Politics, love and everything in between
This week’s show celebrates the start of May. In much of the world May 1st, or Labour Day, is associated with political action; in the Czech Republic it’s also a day of love, where couples walk up Prague’s Petřín Hill in memory of Karel Mácha’s romantic poem Máj. The playlist tries to balance both sides of the beginning of May: some fresh political songs, some love songs, and everything in between.
Politics...
Russia’s big underground hip hop hit of the season is Noize MC’s Mercedes S666. Based on a loop of Nina Simone’s Feeling Good, this is a song about Anatoly Barkov, Vice President of the giant Russian oil company Lukoil. In February, Barkov’s car killed two women in Moscow while travelling at high speed through the city, allegedly in the wrong traffic lane. As Radio Free Europe reports, Moscow police quickly announced that Barkov was innocent, despite eyewitness accounts to the contrary; CCTV footage of the fatal crash has since “disappeared”. Noise MC’s single questions the extent to which the Russian elite are entirely above the law; you can find the full lyrics (in Russian) with commentary by Noize MC on the website of Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Mercedes S666 has two official videos on Youtube: there’s the new version, an artfully-animated collision of Pop Art and Hieronymous Bosch; and there’s the version which came out in February, featuring Barkov’s rapping head on the body of a cartoon Satan from TV’s South Park.
Meanwhile in Lebanon, the country’s General Security has just banned the latest video by Armenian-Lebanese alt-rock singer Eileen Khatchadourian. Zarti Vortyag is a traditional Armenian folk song where a mother implores her son to fight for their people. Although the lyrics do not directly mention the Ottoman Empire’s 20th Century Armenian genocide, this is generally understood to be the subject of the song. In an interview with Armenian Student Association website Armen Karo Khachadourian describes being informed of the ban, and states, “When I asked why, the answer was that "Lebanon currently has very good relations with Turkey and we do not want the song to offend the Turkish ambassador.'" Realpolitik is alive and well.
Down in South Africa, politician Julius Malema has become an unlikely star of the house music scene. Malema is a highly controversial figure in South African politics, and on April 8 he lost his temper quite spectacularly at a press conference, demanding that a BBC journalist be thrown out for asking difficult questions. Malema then went into public meltdown, shouting “Bloody agent!”, “Bastard!”, and “This is a revolutionary house!” Several versions of Revolutionary House (featuring Julius Malema) are now club hits.
Finally, in Cameroon singer-songwriter Lapiro de Mbanga continues to serve a 3-year jail sentence for writing a protest song, Constitution Constipée (Constipated Constitution), which was taken on as an anthem by anti-government protesters. We’ve been here before on the Friday Ripple: you can read more about Lapiro’s imprisonment in the Friday Ripple archive, or on the website of anti-censorship NGO Freemuse.
Love...
May 1st isn’t just about protest, it’s also about love. So, we’ve got some great contemporary love songs from Nigeria, South Africa, and the United States. Bridging the gap between the political songs and the love songs, a double-bill from a man who does both: Nigeria’s top dancehall MC African China.
Talking of which, here’s a brief concert review: at the unlikely time of 1:30am on Monday morning, I was on the top floor of Prague’s Kotva department store with 150 Nigerians. Why? African China was in town for a last-minute concert! He played all the hits, from protest anthems like Mr President and Crisis to love songs like If You Love Somebody. China was playing to a crowd who knew all his songs, and he rocked the house in a way you wouldn’t think possible on a Monday morning. Sorry I didn’t mention this on last week’s show - the gig was only really promoted in Prague’s Nigerian community, and I only heard about it myself on Sunday morning. However, I’m told that there will be more of these shows coming up. Hopefully we’re going to see a whole new scene of top Nigerian artists playing in Prague; you’ll hear more about this when I do.
In the meantime, the Friday Ripple’s “Politics, love and everything in between” show is streaming now on the Radio Wave Jukebox under Friday Ripple > 30.4.2010. Here’s the playlist:
Noize MC - Mercedes S666 (Mystery Sound)
M.I.A. - Born Free (XL Recordings)
Eileen Khatchadourian - Zarti Vortyag (Incognito)
Unknown artist - Revolutionary House feat. Julius Malema (self-released)
DJ Sbu - I'm Rich (TS)
Lapiro di Mbanga - Constitution Constipée (Mondomix)
Brother Resistance - Vampire Season (Blue Flame)
Africa China feat Efe - Mr. President (Out Here)
African China feat Faze If you love somebody (Globedisk)
2face Idibia - African Queen (Kennis)
Rukus African Queen remix (StoneKutters)
Zoro & Tim Parr - Gal of I Dream (African Dope)
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Lesley Gore On The TAMI Show (Tomlab)
Dresden Dolls - Shores of California (Roadrunner)
Hayseed Dixie Wish I Was You (Cooking Vinyl)
Balkan Beat Box - War Again (Crammed)
Soulico - Exotic On The Speaker Ft. Rye Rye (JDub)
NASA feat. Tom Waits & Kool Keith - Spacious Thoughts (Anti-)
Ephniko - Escribo Lo Que Vivo (self-released)
Malcolm McLaren - Double Dutch (Charisma)
Zuluboy - Nomalanga Mntakwethu (Native Rhythms)
Baja & the Dry Eye Crew - Laba Laba (self-released)
Bajah & the Dry Eye Crew - My Own Song (self-released)
Onra - The One (feat. T3 from Slum Village) (All City Records)
Gil Scott-Heron - Me And The Devil (XL)
The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa (feat. Ezra Koenig) (Green Owl/Moshi Moshi)
Dubblestandart feat. Lee “Scratch” Perry & Gudrun - Chase The Devil (Collision: Cause of Chapter 3)
