Featured Artists: Winter 2014 Dance Party!

It’s Carnival right now in Trinidad, Haiti, Brazil, New Orleans…and  NYC, with Afropop Worldwide! In the words of Bootsy Collins, this week’s show, Winter 2014 Dance Party, ”Ain’t nothin’ but a party y’all.” So get down, get funky and shake a tail feather to the hottest sounds of Africa and the African diaspora:

Mr. Killa

On “Fantastic Friday” in Port of Spain last week, Grenadian soca superstar Mr. Killa won second place with his tune ”Rolly Polly,” giving way only to Machel Montano’s M.O.R. (also featured in the show). But we give this tune, which celebrates females who have a certain copious physical presence, the honor of first place on our show.

FOKN Bois

We’ve featured the Ghanaian gospel-porn rap duo FOKN Bois before, and we will feature them again–at least until they stop making amazing satirical hip-hop tracks with old-school highlife samples that incite dance parties. <href=”http://www.afropop.org/wp/16918/coz-ov-moni-premiere-fokn-good-time-had-by-all/” target=”_blank”>We recently presented the U.S. premiere of their new film Coz Ov Moni 2: FOKN Revenge in Brooklyn, and the tracks featured in our show are from the soundtrack to that film.

Tarika 

As you may have heard, Afropop Worldwide will be traveling to Madagascar this year! We are sharing our excitement with great music from Tarika, a Malagasy band based in London, led by two sisters, Hanitra and Noro. The featured tune is from their second album, a collaboration with Senegalese musicians.

Damily

A master of the tsapika guitar style from southwest Madagascar, Damily combines traditional dance music with influences from upbeat South African pop music. We will catch up with him for sure!

Aster Aweke

A dignified Ethiopian diva and long-time Washington DC resident, Aster just released a new album, her 24th!

Pedrito Martinez Group

The Pedrito Martinez Group, led by dynamic Cuban percussion and singer, Pedrito Martinez, has been making waves for years: They toured the world playing major festivals even before they had released an album. While only a quartet, they bring all the energy, power and virtuosity of the best Cuban timba large ensemble. Now the album is out, and the waves are getting bigger!

Scorpio Universel

This Haitian compas group, led by guitarist Robert Martino, rocked the late 1970s with their fiery, fuzzy sounds, and they continue to perform, in some form, to this day. The track featured on our show came to our attention via the recent Strut Records compilation, Haiti Direct.

Video Playlist

For more from the artists featured in Winter 2014 Dance Party, check out our video playlist: