Music / world music
Bristol’s month in World Music – April 2025
Well we’re in for an Afro-centric month, plus legendary reggae acts spanning over 40 years and the voice of Buena Vista Social Club’s greatest hit …
The Jam Jar does us proud throughout April, starting with Nigerian contemporary jazzers Etuk Ebong & The Etuk Philosophy (Thur 3)who blew the roof off the venue when they came last year. Then there’s smooth-voiced Cameroonian vocalist Blick Bassy (Wed 9) whose music gives a decidedly 21st century production and style to traditional song forms. But it’s a real coup that the club will be offering Somaliland vocalist Sahra Halgan (Wed 16), a rare treat for us all and especially the Somali community. Sahra fled the country’s conflicts but, after settled in Paris and establishing herself as a musician there, returned to Somaliland to support music and poetry there.
Another fruit of the ebullient Parisian African music scene, lively vocal duo DjeuDjoah & Lieutenant Nicholson (Jam Jar, Fri 25) have melted down pan-African grooves with French chanson styles and even post-disco sounds a la Daft Punk. It’s a compelling mix with a big live reputation. Similar cross-cultural fusion comes from GREAT (Unit 8 Studio, Fri 4) headlining an Afro Revolution Live! night, while Ghanaian livewire K.O.G. (pictured at top of page with Tom Excell) should reliably galvanise Strange Brew (Fri 18). The compelling North African grooves of Gnawa Blues All Stars return to Canteen (Sat 19) while the intriguingly re-named Beyond Baka bring their super-danceable fusion of Cameroonian and Celtic tradition to The Bell (Wed 16).
is needed now More than ever
Amazingly it’s over 40 years since the inception of African Head Charge, London-based pioneers of Afro-fusion famed for their floor-shaking sound courtesy of Adrian Sherwood’s On-U production. They come to Marble Factory (Sat 12) with equally venerable British dub warriors Zion Train. And Leeds dub legends Iration Steppas kick off an exhausting day & night Accidental Meetings clubnight at Strange Brew (Sat 5 – 12pm – 6am!). Mr Wolf’s have a bit of a reggae thing going this month, too, starting with the 11-strong Dub Catalyst (Sat 5) followed by reggae-ska outfit Rebelation (Sat 19) and the light-hearted beat plunderers Mustard Allegro (Sun 20).
For a taste of contemporary reggae sounds there’s a fine treat at Trinity when Jamaican vocalist Lila Iké appears there (Tue 8) on a short UK tour, while Bristol’s own roots reggae star Da Fuchaman brings his Fire Blaze Band to The Attic (Sat 19) and Mizizi’s classic sound will be at Canteen (Fri 18).
The great Buena Vista Social Club project re-launched a whole generation of Cuban musicians into the world back in the 90s and introduced many to the delights of the son style through their magical tune Chan Chan. St George’s will give you the chance to hear the song from original vocalist and guitarist Eliades Ochoa (Tue 8), as well as music from the nine albums he went on to record. And dancing fans of that slinky cumbia beat should catch Zubieta & The Suaves at either Tobacco Factory (Sun 20) or Canteen (Wed 23).
And it’s not just about Africa at Jam Jar – the redoubtable Antwerp Gypsy Ska Orkestra will be there (Fri 4) fusing sizzling Balkan instrumentation to ska’s upbeat two-step, with support from more conventional Gypsy folk band Balamuc. Me and My Friends combine acoustic folk with Afro-Caribbean beats (Jam Jar, Fri 11) and the complete global meltdown of ‘(un)traditional’ folkies The Bonfire Radicals will bring an exuberant night to the Cotham Club (Fri 25). There’s a rather different mash-up approach going on with Turkish-psych band Kazdoura (Jam Jar, Thur 10) and the Exchange has similarly original Tokyo-psych combo Kuunatic (Mon 21).
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