The Fourth Case of West African Pop

Today's show features vintage music from Mali, Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso filling most of the first hour. The 60s and 70s was an era of fusion and experimentation in West African music. This was the first generation of West African musicians to play electric instruments, and they were absorbing influences from western and latin recorded music. At the same time, Western Africa has one of the richest musical legacies in the world thanks to the griot system. The griot were a caste of professional musicians who memorized tribal history and family lineages, an important role to preserve history in societies without written language. The ancient songs they created are still played in West Africa today, and they form a rich background for modern musicians. Fascinating music here positioned at a crossroads between ancient cosmic traditional sounds on one hand and, on the other hand, the trappings of modern music (electric instruments, 3-minute format, etc).

Fast forward 50 years to the modern day, and the ancient musical forms of Western Africa are still popular; enjoying a current revival, in fact. The second hour today is mostly dedicated to current day roots music revival fare, circling back to vintage material at the end of the show.