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Cody B
Cody B
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The Roots Of Egyptian Afro-Latin Jazz and More

Posted about 1 year ago
  • Artist:
    Salah Ragab & The Cairo Jazz Band
  • Track:
    Latino In Cairo
The connection between the music of Latin America and Africa runs deep and it is often thought that the connection runs one way: From Africa to the New World. Having just written a paper on pre-colonial African music one thing is for sure..Music started in Africa. It started there because people started there, and whether you believe that music is a genetic human trait (there is an academic debate here) or the icing on the cake of language development, there is little doubt, that music came along soon after people (as we know it) did. Bone flutes and drums have been found that are over 50,000 years old. Now that is Old School,before Kool Herc,even..Anyway music that evoloved in Africa and Latin America has similarities (community and rhythm)that may very well have developed independently. Perhaps that's why after recorded music came to be the culture swapping began in earnest,both ways.Present here are two examples of Latin sounds coming "back" to Africa. A recently re-issued 7" from Salah Ragab & The Cairo Jazz Band here and something called El Fuego by the mighty Orchestra Baobab from Senegal in comments.
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Comments (22)

  1. Cody B
    Cody B says El Fuego
    Permalink posted 03/04/2008
  2. ivylander
    ivylander says Wow, Cody, that Salah Ragab is top-shelf. And Baobob? Shoot.... One of my good friends is from Senegal, and by coincidence was visiting last weekend. The soundtrack was largely Orquesta Aragon and Orquesta Broadway. These are the groups whose records formed the foundation of the Dakar street parties of his youth. Both bands are still around - in several cases, with the sons of the original members - and have barely lost a step. However, this post is not wholly an exercise in nostalgia; a couple of years ago, the estimable Stern's label came out with a fine compilation called "African Salsa." This tune by Pape Fall, "Dakar - Bamako," is one of the better cuts. Even the cheesy synths are part of the spell....
    Permalink posted 03/04/2008
  3. Cody B
    Cody B says Sweet Ivy...I've read in some places that indigenous Cuban music (not African) is the root of our jazz/blues, but all that doesn't matter. It is all good.
    Permalink posted 03/04/2008
  4. Lady Miss Ian
    Lady Miss Ian says Hey Cody B! This is great groovy gravy. Art Yard is a fantastic label. I've been looking for another Salah Ragab disc called "Ramadan in Space" that came out last year. I think I'm just going to have to order it. You gotta give up for people who preserve this stuff. Writing a paper, eh? Are you being are ed-ju-ma-cay-shun-al or something? There is a gigantic book on the history of Cuban music that came out a few years ago that goes into those African-Latin connections. Can't think of the name of the book right now, but you probably know it anyway.
    Permalink posted 03/04/2008
  5. Cody B
    Cody B says I actually saw the full Salah Ragab album on itunes of all places,LMI. I did the paper for a final project for my World history class, as I just finished my first term of going back to college after 20 years. I will say this, ethnomusicology can be quite dry at times. How 'tings with you?
    Permalink posted 03/04/2008
  6. extraordinarypoems
    extraordinarypoems says Nice.
    Permalink posted 03/05/2008
  7. poebegone
    poebegone says those were some tasty tunes. i loved both tracks in separate ways. and you killed me with your longish opening line. Cody, i don't think i knew you're back in school. what are you studying? that is so cool. plus i greatly appreciate the "African lessons". (:
    Permalink posted 03/06/2008
  8. Cody B
    Cody B says Ok, so I'm going back to college to finish up my BA and my English major..I am doing most of my stuff on-Iine w/Empire State College (A division of the New York State Univ. System). I have a few science,math and history courses to fill requirements in the beginning..but then I'm going full bore into Writing/Journalism/Art classes. 20 years removed from college..I was kicked out..doing statistics was not fun..but I'm done!!
    Permalink posted 03/06/2008
  9. poebegone
    poebegone says that is so rad, Cody. "online schooling" sounds like an idea. i was too young to care about what i studied then, and now i know that i want to study Astrophysics or some area of Space Science. i've considered sitting-in tho following a specific curriculum, but sticking to that is going to take the amount of discipline i know i don't have. my source of hesitation is that i feel like i've forgotten everything i learned in school, but reading about your back-to-school adventures has inspired me a whole lot.
    Permalink posted 03/06/2008
  10. ivylander
    ivylander says Poe, if you need further inspiration, I would point you to the example of my mom, who resumed college in her mid-40s. She'd dropped out to get married, as American women often did back then, and when my father died (leaving not much after all his hospital bills were paid) she found her employment opportunities somewhat circumscribed without a degree. So she sucked it up, we lived off Social Security for four years, and she and I were going to the same college at the same time, both as full-time students. Hell for my social life, but the friendly competition for the best grades was probably good for both of us. She graduated a half-year ahead of me and threw one of the greatest parties I've ever attended....
    Permalink posted 03/06/2008
  11. Cody B
    Cody B says That's so cool Ivy...Yes..when I get my diploma there will be a party.
    Permalink posted 03/06/2008
  12. poebegone
    poebegone says Ivy, i was so moved by your story. that you and your mom were full-time schoolmates, despite the inconveniences it must've posed to either party, tells me you both had your head straight and looked far ahead. thanks for further inspiration. Cody, a graduation party is most definitely in order. we moggers would love to be privy to the playlist when the time comes.
    Permalink posted 03/06/2008
  13. ivylander
    ivylander says Nothing so noble about me - I was just trying to get an education and stay out of that mess in Vietnam. My mom is the one who deserves respect.
    Permalink posted 03/06/2008
  14. poebegone
    poebegone says the utmost respect, no doubt. her decision to abdicate short-term security via a full-time job for 4 years in favor of the long-term via a college education was extremely wise, amazing, and brave.
    Permalink posted 03/06/2008
  15. ivylander
    ivylander says Totally agreed.
    Permalink posted 03/07/2008
  16. Spike
    Spike says "Latino in Cairo" is the first Latin cut I've come across with that fast percussive trebly sound like drumsticks hitting each other. It really adds something special. ivylander, "Dakar Bamako" is one of the better cuts---period!
    Permalink posted 03/07/2008
  17. Spike
    Spike says ivylander, sorry to hear about your dad, but glad to hear about your mom. Cody, I think I can guess the name of the book about Cuban music that Lady Miss Ian mentioned, Cuba and Its Music From the First Drums to the Mambo by Ned Sublette, right? I'm part of the way through it, but life gets in the way.
    Permalink posted 03/07/2008
  18. Hermes
    Hermes says What a nice read. Anyhow I hardly recognize the African influence in "El Fuego". And that sounds like a pretty interesting course, Cody. It's funny to hear that you started studying again as I just finished my studies. But I plan to go on stuying part-time philosophy, if my job should allow that. I wished my parents would visit some courses now that they are in retired, instead of watching that horrible tv bullshit.
    Permalink posted 03/09/2008
  19. Cody B
    Cody B says Spike..I think that is the very book..Gotta pick that up. Thanks for that Hermes..Orchestra Baobab, as one of their album titles suggests are, "Specialists In All Styles." Some of their other material sounds quite different..more "African". I guess in the 40's Rhumba (rumba) became huge in Africa..And many Congolese (Zaïrean) bands were all over it, Those early sides are collected here: and more recently,here and here:
    Permalink posted 03/09/2008
  20. Cody B
    Cody B says One thing I'd like to add, is that the music trading going on here sounds so unforced, the fusions, so appropriate...just more evidence to me about how music is integrated into life so seamlessly in other cultures...How music runs so deep. One of the books that I read for my paper had a western writer asking an African drummer, "So what is music?" The drummer looked at him like he was crazy, laughed, and said, "What Man..You don't know." In places where music really is part and parcel of life, Music is something as constant as walking and breathing. And you don't have to be an ethno-musicologist to hear that. All you need is open ears...You Moggers definitely have that goin' on..Cheers to you.
    Permalink posted 03/09/2008
  21. loganlenz
    loganlenz says That is some insane percussion...
    Permalink posted 03/12/2008
  22. Mike the Knife
    Mike the Knife says Damn, Cody! Still more aural gold from your cave of sound! As ever, impressed by the track I'm hearing and ain't never heard before. (And remember, my omni-ears are set to "perpetual input." Goes to show what a big wide world of music is out there.)
    Permalink posted 03/12/2008

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