The Africa diaspora – funk
Then the skies opened and down came a bass drum, followed by a snare, and the boom and the bap were born.
Then the skies opened and down came a bass drum, followed by a snare, and the boom and the bap were born. Earl Palmer said he invented the back-beat, what he called “The Big Beat”, in New Orleans. Earl Palmer is perhaps the most recorded drummer in the world, paying on countless New Orleans R&B records in the fifties and then moving to L.A. to become a session drummer in the burgeoning music industry there. He makes a bold claim, but regardless of its specificities, no one can argue that “The Big Beat” didn’t come out of New Orleans. Producer of the last two major shifts in our American pop music aesthetic, New Orleans would strike again and push the beat harder and further than it had previously gone.
The South
LISTEN TO THE BEATS!!! Ooooooh the tight tight New Orleans beats!!!! Whooooooo child!!!
Eddie Bo
[audio:http://rvanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/excerpt-1(ad5).mp3]Ok, so once those jams happened and began to ooze North, it didn’t take to long to get to Macon, Georgia – home to James Brown. James took “The Big Beat” to new heights and became the absolute Godfather and inventor of funk music. He took what those New Orleans folks had riled up and let out the fierce, funky fury on all our ears. LISTEN!!!
James Brown
[audio:http://rvanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/excerpt-2(ad5).mp3]Africa
Fela Kuti was a highlife saxophone player, not a major player on the Nigerian music scene until, upon moving to L.A. for a small time, he happened to catch The Godfather himself. Continuing to push the beat to its highest highs, James Brown inspired Fela to return to Africa and start himself a band.
Fela Kuti
[audio:http://rvanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/excerpt-3(ad5).mp3]Fela Kuti is a monster figure even amongst the incredibly large and complicated landscape of African popular music. He created what came to be called Afro-Beat, a music that is part thumping African indigenous beats and part flaming hot James Brown fire. Fela would go on to influence an entire continent, and his music continues to bounce back and forth across the ocean, melting minds and hearts everywhere. MORE AFRO-BEAT!!!
El Rego Et Ses Commandos
[audio:http://rvanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/excerpt-4(ad5).mp3]Caribbean
Not to be wallflowers on the global funk party scene, the folks scattered about the Caribbean Islands made some jams of their own. From Panama…
Los Dinamicos Exciters
[audio:http://rvanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/excerpt-5(ad5).mp3]From Belize…
Soul Creation
[audio:http://rvanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/excerpt-6(ad5).mp3]And girl, don’t think those Jamaicans weren’t listening too. Listen to these few seconds from legendary Staple Singers track “I’ll Take You There”
Staple singers
[audio:http://rvanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/excerpt-7(ad5).mp3]and from Jamaica…
Jamaica
[audio:http://rvanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/excerpt-8(ad5).mp3]Brazil
So in Brazil, Samba happened, and then Bossa happened, and then they got stoked about some American jams, and some pop music happened, and then the beast of Tropicalia happened. THEN, the Brazilian Samba-funk-booty-shakin’ shit happened. It’s a combination of all those beautiful Brazilian musics – plus some beaches, palm trees, and caipirinhas – and it sounds like this…
Jorge Ben
[audio:http://rvanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/excerpt-10(ad5).mp3]And then kinda like this…
Bossa 70
[audio:http://rvanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/excerpt-9(ad5).mp3]And then those Brazilians get a little bit cheesy. But it’s a beautiful kind of special Brazilian cheese that only they can get away with. BAM!!
Banda Black Rio
[audio:http://rvanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/excerpt-11(ad5).mp3]Ok Ok Ok. So first those African drums, and then those jazzy jazzy drums, and then those boogie-woogie drums, and now those monster, rafter-shaking, Godzilla beats that shake the world over. Everyone loves them, and they continue to trickle down and find new homes in almost every genre in our iTunes library. Love them like your child. They will make your life better, more complete, and reshape your cold frozen robot heart into a heart of gold.
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Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
Matt I missed the start of this series, I’ll go back and read n listen now b/c this is well done, thank you. I’d like to read a bit more about Earl Palmer and his claims, but more than that MORE AFRO-BEAT!!!
You know, Eddie Bo is playing at the Virginia Folk Festival this year. Awesome post. Don’t forget about Lee Dorsey…
dudser, you need to check out Eddie Donkor. Awesome Highlife from Ghana. There is an album of his called Eye Banker at awesometapesfromafrica.
whoaoaoao. that eddie bo info is so mind blowing! i luv lee dorsey so much – super amazing. have any of you guys checked out betty harris. i just got this cd that ive been searching for 4eva and its mind blowing. it contains the single best track of music i might have ever heard in my life.
thats a heavy endorsement. you are now required under common law to post said tune. can’t leave us hanging.
Betty Davis (not the actress) ain’t too shabby neither…her crucial 70’s albums just got reissued with bonus tracks…
yea i actually haven’t checked out Betty Davis. I’ve read a bunch about her and Miles and I’ve seen those albums but haven’t got a real chance to listen.
The taxi’s here (SA) blast some really wierd Afro-techno horrifyingness as they drive down the streets. But! The good news is that the traditional african music that people sing in the townships is amazing- the beats and the melodies are like nothing I’ve ever heard. I’ve recorded some of it for your ears in January!
Matt: “They Say I’m Different” is the place to start with her. Larry Graham rips it up…
oooh larry graham…