afrobeat vs. house (Re: Thoughts on Afrobeat /Afrofunk)

From: t bird (djt_bird@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Feb 23 2002 - 00:30:16 CET

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    > I have been slowly collecting Afro records here and
    > there, but have yet to play any out. I was hoping
    > maybe someone could give me some insight and maybe
    > relate some past experience playing Afrobeat.

    it began in africa-ca-ca-ca...

    > I normally play house music and I am just a little
    > apprehensive to drop Fela in the middle of a four on
    > the floor set.

    i think fela would probably work, but he's not the
    first person i would go to in the midst of a house set
    (although i think there's a house mix of "water get no
    ememy"--dirk, wanna weigh in here?). i went to see
    nickodemus (giant-step/turntables on the hudson) last
    night at sugar in l.a. one of the cuts he dropped was
    from the bob sinclar "africanism" series and it was
    basically a soukous (uptempo afropop style primarily
    from central africa) loop over a house kick. with
    house crowds, it seems if you set them up
    w/afro/latin/non-western infused house for a few
    records, you can go into the real stuff as long as the
    energy doesn't fall off too much. i would suggest the
    more uptempo stuff unless you're trying to bring the
    energy down for a bit before you hit 'em hard again...

    > How about a full afrobeat set, is that to much?
    > Any suggestions for must have Afro records?

    a full afrobeat set would probably be cool if your
    crowd is open to new stuff. if they're kind of
    conservative, your going to have to prime the pump a
    bit before you can go and douse them with the real. i
    would suggest picking up some ashley beedle stuff
    where he gets into some international sounding stuff
    (black jazz chronicles' "future juju", ballistic bros.
    "rude system", his remixes of ptaah's "no how..." &
    outside "blue skies") and definitely check out the
    africanism series. there's also a 12" by blo with
    remixes that you could probably use--i forget the name
    of the track, but i think the groove has been sampled
    many times.

    the afrofunk comps that leslie & co. have suggested
    are quite good--definitely check out the ocho comps
    and nigeria 70!!

    -t

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