Just came back from another great weekend in London. I had the pleasure of staying with a friend in Brixton, South London for a few days and I had a superb time there. We just wondered around a lot, going to the market and the arcades, marveling at all the goods and men selling dancehall cds from tiny alcoves, passing steel drum buskers and stopping for food frequently. We had some delicious oysters (served with raw onions, Tabasco and lemon) at a little restaurant in the (rapidly gentrifying) Brixton Village arcade. An elderly lady served me one of the best roti breads I've ever tasted from a blue caravan. She rolled it up with a filling of pumpkin and (sweet?) potato and plenty of chilli. It was so good I wanted to lock her in her caravan, drag it back home and park it in my back garden.
I was stupid enough to leave my camera at home, so I had to rely on my phone to capture it all. Unfortunately this resulted in just a couple of crappy snapshots...
The whole reason of going down to London was to see Amadou & Mariam at Sheperd's Bush Empire. Which was absolutely FANTASTIC!! The couple - according to Wikipedia also known as "the blind couple from Mali" - has been making music together for over 30 years. Working with Manu Chao on their 2004 album Dimance a Bamako gave their career a real boost and propelled husband and wife into stardom. Their latest album Folila proves how popular they now are with the (Western) (indie) musicians as well, with contributions of Santigold, Theophilus London, the guy from the Scissor Sisters, and TV on the Radio, to name a few. Check out the latter on the video for their single Wily Kataso:
Renowned DJs have often remixed songs by Amadou & Mariam and in 2010 an entire remix album was (digitally) released. This is remix by Uproot Andy is one of my favorites and used to be a tried and true staple in my DJ sets.
Amadou & Mariam - Salabi (Uproot Andy Remix). Download it here.
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