DL+Booklet Less than a hundred miles inland from the capital city of Lima lies the great Peruvian jungle, an untamed land of impenetrable forests and endless winding rivers. In its isolated cities, cut off from the fashions of the capital, a unique style of music began to develop, inspired equally by the sounds of the surrounding forests, the roll of the mighty Amazon and Ucayali Rivers, and the rhythms of cumbia picked up from distant stations on transistor radios. With the arrival of electricity, a new generation of young musicians started plugging in their guitars and trading in their accordions for synthesizers: Amazonian cumbia was born.Powered by fast-paced timbale rhythms, driven by spidery, treble-damaged guitar lines, and drenched in bright splashes of organ, Amazonian cumbia was like a hyperactive distant cousin of surf music crossed with an all-night dance party in the heart of the forest. While many of the genre’s greatest tracks were instrumental, and others were simple celebrations of life in the jungle, the goal of every song was to keep the party going.Radio stations in Lima remained unaware of the new electric sounds emanating from the jungle, but a handful of pioneeringrecord producers ventured over the mountain passes to the cities of Tarapoto, Moyobamba, Pucallpa – even Iquitos, a cityreachable only by boat or plane – and lured dozens of bands to the recording studios of the capital to lay down their besttracks. Although many became local hits, few were ever heard outside the Amazonian region … until now.With eighteen tracks from some of the greatest names in Amazonian cumbia, Perú Selvatico is both the improbable soundtrackto a beach party on a banks of the Amazon and a psychedelic safari into the sylvan mysteries of the Peruvian jungle.

Back in stock! Ghanaian Afro-Rock From Producer/Composer JJ Whitefield, Inspired By His Karl Hector & The Malcouns And Whitefield Brothers Projects JJ Whitefield, who in the early ‘90s revived the gritty, analogue Funk sounds of the ‘60s and ‘70s with his Poets Of Rhythm, has been working with Now-Again Records for over decade, releasing a flock of acclaimed projects with Karl Hector & The Malcouns, Whitefield Brothers, Rodinia and the Original Raw Soul anthology. He first started exploring African rhythms with the Whitefield Brothers in the late ‘90s, continuing in the ‘00s with Karl Hector & The Malcouns. He’s been instrumental in launching Ghanaian Afro Beat/Funk legend Ebo Taylor´s international career, decades after the maestro recorded the landmark albums that have inspired thousands. Whitefield recorded two new studio albums with Taylor and toured in his band between 2009 and 2013, where he met Taylor’s son Henry and percussionist/Singer Eric Owusu. The trio now front the Johnny! band and find inspiration not only in Ghana’s hypnotic grooves, but also the full frontal fuzz guitar assault heard on the legion of 70s Zambian Zamrock albums reissued by Now-Again. Indeed, Whitefield credits his tours with Zamrock godfathers Rikki Ililonga and WITCH’s Jagari Chanda as instrumental in creating the Johnny’s sonic backdrop. The band is rounded out by Turkish drummer Bernd Oezsevim (Woima Collective, Rodinia) and Indonesian bassist/multi instrumentalist Tomi Simatupang (Whitefield Brothers). This is what was oft-called “Afro Rock” at the core, with the possibilities to stretch out into swinging highlife, sweet soul or psychedelia . The results, point at a new direction for the music inspired by the Great Continent. One that takes a direction once mocked as derivative and asserts its importance on the globe’s current musical stage.

'Kel Tinariwen' ist eine aufschlussreiche Entdeckung aus den Tinariwen-Archiven, eine MC mit frühen Aufnahmen der legendären Tuareq-Band, die 1992 nur innerhalb ihrer Sahara-Stammesgebiete erschien und jetzt erstmals die offizielle Veröffentlichung erlebt. 'Kel Tinariwen' hat noch nicht den vollen Bandsound entwickelt, mit dem sich Tinariwen international etablierten, und erweitert die reiche Geschichte der Band um eine weitere Epoche. Ihr Markenzeichen sind die hypnotischen Gitarrenlinien und der Call-and-Response-Gesang, die sich zwischen rauen Drum-Machine-Rhythmen und Keyboard-Melodien verweben und fast an eine arabische Version von 80er Synth-Pop erinnern. Es gibt deutliche Parallelen zwischen den Klängen auf diesem Band und der Arbeit, die in den letzten Jahren von Cratedigger-Labels wie Awesome Tapes From Africa, Sahel Sounds und Sublime Frequencies entdeckt wurde.

"The first edition of the vinyl is limited to 550 copies and comes in a wild mix of colors and with an inlay with pictures and lyrics."

Cuba: Music and Revolution: Culture Clash in Havana: Experiments in Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 2 is the new album compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) that takes off in exactly the same vein as the much-acclaimed Vol. 1 - exploring the many styles that came out of Cuba in the 1970s as Latin and Salsa mixed with heavy doses of Jazz, Funk, and Disco to create some of the most dancefloor-friendly music ever made!Much of the music on this album is featured in the deluxe large format book 'Cuba: Music and Revolution: Original Cover Art of Cuban Music: Record Sleeve Designs of Revolutionary Cuba 1959-90', released by Soul Jazz Books and also compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records), featuring the music and record designs of Cuba, made in the 30-year period following the Cuban Revolution.  

  Cuba: Music and Revolution: Culture Clash in Havana: Experiments in Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 1 is a new album compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) that explores the many new styles that emerged in Cuba in the 1970s as Jazz, Funk, Brazilian Tropicalia and even Disco mixed together with Latin and Salsa on the island as Cuban artists experimented with new musical forms created in the unique socialist state. The music on this album features legendary Cuban groups such as Irakere, Los Van Van and Pablo Milanés as well as a host of lesser known artists such as the radical Grupo De Experimentación, Juan Pablo Torres and Algo Nuevo, Grupo Monumental and Orquesta Ritmo Oriental, groups whose names remain largely unknown outside of Cuba owing to the now 60-year old US trade embargo which remains in place today and which prevents trade with Cuba - and thus most Cuban records were only ever available in Cuba or in ex-Soviet Union states. The music on this album reflects the most cutting-edge of Cuban groups that were recording in Cuba in the 1970s and 1980s - who were all searching for a new Cuban identity and new musical forms that reflected both the Afro-Cuban cultural heritage of a nation that gave birth to Latin music - and its new position as a socialist state. Most of the music featured on this album has never been heard outside of Cuba. Cuba: Music and Revolution is the third book that Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker have collaborated on together and follows on from their two earlier critically acclaimed books, Freedom, Rhythm and Sound (Revolutionary Jazz Music in the 1960s and 1970s) and Bossa Nova and the Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s, both of which also had related album releases on Soul Jazz Records. [info sheet from distr.]

-Gatefold Contains Biography, Interviews & Pictures-Download Code For High Quality WAVE/MP3 Die Geschichte von The Movers begann 1967, als zwei unbekannte Musiker - die Brüder Norman und Oupa Hlongwane - bei Kenneth Siphayi, einem eleganten und wohlhabenden Geschäftsmann aus dem Township Alexandra, anfragten, ob er ihnen Musikinstrumente kaufen könne. Im Gegenzug würde er einen Anteil an zukünftigen Auftritten und Plattenverträgen erhalten. Kenneth tat aber noch viel mehr: Er wurde ihr Manager, richtete ihnen einen Proberaum ein und brachte sie mit einem Organisten zusammen, der sich als das fehlende Glied im Klanggerüst der Band erweisen sollte. Er gab ihnen auch ihren Namen: The Movers ... weil, wie er sagte, ihre Musik dich bewegen würde, ob du sie magst oder nicht.

"Released in 1978, “Soy la ley” by Robert y su Banda is an obscure but sought-after slab of Colombian salsa dura with the special distinction of having the “original” version of Álvaro José “Joe” Arroyo’s monster hit ‘Rebelión’ hidden in plain sight on the second side of the record. The band’s leader, Roberto Antonio Urquijo Fonseca, is still active today and, hailing from Barranquilla, Colombia, is as steeped in the costeño sound of cumbia as he is in salsa. Roberto certainly has a perfect voice for salsa, bringing to mind that of the Boricua super star sonero Héctor Lavoe. In fact, Roberto y su Banda are well remembered by salsa fanatics in Medellín because they were the other act (along with Piper Pimienta and his orchestra) that opened the first Colombian performance of Héctor Lavoe, on the afternoon of July 29, 1978 at the Plaza de Toros La Macarena. Roberto was also one of the vocalists and co-founders (with Hernando Barbosa) of the short-lived La Bandita, where he was known as “Urquijo” and had a big hit with ‘Libre soy’ in 1979. Prior to that, Roberto replaced Juan Piña in Los Hermanos Martelo in 1975 and later joined Grupo Raíces in the 1980s for a couple of albums. He also became a vocalist with Grupo Niche when Alfonso “Moncho” Santana quit, though he left without appearing on any Niche releases. On this album the previously mentioned ‘Rebelión’ of Joe Arroyo kicks off side two but bears the completely different title ‘El Mulato’ and is credited to Adela Martelo de Arroyo, Joe Arroyo’s wife at the time (Arroyo was signed exclusively to Discos Fuentes). The arrangement, by Enrique Aguilar, is also quite different from ‘Rebelión’ with an introduction that sounds inspired by Tite Curet Alonso’s composition ‘Plantación adentro’ (from “Willie Colon Presents Rubén Blades Metiendo Mano!”, 1977) but it contains all the elements of Joe’s later global smash with the exception of being rhythmically more of a cumbia than a salsa. At the time it was not promoted by Zeida as a hit, with only one 45 single being released from the album, featuring two songs by Colombian composers, ‘Hijo de gitana’ (a bouncy cumbia by Juvenal Viloria) and a smoking salsa version of Joaquín Bedoya’s ‘Déjala que se vaya’. Arroyo is said to have presented ‘El mulato’ to Fruko (his bandleader at the time), and it was recorded but was shelved due to a vocal take that Fruko deemed sub-par. When Arroyo left Fruko y sus Tesos and formed his own band, La Verdad, producer Isaac Villanueva looked through the Fuentes archives for material and stumbled on the original Fruko recording. Arroyo decided to re-record the whole song, changing the intro (to avoid any legal issues with Curet Alonso) and the title to clarify the main theme: the injustice of slavery and black resistance to it. And so, with Michi Sarmiento’s brilliant arrangement plus La Verdad’s modern reinterpretation of the nearly decade old tune, ‘Rebelión’ became a mega-hit even in Asia and Africa and Arroyo’s fame shot around the world and made him the international legend he remains to this day, eight years after his untimely demise. Besides the aforementioned ‘El mulato’, the title track ‘Soy la ley’ is a dance floor burner and comes from the pen of Joe Arroyo as well, as does ‘Mi cariño no espera’, which is another cumbia/salsa hybrid. To these ears, one of the voices singing coro (chorus) on the album sounds a lot like Joe Arroyo, who was Roberto’s friend from back in the early 70s when Arroyo sang with Colombia’s La Protesta. Aside from the Arroyo originals, there is the super hot guaguancó ‘Son Candela’ by the venerable Cuban singer/composer Joseíto Fernández, the guajira son ‘En la inmensa soledad’, made famous by Los Compadres, the upbeat sounding lament ‘Preso sin sentencia’, originally by Puerto Rican plenero and percussionist Rafael Ortiz Escuté (aka Joe Pappy), plus an absolutely burning version of Mexican crooner Armando Manzanero’s 1967 hit ‘Aquel señor’. The record is rounded out by the salsa tune ‘Si ella pregunta por mí’, which was covered in 1980 by Orquesta Borinquen."

We're super happy to announce the release by Sharhabil Ahmed, the actual King of Sudanese Jazz (he actually won that title in a competition in the early 1970s). Sonically it sounds very different from what Jazz is understood to sound like outside of Sudan. It’s an incredible unique mix of rock’n’roll, funk, surf, traditional sudanese music and influences from Congolese sounds. Original copies of Sharhabil recordings are often hard to find, so we’re happy they will now be widely available. Sharhabil was born in 1935 and he is the founding father of the Sudanese Jazz scene. His aim was to modernize Sudanese music by bringing it together with western influences and instrumentation like he summarized it himself in a 2004 interview for „Al Ahram Weekly“: “[...]Haqiba music, you know, was traditional vocal music with little accompaniment beyond a tambourine. When our generation came in the 1960s, we came with a new style. It was a time of worldwide revolution in music. In Europe, the rhythms of swing and tango were being replaced by jazz, samba, rock- and-roll. We were influenced by this rejuvenation in Sudan, too. I started out by learning to play the oud and traditional Sudanese music, and got a diploma from the music institute of Khartoum University. But my ambition was to develop something new. For this, the guitar seemed like the best instrument. Western instruments can approximate the scales of Sudanese music very well. After all, a lot of Western music is originally from Africa. I have absorbed different influences, from traditional Sudanese rhythms to calypso and jazz, and I hold them together in my music with no difficulty.” Referring to its sonic apperance, Sudanese Jazz hasn’t too much in common with the western idea of Jazz. Sharhabil’s sound feels more like a unique combination of surf, rock n roll, funk, Congolese music and East African harmonies a.o. So it kind of made sense to me, while visiting him in Sudan, to see the records he kept over the years: 2 of his own and 2 by Mulatu Astatke signed to him, further proving the influence of Ethiopian and other neighboring countries. In fact, Sharhabil was not just one of many Sudanese Jazz artist. He is a king of Jazz, literally, since in he won a competion over other artists for that title.

In the same year, 1981, that Orchestra Baobab recorded their second album under the direction of budding young Senegalese producer, Ibrahima Sylla, the Japanese electronics company Sony, held a press conference in Vienna to announce their version of the Compact Disc. In attendance was Herbert von Karajan, conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic and the urban myth – albeit possibly true – that the maximum length of 74 minutes of music then available for a CD, was because this allowed the entire length of Karajan's recording of Beethoven's 9 th Symphony, to fit on one disc.Fast forward 12 years to London in 1993 and Sterns' release of Baobab's 'Bamba' CD which combined tracks from the two vinyl albums 'Mouhamadou Bamba' & 'Viva Bawobab S1/ Si Bou Odja', and Sterns had a problem. What tracks to keep, what to drop and once you'd decided that, how to fit them all onto a CD in under 74 minutes? The solution was to edit, primarily by fading early, one of the longest tracks of the selection.Accordingly the first track of this album, “Sibou Odia”, was reduced from 14'35” to 13'41” and, in most cases, none were the wiser as the suggestion to call the CD version an “Edit” had been dropped on the basis that nobody would believe a 13+ minutes track was an edit! Now of course, such restrictions don't exist and either via a repiication of its original format on vinyl, or through the digital medium, you can hear the full-length version as first intended.And it's fascinating, not just this track but the whole album. The band is young, energetic and confident of their abilities. In the 'missing' 66 seconds you hear them live, in the studio, working together to close what indeed was something of an epic performance. And it's not just the musicians who have greater confidence. The recording itself is more accomplished, better balanced. However effective the echoey ambiance of, for example, “Mouhamadou Bamba” was on the first album, you don't find the same tricks here. They're not needed. Instead the core unit of bass, drums and guitar, ably abetted by more percussion, a second guitar and on-the-button horns, provide a solid foundation from which the five vocalists and featured instrumentalists can launch and then soar. creditsreleased November 20, 2020