We all know that Prince is responsible for creating an outrageous music legacy for himself. By producing, arranging, and composing the majority of his own songs throughout his career (a right he secured and negotiated through the terms of a deal with Warner Brothers at age 17), Prince managed to release songs and albums that were truly reflective of the artist he desired to be. What few people realize is that besides ensuring creative control of his own recordings, “Prince also insisted on a clause in his major-label contract that would enable him to recruit and produce other artists for the label.” (http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/94060-the-minneapolis-sound/). Prince essentially became an artist, producer, and A&R representative all at once. As a result, elements of Prince’s act (his sound and his look) always seemed to be transferred to the artists with which he worked. Prince was responsible for sparking a sonic movement in the late 70′s – The Minneapolis Sound – and it was characterized by the successful mixture of new technologies with the more familiar elements of the funk, rock, New Wave, and pop genres.

What did Prince do that was so groundbreaking? Most notably, Prince took advantage of the new technology that was available and recorded each part of the song (and each instrument) himself for each track. Synths replaced horn sections, and the bass lines in his tunes were not as heavy as they traditionally are in funk songs.

Sheila E.

Prince pioneered this type of sped-up, manufactured rhythm (often made with the Roland TR-808 drum machine); these songs also typically had some type of rock-guitar solo during the bridge. That was “The Prince” type of song, and he wrote variations of this formula for artists such as Cherrelle, Vanity 6 (6 referring to the number of breasts there were in the group, i.e., two for each woman), The Time, Sheila E., Andre Cymone, and others (http://www.allmusic.com/explore/essay/the-minneapolis-sound-t2161).

One of the first groups Prince helped establish was The Time with his high school buddy Morris Day. The story goes that Prince made Morris the lead singer of The Time because Morris had previously written a song for Prince, “Partyup”, that appeared on Prince’s album Dirty Mind (http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/94060-the-minneapolis-sound/). Although Prince wrote most of the songs for The Time over the course of a few albums, it is important to note that Morris Day wrote “777-9311” – which ended up being one of the group’s first hit singles (and is also the song sampled on Tupac’s “What’s Ya Phone Number”).

And then there was Purple Rain, which propelled The Minneapolis Sound even further into popularity. Groups that were not even from Minneapolis, like Ready For The World and The Jets, started borrowing a little bit of Minnesota for their singles. After Prince fired Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis from The Time, the duo took the synth sound to a little gal named Janet – Ms. Jackson if you’re nasty – and the rest is history. Janet did quite a few songs in the Minneapolis style; you can even hear J.J. scream “Minneapolis!” during the bridge of her song “Escapade”.

Janet Jackson's Control, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis

Check out some of the hits made in the style of The Minneapolis Sound and see if you can hear the similarities between the tracks. You certainly cannot miss the physical similarities of the artists Prince worked with…. For he made them in his image.

Layout: Felicia

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Stellar Releases from Stranger Cole, The Skatalites, The Melodians, Byron Lee and The Dragonaires, and Lord Creator

Which kind of musical genre would most likely be categorized as “The music of Jamaica?” Most people would likely assume that reggae is the music best associated with this Caribbean island getaway. Sadly, some people even believe that Bob Marley created the entire reggae genre all by himself! In reality, there were many important musicians before Mr. Marley, and many types of popular music genres that existed in the late 1950’s before reggae was even a category. Many of these short-lived genres were, in fact, rich with cultural and historical importance. Let’s go on a Journey Into Sound to Jamaica and explore Ska, specifically, First Wave Ska! Read the full story

Journey Into Sound: Baile Funk

This week, we are going to Rio de Janeiro!

Baile Funk, also known as Funk Carioca (Rio Funk) or Favela Funk, is a type of music from Rio de Janeiro that is a mixture of Miami Bass and freestyle. The genre of music is fairly new and it started in Brazil in the poor areas called favelas. Why Miami Bass, you may ask? Brazil’s mash-up of Miami Bass was most likely due to travel routes – Miami is a popular plane stop for traveling Rio DJs, ( so most of the DJs picked up records in this area (www.eyesonbrazil.wordpress.com). Baile funk started developing in the 80’s and 90’s in Rio, and didn’t really filter elsewhere until around 2000.

Out of all of the Miami Bass and freestyle records of the time, the DJs in Rio often used DJ Battery Brain’s “808 Volt” or Hassan’s “Pump up the Party” as the basis of their beats (wikipedia). The early Baile Funk didn’t utilize the tamborzão (Brazilian hand drums) as much as the songs of today; the majority of the early Baile Funk had more of a freestyle feel to it. Also, modern Baile Funk has intricate horn parts and also features an accordian sound on occasion (wikipedia). The songs include rapping or singing, and in some cases, even shouting. Many of the songs feature a sped-up version of the victory song from the movie Rocky.

Before the U.S. hopped on the Baile Funk bandwagon, Europe got into the style of music first. The genre first took off when the Baile Funk song “Quem Que Caguetou (Follow Me Follow Me) was used in a sports car advertisement in Europe. Another song by Edu K, “Popozuda Rock n’ Roll”, was used in a soft drink commercial in Germany (wikipedia).

The U.S. first really got a taste of Brazilian Funk in 2005 with the introduction of the Diplo- produced artist M.I.A. and her popular song “Bucky Done Gun”. Diplo started making multiple Baile Funk mixtapes and even went to Brazil to shoot a documentary about his experience in Brazil – this project was called Favela on Blast.

This music is fun, fun, fun and quite easy to dance to. Check out the playlist to listen to some of the best songs, and also see below for a Diplo interview.

Image Layout: SB

Let’s take a sonic trip – to Nigeria!

I was first exposed to the Afrobeat genre at a NYC club during a set by DJ Rich Medina. The music was infused with life; I was surprised that music could be so energetic and also sound so chill at the same time. Leave it to the 70’s to parent a genre as solid as Afrobeat!

Afrobeat, a term coined by the genre’s founder, Fela Kuti, is an amalgamation of the coolest musical genres in existence. It has elements of funk, jazz, psychedelic rock, and reggae, and these influences are all weaved together on top of a foundation of polyrhythmic beats and chants traditionally found in the West African region. The sound of the music relies heavily a on “tinker-pan” African-style percussion (Wikipedia), and the bands are usually extremely large (15-20 performers), consisting of frenetic horn sections, drums, shekere, congas, claves, guitar, and bass. Fela Kuti’s band was innovative at the time for incorporating the sound of not just one, but two baritone saxophones into the musical collective. The two barry saxes in concert essentially provide a thick, almost tangible groove to the mood of the cuts. The vocal arrangements are often done in the “call-and-response” format, and are usually either in the Nigerian language called “Pidgin”, in the Yoruba language, or in English. Many of the newer, more modern afrobeat bands do the majority of their tunes in English.

The Knitting Factory Records is orchestrating the re-release of Kuti's entire catalog

So who is Fela Kuti, anyway, and how did he single-handedly manage to create an entire sub-genre of music all by himself? Before he was known as Fela Kuti or simply, Fela, he went by Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti. He was born in 1938 in Nigeria during very turbulent times. There was a general anti-colonial sentiment within the people of Nigeria, and Fela was able to channel the political tension in his environment and spin it into art. After a trip to the U.S. with his band Koola Lobitos in 1969, Fela became acquainted with the Black Panther movement, and the passion of the Black Panthers seemed to invigorate him. The group inspired Fela to start speaking out against the injustices of his homeland, and provoked him to embrace his traditional African culture with full force. Soon Fela Kuti started using his music to broadcast all of his views, including: his support for Socialism and Pan-Africanism, his disbelief of the effectiveness of Western medicine, his distaste for dictatorships, and his support for a Democratic African Republic. He even disapproved of some of his fellow Africans, claiming they were betraying traditional African culture. Kuti was so outspoken, he started to ruffle the government’s feathers, and they started regularly raiding Kalakuta Republic, AKA the commune he created. (the commune which contained a nightclub, recording studio – which he declared was a state independent from Nigeria) (Wikipedia).

Kuti recorded over 70 records in his lifetime: Above are a few examples!

Fela’s political views influenced the subject matter of his songs to the point of riot. His single “Zombie”, which was a commentary on the behaviors of Nigerian soldiers, provoked the Nigerian military to ambush the commune. As a result of this song, Fela was beaten nearly to death, his mother was fatally thrown out of a window. All of his recordings were burned in the studio. In response, Fela countered with songs “Coffin for Head of State” and “Unknown Soldier”, which referenced the attack. In another incident, corrupt soldiers arrested Fela after planting a joint on him. He foiled their plan and ate the joint they had planted on him. Police then attempted to wait for him to “produce the excrement” so they could charge him. Fela paid another inmate to perform a “switch-the-poo” and then presented the untainted poo to authorities, effectively escaping charges. This whole experience also helped Fela “produce” something else…. A hit Afrobeat album entitled Expensive Shit. Talk about a “backfired” plan!

Although Fela died in 1997 from Kaposi’s Sarcoma as a result of AIDS, his music and spirit have recently been revived with the release of the new musical Fela!, which opened on Broadway in November 2009. The production features Brooklyn Afrobeat band Antibalas in the orchestra pit. The show received rave reviews and is backed by Questlove, Jay-Z, Will Smith, etc. If you can’t get a ticket to that, definitely check out the first installment in the re-release of Kuti’s entire catalog, starting with the album Best of the Black President.

Fela experimented with jazz, funk, rock, Yoruba music, and reggae

FUN FELA FACTS

• Fela changed the name of his band numerous times: First it was called Koola Lobitos, then Nigeria ’70, then Africa ’70. It was briefly known asEgypt ’70 at some point as well.
• At one point, Fela was married to 27 women.
• In 1979, Fela “put himself forward for President in Nigeria”, but officials refused to let him be a candidate.
• Fela went to prison for bogus charges of “currency smuggling”; at that point when he went into jail he had 12 wives. When he got out, he divorced all of them, offering the explanation: “marriage brings jealousy and selfishness” (Wikipedia)
• Fela recorded over 70 albums during his career.
• He referred to his stage act as Underground Spiritual Game
• Fela didn’t really have the best strategy when it came to pleasing his fans – For one, practically all of his songs are 10 minutes or longer – when performed live, a song can realitically last up to 40 minutes. In addition, Fela refused to perform songs live after he had already recorded them in the studio.

Check out some Afrobeat by Fela Kuti, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Kokolo, and The Budos Band.

VIDS

Fela Kuti with Africa ’70 in 1971

Impressive! At Femi Kuti Concert (Fela’s son) at Central Park Summerstage in 2007

Various Bossa Nova album covers

Join Randi on a Funky Expedition to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!

Bossa Nova has a bad name these days. Somewhere along the line, North Americans confused authentic Bossa Nova with the more modern genres of BossaElectrica or TechnoBossa. People compare Bossa Nova to Muzak, or “elevator music”, because of the multi-string orchestral sections. Most people would probably think of Burt Bacharach’s “The Look of Love” if asked to identify a Bossa Nova song, and this is more of a mix of a pop song and a Bossa Nova song! Authentic Bossa Nova came out of the Rio de Janeiro area of Brazil between the years 1958-1963, and it is best categorized under the larger umbrella of jazz music. The major players in the Bossa Nova genre included João Gilberto, Astrud Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and poet/lyricist Vinicius de Moraes.

Astrud Gilberto

The words “Bossa Nova” can be loosely translated from Portuguese into “new trend”. The sound of Bossa Nova is most closely associated to Samba, which also originated in Brazil (Wikipedia). Bossa Nova and Samba differ because Samba usually has simpler harmonies and integrates more instruments of percussion to create the sound. The most common forms of percussion used in Bossa Nova tunes simply include a hi-hat (with which to play continuous eighth notes) and/or “rim clicks”, which is when the musician taps the rim of a drum in a clave pattern (Wikipedia).

Antonio Carlos Jobim

While the up tempo, lively beats of Samba came out of the favelas in Rio, the relaxed Bossa Nova emerged from the beach-side neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro (Wikipedia). In a sense, the sound of Bossa Nova mimics its breezy, swaying, place of origin: The beach. Bossa Nova music is a SUBTLE music. Songs in the Bossa Nova style have an emphasis on the second beat, and usually have challenging melody lines. The songs are on average under 2 minutes each, are devoid of a bridge, and have two verses (sometimes consisting of repeating elements). Another key aspect of Bossa Nova songs is that they are performed as near-whispers. Bossa Nova was unlike Samba in that it was meant to be performed very quietly (the vocals); without the use of ANY vibrato (Daniella Thompson).

Joao Gilberto

João Gilberto, also known as O Rei de Bossa (The King of Bossa), more or less single-handedly created the Bossa Nova genre. His vocal style evolved with time, and he started regularly practicing his guitar and writing songs. João was staying with his sister in the 1960s, and would have to practice in her bathroom for the privacy – As well as for the acoustics, so he could hear himself better. This is where João Gilberto’s vocal style took shape, and where Bossa Nova was born.

João discovered that by singing quietly, without vibrato, he was able to speed up or slow down his vocals in relation to the guitar, thereby creating his own tempo. To accomplish this, he learned to change the way he emitted sounds, using the nose more than the mouth.

-Daniella Thompson from “Plain João: The Man Who Invented Bossa Nova”. Brazzil Magazine.

Vinicius de Moraes

Because his style of singing was new, it was very strange to audiences. When João would practice, he would be taunted because of his low pitch and soft feminine tone. He would sometimes practice by the banks of the São Francisco River, and it was on these banks he wrote the first Bossa Nova song ever, called “Bim-Bom” (Daniella Thompson) Then he wrote “Chega de Saudade” with poet Vinicius de Moraes. It was the first song to truly launch Bossa Nova as a movement, and the first song to thrust João into the limelight. The first two artists to record João’s next song, “Chega de Saudade”, did not perform the song in the quiet, vibrato-free style which he preferred. Finally, he recorded this song himself the RIGHT WAY (with separate microphones for voice and guitar – the only way he could sing softly and still be clearly audible).

Stan Getz

In 1961, guitarist Charlie Byrd heard João while on a good-will jazz tour of Latin America. Byrd brought the sound back to the states, but no labels were biting. He introduced the sound to sax player Stan Getz, and Getz and Byrd recorded Jazz Samba in 1962. There were 4 more Getz Bossa Nova releases afterwards, the most successful of which was Getz/Gilberto with Antonio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto, Stan Getz, and singer Astrud Gilberto. The famous and beloved “The Girl From Ipanema” first appeared on this album in 1964. My dad (he’s a jazz expert) told me that although Astrud and João Gilberto were married during the recording of this album, Stan Getz was having an affair with Astrud Gilberto the whole time. Scandalous! If you have to choose one Bossa Nova album to purchase, I would recommend the Getz/Gilberto album, specifically the song “The Telephone Song” – it’s about calling someone through a landline and getting a BUSY signal. Remember those pesky things?

Sergio Mendes

Please check out our playlist and enjoy the calm of Bossa Nova. There are some classics mixed in with some Bossa Nova songs from the movie Woman on Top as well. The low-pitched, half-whispered tones of the vocals evoke a sultry, sexy atmosphere – It’s almost as if your suitor is in the room with you, strumming the guitar and singing sweet nothings in your ear. You can almost feel the warm breath of your lover on your neck as he croons to you.