clandestino playlist 8/31

A very wacky edition of clandestino indeed. Circumstances: two songs in and I get an emergency phone call from a friend and opted to bring her to the hospital. I'll spare the details except that was not a life or death thing and she's feeling better. But fuck the UMass infirmary for not caring at all about a bleeding woman because "we don't take MassHealth here". They wouldn't even ask questions or offer any advice. Nor did the people behind the couter at the desk show any concern whatsover. FUCK YOU!!!! This country's health care system is severly lacking. I demand a Cuba model now!!! We drove to the friendlier Greenfield for some good caretaking.
Big thanks to Bryan G of Mnemonics Radio for filling in on the spot. I had actually left my record bag in the studio and Bry liberally played from it. Great! There was also some assistence from Anilynn, who played some Brazilian music for a bit. Sadly, I don't know what she played. But seeing as how she just got back from a month in Brasil, I'm sure it was beautiful. Thanks also to Glenn and Dan for their help in the matters.
I'll be back on Monday with all kinds of jams for you. Then I hit the road on tour with Urthquake and Noise Nomads.
See ya!

It goes like this (artist/ song/ album/ label):

quantic & his combo bárbaro/ the dreaming mind (pt 1)/ tradition in transition/ tru thoughts

paulo bagunça/ olhos risonhos/ paulo bagunça e a tropa maldita/


os diagonais/ não vou chorar/ v/a-black rio 2/ strut
azambuja e cia/ tema de azambuja/ v/a-black rio 2/ strut

Anilynn entered here but I don't know what she played.
Here's Bryan's entrance:
hawkwind/ it's so easy/ sonic boom killers/ reperatoire

orchestre poly-rhythmo de cotonou/ se tche we djo mon/ the vodoun effect/ analog africa



sir victor uwaifo/ idogo/ guitar boy superstar/ soundway


rahsaan roland kirk/ here comes the whistleman/ here comes the whistleman/ label M

barbara manning/ B4 we go under/ singles under one roof/ interstate

moussa doumbia/ faux marabout/ keleya/ oriki music

brownout/ el narco/ homenaje/ freestyle
New album dropping real soon!!!!


the homosexuals/ technique street (rough mix)/ v/a-messthetics #101: DIY 77-81 london/ hyped 2 death


william s. fisher/ batbi hyu lau/ akellare sorta/ wah wah

the brockingtons/ eye doctor/ the brockingtons/ today

acid mothers temple/ starless and bible black sabbath/ starless and bible black sabbath/ alien8
Heavy Japanese psych action! Thanks to Bry for a great set of madness!!!!!

Listen in next week. Clandestino airs live every Monday 230-430pm (ET) at WMUA.org.

Promos to:

WMUA 91.1 FM
Attention: Andujar
105 Campus Center
UMass
Amherst, MA
01003
USA

clandestino playlist 8/24

I went down to Nueva York with DJ Bongohead yesterday to hear some funky latin music, including DJs and a live set by Quantic & his Combo Barbaro on Governers Island. The music was fantastic, whether it was DJ Beto from Soundway, Frank from Sofritos or others jamming afro-latin, funk, cumbia, salsa, etc...or the main entreé itself, the Quantic band playing some spicy cumbias, breezy brazilian jazz, funky bugalu ("El Pito!"). The rain didn't at all ruin the spirit and beauty of this gorgeous beach locale across from the Manhatten and Jersey skylines. Nicodemus and the Turntables-on-the-Hudson crew put up a splendid event and greeted us warmly. They even had some good Brooklyn beer from Six Point Brewery. Thanks so much to Nico and Will Quantic and his band for the good times. We even had an impromptu jam session on the water taxi!



So with that we have today's Clandestino program, no sleep till Western Mass!!! Very much inspired by yesterday's jam. Thanks for listening.

It goes like this (artist/ song/ album/ label):

afrodizz/ bombé/ v/a-afrobeat revolution/ rough guides
From our 2nd afrobeat CD. Contact me: bombasticos@yahoo.com.

quantic & his combo barbaro/ más pan/ tradition in transisition/ tru thoughts



el rego et sus commandos/ e nan mian nuku/ v/a-legends of benin/ analog africa

ikenga superstars/ your thing/ greedy man/ rogers all stars

batata y su rumba palenquera/ ataole/ radio bakongo/ network



quantic & his combo barbaro w/nidia góngora/ un canto a mi tierra/ tradition in transition/ tru thoughts

totó la momposina/ chi chí maní/ carmelina/ MTM

fruko y sus tesos/ la fruta bomba/ early recordings/ fuentes

afrosound/ pacifico/ v/a-colombia!/ soundway



piper pimienta/ pensamiento/ la fuente/ discomoda
This one came from Quantic himself!

alfredo linares y su sonora/ tutú tatá/ v/a-gozalo! bugalú tropical 2/ vampisoul
Quantic's Peruvian piano man on an Eddie Palmieri classic.

richie ray/ mambo jazz/ viva!/ fonseca
Cheers to Ramon in Orlando!

los superiores/ descarga superior/ v/a-panama! 2/ soundway
A listener called in and told me that this song was far below my standards and that he thought it was the biggest piece of shit he had ever heard. Well, I think it sounds just fine!

honny & the bees band/ psychedelic woman/ v/a-ghana soundz/ soundway

soul destroyers/ blow your top/ 45/ stark reality
Featuring Malcolm Catto of Heliocentrics/Quantic's Combo Barbaro.

skin williams/ skin's funk/ 45/ tramp

vampires of dartmoor/ dance of the vampires/ v/a-finders keepers/ fat city

heliocentrics/ distant star/ out there/ now again



budos band/ smoke gets in/ 12"/ daptone

talo w/ nahid akhtar/ na main chini na japani/ v/a-sound of wonder: paki picture pop/ finders keepers



malik adouane/ shaft

sofrito specials/ la rosa (frankie francis edit)/ 12"/ sofrito specials

acquaragia drom/ rom kaffe/ v/a-gypsy music/ rough guides

ocote soul sounds & adrian quesada/ la reja/ 12"/ ESL

quantic & his combo barbaro w/falu/ albela/ tradition in transition/ tru thoughts

erkin koray/ estarabim/ 2

lord newborn & the magic skulls/ dime bag conspiracy/ lord newborn/ ubiquity

That does it for this week. Thanks much. The show is on every Monday 230-430pm (ET) at WMUA.org.

Please send your promos to:

WMUA 91.1 FM
105 Campus Center
UMass
Amherst, MA
01003
USA

Rashied Ali, RIP

One of my favorite drummers has passed, Rashied Ali.

Do you remember the waves of crashing percussion sounds when you first heard "Interstellar Space", that John Coltrane record in duo with our hero? What an impact it left on me. The quartet of kit drummers for me has always been Max Roach, Tony Allen, Elvin Jones and Rashied Ali. And now just Allen survives. And can you imagine the rhythms of a band that featured both Ali and Jones? Coltrane had the vision for THAT one. Ali is a man who stood up for his beliefs after Trane passed and was rewarded with what I suspect was a recording industry blacklist (every other Trane associate was given a deal with Impulse Records), so he started up his own beautiful DIY label, Survival. And this man also had his hands broken for refusing to play ball with the mafia and sell alcohol in his club. Tendonitis and/or carpal tunnel syndrome plagued him thereafter, but Rashied still recorded some fine albums. Here's the obit from the London Times. Used without permission in loving respect for the subject. We'll miss ya, Rashied.

Photo: Philippe Levy-Stab/Corbis

Rashied Ali

“Those were trying times in the Sixties,” said the jazz drummer Rashied Ali. “People were screaming for their rights, and wanting to be equal, be free. And naturally the music reflects that whole period.” In the two years he played in John Coltrane’s quartet, from 1965 until the saxophonist’s death, Ali revolutionised jazz drumming. He replaced the charismatic percussionist Elvin Jones, who was a master of polyrhythmic playing, with a style that eschewed explicit statements of rhythm in favour of more abstract playing. He created a wash of textures, described by another of his associates, the saxophonist Archie Shepp, as “similar to what action painters do, in that it creates various surfaces of colour which push into each other, creating tensions and counter tensions”. In Ali’s hands, the job of jazz drummer transferred from the traditional job of timekeeping to one of interactive improvisation with melodic instruments.

Paradoxically, Ali’s first experiences as a professional musician had been in the tightly structured genre of rhythm ‘n’ blues.

Born Robert Patterson in Philadelphia in 1933, he changed his name to Rashied Ali, in emulation of his father. Growing up in Philadelphia, he sang in a gospel choir as a child, alongside his mother who had been a vocalist for the big band leader Jimmie Lunceford. After studies at the Granoff School in his home town, Ali played with many of the city’s R&B musicians, with only occasional forays into jazz.

This changed when he moved to New York in 1963 and became caught up in the cutting edge of modern jazz development. He played with several innovative musicians, including Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra and Albert Ayler, all of whom were mingling free improvisation with a conscious evocation of jazz’s past history in the blues. He was recruited for a tour of Japan by the saxophonist Sonny Rollins, whose forte at the time was lengthy improvisations on a single piece lasting anything up to an entire nightclub set. This taught Ali valuable lessons in endurance and in creating varieties in texture over 30 or 40-minute extemporisations.

Coltrane first invited Ali to join his band alongside his existing drummer Jones, saying: “I could have a band that played the way we used to play, and a band that was going in the direction that I have now.” Jones soon quit, leaving Ali, the bassist Jimmy Garrison and the saxophonist’s wife Alice Coltrane to build the shifting colours and textures that Coltrane required behind his impassioned solos.

Their finest work is on the album Meditations (1966), although more extended playing can be heard on their live discs made at the Village Vanguard in New York and on tour in Japan.

After John Coltrane’s death, Ali continued to work with Alice, but in due course based himself in New York, running his own groups, organising festivals and setting up the record company Survival. This documented his work, and that of his close colleagues, on albums such as New Directions in Modern Music and Moon Flight. Throughout the 1970s he operated an informal “loft” jazz club in New York called Ali’s Alley, which acted as a focal point for experimental musicians. Some of the musical relationships he formed then, such as duos with the drummers Milford Graves and Andrew Cyrille, lasted until the present decade.

When free jazz fell out of fashion in the 1980s at the height of the fusion era, Ali continued to run his record company and studio, and worked around New York where an interest in free improvisation remained. In the 1990s he developed the idea of combining his music with performance art, and set up the troupe Cosmic Legends, which brought improvising jazz players together with poets, actors and dancers.

Partly through the influence of the saxophonist John Zorn, who encouraged Ali to record, and to play with the so-called Downtown group of innovative jazz musicians, his career underwent a renaissance in the late 1990s. In the present decade Ali was busier than ever, working with the saxophonist Sonny Fortune and his group, as well as in a duo with the bassist Henry Grimes. He will principally be remembered, however, for his work with Coltrane, who said of him: “He allows the soloist maximum freedom, laying down multidirectional rhythms all the time.”

He is survived by his wife Patricia.

Rashied Ali, jazz drummer, was born on July 1, 1933. He died from a heart attack on August 12, 2009, aged 76

Here's a few Rashied highlights for this blogger:

clandestino playlist 8/17...rumba psicodelica!

Tonight we present Rumba Psicodelica!! at the Elevens in Northampton, 10pm. So to gear up I figured I'd play some true rumbas, as well as other sounds we may be spinning tonight. I also found out that one of my drum heroes Rashied Ali has passed on. I had to play one of his jams. Everyone knows "Interstellar Space" with John Coltrane (at least they should know!), so I played a lesser known one. Details below. Thanks for tuning in.

It goes like this (artist/ song/ album/ label):
franco/ likambo ya ngana/ rough guide to franco/ rough guides

merceditas valdez/ a eleguá/ v/a-musica afrocubana/ irma
Cheers to Jon King for bringing this back from Cuba. Beautiful!

rashied ali/ blood on the cross/ moon flight/ survival
An Ali composition from his Survival LP, "Moon Flight".



max roach & abbey lincoln/ freedom day/ we insist! freedom now suite/ candid



john santos y machete/ iyesá/ tribute to the masters/ cubop

dele sosimi/ ya hand/ identity/ helico

banda união black/ na palma da mao/ banda união black/ mr bongo

segun bucknor/ smoke/ poor man no get brother/ strut



geraldo pino/ man pass man, iron dey cut iron/ afro soco soul live/ soundway
One of my all time favorite artists!
ebo taylor/ atwer abroba/ v/a-ghana soundz 2/ soundway

gnonnas pedro et ses dadjes/ la musica en verité/ v/a-legends of benin/ analog africa

gnonnas pedro/ africa tei cuba/ africa tei cuba/ editions gnoinsope



henri guedon/ negro lucumi/ early latin & bugalu recordings/ comet

conjunto casino/ quiquiribu mandinga/ rumba quimbumba 41-46/ tumbao

bill laswell/ habana transmission...cuban evolution/ imaginary cuba/ wicklow



grupo fantasma/ naci de la (rumba y guaguanco)/ sonidos gold/ airesol

ray santiago/ elegua/ afro cuba a la NYC/ self released

cachaito/ redencion/ orlando cachaito lopez/ world circuit

up, bustle & out/ mariel port, spanish harlem/ master sessions vol 2/ ninja tune



mike rosario/ canto a chango (dj duste rmx)/ v/a-que viva la salsa dura!/ hard salsa

orquesta dee jay/ mi son/ forget it/ lewgas reissue:latin soul

fruko y sus tesos/ el caminante/ fuentes

juan pablo torres y algo nuevo/ son a propulsion/ v/a-si, para usted 1/ waxing deep

Thanks much!!!
Clandestino, hosted by Andujar, airs live every Monday from 230-430pm (ET) at WMUA.org.

Promos to:

WMUA 91.1 FM
Attention: Andujar
105 Campus Center
UMass
Amherst, MA
01003
USA

Rumba Psicodelica!

Rumba Psicodelica! returns on Monday, in two parts.

First we'll be running the voodoo down on Radio Clandestino on WMUA.org, from 230-430pm (ET).

Then we'll be jamming some vinyl at the Elevens in Northampton at 10pm. Andujar will be joined by DJs Snack Attack, Bongohead, and Mike P from Mass Tropicas. The vibes will be hard funk, afro-latin, garage cumbia, roots & dub, bugalu, soul, chicha, salsa, afrobeat and more. It's 21+ and free admission.

Come and hang, dance, drink, etc. For more info: bombasticos@yahoo.com.
Poster by George Myers.

I-Ganic Returns to Amherst!

My homeboy Camilo aka DJ I-Ganic is hands down my favorite DJ in Western Massachusetts. Holding down every other Thursday in the cramped Bishop's Lounge in Northampton always provides sonic bliss...but maaaaan is it too crowded and silly in there sometimes. So I love when he brings the sound to other spots and parties.

After doing a stint of several years at the Harp in North Amherst, I-Ganic hasn't set up in that college town in too long. Well, thankfully folks on the Amherst side of the river can receive the message of sound and love. I-Ganic returns with what will be a fully-felt set at the Amherst Brewing Company. ABC certainly has some fine brews and the place is a nice alternative to the white-baseball-cap shitbag scene that permeates too much of Amherst. But things will certainly be right for the night on Saturday.

Bio:
Residing in Western Mass with roots in Puerto Rico, I-Ganic began spinning records in the mid ‘80s at the age of 13. Inspired by the sound system culture of Jamaica, I-Ganic played parties and opened for local reggae bands. By the late ‘90s, he had developed his signature style of layering digital effects over a mix of top-shelf selections of the latest UK and Jamaican Roots, Steppas, Dancehall, and Dub. Having added more equipment and a much larger collection of vinyl, I-Ganic Sound System is the Pioneer Valley’s Number One Reggae Sound System.




the I-Ganic Myspace page is here.
and the website: www.iganicsoundsystem.com

Our monthly all vinyl throwdown Sweet Exorcist is this Friday!!!

This Friday, the 14th, the Sweet Exorcist night reopens the entertainment menu at the People's Pint. The kitchen closes at 10 so come early for food. Tunes start at 10. It'll be B-COMING and Andujar bringing the funky stuff so come dance or listen, drink some fine brews, and hang. Its free and all ages. The party returns monthly every 2nd Friday.



And don't forget about Rumba Psicodelica! at the Elevens in Northampton on Monday night. It'll be another victrola jam with Andujar, Snack Attack, Bongohead and Mike P. Hard funk, salsa dura, chicha, garage, bugalu, rocksteady and afrobeat will be the vibe. It kicks off at 10 and it's 21+ and free.

For more info: bombasticos@yahoo.com.
Poster by: George Meyers

clandestino playlist 8/10...Today's Guests: Elliot Bergman of Nomo and Other Friends

It was a very fun show today, with my special co-guest JD Hairston of NorthPoleTapes. We hyped up the upcoming events of the week, such as the benefit for Sam the dog's vet bills at the Tork Clock Studio in Greenfield (which NorthPoleTapes will be playing at tonight), Friday night's Sweet Exorcist, with DJ B-COMING and Andujar, Saturday afternoon's grand re-opening of Holyoke's famous Mountain Park featuring Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens and Rubblebucket Orchestra, among others. Also our special Rumba Psicodelica! night at the Elevens in Northampton next Monday night. And of course, the Nomo concert at the Iron Horse on Saturday night! Congrats to the ticket winners.

(Check here for more of Nomo's custom-built kalimbas!).

Very special thanks goes out to Elliot of Nomo for chatting it up with us on the show via phone. My favorite part was when he described Morton Subotnick as "secretly funky". And cheers to the band for the excellent music! See ya at the show, Saturday night 10pm (DJ Bongohead opens).

It goes like this (artist/ song/ album/ label):

nomo/ the nu tones/ new tones/ ubiquity

thomas mapfumo & blacks unlimited/ musanyepere/ chimurenga explosion/ anonymous



tony allen/ ogogoro/ lagos no shaking/ honest jons



afrodizz/ bombé/ v/a-afrobeat revolution/ rough guides
From our new compilation CD.

nomo/ ghost rock/ ghost rock/ ubiquity

mulatu & the heliocentrics/ menenqo/ inspiration information/ strut



--live phone interview with Nomo's Elliot Bergman!!--

nomo/ bumbo/ invisible cities/ ubiquity
Composition by Moondog.

nomo/ brainwave/ ghost rock/ ubiquity

dan friel/ glass kite/ obsoleter 12"/ spooky tree



don cherry/ degi-degi/ brown rice/ A&M

nomo/ rings/ ghost rock/ ubiquity

weather report/ waterfall/ weather report/ columbia



eddie harris/ electric ballad/ silver cycles/ atlantic

can/ vitamin c/ ege bamyasi/ spoon

earth wind & fire/ bad tune/ earth wind & fire/ warners



budos band/ the hidden hand/ 12"/ daptone



konono no. 1/ lufuala ndonga/ congotronics/ crammed disk

northpoletapes/ at night/ parasaurolophus/ northpoletapes
JD's project. For more info click here.

And here comes DJ 12XU with a few tracks to close it out:
james brown/ popcorn/ 45/ polydor
joe tex/ i gotcha/ 45/
yelow sunshine/ yellow sunshine/ yellow sunshine/ epic

Good times! Next week we'll do our Rumba Psicodelica! special. We'll be giving a taste of what's to come that night at the Elevens with DJs Andujar, Bongohead, Snack Attack and Mike P from Mass Tropicas. Tunes start at 10 and it'll be free (21+)...all vinyl salsa, bugalu, funk, african, chicha, reggae, cumbia, soul etc.

And we'll see you this coming Friday night at the People's Pint for our monthly Sweet Exorcist with DJs Andujar and B-COMING. It's 10pm, free, all ages, all vinyl.




Clandestino airs live every Monday 230-430pm (ET) at WMUA.org.

Promos to: WMUA 91.1 FM Attention: Andujar 105 Campus Center UMass Amherst, MA 01003 USA

This Monday's Guest: Nomo's Elliot Bergman

I'm pleased to have Elliot Bergman back on "clandestino" this coming Monday. Elliot is bandleader, multi-instrumentalist, kalimba builder and chief composer for the groovy Midwest gang Nomo. An eclectic band with influences from Fela, Sun Ra, krautrock, Don Cherry, Ethiopia and more, these guys have made several amazing records for Ubiquity and Kindred Spirits, including their current jam "Invisible Cities".

Heavy reed blowing, electric thumb pianos, and very funky rhythms are in the recipe for their upcoming show at Northampton's Iron Horse on Saturday, August 15th. DJ Bongohead is also on the bill and I will have some Nomo concert tickets to give away on Monday's radio show. I hope to be joined by JD Hairston of NorthPoleTapes and we'll have Elliot on the phone at 3pm.














To see the entire Nomo tour schedule click here.
Nomo's record labels: Ubiquity, Kindred Spirits.

Clandestino airs live every Monday from 230-430pm (ET) at WMUA.org. The studio phone number is 413-545-3691 (413-545-FM91). To send promos to the station please put them to the attention of Andujar and send them to WMUA, 105 Campus Center, UMass, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.

Nomo photo by Doug Coombe