AfroPulse Concert Newsletter for May

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May 10 2001      AfroPulse Concert News        Volume 1 Issue 3
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Contents:
   April WAW report
   May WAW -- Eugene de Coque
   Sunday Jump
   Summer Calendar
   Recent concerts
   
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West African Wednesdays (WAW)

  April
  
April WAW was a blow out show!  There were "more Cameroonian
musicians than I've ever seen in one room before" according to
Richard Bona.  He is an amazing player and singer, but he also
has a humorous side and likes to play with the audience.  When
the phone warbled during a ballad, he imitated the sound.  He
also got the audience to sing along in Douala even though most
of them couldn't understand the words.  The audience also played
games with Richard, when Mimi (a six-foot tall Sengalese singer
who was wearing a bright red dress that matched her short-
cropped hair) ascended the stage at one point and stole Richard's
microphone for a wonderful impromptu song.  Bona played along
watching her the whole time.

The audience was packed with celebrities from Bonnie Raitt
(nine-time Grammy winning blues slide guitarist) and three
of her band members, to Nneena Freelon (2001 Grammy nominated
jazz vocalist), to Michael Brook (award-winning mixmaster
and movie soundtrack producer), to the many African musicians
(Andre Manga, Fred Doumbé, Josman Mbella, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley,
and Prince Diabate to name a few), and a few actresses, models,
and other musicians. The night stretched late with the second
set lasting until 1:00AM and most of the audience spellbound
to the very end. Even the musicians were enchanted, many
making mental notes of Bona's technique, style and approach.


  May

Eugene de Coque and the Igede Band International are the
scheduled performers for the May 30 WAW show.  Eugene is
from Nigeria and his band blends the traditional sounds of
Igede praise-singing with his own guitar highlife melodies.

Eugene has a CD titled "One Africa One Language" which will
be available at the show.  If you like to dance, this is the
show to attend because Nigerian highlife is definitely the
sound to get you on your feet!  Last year Eugene played at
the California Watercourt Plaza downtown as the closing act
for Wendo Kolosoy.  I think he got the crowd dancing more
than Papa Wendo who is the grandfather of Congolese Rumba!

Mr. Ade James will be on hand to produce professional
portraits, so be sure to dress to impress.  The show will
include Palm Wine and an Ibo Spirit Masquerade in addition
to Eugene's dance music.  A full cultural event is planned
for this evening so don't miss out.

Listen to KPFK 90.7 on Sunday afternoon from 1-3 for Derek
Rath's Cosmic Barrio show to hear an interview with Eugene
on May 20 or 27.  Radio Afrodicia on Saturdays from 1-3 with
DJ Nnamdi will offer a "Palm Wine Special" for the fundraiser
drive.  You can purchase 2 tickets, Eugene's CD, and one
bottle of Palm Wine for $100, with 100% of the proceeds
going towards supporting KPFK.

The performance will be at the Atlas Supper Club, 3760 Wilshire
Blvd (at Western), next door to the Wiltern theatre.  Tickets
are $12 in advance, $15 at the door and can be ordered along
with the CD "One Africa One Language" from the AfroPulse website
(http://www.afropulse.com/music/concerts/eugenewaw.html).
In addition the DJ will play samples from the new Chief Stephen
Osita Osadebe CD "Sound Time" at Eugene's show.  It contains
remastered highlife classics from the 70's and 80's.  This CD
will also be for sale at the show, but it is recommended that
you reserve a copy from our website so that we can be sure to
have enough on hand.

You can also buy tickets at the following locations:

Aron's Records*, 1150 North Highland, Hollywood (323) 469-4700
Dokins African Market, 14056 Crenshaw Blvd, Gardena, (310) 532-6160
Jah Lambs, 1040 S. Fairfax Ave, Little Ethiopia, (323) 931-4105
Obichi Enterprises, 4750½ Washington Blvd, (323) 933-5205
Rhino Records*, 1720 Westwood Blvd, West LA, (310) 474-8685
Sweet Africa, 1580 Centinela Ave, Los Angeles, (310) 674-6009
Vinyl Fetish*, 1750 Vermont Ave, Los Feliz, (323) 660-4500

*A service charge will apply at these locations.

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Sunday Jump

Things are going so well at Atlas with West African Wednesdays,
that we have decided to add another day of African music!
Starting in June we will have a Sunday Jump from 6:00-10:00pm.
This is a great way to unwind after church before getting ready
to start the work week.

The Jump will feature a house band and musician jam session.
Musicians will get booked at the beginning of the week so that
they know they will perform, but the sound for the night will
only be known once they take the stage and start improvising.

Come hang out with your friends and have a drink or a snack
and see what the world-class musicians here in LA are interested
in performing!  Sunday Jump will be a weekly event with no cover
charge, but we may occasionally have an out of town band perform
a full concert instead.

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Summer Lineup

The summer schedule is still in flux, but is jam packed with
great music.  There has been a major change to the show at
the Hollywood Bowl with Youssou N'Dour.  Les Yeux Noirs and
Rachid Taha have been replaced by Sade, although it appears
this show may already be sold out.

Rumor is that Cheb Khaled (the King of Algerian Raï music)
and Faudel (the young heir apparent) will play the Greek in
September.  There is also a possibility of a Sinke Assefa
(Ethiopian female vocalist) concert in August as well as
Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe himself bringing us his great
Nigerian highlife in September or October.

To see the schedule click over to
http://www.afropulse.com/music/concerts/summer2001a.html

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Recent Concerts

April was the busiest month I have seen in the last five years!
Partly the calendar looked full because of a week long booking
of Jonathan Butler at Catalina, but there was at least one show
a week to see.  Super Soukous (Shimita El Diego and Dodo Munoko)
was the biggest in a long time with over 1,000 people dancing to
their beat.

I saw Fidelity Afrobeat again in a little coffee house and they
rocked the place!  The stage was so cramped they left out the
keyboard and it looked like the guitarists were hunched over to
keep from hitting their heads on outcroppings from the wall, but
the sound was intesified by no less than two baritone saxophones!
The union activists for whom the concert was held could be seen
bobbing their heads to the funky beat although they had never
heard this music before.  It is quite infectious.

Looking ahead, it seems that Temple Bar is in the running for the
most productive venue.  I expanded my definition slightly with
some local bands with African influences (like Wozani), but
nonetheless there is a Senegalese dance troupe playing Temple Bar
several times.  May is not quite as solid as April was but June
may catch up before the real invasion occurs in July and August.
This will turn out to be the strongest summer for African music
in as many as 10 years.  The addition of Sunday Jump (and if we
are lucky a few extra concerts) will make for a continuous supply
of African music when the need hits you!

You may notice that Ricardo Lemvo is playing a lot of concerts
around town.  The reason is that he brought over guitarist Bopol
from Congo (formerly played with Papa Noel, Sam Mangwana, and 
Quatre Etoile among others) and is going into the studio to create
a new CD.  Bopol is a great guitarist who was featured on some of
Ricardo's previous CDs.  Bopol is not around here often so catch
the band if you want to see his theatrics.  The best place may be
downtown in June for the free concert.

If I don't see you at the May 30 WAW concert, you can catch me
kicked back at the Sunday Jump each week starting in June at
Atlas.  Drop in and say hi.


jay