Slideshow
48 Hours of Hip-Hop at Goom Radio
Recently, Goom Radio— a 100% digital radio station that is taking storm in France and coming soon to New York— ran a continuous 48 hour episode of it’s hip-hop radio show “Explicit Content,” featuring the biggest artists in French hip-hop, rap and R’n’B. While I wasn’t able to compete with the various radio hosts who stayed up for nearly two full days (breaking for a few hours here and there to sleep and shower), in just the 11 hours that I spent at the station, I got to hang out with some of the top names in the industry, including: Oxmo Puccino, Disiz, Leslie, Seth Gueko, Orelsan, LIM, Youssoupha, Dragon Davy, Mr. Toma, Black Barbie and Kamnouze among others. On top of that, many of the Goom radio hosts are also important figures on the French hip-hop scene, including rappers Freeman (formerly of IAM), Sonikem and Driver, and female hip-hop journalist Valou.
› Continue reading
The Grand Tour
For my final post, Iʼll leave you with this audio flipbook that sums up my year. In previous posts, I tried to explore the diversity of Mexican music by zooming in on individual sounds and people. I wanted to compare a variety of styles (Mariachi, Son Jarocho, Danzón, Villancicos, La Chilena, Son Huasteco, and Tropical were just a few that I got hooked on), while also considering how this music has been affected by emerging issues in Mexico, like emigration, urbanization, and the cultural gap between generations.
This audio flipbook takes a wider view. I hope it lives up to its name—Itʼs a “grand tour” of the School of Mexican Music, classroom by classroom, genre by genre. For the musician in me, traveling from one “room” of Mexican music to another over the course of this year was an awe-inspiring lesson in new sounds. But more importantly, it gave me a taste of the complexity of Mexican history. And every day, Iʼm happy to report, that history is still being sung and played out by young people who want to live in a 21st century Mexico that doesnʼt forget where it came from.
› Continue reading
Makin’ Beats and Breakin’ it Down!
Youth participating in the “Back to School Breakdance Challenge"
› Continue reading
Back to the Ranch
When the band of young Mexican musicians Los Cojolites first started giving lessons a decade ago, their goal was simply to get their neighbors to turn off their TVs and play local music together again. Los Cojolites played Son Jarocho—the traditional music of their hometown in Southern Veracruz—at a time when it was going through a bizarre renaissance in other parts of the country. It had exploded in Mexico’s urban centers and college campuses, and even secured a spot on the “world music” stage abroad, yet it was about to fizzle in its own birthplace.
› Continue reading
Obamako
I left for Mali a few days after the November election, and when I arrived in Bamako, Mali was in the middle of Obama-fever. People all over would ask me if I was French, and after I told them I was from the US, I received huge smiles, slaps on the back, many thumbs ups and lots of “Et ca va Obama??”s.
When the the president was inaugurated in January, things remained just as excited around me. Then, I began to notice President Obama’s picture, already in plain sight, become even more prominent. Official Obama fabric was released and started to be used as everything from pajama pants, button-up shirts, and table cloths. Obama t-shirts and Obama buttons became popular as well.
It wasn’t until about a month after that that I began to collect pictures of all things Obama-related.
So then, Obamako, a city in which Obama’s election inspired nearly everybody and continues today to resonate every single day. It’s incredible to see what the election did in terms of earning respect for Americans in Mali. Talking to musicians, people would tell me that they felt like they were suddenly able to do things, that having a US President with an African father meant that their own futures were brighter. People I asked mentioned that they never expected France to do anything like that, and that the US continues to be the site of hope. Incredible.
› Continue reading
