Another gem brought to my attention by the good folks at the Strut (shout out to willie_fugal).

Matthew LaVoie, executive producer of Voice of America’s African Beat radio show, has dug up some radio recordings of Fela Kuti during his highlife period in the 60s with the Koola Lobitos Band, with whom Fela began cultivating the sound that we know now as Afrobeat. Here’s a snippet of what LaVoie has to say about the find:

I thought I would feature what is arguably the most ‘famous’ tape in our archive; Leo’s never-released 1965 reel of Fela Ransome-Kuti and his Koola Lobitos that caught the Afrobeat pioneers at an interesting time in their careers. Fela had returned to Lagos two years earlier (after several years of musical study at Trinity College in London) and the Koola Lobitos were starting to get noticed in Nigeria.

Here’s a taste of one of the recordings:
[audio:http://www.voanews.com/english/africa/blog/images/Media/FELA_magbeyenwa.Mp3|titles=Fela Ransome-Kuti & his Koola Lobitos ‘Magbe Yenwa’]

There’s much more at LaVoie’s original blog post, including more tunes, lots of good background and an interview with Fela that aired in 1967. Please check it out.

BuhbOmp‘s own Empanadamn will be in the mix this Friday at APT, alongside DJ Day, $mall ¢hange, and the Large Professor (yeah, that Large Professor).

Info courtesy of DJ Day:

Come celebrate my man getting ancient and some random dude becoming a Supreme Court Justice. The one night in ’09 Moe Choi leaves the house, and the only time Sasha will wear a suit this year. Free admittance to anyone who knows Obama’s new cell number.

APT
419 W13st.
NYC 10014
$10

File under: People we admire

Rich Medina is as respected on the turntables as he is on the basketball court. While many people might be familiar with his name from music he crafted for The Roots, Jill Scott and Eve, heads might not know that Medina was once a step away from the NBA.

Knowledge being dropped here…

Bring back Broken Beat!!!

Join the Facebook group Broken Beat/Nu-jazz/Downtempo

This is a group for people who enjoy broken beats, nu-jazz, acid jazz, and jazz house.

–Broken Beat–

Broken beat is an electronic music genre first appearing at the end of the 20th century and pioneered by IG Culture. Appearing in the western parts of London, the genre is also referred to as West London, mainly because Goya Music’s offices were in London’s Ladbroke Grove, W11, as were most of the participating artists studios. Regular nights which play this genre of music include Co-op which was held at Plastic People for a number of years before re-launching at East Village – both in Shoreditch. In 2008 monthly Co-Op sessions were launched at Concrete in Birmingham, UK. Another night worth mentioning is Inspiration Information previously at Notting Hill Arts Club but now at East Village in Shoreditch. Elsewhere, DJs from the Kyoto Jazz Massive regularly play at The Room in Tokyo. Distribution outlet Goya Music played an influential role in establishing the early UK sound, supporting early labels such as People, Bita Sweet, Mainsqueeze and numerous others.

Happy Birthday to own of our heroes, Mr. Jeff Townes.

We have a massive travel budget here @ buhbomp, so the powers that be sent their only legal/political correspondent (me) to the National Mall to peep President Obama take the oath.

Barry, (we go way back…I put him onto Common but can he return a phone call?), was in rare form representing the Chi. (who we have mad love for).

What was it like to be chilling with 1.5-2 Million people on the worst kept lawn in America?

1 word – Cold. It was cold as all get out.

Them boys from B-town got this pic of me and my peeps,

holla at us if you was there.

And more from Guru and Benzino’s peeps.

Jim Jones reveals to Complex Magazine that there’s no father to his style game and a little bit about his heritage.

Shout out to the Arubian Stallion.

From long lost friends of buhbomp, Pitch Control TV, check out the clip at the link below (it’s too damn big to embed on this site):

Episode 15: Chamillionaire, Trae & Peter Brown | MLK Parade ’09

Co-Marshall’s of the 15th Annual MLK Parade in downtown Houston Chamillionaire and Trae tha Truth speak about the significance of Martin Luther King Jr. as well as Obama’s inauguration along with Houston City Councilman Peter Brown.

WARNING This recording may contain more Talib Kweli than the average listener can handle in one sitting.

Dj Graffiti, producer Astronote and the aforementioned host, Talib Kweli, come together to drop a collection of Biggie remixes, Bigger and Better. I’m feeling alot of cuts on here (especially Party & Bullshit), but whether these remixes are actually better than the timeless Biggie classics is a whole ‘nuther thing altogether.

Download Bigger and Better here.

Welcome to a new era.

Download the full remix on mp3:
Jay-Z — My President is Black (D.C. Remix).