Awesome Tapes From Africa

By his own account, Brian Shimkovitz got so “destroyed” by a track from Ghanaian group Wulomei when he was 19 years old that he subsequently developed an appetite for more. So the trained ethnomusicologist moved to Ghana on a Fulbright scholarship to explore the local hip-hop scene. From street markets he collected tapes with music from Zimbabwe, Senegal or Ethiopia. Back home in Brooklyn, he digitalised these musical trouvailles, which he has been sharing on his mp3-blog, “Awesome Tapes from Africa”, since April 2006. However, similar to other fine labels, such as “Soundways”, “Honest Jon’s” or the “Éthiopiques séries”, his aim is not only to exhibit exotically cultural artifacts, but to make African pop music accessible to everyone. One of the songs, for example, is the Nigerian high-life hit, “Sweet Mother”, by Prince Nico Mbarga from 1976, which has sold over 10 million copies in Africa. Just remind me again, where is the periphery and where the centre?