News & Updates — Afrobeat

One of my favorite Caribbean-born artists was master percussionist & composer Henri "Kiké" Guédon. Born in Martinique, he got his career going in the mid '60s with his band La Contesta. He played every style of Latin music, with strong funk & jazz undercurrents, to go with his Antillan and Caribbean musics (zouk, bomba, merengue, beguine, Cuban, etc) and even classical and avant-garde. He was a major Latin music star in France and enlisted world class musicians in his bands. He performed with the percussion front-of-the-stage like his idol Ray Barretto. There are some good collections and reissues of some...

Kofi Ghanaba, aka Guy Warren, was the first musician from the African continent to become known with a career and recordings in the USA, fusing American jazz with African folk forms. He was also a teacher, writer, historian and pan-Africanist of renown. A Ghanaian by birth, during WW2 he worked for the US as a spy, after which he became a journalist and a jazz musician. In 1947 he was a founding member of the great African-jazz band The Tempos with ET Mensah. In '51 he became the first African to become a BBC radio producer and also did radio...

The Afro-Danish reedsman John Tchicai was one of the unique talents on the international out-jazz scene after the "October Revolution" of 1964. Born in Copenhagen (and of Congolese descent), he played violin as a child and switched to reeds as a teenager. He was pro by the late '50s traveling around Europe before setting off for NYC in '62. He hooked up with groups of major statement, such as New York Contemporary Five (with Don Cherry and Archie Shepp) and the New York Art Quartet. He participated in the behemoth free jazz recordings New York Eye & Ear Control (with...

BRAND NEW!! OUT NOW!! The heaviest and sweatiest funk ensemble Big Mean Sound Machine's newest full length platter!! Runnin' For The Ghost is available now! Order here. Stores may contact Forced Exposure for wholesale. In a time when people need to come together more than ever, Big Mean Sound Machine is spreading positivity through communal dance by creating music that moves people of all ages and backgrounds. With this new album, the ten piece band breaks new sonic ground and creates a unique flavor of instrumental music with their fourth full-length studio album, Runnin’ for the Ghost, co-released by Peace...

April 7 will see the release of the brand new album by one of your favorite funky ensembles, Big Mean Sound Machine. The East coast band's fourth full length album, Runnin' For The Ghost, is co-released by Peace & Rhythm (USA) and Blank Slate Records (Germany). In a time when people need to come together more than ever, Big Mean Sound Machine is spreading positivity through communal dance by creating music that moves people of all ages and backgrounds. With this new album, the ten piece band breaks new sonic ground and creates a unique flavor of instrumental music with...