The Éthiopiques series returns! Essential archive recordings from an extremely fruitful period in Ethiopian music.

Before “Swinging Addis” took over the world, there was Moussié Nerses Nalbandian — the Armenian-born composer who shaped modern Ethiopian music. Mentor, arranger, and pioneer, he laid the foundations of Ethio-jazz.

This Éthiopiques volume revives his forgotten legacy, recorded live by Either/ Orchestra First issue ever with new exclusive photos and in depth liner 8-page insert.

“Ethiopian jazzmen are the best musicians that we have seen so far in Africa.
They really are promising handlers of jazz instruments.”

Wilbur De Paris
(1959, after a concert in Addis Ababa)

አዲስ፡ዘመን። *Addis zèmèn* **A new era.**
The time is the mid-1950s and early 1960s, just before "Swinging Addis" bloomed – or rather boomed – onto the scene. Brass instruments are still dominant, but the advent of the electric guitar, and the very first electronic organs, are just around the corner. Rock’n'Roll, R’n’B, Soul and the Twist have not yet barged their way in. Addis Ababa is steeped in the big band atmosphere of the post-war era, with Glenn Miller's *In the* *Mood* as its world-wide theme song, neck and neck with the Latin craze that was in vogue at the same period. Life has become enjoyable once again, with the return of peace after the terrible Italian Fascist invasion of Ethiopia (1935-1941). The redeployment of modern music is part and parcel of the postwar reconstruction. *Addis zèmèn* – a new era – is the watchword of the postwar period, just as it was all across war-torn Europe.
The generation who were the young parents of baby boomers** were the first to enjoy this musical renaissance, before the baby boomers themselves took over and forever super-charged the soundtrack of the final days of imperial reign. Music is Ethiopia's most popular art form, and very often serves as the best barometer for the upsurge of energy that is critical for reconstruction. Whether it be jazz in Saint-Germain-des-Prés or the *zazous* who revolutionised both jazz and French *chanson* after the *Libération*, be it Madrid's post-Franco Movida, or Dada, the Surrealists and *les années folles* that followed World War I, the periods just after mourning and hardship always give rise to brighter and more tuneful tomorrows. Addis Ababa, as the country's capital, and the epicentre of change, was no exception to this vital rule.

**Two generations of Nalbandian musicians**
Nersès Nalbandian belonged to a family of Armenian exiles, who had moved to Ethiopia in the mid-1920s. The uncle Kevork arrived along with the fabled "*Arba Lidjotch*", the** "*40 Kids*", young Armenian orphans and musicians that the Ras Tafari had recruited when he visited Jerusalem in 1924, intending to turn their brass band into the official imperial band. If Kevork Nalbandian was the one who first opened the way of modernism, pushing innovation so far as to invent musical theatre, it was his nephew Nersès who would go on to become, from the 1940s and until his death in 1977, a pivotal figure of modern Ethiopian music and of the heights it. Going all the way back to the 1950s. Nothing less. And it is Nersès who is largely to thank for the brassy colours that so greatly contributed to the international renown of Ethiopian groove. While the younger generations today venture timidly into the genealogy of their country's modern music, often losing their way amidst a distinctly xenophobic historiographical complacency, many survivors of the imperial period are still around to bear witness and pay tribute to the essential role that "Moussié Nersès" played in the rise of Abyssinia's musical modernity.
Given the year of his birth (15 March 1915), no one knows for sure if Nersès Nalbandian was born in Aintab, today Gaziantep (Turkiye/former Ottoman Empire) or on the other side of the border in Alep, Syria... What is certain is that his family, like the entire Armenian community, was amongst the victims of the genocide perpetrated by the Turks. Alep, the place of safety – today in ruins.
Before Nersès then, there was uncle Kevork (1887-1963). For a quarter of a century, he was a whirlwind of activity in music teaching and theatrical innovation. *Guèbrè Mariam le Gondaré* (የጎንደሬ ገብረ ማርያም አጥቶ ማግኘት, 1926 EC=1934) is his most famous creation. This play included "ten Ethiopian songs" — a totally innovative approach. According to his autobiographical notes, preserved by the Nalbandian family, Kevork indicates that he composed some 50 such pieces over the course of his career. This shows just how much he understood, very early on, the critical importance of song as Ethiopia's crowning artistic form. Indeed, for Ethiopian listeners, the most important thing is the lyrics, with all their multifarious mischief, far more than a strong melody, sophisticated arrangements or even an exceptional voice. (This is also why Ethiopians by and large, and beginning with the artists and producers themselves, believed for a long time — and wrongly — that their music could not possibly be exported, and could never win over audiences abroad, who did not speak the country's languages).

Last but not least, one of Kevork's major contributions remains composing Ethiopia's first national anthem – with lyrics by Yoftahé Negussié.
Nersès Nalbandian moved to Ethiopia at the end of the 1930s, at the behest of his ground-breaking uncle. Proficient in many instruments (pretty much everything but the drums), conductor, choir director, composer, arranger, adapter, creator, piano tuner, purveyor of rented pianos,... he was above all an energetic and influential teacher. From 1946 onwards, thanks to Kevork's connexion, Nersès was appointed musical director of the Addis Ababa Municipality Band. In just a few years, Nersès transformed it into the first truly modern ensemble, thanks to the quality of his teaching, his choice of repertoire, and the sophistication of his arrangements. It was this group that would go on to become the orchestra of the Haile Selassie Theatre shortly after its inauguration in 1955, which was a major celebration of the Emperor's jubilee, marking the 25th anniversary of his on-again-off-again reign.

At some point or other in his long career, Nersès Nalbandian had a hand in the creation of just about every institutional band (Municipality Band, Police Orchestra, Imperial Bodyguard Band, Army Band, Yared Music School…), but it was with the Haile Selassie Theatre – today the National Theatre – that his abilities were most on display, up until his death in 1977. To this must be added the development of choral singing in Ethiopia, hitherto unknown, and a sort of secret garden dedicated to the memory of Armenian sacred music, and brought together in two thick, unpublished volumes. Shortly before his death (November 13, 1977), he was appointed to lead the impressive Ethiopian delegation at Festac in Lagos, Nigeria (January-February 1977).

His status as a stateless foreigner regularly excluded him from the most senior positions, in spite of the respect he commanded (and commands to this day) from the musicians of his era. Naturally gifted and largely self-taught, Nerses was tirelessly curious about new musical developments, drawing inspiration from the very first imported records, and especially from listening intensely to the musical programmes broadcast over short-wave radio – BBC *First*. A prolific composer and arranger, he was constantly mindful of formalising and integrating Ethiopian parameters (specific “musical modes”, pentatonic scale, and the dominance of ternary rhythms) into his “modernisation” of the musical culture, rather than trying to over-westernise it. It even seems very probable that *Moussié* Nerses made a decisive contribution to the development of tighter music-teaching methods, in order to revitalise musical education during this period of prodigious cultural ferment. Flying in the face of all the historiographical and musicological evidence, it is taken as sacrosanct dogma that the four musical modes or chords officially recognised today, the *qǝñǝt* or *qiñit* (ቅኝት), are every bit as millennial as Ethiopia itself. It would appear however that some streamlining of these chords actually took place in around 1960. It was only from this time onward that music teaching was structured around these four fundamental musical modes and chords: *Ambassel*, *Bati*, *Tezeta* and *Antchi Hoyé*. A historical and musical “details” that is, apparently, difficult to swallow, especially if that should honour a *foreigner*. Modern Ethiopian music has Nersès to thank for many of its standards and, to this day, it is not unusual for the National Radio to broadcast thunderous oldies that bear unmistakable traces of his outrageously groovy touch.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Wow. A real treasure for fans of Ethiopian jazz which was already some of the most striking and memorable music of the jazz cannon. This release takes the scene right back to source - documented in the detailed notes above. Jazz fans you simply have to check this!

TRACK LISTING

Amara Rumba
Mot Lèhulum Ekul Nèw
Yèné Hassab
Ambassel
Lebé Men Atèfa
Enegènagnalèn
Eyéyé
Hulèt Wèdo Ayhonem
Qèlèméwa
Tebèb Nèw Tèqami
Afriqa
Yètezeta Roro
Mambo No. 1 (Aznalèhu Selantè)
Adèrètch Arada

Guts unearthed this Afro-Caribbean gem "Vini Ouais" by Djingo Typical Band for his "Straight From The Decks" compilation. Inspired, Art of Tones created an unofficial remix - a heartfelt tribute to this French Guiana treasure. It quickly lit up dancefloors, shared among DJs like GUTS, Antal, Radio Meuh... and many more...

Heavenly Sweetness do the right thing and issue the original track alongside AOT's remix. While the original comfortably sits in a half-tempo groove, percussion heavy and giving the vocal chorus center stage; AOT adds electronic b-line, galloping 4/4 drums and uplifting party energy, effortlessly taking it to the club. 

Limited copies. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Art Of Tones transforms this Afro-Caribbean township vibe into a charged, uplifting and highly colourful tropical-house banger. See out the last of the summer's festivals in style with this big top banger.

TRACK LISTING

Vini Ouais
Vini Ouais (Art Of Tones Remix)

Originally released in 1979, "Spiritual Sound" lives up to its name, a soaring, triumphant album, six tracks of spirit magic from Guadeloupe.

Telluric, intense, terribly alive, the gwoka drums of Guadeloupe carry the identity of a painful and fervent island. Marked forever by the crime of slavery, Guadeloupe's créolité cherishes the ka drums and their natural environment: the low-pitched boula drum with male goatskin, the high-pitched soloist makè drum with female goatskin, the chacha, ti bwa, triangle, calabash and other percussion instruments that surround them, and the voices - the fiery, proud, timbred, urgent voices of the gwoka.

This album is also a legend for its voices: in his then dazzling youth, singer Lukuber Séjor was one of the first gwoka artists to largely feminize the chorus of répondè, who converse with his text delivered in a straight and powerful voice.

And everything here sets new standards. In 1979, Mizik Filamonik - Spiritual Sound proclaimed a spiritual patriotism of ferocious intensity. The album by Lukuber Séjor - whose spelling alone is a battle - sets out to give Guadeloupe the intangible weapons of self-respect and self-knowledge, through a singular practice of traditional music.

The genesis of gwoka music is less straightforward than one might imagine... The drums performed the servile task of accompanying the work of slaves in the fields and during the “corvées” imposed by the administration, before being freely practiced by the common people after the abolition of 1848. At the heart of the conviviality of the Guadeloupeans furthest from the cities - geographically and socially - the gwoka drums come out for carnival, funeral wakes and neighborhood celebrations, but also during strikes, fits of anger and armed vigils of the riots and revolts that have punctuated the island's history. For generations, governors of the colony and then the prefects of the overseas department of Guadeloupe have been viewing the gwoka as a potential for turbulence and a threat to public order.

But as the Beatlesmania, “chanson engagée” and rock revolutions unfolded in Europe, young people turned to the drums of mizik a vié nèg (“bad negro music”, in Creole), which Guadeloupeans had learned to despise by following the “assimilation” process advocated by the school system and most of the political class. At the end of the sixties, in a Guadeloupe mourning the deadly repression of the May 1967 social movement, they played traditional music, refusing to wrap it up in tourist prettiness and madras folk costumes. Instinctively, they played a rough and contemporary gwoka, led by the incendiary Guy Konkèt. This was the era of decisive 45 rpm records such as Robert Loyson's Kann a la richès, which brought to light the fieriest words of union rallies.

At his home in Sainte-Anne, Lukuber Séjor played with flautist Olivier Vamur and his brother Claude Vamur, who cobbled together a drum kit from tin crockery and became, a few years later, the most influential drummer in Kassav'.

These were the years of the Bumidom program, when young Guadeloupeans were encouraged to emigrate to mainland France. At the age of twenty, Lukuber Séjor embarked on the liner Irpinia, disembarking at Le Havre and taking the train to the Gare Saint-Lazare - the route taken by thousands of young West Indians who went on to study or looked for work, all the while trying to maintain a link with their homeland. In this case, it's at the Antony university residence, where Lukuber played the drum and participated in a thousand gwoka updates and aggiornamentos, while exile reinforced the need for a spiritual link with the native land.

In 1978, Guy Konkèt played at the Salle Wagram, a historic event for West Indian music. After serving as répondè - i.e. backing vocalist - on one of his home-recorded albums, Lukuber joined his live band. Little by little, he became one of the key artists on a circuit parallel to French show business. At a student party in Caen, he met a young woman from Martinique who, at the time, was more motivated by her ambitions as a visual artist than by her vocation as a musician. Her name was Jocelyne Béroard and, a few years before she plunged into the Kassav' adventure and became the greatest West Indian singer of her generation, she designed the cover of Lukuber Séjor's LP.

This ambition was obvious and imposed its will. A more or less regular band was formed, with Roger Raspail, Rudy Mompière and Éric Danquin on ka drums, Claude Vamur on ti bwa, Olivier Vamur and Françoise Lancréot on flutes and Annick Noël on keyboards. Lukuber Séjor is set on wanting to extend the gwoka palette to other instruments, as the jazz-rock revolution opens a thousand new doors. Annick Noël will play a wide range of timbres and textures on electric piano and synthesizer. Another novelty: the répondè are two men and two women, Roger Raspail, Olivier Vamur, Françoise Lancréot and Maryann Mathéus ...

Mizik Filamonik - Spiritual Sound is a self-production in which the singer and leader sank all his savings, allowing him no more than a single day in the studio. The first side is more of a musical manifesto, with the first two tracks, Éritage and Penn é plézi, being instrumentals. The third, Son, forcefully celebrates the need for Guadeloupeans to connect with the gwoka. In fact, Jocelyne Béroard's cover shows a tambouyé in the shadow of a cloudy sky, against which a radiant sun is rising and whose light will soon flood the entire landscape. The silhouette and face of this man strongly evoke the immense Vélo, master of the ka, rejected at the time on the fringes of society.

The second side of the LP is surprising. Formally, three tracks are explicitly linked like the three parts of a triptych. Primyé voyaj evokes the appalling tribulation of Africans deported as slaves to Guadeloupe; dézyèm voyaj speaks of the Bumidom program and the economic, political and social forces driving young Guadeloupeans towards the mirage of prosperity in France; twazyèm voyaj closes the cycle with the emigrants' return from Europe after years away from their island...

This gwoka, obsessed with the need to save Guadeloupe spiritually, appeals far beyond the politicized audience. Mizik Filamonik - Spiritual Sound instantly became a classic, although Lukuber Séjor never really made a career for himself as a musician.

After all, the album was released in 1980, with no promotional resources in France or Guadeloupe - and therefore no concerts. The thirty-two-year-old author, composer and performer made his own third trip back to Guadeloupe. He set up a small woodworking business, which he lost in Hurricane Hugo in 1989. His other activity, teaching in a medical-educational institute, became the core of his professional life. He continued to be an active campaigner - a campaigner for the Creole language, a campaigner for the reawakening of identity, a campaigner for special education, a campaigner for a thousand causes that he ignited with his generous and perceptive enthusiasm, such as the defense of breadfruit fries...

The echoes of his 1979 album have not died down. Of course, the use of Penn é plézi as the theme tune for Radio Guadeloupe's funeral notices from 1980 to 1992 kept him in the collective memory, but he continues to sing and compose sporadically, as with his all-female

vocal group Vwapoulouéka... Still convinced that music is a means of liberating the spirit, he continues the journey of a young man eager to deploy the power of Creole music and language.

Bertrand Dicale 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Brilliant for lovers of percussion or interesting outernational sound. I only recently learned about gwoka (thanks Lena C!) - a highly intriguing musical style from Guadeloupe.

TRACK LISTING

Eritage
Pein' E Plezi
Son
Premie Vouwayage
Desyem Vouwayage
Twasyem Vouwayage

Poet, novelist, musician and academic, Anthony Joseph teams up with legendary UK producer Dave Okumu for ‘Rowing Up River To Get Our Names Back’

Anthony and Dave first came across each other when working with Shabaka Hutchings during Covid broadcasts, and then after Anthony performed some poems on Dave’s 2023 album ‘I Came From Love’, the seeds of collaboration were sown.

Early writing sessions for this record took place in 2022, around Mount Blanc in France. Anthony was away touring with long-time collaborator, Jason Yarde. Ideas were a little thin and they found themselves somewhat repeating previous work resulting in Anthony rethinking things a little, and so entered Dave Okumu.

LP opener ‘Satellite’ is a fine example of how this new partnership pans out. New musicians have been enlisted; Dan See (Drums), Aviram Barath (Synths), Nick Ramm on Fender Rhodes and Byron Wallen (Trumpet). Add to that the mighty vocal power house of Eska and we have a whole new dimension of soul and depth, to carry Anthony’s statements. “You build a wall, we go under, you build it higher, we go higher, like a satellite” .

On the album's second single, ‘Tony’ - there’s a nod to all drummers and creators of African rhythms, from the point of view of Afrobeat legend Tony Allen. Highlighting this is drummer’s drummer Richard Spaven as Dave’s choice of skin beater. He successfully reminds us that Tony was someone who understood the real power of rhythm and how it is used to unite people.

As well as the new musicians on this LP, Dave Okumu played all the guitars and used the studio as his tool. On ‘A Juba for Janet’ - a poem to Joseph’s mother, and a track so bass heavy that it feels as though it could sit in a deep dubstep set in Plastic People days, - Anthony’s voice reaches straight down your ear canals next to dark drums, huge synths and delayed saxophone stabs from Colin Webster. Slightly more introspective verses on ‘An Afrofuturist Poem’ see Dave’s beats show off the real future sound of this record, kalimba, moog bass and guitars all played by the man himself.

Mellower and deeper moments are also present, Anthony’s cryptic yet informative storytelling is at its absolute best on ‘Churches Of Sound (The Benetiz-Rojo)’ - Caribbean and Windrush history reeled off alongside a linear musical timeline of Black music in the diaspora.

A reminder that this body of work is first of 2 volumes, ‘Rowing Up River To Get Our Names Back’ is not a follow up to Anthony’s previous album, but more a development of his 2006 novel, ‘The African Origins of UFOs’ a book where experimental elements of afro-futurism, metafiction, science fiction, surrealism, mythology are rewritten in Anthony’s innovative language. Look out for Volume 2 also coming in 2025.

Vocals - Anthony Joseph
Additional vocals, vocal arrangements - Eska Mtungwazi
Producer - Guitars, Bass, Moog, Synthesisers, Programming, Percussion - Dave Okumu
Drums - Dan See
Drums on ‘Tony’ - Richard Spaven
Synthesiser - Aviram Barath
Fender Rhodes, Synthesisers, Nick Ramm
Trumpet - Byron Wallen
Saxophones - Colin Webster
Trombones - James Wade Sired

TRACK LISTING

Satellite Ft. Eska
Black History
Tony
A Juba For Janet
Churches Of Sound The Benitez-rojo
An Afrofuturist Poem
Milwaukee Ashland

2024 edition - 180 Gram, Tip On Sleeve . One of the rarer records of the mythical Strata East.

The recording of Earth Blossom, the John Betsch Society's one and only album, seems something of an enigma nowadays. For even though Nashville is clearly one of the towns in the US with the highest number of recording studios, who would have thought that the capital of country music would give birth to one of the forgotten masterpieces of 1970s spiritual jazz. The path leading to the album starts in 1963 when John Betsch, originally from Jacksonville in Florida, arrives in Nashville to study at Frisk University. He is a young drummer and joins Bob Holmes trio. Holmes is one of the towns major jazz organists and pianists; he becomes Betschs mentor and, over the space of two years, John will play alternately with him and with the trumpeter Louis Smiths group. However, in 1965, John leaves town to go to the prestigious Berkeley University in Boston and do a two-year course along with his fellow debutants with names like John Abercrombie, Ernie Watts and Alan Broadbent. Two years later, he is invited by a pianist friend, Billy Chilf, to join the legendary singer/songwriter Tim Hardins group. Just after Woodstock, John Betsch and Tim record a psychedelic album Columbia will never release together with the members of the future group Oregon: Colin Walcott, Glen Moore, Paul McCandles and his friend Billy Chilf. But he soon leaves this group to return to Nashville where he hooks up again with his friend Bob Holmes. Two years later, he is accepted on Archie Shepp and Max Roachs famous course at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMASS) and for the next four years he participates in this collective of intellectuals and musicians under the aegis of the two masters.

During this period he returns to Nashville to form his Society whose music is obviously influenced by the Afrocentric ideas of the UMASS student and political movement. However, the album, recorded in one day and in one take, also bears the hallmark of their generations psychedelic experiences, and in the themes and playing of the musicians we can hear a less violent form of music than the radical free jazz of New York or Chicago. Nature and environmental themes are the inspiration behind tracks touched by the spirit of Coltrane but also of Flower Power.

After Amherst, John Betsch joins Marion Browns group in 1976, leaves Tennessee for good and makes his home in New York over the next ten years or so. He plays and records with Dollar Brand, Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre and many others, before heading off to France. He has lived in Paris for the last twenty years and played in Steve Lacy, Mal Waldron and Archie Shepp bands, as well as forming groups of his own. He now lives in Paris and plays with many musicians/bands.

TRACK LISTING

Ode To Ethiopia
Earth Blossom
Open Pastures
Song For An Untidy Lady
Ra
Darling Doria
Get Up And Go

After releasing numerous and now collectable standalone singles, plus some now famous collaborations with Dimitri from Paris, 2019 saw Parisian based 8 piece, Cotonete release their first long player in 15 years! Under the guidance of Melik Bencheikh from Paris’ rare record emporium, Heart Beat Vinyl. The dark moody mover "Super-Vilains" came out to great success on Heavenly Sweetness.

After playing some packed live shows around France and the UK, including the acclaimed Sunday at Dingwalls in Camden, hosted by Gilles Peterson and Patrick Forge. Somewhere along this part of the journey, they came across the Brazilian music legend and vocal powerhouse, Di Melo. He softened their souls, and from this love affair came the album "Atemporal". Released on Favourite Recordings, this 8 track album would end up being sampled by Canadian superstar Drake, for his 2023 album "For All the Dogs Scary Hours Edition".

So now into 2024, and we have Cotonete's full length number two. They’ve enlisted the producer Guts to guide them towards sunshine, groove, warmth and all the colours in his rainbow. With their tongues firmly in their cheeks, the album is titled "Victoire de la Musique" - a dig at the annual French music award ceremony. Taking the band deep, producer Guts showed them new and exciting rhythms from all corners of the world. The record’s first example of this is "Venezuela", a track directly inspired by the jazz funk from the great Caribbean nation.

Other key musical exploration on the record can be attributed to the late composer Francis Lai. On "Cinq Pour L'aventure" - an almost 15 minute epic monster showcasing the band’s love for 70's French movies soundtracks. “L’aventure c’est l’aventure”, was a movie by one of the most famous French directors Claude Lelouch The single from the soundtrack was sung by French music superstar Johnny Halliday.

Guests are scattered very tastefully across the album, on the only cover version of the record, the Brazilian master Jorge Ben’s ‘Bebete Vãobora’, Sabrina Malheiros was invited to lend her lungs. The daughter of Azymuth’s Alex Malheiros helps join perfectly the dots from a band that are without a doubt Cotonete’s biggest influence. Brazilian jazz funk, now with an added French touch.

On "Day in Day Out" a powerful performance is given from Leron Thomas on vocals and trumpet. Perhaps also known for his role as the musical director for Iggy Pop and touring member of his band. This track is an already tried and tested dance floor filler, emphasizing just how tight the band really can play - the track even found its way into BBC Music’s Craig Charles’ ‘Track Of The Year’ selection.

No record so soulful would be complete without a trip to the UK. Omar, London’s Godfather of new soul pops in. Having recorded with artists like; Courtney Pine, Level 42 & Erykah Badu, in his distinctive smooth style, he blesses the track "What Did Run You For?" The final vocal visitor is Gystere Peskine, a Parisian based musical hero, who shows off his retro future funk feels on "O Ceu es Preto" - which literally translates as ‘the sky is black’ - although given the hugely uplifting and almost gospel soul of this Russian / Brazilian singer, he has us seeing things far brighter.

TRACK LISTING

Odyssee
Venuzuela
Bebete Vaobora Feat. Sabrina Malheiros
Day In Day Out Feat. Leron Thomas
La Derniere Guitare
Satori
What Did You Run For Feat Omar
O Ceu E Preto Feat. Gystere
Cinq Pour Laventure

Musical discoveries from all over the world. Different genres, different cultures. GUTS invites you to follow him on his musical journey from your living room or your local club!

"All DJs have their own way of building their set. Some pick records entirely on the spur of the moment and trust their instincts, others write down a precise list on a piece of paper and never stray from it; the set is a kitchen where the DJ is the Chef. It doesn't matter how it's done, as long as it's done properly and enjoyed by everyone, that's what matters the most...

The beginning of the set is always the same. Welcoming the dancers gently. Letting them take their marks with a musical aperitif of tracks at 80/90 BPM, something that many DJs don't do or no longer do.

The end is always the same. Parting with the dancers gently. Letting them go down peacefully. Their evening with me is over, but it is perhaps another one, more intimate, that will be starting for them.

In between these two moments, it's all about the story itself, with its cumbia, reggae, hip hop, lusophone music, funk, soul-jazz twists... A rich story which tells itself in the mood of the moment and back on the dance floor. Depending on the general atmosphere, the rise in musical power can start after an hour and thirty minutes of preliminaries, or it can happen only after 45 minutes. The climax is reached with the Afro- house part, a furious passage that makes overexcited music from Zimbabwe and punk music from South Africa confront each other along a total experimentation with tracks so disturbing that they put the dancers' legs out of sync. This represents a moment of rupture in the narrative, its only purpose being to help reconnect with the dance floor as soon as it is over and to re-launch the story with even greater interest.

Those who have already come to see my DJ set know this: each of my stories is unique. I hope you'll enjoy the one I'm telling you in this third volume." - Guts

TRACK LISTING

Aida Bossa - Azuca/ El Loro Y La Lora
Lagos Thugs - Innocent Blood
Djingo Typical Band - Vini Ouais
Lindigo - Domoun
Lass - Senegal 
Joojo Addison - Guy Man
La Boa - Vuelo Antillano
Voilaaa - Water No Get Enemy
Umalali - Merua
Luizga & Izem - Yemamaya
Blue Bird - Foefoeroemang
Poirier - Pourquoi Faire Aujourd'hui
Kaleta & Super Yamba Band - Jibiti (Bosq RMX)
Ezra Collective - Lady
Joskar & Flamzy - Faroter
Dowdelin - I Like To Move It

With his state-of-the-art quintet, saxophonist Leon Phal revisits soul and electronica in an enthusiastic jam, bringing a French touch to his brand of jazz, on his second full length album and his first for Heavenly Sweetness. Picking up from his last album 'Dust to Stars' (Kyudo Records, 2021), 'Stress Killer' delves even deeper into the area between nightclub and jazz club culture.

As a graduate of Lausanne's Haute Ecole de Musique, he's a key artist within the much spoken about French new jazz scene. He's joined by his faithful quintet of Arthur Alard (drums), Remi Bouyssiere (double bass), Gauthier Toux (keyboards) and Zacharie Ksyk (trumpet).

Embracing the desire to make people dance by approaching jazz as club music, "F*ck Yeah" highlights that goal perfectly. With its nods to the techno pioneers of Detroit and the deep house of Chicago. On the J Dilla inspired "Idylla", we have the first feature on the album, coming in from Heavenly Sweetness / Pura Vida label mate, K.O.G. A behind the beat groove allows K.O.G's spoken word to sit over Gauthier's keys, intertwining beautifully together with the rest of the track.

More mellow and reflective moments are to be found courtesy of "Balanced Action", showing just how great Leon's sax lines sound doubled with Zacharie's trumpet.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Vibing In Ay
2. Fuck Yeah
3. Idylla Feat. K.O.G
4. Balanced Action
5. Something Inside Feat. Lorine Chia

Side 2
1. Stress Killer
2. Bongo 113
3. Naima
4. Same Human
5. Clarity

Under the leadership of acclaimed French beat digger and producer Guts, Dakar became the creative centre of an exceptional encounter between "All Stars" musicians from Cuba, Africa and France: the 'Estrellas' A tribute to Afro-Cuban culture, between new versions of fnely selected songs and original compositions.

TRACK LISTING

1.  El Retorno 
2.  Última Llamada Feat. Kumar Sublevao-Beat 
3.  San Lázaro Feat. Akemis 
4.  Yebo Edi Pachanga Feat. José Padilla 
5.  Déjame En Paz Feat. Brenda Navarrete 
6.  Oda Feat. Al Quetz 
7.  Adduna Jarul Naawo Feat. Alpha Dieng & Assane Mboup 
8.  Medewui Feat. Pat Kalla & Assane Mboup 
9.  Dakar De Noche Feat. Iss 814, Samba Peuzzi, El Tipo Este & Kumar Sublevao-Beat 
10.  Nunca Pierdo Feat. Assane Mboup, Alpha Dieng, Akemis, Pat Kalla & David Walters 
11.  Nunca Pierdo Feat. Assane Mboup, Alpha Dieng, Akemis, Pat Kalla & David Walters 
12.  Por Qué Ou Ka Fè Sa Feat. Brenda Navarrete & David Walters 
13.  Sin Pantallas Feat. Cyril Atef & El Tipo Este 
14.  Barrio Feat. Iss 814, Samba Peuzzi, El Tipo Este & Kumar Sublevao-Beat  15.  Dansons Cadencés Feat. Annas G, DjeuhDjoah & Lieutenant Nicholson 
16.  Il N'est Jamais Trop Tard Feat. El Gato Negro 
17.  Estrellas Feat. Florian Pellissier

Under the guidance of the outrageously talented Ghanaian force of nature Kweku Sackey, aka K.O.G, and the whirlwind of energy that is Jamaican rapper Franz Von, the Zongo Brigade deliver infectious, high-energy West African grooves via Sheffield, drawing on Afrobeat, soul, funk, rock, hip hop and reggae which has fast gained recognition in London and all over the UK.
K.O.G’s signature mix of high-energy songs, raps, operatic vocal effects, along with the hard-hitting patois raps from the spirited Franz Von and a dedicated band of serious musical badmen, has led the band to perform on some of the biggest stages including Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds Festivals and numerous clubs and venues around Europe.

Deeply rooted in stories from Africa, the album draws on love, peace and social issues. K.O.G & the Zongo Brigade’s motto “Unity in Diversity” stems from Kweku’s African origins and also embraces the eclectic mix of nationalities which make up the band.

With a backdrop of unmistakeable African rhythms that include electric brass, thunderous percussion and sharp-edge guitar, ‘Wahala Wahala’ takes possession of the body as the words excite the mind. Racism, rejection, inequality, exile - the subject matter is always serious but the delivery irresistibly upbeat and rhythmic, guaranteed to get the feet moving because in every pain, there is also joy.

TRACK LISTING

For My People
Money
Suro Nipa
Medowo
Imela
Home
Agoro
Dr Mensa
Mona Lisa
Transmission
Mad Up
Wahala
Wonderful Life
Sahara

The first single from Blundetto’s forthcoming album sees the French producer collaborate with a true great of Jamaican music, the legendary reggae vocalist Ken Boothe. Enjoy the killer A side on this dinked 7” then flip it over for dub and repeat...

Ken “Everything I Own” Boothe played a significant part in covering Sir Coxsone’s Studio One walls with gold - and goodness knows that label fostered its share of legends. Collaborating with the master, Blundetto could have laid it on thick with heavy production; instead alongside his discreet partner Blackjoy, he created a gorgeous production using the purest of Jamaican music, proving yet again that time has nothing on the suave tones of Mr. Rocksteady.

Following the reissue of his cult 1988 album ‘Tijan Pou Velo’, Heavenly Sweetness decided to continue their collaboration with Guadeloupean musician Edmony Krater and record a new album together, his first one in 30 years!

As an avant-gardist percussionist, singer and trumpet player, Edmony Krater has always worked to develop and promote the gwoka music of Guadeloupe and to feed it with different influences, from jazz to reggae. This approach is again evident on ‘An Ka Sonje ‘ as he merges these influences and sounds to mesmerising effect.

TRACK LISTING

Nou Kontan 
Jouwé Tanbou 
A Pa Jôdi 
Mi Yo Rivé 
An Ba Jouk 
Lagè
Ti Jan Ka 
Donga èvè Sé Neg Mawon 
An Ka Sonjé 
Encore Un Peu

After introducing the wider world to the DIY electronics and sunkissed rhythms of the French West Indies via their first volume, Heavenly Sweetness wow us once again with the mighty Digital Zandoli compilation. Compiled by world renowned French diggers Julien Achard (Diggers Digest) and Nicolas Skliris (Superfly Records) Volume 2 contains twelve new musical weapons for the dancefloor from the French West Indies Zouk scene.
This second instalment kicks off in wall shaking style with the tough beats, sound system bass and zouk/dancehall hybrid of "Ban Di Fwan" by Coco / Fabert, before cooling down via an instrumental of Wach' Da's "Confrontation", a sultry poolside roller with fat synth bass and airy flute riffs. Michel Alibo brings the tonalities of US RnB to his tropical rhythm on the A3, before the B-side brings the soulful sound of Osmose, Juliane's synth-zouk stepper and a loved up romp from Champagn'. Onto the second disc and we get a synth-disco stomper from Jo Star (killer!), Alex Rosa's "Sistern" (file next to your Tabuley Rochereau "Hafi Deo") and the body bending banger "Pou Qui A" by Patrick Nuissier. There's no let up on the heat as we hit the D-side, riding the digitally flipped tradional rhythm of Vik'In's "Tension La Ka Mont", chanting along to the gruff vocals of Joyeaux De Cocotier's funk bomb, a skanking with a smile to Djeminay's dubwise "Sun Plash".
Once again it's an all killer, no filler affair, shining a well deserved spotlight on a forgotten corner of the global music map. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: I was over in Paris recently on a digging mission, and the flea markets, pound bins and second hand stores are swamped with shit zouk records. It's with this in mind that I give Julien and Nicolas my utmost respect for wading through the wasteland to find only the finest cuts from the French West Indies. Volume One was amazing, but this is better! Bon chance!

TRACK LISTING

Coco / Fabert - Ban Di Fwan
Wach' Da - Confrontation (Instrumental)
Michel Alibo - Pou Jaloux
Osmose - Melodi
Juliane - Blanc E Noir (Instrumental)
Champagn' - L’anmou Aw
Jo Star - Demar Moin
Alex Rosa - Sistem 
Patrick Nuissier - Pou Qui A
Vik'In - Tension La Ka Mont
Joyeaux De Cocotier - Pina Colada Coco Loco
Djeminay - Sun Plash

Last volume of this killer compilation series and again a great one. Containing lots of amazing tunes from across the globe that you may or may not have been looking for! Over the last five years and as many volumes of their "Beach Diggin’" compilations, Guts and Mambo have explored the reefs of five continents, dredged the sea beds of countless seas and oceans, examined every single seashell with the aim of making sure that no vinyl pearl should escape their notice. Tunisian reggae, Japanese disco, West Indian jazz-funk, the duo’s aesthetic dribbling skills would stop the savviest Brazilian football player dead in his tracks, and it was with this in mind that they proceeded to select their discoveries. With a marked preference for meditative free-diving rather than tour package scuba diving, and isolated spots rather than massively overdeveloped beachfronts. For this latest instalment of their adventures, Guts and Mambo have organised another expedition around the world, to salute the spots where for the last five years they have uncovered rare specimens, saving some of them from total extinction, while shining a light on others that amply deserved it.

Though each "Beach Diggin’" compilation can be listened to independently of the others, the five together now form a kind of navigational chart signalling with its green flags the places where, in Africa, Europe, Asia, America, and the South Pacific, they gambolled on sandy beaches, avoiding the well-trodden path, becoming more and more demanding with each passing year.
Beach diggin’ is a state of mind...

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Guts & Mambo dodge the novelty beer coolers and errant Frisbees to deliver a fifth volume of the globe-trotting groove fest, ‘Beach Diggin'. Amongst other summery gems, we're treated to Japanese jazz-funk, a Caribbean Sade cover and an African street soul flip on a Bob Marley love song. Fine by me!

TRACK LISTING

1. Yasuko Agawa - L. A. Nights
2. African Oyibo - Lite Low
3. Rebles - Sweetest Taboo
4. Ricardo Marrero & The Group - And We'll Make Love
5. Koko Ateba - Si T'es Mal Dans Ta Peau
6. Sookie Feat Jeannine Otis - Tonight
7. Raphael Toine - Femmes Pays Douces
8. Eboni Band - Desire
9. Robert J Riggins - I Need You Now
10. Salero - Teardrops & Wine
11. Momo Joseph - War For Ground
12. Claude Genteuil - Dreams Of Love
13. Andre Marie Tala - Sweet Dole
14. Gatot Soedarto - Sayangilah Daku Kasih
15. Synchro Rhythmic Eclectic Language - Pasto 

"Infini" is a beautiful CD recorded recently in France, but done with the same spiritual undercurrents of 70s independent jazz vocal work from the USA. Anne Wirz sings in both English and French, and she's drawing here on some great inspirations -- material from Sathima Bea Benjamin ("Music"), Herbie Hancock and Mark Murphy ("Maiden Voyage"), Michel Legrand, and Carlos Garnett ("Mother Of The Future") as well as some of her own great compositions too! Backing is by a small combo that includes the mighty John Betsch on drums, plus piano, Fender Rhodes, bass, and a bit of harp, all recorded with a nice sense of warmth and soul, in the manner of other recent contemporary classics on the Heavenly Sweetness label.