Whirled Beet

From ten to midnight each and ev'ry Monday evening, Parker & Marley bring you the best of what the Whirled has to offer. From South African hip-hop to Scandinavian indie-folk, from contemporary Saharan grooves to traditional Uighur solos, we aim each Monday to bring you a diverse offering of genres, cultures, and ideas. What follows is a smattering of extracurricular whirled beet material, submitted for your edification, amusement, and gen'l delight. Enjoy!

Playlist 12.12.11

So at the suggestion of one Dave Stroup, a Danville native currently living in exile in Oklahoma, I thought I’d try and post playlists every so often, so in case you didn’t quite catch my mangled pronunciation of “Spoek Mathambo,” you can check on here and figure out what it was you were listening to. So, without further ado or adon’t:

Whirled Beet Playlist from 12.12.11 – artist, track, primary country of origin

Spoek Mathambo, on a horse

1. Spoek Mathambo - “Mshini Wam” (Clean) – South Africa

2. Baloji – “Coup de Gaz” – Belgium, w/Congolese heritage

3. Blitz the Ambassador - “Wahala” – Ghana

4. X Plastaz - “Africa” – Tanzania

5. F.O.K.N. Bois - “F.O.K.N. Future” – Ghana

6. Teckzilla, Rae (Str8 Buttah) & Fecko -“Ill Musketeers” – Nigeria

7. Buraka Som Sistema - “Kalemba (Wegue Wegue)” – Portugal, heavily influenced by Angolan kuduro music

Wiley

8. Wiley - “Numbers in Action” – England

9. MC Solaar – “Solaar Pleure” – France

10. Dub Colossus - “Azmari Dub” – Ethiopia

11. Da Cruz - “Ethiopia Kopie” – Brazil

12. Ballake Sissoko & Vincent Segal - “Chamber Music” - Mali & France, respectively

Ibrahim (from Tinariwen) and Kiran

13. Kiran Ahluwalia & Tinariwen - “Mustt Mustt” - Canada (w/ Indian heritage) & Northern (Saharan) Mali, respectively

14. Tinariwen w/ folks from TV on the Radio - “Tenere Taqqim Tossam” – Northern (Saharan) Mali & The U.S.

15. Damily – “Ravinahitsy” – Madagascar

16. Jens Lekman – “Your Arms Around Me” – Sweden

Mugison, being generally awesome

17. Mugison – “The Sweetest Melody” – Iceland

Allright, so that’s what everybody heard this past Monday night. See you next week on the radio.

X Plastaz – “Africa”

So this is some brand-new, catchy-as-anything hip-hop out of Tanzania, from a group called X Plastaz, one of the most popular hip-hop acts in Tanzania. Rapping in Swahili and Haya, they have crafted a powerful blend of contemporary hip-hop sensibility and traditional Maasai melodies and chants, which they weave throughout their music to create an incredibly unique sound. They’ve been featured in National Geographic, on MTV, and on HBO, so they’ve garnered quite a bit of buzz, and from what I’ve heard of their music, I’d say it’s fairly well-deserved.