The King of Calypso and Mama Africa

 

Yesterday I bought this 1965 Grammy award winning album by Harry Belafonte and Miriam Makeba in a charity shop. I greatly admire the American/Jamaican "King of Calypso" Harry Belafonte, not only for being a great singer, but also for his relentless fight for human right issues. And same goes for the late South African "Mama Africa" Miriam Makeba (who's song Pata Pata you'll surely know). On this album they joined forces to call attention to life under apartheid in South Africa. Song titles include Beware, Verwoerd! ("A warning to the Prime Minister of South Africa that the black man is on the move" it reads on the back sleeve), Give Us Our  Land and Hurry, Mama, Hurry ("Hurry, mama, and hide - the police are on their way"). There are a few African traditionals on there as well, sung in Xhosa, Zulu and Swahili. It is possibly the most beautiful protest album ever made. My favorite track by far is this duet, absolutely fantastic.

Harry Belafonte and Myriam Makeba - Train Song (Mbombela). Get it here.

The thing with lists

I regret not having made a "Best of 2011" list. I'm a pretty obsessive list maker: shopping lists, to do lists, checklists, playlists... And I especially love end-of-the-year lists. What better way to reflect on the past year than to put it in lists? It raises all sorts of issues. Like what the hell have I been up to these last 12 months? With whom? Have my tastes shifted? What is it exactly I enjoy in this song or movie or book? Oh remember that gig?! Wait a minute, was that this year, or last year? What were my highlights and what were my lows? Etc. 

I know exactly the reason for the absence of my musical Best-of list. I just find it too difficult to put one song above the other, to put them in a hierarchy. I guess for me thinking about the list is more important that the actual countdown. But I do want to force upon you the songs from 2011 that I enjoyed the most (even though it's way too late - we're almost two weeks into the new year (yikes!)), so I'm just going to do it by presenting you a few in quiet random categories.

In the category Best Retro Indie Pop...

Cults - Bumper. Download it here.

Love the girl group sound. With a guy. 

In the category Best Fuzzy Guitar...

Male Bonding - Bones. Download it here.

Runner ups: The Drums, Wavves, WU LYF and Wild Flag (though not as fuzzy).

In the category Best Electronic...

Little Dragon - Ritual Union. Download it here.

This song was a revelation to me it was.

In the category Best Foreign Language...

Chucha Santamaria Y Usted - Fiebre Tropical. Download it here.

From Oakland of all places..

In the category Best British Alternative Rapper...

Ghostpoet - Cash and Carry Me Home. Download it here.

Overall Dels impressed me more with his album GOB, but then again his best singles were released in 2010. The fact that Ghostpoet's show was one of my most enjoyable gigs of the year puts him in favor here.

In the category Most Overlooked Artist...

Theophilus London - Why Even Try (feat. Sara Quin) (from Tegan and Sara) (RAC Remix). Download it here.

I've been madly in love with this guy from Brooklyn ever since his early mix tapes, that were full of The Smiths references. Every single tune he's released since then has been absolute quality. 

In the category Best Cover...

Spoek Mathambo - Control (Joy Division).

This was a tough one. I listend to Tennis' cover of Brenda Lee's Is It True? an awful lot. But it's the video for Control that has made me tip over to the South African.