell Records produced by Beto Martínez of Grammy Award-winning Grupo Fantasma. Recently, they teamed up with Money Chicha to release a 7″ vinyl split entitled “Summit Sessions” on Sonorama Discos. Their highly-anticipated debut LP on International Anthem is now available worldwide. Read more about it here.
The group’s five members (Peter Vale, Alex Chavez, Daniel Villarreal-Carrillo, Jaime Garza, Nathan Karagianis) have their own storied careers in a range of styles—including jazz, R&B/soul, traditional Mexican folk, punk, cumbia, salsa, and electronica—in addition to a history of critical involvement in arts education and social justice organizing.
As we close out another year Pandemic would like to thank all the performers who joined us this year and everyone who came out to support our events. It was an amazing year of dance parties, live shows and much more.
We are back at Brillobox for the final Pandemic of 2018. 4 hours of non-stop global dancehall featuring Pandemic Pete and DJ SMI (of Afroheat/Beleza). Don’t miss out.
Kicking off the fall with some big events. First I’ll be guest djing at Spirit Hall for Afroheat w/ DJ SMI. Then on to pandemic w/ Super Yamba Band and bringing in guests Lemon Bucket Orkestra. Click images for links
Djs SMI and Pandemic Pete plus special guests bringing the Afrofunk from Benin by way of NYC.
Kaleta and Super Yamba bring the 70s era Afrobeat sounds with this 9 piece funky and dark sound.
Brooklyn afro-funksters Kaleta & Super Yamba Band are fronted by legendary Afrobeat veteran Leon Ligan-Majek a.k.a. Kaleta. The singer, guitarist and percussionist from the West African country of Benin Republic lived his adolescent life in Lagos, Nigeria where Afrobeat was born. Kaleta performed and toured the world with the two most popular musicians from Nigeria, Fela Kuti and King Sunny Ade, along with Majek Fashek and recently Lauryn Hill.
Kaleta got his start in the late 70s performing in church and was soon after picked up by iconic Juju master and world music pioneer King Sunny Ade. A few years later Fela Kuti came calling. Kaleta would go on to tour the world playing guitar for the King of Afrobeat in his band Egypt 80 through the 1980s and into the 1990s.
Now based in New York City, Kaleta was overjoyed to find Super Yamba Band and hear their take on the vintage, psychedelic sounds of his native country. Super Yamba takes its cues from artists like Orchestre Poly-Rythmo, El Rego and The Funkees, all legends in their own right for pioneering the classic styles of Afro-Funk and Afro-Rock in Benin and Nigeria. With regular gigs all over New York City, Super Yamba Band have dialed in the nuances of some of the rarest grooves out there with a timeless sound that will move everyone in the room to dance! Audiences will hear Kaleta sing in several different languages native to West Africa including Fon, Goun, Yoruba and Ewe, along with French and Pidgin English, “the official language of Afrobeat” he says with a grin.
Super Yamba Band’s live performances with Kaleta are absolutely explosive. Afropop Worldwide said “their ace-up-the-sleeve: the singer Kaleta, whose James Brown grunts have got to be some of the best in the business.” With Kaleta at the helm Super Yamba Band have recently erupted onto stages at Paste Magazine’s Emerging Music Festival, World Music Institute’s Masters Of African Music Series, The Untitled Action Bronson Show (Viceland TV), L.E.A.F. Festival, Secret Planet APAP 2018 Showcase and more, giving audiences an unforgettable experience of world-class Afro-Funk dance music.
Click Here to visit the Brown Paper Tickets event page.
BALKAN BRASS from Toronto…Tuesday Night Balkan Dance Party
“Lemon Bucket Orkestra is a guerilla-punk-Balkan-brass band massive like no other! Equal parts reckless abandon and exhilarating precision, the 12 strong collective’s legendary live shows are a truly immersive experience, ranging from the ecstatic to the cathartic – and all points in between. Don’t miss the Pittsburgh debut of this Canadian juggernaut, celebrating the worldwide release of their new album If I Had The Strength on Six Degrees Records.”
Special guests : The Gypsy Stringz playing Eastern European and Gypsy Music.
w/ PANDEMIC PETE
ticket info coming soon.
“Amazing, frenetic, gloriously anarchic and ultimately joyous!” Winnipeg Free Press
“Adventurous, multicultural and amazing!” The Wall Street Journal
“Raucous and hot-blooded – a collective triumph!” Exclaim Magazine
“A truly exhilarating performance!” The Guardian
“When LBO ditched the stage and jumped in with the crowd on Saturday night they cemented themselves a place in WOMAD lore” Taranaki Daily News, New Zealand
Brown Paper Tickets Ticket Widget Loading…
Click Here to visit the Brown Paper Tickets event page.
Pandemic is rounding out its 12th year and entering 13 with a bang-up lineup. On Aug 3 we welcome Radio Jarocho playing traditional son jarocho music from Veracruz, Mexico with special guest dj Mateo Mattos.
Radio Jarocho plays the rowdy, upbeat, and at times melancholic music of the countryside of Veracruz, Mexico, and has been mixing it with the sounds of New York’s urban life for over ten years. Having recently joined forces with son jarocho legend Zenen Zeferino, they deliver performances that are passionate, energetic, and true to the roots of the genre. Radio Jarocho & Zenen Zeferino have played concerts at festivals and venues in the east coast, including Kennedy Center, Brooklyn Bowl, Joe’s Pub, La Casita at Lincoln Center, Le Poisson Rouge, Celebrate Mexico Now! and Celebrate Brooklyn. They are gearing up to release “Rios de Norte y Sur”, their first studio production together. With this album, Radio Jarocho & Zenen Zeferino celebrate the music that unites Veracruz and New York, Mexico and the United States through original songs and new arrangements for old jarocho tunes, offering a modern take on a traditional genre by fusing it with sounds that have become part of New York City’s musical fabric — flamenco, cumbia, rock, baroque, and jazz. “Rios de Norte y Sur” will be available in May 2018.
In September we are back with an Afrobeat Special featuring Keleta and Super Yamba Band at Brillobox. Afroheat’s DJ SMI and resident Pandemic Pete playing tunes all night long.
Kaleta & Super Yamba Band Afropop Worldwide said “their ace-up-the-sleeve: the singer Kaleta, whose James Brown grunts have got to be some of the best in the business.” Brooklyn Afro-Funksters Kaleta & Super Yamba Band are fronted by legendary Afrobeat veteran Leon Ligan-Majek a.k.a. Kaleta.
PANDEMIC DANCE PARTY 