African Sounds of the Indian Subcontinent: "On air this week is an encore of “African Sounds of the Indian Subcontinent,” produced by Marlon Bishop. In this Hip Deep program, we explore the musical connections between Africa and India. We’ll delve into the Afro-Indian Sidi communities who have been in India as far back as the 7th century when they first arrived as sailors on Arab merchant ships. Afro-Indians mostly came in the 13th century as soldiers in Muslim armies that conquered parts of India. Their descendants remain to this day and perform Sufi trance music at shrines to the black Muslim saint named Baba Gor. African-American jazz musicians who came to Bombay in the '30s trained Indian musicians, who in turn were instrumental in the rise of the Hindi film and music industry. We’ll also take a look at the Afro-Indo-Portuguese pop music style known as baila. Be sure to check out the Africans in India photo essay with images kindly shared by Dr. Sylviane Diouf from an exhibit she curated titled “Africans in India: From Slaves to Generals and Rulers.” Ben Richmond interviewed musician, activist and renaissance woman Selmor Mtukudzi, the daughter of Zimbabwean star Oliver Mtukudzi. She discusses her participation One Campaign’s “Strong Girl Remix” song and the sexism that comes with poverty and electricity in Africa. Banning Eyre reviews the spectacular album, Renascence, by the renowned and widely celebrated Malian traditional singer Kandia Kouyaté. Last week marked the seventh anniversary of the passing of Miriam Makeba. To honor and remember Mama Africa, we went deep into the archives of The Beat magazine to reprint an in-depth interview with Miriam by Roger Steffens from 1988, part of our continuing series, "Best of The Beat." Speaking of The Beat, we also featured a great piece from 1993 on rapso music from Trinidad and Tobago. It’s wonderful stuff. . Cameroonian music legend Manu Dibango will perform at the Apollo Theater on Dec. 5 with Les Nubians and Ben L’Oncle and the Monophonics. Have a lovely weekend! Cheers, Atane and the Afropop Crew African Sounds of the Indian Subcontinent "
Comments