Red, Hot + Riot Live Concert Tribute to Fela

By Robert Fox

The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is hosting an historic live tribute to Fela Kuti on Friday, December 1st and Saturday, December 2nd. Scheduled to commemorate World AIDS Day on Dec 1st, the two shows will re-unite many of the musicians who participated in the groundbreaking Red, Hot and Riot musical benefit project in 2002.

Some of the top musicians in the world will be traveling to Brooklyn for the show, including Tony Allen, Amadou & Mariam, Cheikh Lo, dead prez, Keziah Jones, Les Nubians, Meshell Ndegeocello and Yerba Buena with Special Guest John Medeski. BAM is one of the premier cultural institutions in the United States, and it’s wonderful to see Fela’s music receving this type of high-level feature. (BAM is also close to my heart personally, as I lived a few blocks away in Brooklyn for more than 10 years).

The event is a benefit for the African Services Committee, as described on the BAM website:

With musical direction by Andres Levin, it's not only two nights of great music, but two nights for a vital cause. A portion of proceeds will benefit African Services Committee, an organization which promotes the health and self-sufficiency of New York City's African and Caribbean immigrant communities through the provision of HIV/AIDS care and support services.

BAM will also ferature a series of related concerts at BAM Café, starting tonight, Tues, Nov 28th with Wunmi and continuing Wed, Nov 29th with Emperor Adiche, Thurs, Nov 30th with Akoya Afrobeat Ensemble and Sat Dec 2nd with DJ Acidopholus.

On Saturday, December 2nd, BAM will also present four screenings of the new documentary film Fela! Fresh From Africa, which records Fela’s triumphant visit to New York following his release from prison.

And if that's not enough for you, on Friday night, December 1st, you can check out members of four acclaimed US Afrobeat bands joining forces in Brooklyn at the club Northsix for a major Fela-inspired all-night-throw-down jam. This show will also be a benefit for World AIDS Day, and will feature musicians from Chicago Afrobeat Project, Kokolo (NYC), Boston Afrobeat Society and Chopteeth (Washington, DC). The Northsix jam starts at midnight—don’t miss out!

It's a major week for Afrobeat fans everywhere, but especially those of you in the New York City area. Que Viva Fela Kuti!

Antibalas Signs With Anti Records

By Robert Fox

Brooklyn’s neo-Afrobeat pioneers Antibalas announced a recording deal last week with the acclaimed independent Anti Records. Anti’s roster includes some of the most innovative and influential artists currently recording, including The Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars, Michael Franti & Spearhead, The Coup, Tom Waits, Merle Haggard, Solomon Burke, Blackalicious and many others.

The Anti Records website announced that Antibalas is planning a March 2007 release, titled “Security,” which will “explore and unleash new sonic elements.” Anti Records adds that:

the new disc and label deal illustrate Antibalas’ penchant for taking chances, building on its acclaimed live shows, back catalog and genre crossing collaborations… Always looking to push their unique sound further, however, Antibalas recently entered the studio to record their fourth album with much-heralded musician/producer John McEntire…The seven new original compositions presented here illustrate perhaps a darker, more dynamic approach that’s guaranteed to shock and dazzle new and old fans alike. This is music that was made to linger long after the party’s over.

According to Anti, the track list includes the following titles:

01. Beaten Metal
02. Fillibuster XXX
03. Sanctuary
04. Hilo
05. War Hero
06. Ice
07. AGE

Antibalas just keeps getting better and better as the years progress, and I’m very much looking forward to hearing the new recording. Their signing with Anti represents another step forward for the Afrobeat Rennaissance that continues to build.

The Hallelujah Chicken Run Band

By Robert Fox

One of my all-time favorite recordings was released this summer: a classic re-issue of early-70s tunes from The Hallelujah Chicken Run Band, presented in a CD titled "Take One."

These tracks represent the recording debut of Zimbabwe’s musical and revolutionary hero Thomas Mapfumo, and they are a revelation that have lost none of their rhythmic freshness and unique groove over the years. This is inspiring, dynamite stuff musically and historically.

The tale of the band is legendary: founded during the brutal, racist colonial regime of Rhodesia, the group formed when the white-owned Mangura Copper Mine hired them as a pick-up group to perform for exhausted miners at the end of their shifts. Inspired by Mapfumo and guitarist Joshua Hlomayi Dube, the group proceeded to create a dynamic new musical form that was captured on tape by Teal Records.

The recordings feature a driving rhythm section anchored by crisp, intricately-picked, multiple electric guitars. Often working in 6/8 time, the melodies are all layered over beautiful harmonic vocals and Stax-style horn blasts. The 2006 release is re-mixed to a warm and enticing glow.

The vibe on these recordings evolved into Mapfumo’s heralded Chimurenga music, the soundtrack for the Zimbabwean Revolution (since betrayed, of course, despite Mapfumo’s efforts from exile). Mapfumo wrote himself into history when he continued to compose music during the late-1970s while imprisoned by the Rhodesian government for his revolutionary and anti-racist activism.

I’ve been planning to post about these recordings for weeks, but each time I listen to the tracks, I hear more details that I want to add. This is a supreme recording---listen to it and you’ll understand.

Needless to say, the CD has received widespread attention among African music fans throughout the world—I think it’s a major addition to the growing body of re-released 1970s classics from Africa. For example, from All Music Guide:

The founding fathers of Zimpop are presented here in all of their original glory, with the added bonus of some much-needed remastering. While most of Zimbabwe was still singing Western pop covers with a bit of rhumba mixed in, the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band were changing the sound of the country. Under the guidance of guitarist Joshua Hlomayi Dube and singer Thomas Mapfumo (in his earliest years), the band was replacing pop songs with traditional ideas — the guitar being given a staccato sound to mimic aspects of the mbira, and Mapfumo's vocals mimicking its sounds as well. At the same time, lyrics were at least occasionally made political and rebellious, and sung in Shona, a major issue given the political climate of Rhodesia at the time. The work is always excellent, and the band has far more coherence and ability than one might expect from a ragtag group of performers, barkeeps, part-time farmers, and the like.

All About Jazz reports on the origins of the band’s name:

As the story goes, two members of the group found day jobs working at a local chicken run. Upon hearing this, the mine's boss man, one Mr. Walker, shouted “Hallelujah!” and proceeded to christen the band with a name that was destined to become an acronym. Several months later, after he cut the musicians' salaries, a young Thomas Mapfumo went to complain and was fired on the spot, but thankfully Mapfumo still had the day job with the chickens. Or so the story goes. And so began the ups and downs of the HCRB.

Public Radio International’s review of the recording also has an update on Thomas Mapfumo:

In Zimbabwe, if you criticize President Robert Mugabe publicly, you could end up in a whole lot of trouble. Such is the case of singer Thomas Mapfumo. So strong were his critiques of Mugabe, that he left Zimbabwe in fear for his personal security. Mapfumo now lives in Oregon -- and he continues to rail against Mugabe's un-democratic ways. It's hard to fathom that -- at one point -- Mapfumo and Mugabe saw the world through the same revolutionary glasses. A newly released collection of Mapfumo's early songs takes us back to that point in history.

Also check out the blog post from Candie Pop (“some of the most infectious rhythms and melodies I’ve heard in a longtime”). You can hear song samples for yourself on the emusic website.

Gangbe Brass Band: "What Goes Around Comes Around"

By Robert Fox

The Gangbe Brass Band has begun to achieve some well-deserved recognition for their amazing and unique sound, which combines the traditional drumming and rhythms of their native Benin with modern jazz and marching band arrangements. Listeners will recognize their sounds from New Orleans second line street music, and Gangbe Brass Band captures a similar carnival flavor with its groovy flair and biting horns. Formed by 8 young jazz musicians from Cotonou, Gangbe has created an unusual mix of music that will make you move in any language.

The Calabash Music website has a sampling of all the songs off their most recent album, “Whendo,” which they describe as “an extraordinary blend of voodoo rituals, with songs sung in a variety of African dialects backed up by dazzlingly electric performances.” The BBC’s Africa On Your Street website adds this:

While the voices and sometimes tonal percussion leave you in no doubt about their West African roots, the horns echo African military bands and European/American brass bands. The loping interplay of euphonium, trumpet, sax and trombone on "Segala", and the glorious swagger of "Oblemou" wouldn't sound out of place at a Mardi Gras in New Orleans (a city that has its own "voodoo" roots, which arose from its historical connection to Haitian "vodou"). And of course, that tradition began in very much the same part of West Africa that Gangbé Brass band hail from. What goes around comes around, as they say.

All Music Guide also provides a perspective on “Whendo”, highlighting Gangbe's tribute to Fela Kuti:

For their third outing, Benin's Gangbé Brass Band cast their net ever wider. Of course, there's the traditional sound, mixed with jazz, but this time it's from the music of New Orleans through to be bop, all played with consummate skill and fun, all grounded by some wonderful percussion, including plenty of stuttering talking drum. It's also a political record, lyrically concerned with Africa, its poverty and wars. But they also find much to celebrate, delving into an interesting take on Afro-beat with "Remember Fela," which also shows good familiarity with high-life music and the juju style of King Sunny Ade. More than ever before, this is where the pieces, both African and American, come together. The soloing is more confident, and everything crisper, while the percussion has become a more important factor. This is a band that's really found itself, with gusto and pleasure.

Readers of The Afrofunk Forum will definitely want to check these guys out if you haven't already. You can purchase downloads of Gangbe Brass Band from Calabash Music, or buy any of their first three CDs. I would love to see them live---any concert reports out there?

Chopteeth and DJ Thick Announce Monthly AfroFunk Forum Dance Party

By Robert Fox

The Afrofunk Music Forum blog has inspired the launch of a recurring dance party in Washington, DC. The first event will be Wednesday, November 22nd at the club DC9.

The AfroFunk Forum will be a non-stop evening of African-influenced dance music, hosted by residents Chopteeth and DJ Thick. It will offer alternating live big band Afrobeat and the hypnotic grooves of global electronic music. The inaugural event will also feature a special performance by award-winning Kenyan spoken word artist Anna Mwalagho.

At the AfroFunk Forum, listeners and dancers will experience something new: back-to-back live sets by the hottest Afrofunk bands and electronic musicians in the DC and Baltimore region. The focus is on the dancefloor, and the vibe is laid-back, hot, and funky.

In addition to Chopteeth and DJ Thick, future collaborations and performances will include: Togo native Serge "Massama" Dogo's stellar afropop unit, Elikeh; Malian ngoni master Cheick Hamala Diabate; drummers and beat masters from the DC-Baltimore area's deep underground African scene; afro-funky touring acts and more.

You can check out all the details at the My Space site for the Afrofunk Forum dance party.

Stay tuned for updates on these monthly events. If you are a DJ or an Afrobeat-oriented group coming to the DC area, and would be interested in performing at a future Afrofunk Forum event, let us know.

About DJ Thick: DJ Thick brings over a decade of experience in percussion and electronics to hypnosis of dancers. Having worked as a ritual drummer in the Afro-Cuban Lukumi tradition, as a percussionist with bands such as Fertile Ground, Chopteeth, Alfredo Triff, the Spam Allstars, and Satellite Lounge, and in experimental electronics (as his more meditative avatar, Io), DJ Thick returns the sound system to its roots: deep, underground dance music. For more information: www.eleguarecords.com.

About Anna Mwalagho: Anna Mwalagho started performing at the age of eight years old in her native Kenya, Africa, where she won numerous acting and poetry awards. She belongs to the Taita ethnic group. She has performed with many well recognized groups in Kenya. These include Soja Theater, Friends Theater, British Council, Cultural Awareness Exchange Program, Mbalamwezi and Heartstring Ensemble, of which she is still a member. She has worked with the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation television station and radio as an actress and also a broadcaster on issues relating to HIV and AIDS. She is also a member of Chopteeth. Anna recently released her CD, "Ukweli- The Truth," available at her website: www.annamwalagho.com.

DC9 is at 1940 9th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001, (202) 483-5000. If you're in the DC area, definitely check out this exciting new event on Wednesday, November 22nd, starting at 8PM. And please help spread the word!

The Ohio Players Kick Your Ass

By Robert Fox

Oh Wow!--check out this priceless clip of The Ohio Players doing "Fire" for live television in Germany, circa 1974. Are these guys supermen or what? Unbelievable musicianship and style, hailing from Dayton, Ohio, USA. The German studio TV crowd doesn't seem to know what to think! Note that the fire engine light effect stops after the intro--just keep watching for an unparalleled heavy-duty groove:

Where Is Matata?

By Robert Fox

Matt at the always informative blog Benn Loxo Du Taccu has unearthed some lost classics of African funk: Kenyan funk super-group Matata, who reigned in the early 1970s with afrobeat-inspired, pounding grooves. Matt reports that Matata were awarded "BBC’s Best Band in Africa in 1971 but unfortunately they faded away by the mid-70s," and asks "can someone fill us in?" They appear on the compilation "Africafunk," from Harmless Records. Check out the recording samples on Matt's site, and also the other many insights he offers.

The compilation features under-appreciated tracks from Fela Kuti, Peter King, Manu Dibango and Tony Allen. It also inspired a second volume, Africafunk: Return To The Original Sound of 1970s Funky Africa, also by Harmless Records.

Regular readers of this blog will definitely appreciate Matt's wisdom on the Benn Loxo Du Taccu blog. Definitely check it out if you haven't already.

Chase Those Crazy Baldheads Out Of Town!

By Robert Fox

Well, it’s finally Election Day here in the United States. Today many of us are hoping to strike a blow against idiocy, corruption, incompetence and illegal brutality by voting out of office the clowns in Washington who have enabled George Bush’s Reign of Error for the last six years.

The Afrofunk Forum has attracted readers in 53 different countries since we started the site---to everyone outside the US: please take my word for it that lots of us are doing our best to put an end to our (and your) governance nightmare.

For an Election Day Special, check out Bob Marley in this classic video footage--let’s chase those crazy baldheads out of town!

Crazy Baldheads

I and I build our cabin
I and I plant the corn
Didn’t my people before me
Slave for this country?
Now you look me with such scorn
Then you eat up all my corn
We’re gonna chase those crazy baldheads out of town…

Build your penitentiaries
We build your schools
Brainwash education
To make us the fools
Hatred you reward us for our love
Telling us of your God above
We’re gonna chase those crazy baldheads out of town…

Here comes the con man
Coming with his conflam
We won’t take no bribe
We’ve got to stay alive
We’re gonna chase those crazy baldheads out of town…

Rhino Releases Funk Treasure Chest

By Robert Fox

Get your funk face on, quick!--Rhino records has blessed Funkateers the world over with a newly released, epic boxed CD set entitled “What It Is! Funky Soul And Rare Grooves (1967-1977).” Rhino combed through a generation’s worth of dusty tapes and LPs from labels including Warner Bros., Atlantic, Reprise, Atco, and smaller outfits like Cotillion, Curtom, Alston, and Jonie.

And guess what they found? The history and evolution of funk, from the bopping, Stax-inspired grooviness of the early period all the way to the heavy-duty, bone-crushing jams of the mid and late 70s. The set includes 91 newly remastered tracks on four CDs--more than five straight hours of wah-wah pedals, platform shoes, polyester suits and Superfly hood ornaments. Daaaammn!

The songs are arranged chronologically, so you can hear the development of the music year-by-year. Some of the biggest names in American music are represented, most with rare or previously unreleased tracks, including little-known gems from Grant Green, Eddie Harris, Curtis Mayfield, Sly, the Bar-Kays, The Meters, Mongo Santamaria, Little Richard, Earth Wind and Fire, Fred Wesley and many others. There is an entirely re-mixed new version of Aretha Franklin’s “Rock Steady,” (which has recently been appearing on Chopteeth’s live setlist, incidentally).

But connoisseurs of funk will especially appreciate the many singles that have otherwise slipped off the face of the Earth, including finds such as “Mr. Cool” by Rasputin’s Stash, “Wah-Wah Man” by Young-Holt Unlimited, “Won’t Nobody Listen” by Black Haze Express, “Mojo Hannah” by Tami Lynn, “Take It Off, Part 2” by Johnny Tolbert, “Sexy Coffee Pot” by Tony Alvon and the unforgettable “Pig Snoots, Part 1” by Natural Bridge Bunch. Where are these guys today, so we can give them a medal for their Dedication to The Funk?

Predictably, given the scope of this project, the CD set is drawing foaming-at-the-mouth reviews. For example, this bit of poetry from the Amazon.com comments page: “if you’re into funky American music from the 1970s, you’ll cream in your bell bottoms over this one.” Allmusic.com’s review was no less adulatory, although better written:

A righteous undertaking of great magnitude, What It Is! Funky Soul and Rare Grooves trawls through a decade-long stretch of the Warner-distributed archive…and pulls up 91 soul/funk truffles, almost all of which were left for dead shortly after release. While many of these cuts have been repurposed as vital ingredients of hip-hop tracks, which has in turn fostered a voracious collector's market (it would cost a fortune to collect these songs in their original formats of release), the box is a leagues-deep trawl through an otherwise forgotten past... The chicken-scratch guitars, wild Hammond B-3 runs, group chants, and blaring horn punches are served by the dozens, but the box also illustrates an evolution that took place through the '70s…The themed playlists and imaginary compilations hiding within this compact box are innumerable, bound to take the average overthinking funk freak to new levels of nerd-dom…The accompanying booklet could be sold separately, as it contains scads of seldom-seen photos and scholarly track-by-track notes. Rhino also deserves applause for resisting the urge to house these discs in a massive synthetic afro or an oversized wah-wah pedal. You can snugly tuck this thing between your arm and chest and sense its power run through your whole body.

You’ll have the opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to The Funk by plunking down $60 for the boxed set, although I’ve been enjoying it through Rhapsody’s music subscription service—it’s presumably available from other subscription services as well, and Amazon offers 30 second samples of all the tunes. This set is a wonderful contribution to the history of music, one that regular readers of the Afrofunk Forum will definitely appreciate.

New Recording From "Jimi Hendrix of Kora"

By Robert Fox

Guinean kora wizard Ba Cissoko just released a new recording, his second, titled “Electric Griot Land.” This time he takes the acoustic kora and amps it even further in the direction of electric blues, funk and entirely unique jams of his own making. Known as the “Jimi Hendrix of kora,” Ba Cissoko is said to play the kora behind his head in concert in tribute to Hendrix, and the album's title riffs off of Hendrix’s “Electric Ladyland” album. This is some outstandingly groovy stuff, and includes spectacular kora solos rammed though a rack of special effects. The recording is not available in the US yet, but you can purchase the CD and listen to one-minute samples of all of the new CD tracks on the Stern's Music site.

You can also check out the post on Ba Cissoko’s first album "Sabolan" by Michael Shereikis on The Afrofunk Forum, and there is a nice profile of the artist on the English language site of Radio France International. On the strength of his first album, Ba Cissoko won the 2005 BBC World Music Newcomer of the Year award. Allmusic.com summarizes Ba Cissoko’s unique approach:

The sound becomes totally new, exciting waterfalls of notes that are palpably thrilling. The rhythm section of bass and percussion anchor it all, and keep the groove going quite effortlessly. This is trail-blazing, purely West African music of a kind not heard in far too long, and completely irresistible.

Calabash Music adds “if Eric Clapton played kora, this is surely what he would sound like.” The new CD is certain to draw a lot of attention for it’s dynamite rhythms and virtuoso performances.

Marketing "World Music" in the US

By Robert Fox

Inspired by a return visit to New York’s Carnegie Hall by South Africa’s Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Nathan Salzburg of The New York Sun newspaper recently wrote a critical appraisal of the development of the “world music” market in the United States. The article, titled “What Ladysmith Wrought,” laments the continuing need for African and Latin artists to team up with American pop stars to achieve large-scale marketing success in the US.

LBM collaborated with Paul Simon on the 1986 mega-hit “Graceland” album, which, for better or for worse, introduced many Americans to African music for the first time. Although the album’s safe melodies and rhythms were hardly the most vital music recorded in Africa at the time, the recording sold a staggering 14 million copies. While the album helped open a door to the American market for African music, the most salable “world music” recordings in the US remain blends of pop and imported styles.

As African music becomes more popular in the US, I hope more acts will be able to break through to a mass audience purely on their own terms. Here is a selection from this provocative article by Nathan Salzburg:

In the 20 years since " Graceland" whetted America's appetite for world music, the genre has exploded across the international musical landscape, in step with advancements in technology and deepening geopolitical intricacies. Yet this country's taste for it continues to rely largely on syntheses of "world" sounds with familiar Western styles and stars.

"Graceland" came at the right time for Mr. Simon; his previous work, "Hearts and Bones" (1983), was a commercial flop, whereas " Graceland" would go on to sell 14 million copies. It also came at the right time for the public. The album's ecumenical,
globe-trotting sophistication appealed to the listener who had grown up parallel to Mr. Simon's career — and who, six years into the Reagan presidency and the 1980's pop music black hole, was hungry for a sound so warm, organic, and fresh.

Due to an awakening American awareness of apartheid in South Africa, Black Mambazo seemed to do good in addition to sound good. It was accepted by audiences as Bob Marley had been several years earlier — an unlikely breed of easy listening rebel music. The popularity of " Graceland,"however, was more effective in inspiring an agreement among music industry marketers to settle on a sellable genre: "world music" was born.

Like the "race" and "hillbilly" categories of America's early phonograph days, world music was a huge tent into which different genres from disparate locations could be
crammed.A dearth of knowledge — from the boardroom to the stockroom to the living room — of the massive dimensions of the world's music made a more nuanced denomination unfeasible. Albums of Zululand singers and groups such as Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens began to appear in record shops across the country, filed with other "world"albums like "Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares," the surprisingly brisk-selling recordings of Bulgarian State Television's female vocal choir. Pop stars like Peter Gabriel — who in 1988 started his own international imprint, Real World (featuring Pakistan's hugely popular qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan) — used their visibility and influence to exploit the genre.

While international pop and folk music had long been available, Western popular artists had seldom hitched them to their wagons in the mainstream marketplace (Robert Mitchum's calypso misadventures of the late 1950s notwithstanding). Doing so gave those artists a sort of world citizenship that was increasingly attractive and comforting to audiences. Sharing the cultural sensitivity and demographic of " Graceland," public radio and television began airing programs devoted to world music on record and in live concerts. NPR's Afropop (now Afropop Worldwide) was launched in 1988; Spike Lee's "Do It A Capella," a live concert in which American doo-woppers the Mint Juleps performed with Ladysmith Black Mambazo a version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"(a song with an epic world-music history all its own), aired on PBS in 1990.

But like many foreign imports — yoga especially comes to mind — world music has been changed by or, some would argue, for American acceptance. Marketed for their exotic qualities, world albums have nevertheless subsisted predominantly as best-ofs and introductions-to, tending to leave off more complex and less Westernized artists, performances, and genres.

I think one ray of hope for a deeper representation of African music in the US is the expansion of internet-marketed music through download sites such as iTunes as well as subscription services like Rhapsody and others. Internet distribution has been widely recognized as encouraging niche markets, and allowing recordings that would previously have received little promotion to find targeted audiences—big record company promotion not necessarily required.

Senegalese Griot Artists Blend Hip Hop and Tradition

By Robert Fox

The Washington Post has an interesting and well-written article this week by Emily Wax, titled “Shunning Griot Customs, Senegalese Youth Give Storytelling a New Spin---Hip-Hop's Inroads Reflected in Focus On Current Events.” The article profiles a new generation of griot musicians in Dakar, Senegal. These new artists blend traditional storytelling with Western rap, jazz, modern instruments and contemporary social and political themes:

Their parents and grandparents were venerated storytellers, wandering poets known as griots who sang praises to kings, crooned family histories at weddings and delivered anti-colonial epics at political rallies.

But these days, two Senegalese brothers who hail from griot lineage are not at all interested in inheriting what they see as an outdated role in an old West African tradition.

They are, however, really into hip-hop music.

The article describes the discomfort of traditionalists over this new form---isn’t it always that way? Of course that tension between the old and the new is at the root of many artistic advances, not only in music:

The brothers practice their blend of hip-hop and traditional Senegalese drumming in the courtyard of a brightly painted hotel, not far from the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean. The giant group house is filled with young Africans from griot and other lineage who aspire to be fashion designers rather than farmers, painters and poets rather than peasants.

Before written language, the griot was the keeper of history. Grandfathers would pass the craft to their sons and grandchildren. Important dates, intricate names and famous deeds involving not just their families but entire villages and kingdoms were remembered in song.

The inherited position brought great respect in rigidly hierarchical societies, and members of the griot caste often received land, money and protection for their services.

But as more people have migrated to the cities, young West Africans living in a world with the Internet, satellite television and hip-hop videos beaming in every bar and middle-class household have begun to question old traditions. And today, anyone with a guitar, some decent lyrics and access to a microphone is allowed to perform.

At first, the elders lamented the change. Newspaper columnists predicted the demise of the griot, and women even held mock funerals, holding up effigies of withered griot women.

But as the old style has faded, a new and fresh griot has emerged, and a renaissance in the art form has taken place.

Young griots still sing family histories, but they also write about contemporary issues that the older generations have avoided, mixing hip-hop, jazz, rock and village music with lyrics about HIV, marrying outside caste and homosexuality.

Many African artists are embracing the new forms, and it will be interesting to see how lasting the new influences are within the griot tradition:

"I understand the young people don't want to completely copy us," said BMS's father, Souleymane Sarr, 63, who has performed his entire life. "But they shouldn't throw away their culture altogether and just copy American rap music. We hope some middle ground emerges."

But as more young griots find themselves more comfortable at the turntable than in the town hall, some Senegalese have wondered if they should adjust a little, too.

"You can no longer keep the world out of Africa; that is too narrow-minded. But will griots die out? Of course not," said Bruce Onobrakpeya, 72, known as the father of Nigeria's modern art movement. "To me, a new form of griots is emerging that is truly exciting."

"The world is changing, and so are we, and so are griots, he said. "That's not just okay, but it's wonderful."