Ishlihan N-Tenere: Guitar Music From the Western Sahel (2010)

“This compilation highlights recordings of local guitar bands in three areas of modern day Senegal and Mali. These bands are almost unknown outside of their homes but have a devoted local following. They play all events, celebratory or political. Their songs are folk anthems, hummed under the breath and chanted by children, traded by cassette and transferred by cellphone. The guitar bands are the pride of their towns.”

Get it here: Guitar Music From the Western Sahel


The album is available only on vinyl, however, you can download it via bandcamp for only two dollars. 60% of the profits go directly to the artists. Do it. Be moral.

The Sound of Kinsasha: Guitar Classics from Zaire (1993)

This album is a compilation created by musicologist John Storm Roberts in an effort to trace the evolution of the rumba and to analyze the influence of Cuban rhythms on African folk styles. This collection serves to present an dizzying array of heavy rhythms as well as a primer to some Sub-Saharan popular guitar styles.

Get it here: The Sound of Kinsasha

Mata La Pena: A Compilation of International Music (2009)

"Global music of indeterminate origin, but indisputable beauty from Mississippi Records – from otherworldly vocals-only tunes, to lovely and lush arrangements – strains of calypso, Thai balladry, rural American yodeling, Hawaiian ukulele tunes, and beyond! There's no notes, but the mysteriousness is part of the allure!"

A taste of what's on the record:
Arizona Yodeler - The DeZurik Sisters & El Amanecer - Roberto y Su Orquesta Tipica


Get it here: Mata La Pena

Classic Railroad Songs from Smithsonian Folkways (2006)

"As 19th-century America expanded, so too did the "ribbons of iron" that crisscrossed the vast landscape and sparked the imagination of music-makers. Work songs, ballads recounting riveting exploits, and instrumental echoes of the once familiar sounds of the steam locomotive have enshrined the railroad in our musical memory. Classic Railroad Songs mines the Smithsonian Folkways archives to create this tribute to a favorite American source of inspiration. 36-page booklet. 71 minutes."


Get it here: Classic Railroad Songs & Liner Notes (PDF)

London is the Place For Me Vol. 2 - Calypso Kwela Highlife from Young Black London

(This collection has some of the best album art, period)

"Truth is, there are no standout tracks here. It's all wall to wall magic and beauty and loose-limbed dance rhythms. But Campbell's percussion only "Ashiko Rhythm," a mellow hand drums, thumb piano, and gong-gong workout on the basic shave-and-a-haircut/two-bits beat, and the Rhythm Brothers' delicate and lullaby-like closer "Sing The Blues," can't go by without mention.

Musical value aside, London Is The Place For Me 2 is also an acutely timely reminder of the glory that is London's multicultural mix—something we cannot allow to be destroyed by the psychopathic death cult behind this month's bomb outrages in the city. One love."

-Chris May at All About Jazz (2005)

Get it here: London is the Place For Me Vol. 2

London is the Place For Me - Trinidadian Calypso in London (1950-1965)

Travelling with their own core audience, the Trinidadian calypsonians brought with them the vocal music of Carnival. Traditionally this ranges from social satire to sexual double-entendre, from voodoo to the most pressing issues of the day, from sporting events to competitive insult. The experiences of Britain’s growing Caribbean population were to be fabulously rich in raw material. 


Here's Stuart Hall's review in The Guardian: ".. a witty and joyous testament to the creative power of popular culture and a document of more innocent times. It constitutes one of the best starting points for that rich, unfinished history of the black British diaspora and its intricate interweaving with British life that remains to be written."

Get it here: London is the Place for Me

Mississippi Records - I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore (1927-1948)

This record is immigrant music recorded in America that’s barely, if at all, touched or infected by American music. It opens with Marika Papagika’s Greek masterpiece “Zmirneikos Balos” (she was a singer who “died of disappointment” in New York in 1943). It also has a beautiful sad song by the Blue Sky Boys called “Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone” and a bunch of Hawaiian and French recordings.  - VICE Magazine

Listen Here:

 

 Get It Here: Mississippi Records - I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore

Mississippi Records - Been Here All My Days (From the George Mitchell Archives)

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, GEORGE MITCHELL recorded extensively in the South. Mitchell concentrated mainly on local blues traditions recording some famous bluesmen and many otherwise ignored artists. The George Mitchell Collection was originally released as a series of forty-five EPs on Fat Possum, this LP contains Mississipi’s favorite fourteen tracks. This LP represents songs from many well known blues musicians such as FRED MCDOWELL, FURRY LEWIS and JOE CALICOTT, as well as some from criminally under represented artists like JESSIE MAE HEMPHILL, ROSA LEE HILL and JOHN LEE ZIEGLER. 


Track List:
1. Who's Gonna Be Your Man / John Lee Ziegler 4:47
2. Bullying Well / Rosa Lee Hill 4:47
3. Shake 'Em On Down / Fred McDowell 3:03
4. What Makes Grandma Love Grandpa / Jimmy Lee Williams 4:15
5. Old Country Rock #1 / James Davis 3:56
6. Big Road Blues / Houston Stackhouse 2:39
7. Search Me Lord / James Shorter 2:44
8. Home Going / Jessie Mae Hemphill 2:34
9. Georgia Buck / Precious Bryant 2:34
10. Country Blues / Joe Callicott 3:37
11. Rabbit On A Log / Lonzie Thomas 2:33
12. Trouble Brought Me Down / Greeb Paschal 1:47
13. Good Morning Judge / Furry Lewis 5:50
14. Hold My Body Down / Robert Johnson 2:51


Get it here: Mississippi Records - Been Here All My Days