Awesome Tapes From Africa is a record label and website operated by Brian Shimkovitz, based in Los Angeles, California. The site was founded in 2006 in Brooklyn, New York.
History
The site was created as a way for Shimkovitz to share music he had come across while on a
Fulbright scholarship in
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
. He was interested in the variety of genres and artists he found, distributed largely on cassette tapes at markets, but that he had not come across outside West Africa. In 2011, Shimkovitz transitioned the site from just a blog with posted recordings of collected tapes posted without the artists' permission to a commercial record label. The goal of the company is to seed and expand an audience for the artists presented as well as provide opportunities to sell albums and tour. Artists are paid every six months and receive 50% of the profits from an album. Tapes presented on Awesome Tapes come from a variety of sources: gathered in Ghanaian street markets, purchased in stores in the US, or sent by others over the internet. In addition to the website, Shimkovitz DJ's concerts, clubs and at festivals as Awesome Tapes From Africa, as well as hosts a show on
Dublab
dublab is a non-profit music public broadcasting internet radio station based in Los Angeles. They have also been involved with art exhibition, film projects, event production, and record releases. These Shows are archived and downloadable on the ...
.
Most Awesome Tapes From Africa releases are official rereleases of out-of-print cassettes from African musicians and bands. SK Kakraba's ''
Songs of Paapieye'' is the first album to consist of a new release. Although music is distributed in Africa via MP3 on mobile phones, Shimkovitz says the widest variety of music in West Africa is still available on cassette tape. In the journal
Public Culture
''Public Culture'' is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary academic journal of cultural studies, published three times a year—in January, May, and September—by Duke University Press. It is sponsored by the Department of Media, Culture, and Commu ...
, Awesome Tapes From Africa, along with record labels
Sublime Frequencies and Parallel World, is discussed as being emblematic of "World Music 2.0" for combining the "open source ethics of online networks with long-standing countercultural networks of circulation" within cassette culture and music distribution in developing nations.
Artists
*
Hailu Mergia
Hailu Mergia () is an Ethiopian keyboardist, now based in Washington D.C., United States. He is best known for his role in the Walias Band in the 1970s, one of the most significant groups in Ethiopia’s "golden age" of music.
Biography
Hail ...
*
Walias Band
Walias Band (sometimes spelled Wallias Band; am, ዋሊያስ ባንድ) were an Ethiopian jazz and funk band active from the early 1970s until the early 1990s. Formed by members of the Venus Band, Walias backed up many prominent singers with a h ...
*
Dur-Dur Band
Dur-Dur Band was a musical group from Mogadishu, Somalia. The band was formed in the 1980s and was one of the most well-known acts on the Mogadishu disco scene at the time. The band later performed and recorded based in neighbouring Ethiopia. The ...
*Bola
*Penny Penny
*Aby Ngana Diop
*
Ata Kak
*SK Kakraba
Releases
*ATFA001 -
Nahawa Doumbia
Nahawa Doumbia (born ca. 1961) is a singer from Mali's Wassoulou region.
Biography and career
Doumbia, in a career that lasted for over four decades, was an important musician in the development and definition of Wassoulou music, the popular musi ...
: ''La Grande Cantatrice Malienne, Vol. 3'', 2011
*ATFA002 - Bola: ''Volume 7'', 2012
*ATFA003 - Bola: Remixes
*ATFA004 - Dur-Dur Band: ''Volume 5'', 2013
*ATFA005 - Dur-Dur Band: ''Remixes'', 2013
*ATFA006 -
Hailu Mergia
Hailu Mergia () is an Ethiopian keyboardist, now based in Washington D.C., United States. He is best known for his role in the Walias Band in the 1970s, one of the most significant groups in Ethiopia’s "golden age" of music.
Biography
Hail ...
: ''
Hailu Mergia & His Classical Instrument: Shemonmuanaye'', 2013
*ATFA007 -
Hailu Mergia
Hailu Mergia () is an Ethiopian keyboardist, now based in Washington D.C., United States. He is best known for his role in the Walias Band in the 1970s, one of the most significant groups in Ethiopia’s "golden age" of music.
Biography
Hail ...
: ''Remixes'', 2013
*ATFA008 - Penny Penny: ''
Shaka Bundu'', 2013
*ATFA009 - Penny Penny: ''Remixes'', 2014
*ATFA010 - Aby Ngana Diop: ''Liital'', 2014
*ATFA011 - Aby Ngana Diop: ''Remxes'', 2014
*ATFA012 - Hailu Mergia and the Walias: ''Tche Belew'', 2014
*ATFA013 - Hailu Mergia and the Walias: ''Musicawi Silt'' b/w ''Tche Belew'' (single), 2015
*ATFA014 - Ata Kak: ''Obaa Sima'' (album), 2015
*ATFA015 - Ata Kak: ''Obaa Sima'' (single), 2015
*ATFA016 - Ata Kak: ''Daa Nyinaa'', 2015
*ATFA018 - SK Kakraba: ''
Songs of Paapieye'', 2015
*ATFA019 - DJ Katapila: ''Trotro'', 2016
*ATFA020 - Awalom Gebremariam: ''Desdes'', 2016
*ATFA021 - Hailu Mergia & Dahlak Band: ''Wede Harer Guzo'', 2016
*ATFA022 - DJ Katapila: ''Trotro'' (12"), 2016
*ATFA023 - DJ Katapila: ''Aroo'' (EP), 2018
*ATFA024 - Awa Poulo: ''Poulo Warali'', 2017
*ATFA025 - Umoja: ''707'', 2017
*ATFA026 - "Om" Alec Khaoli: ''Say You Love Me'', 2017
*ATFA027 - Professor Rhythm: ''Bafana Bafana'', 2017
*ATFA028 - Hailu Mergia: ''
Lala Belu
''Lala Belu'' is the second studio album by Ethiopian singer-songwriter Hailu Mergia. It was released on 23 February 2018 under Awesome Tapes From Africa.
Release
On 22 November 2017, Mergia announced his first album in 15 years, along with the s ...
'', 2018
*ATFA028.5 - Hailu Mergia: ''Yegojam Mamesh'' (7"), 2018
*ATFA031 - Asnakech Worku: ''Asnakech'', 2018
*ATFA032 - Professor Rhythm: ''Professor 3'', 2018
*ATFA033 - Jess Sah Bi and Peter One: ''Our Garden Needs Its Flowers'', 2018
*ATFA034 - Sourakata Koite: ''En Hollande'', 2019
*ATFA035 - Nahawa Doumbia: ''La Grande Cantatrice Malienne Vol 1'', 2019
*ATFA036 -
Antoinette Konan - "Antoinette Konan", 2019
*ATFA037 - Hailu Mergia - "Yene Mircha", 2020
*ATFA038 - Ephat Mujuru & The Spirit Of The People - "Mbavaira", 2021
*ATFA039 - Nahawa Doumbia - "Kanawa", 2021
*ATFA040 - Teno Afrika - "Amapiano Selections", 2021
*ATFA041 - Hailu Mergia with The Walias Band - "Tezeta", 2021
*ATFA042 - DJ Black Low - "Uwami", 2021
*ATFA043 - Native Soul - "Teenage Dreams", 2021
References
Further reading
*
"Awesome Tapes From Africa Head to Jakarta" ''Jakarta Globe''.
"The Sudans on cassette: Awesome Tapes from Africa's collection" ''The Guardian''.
External links
{{Authority control
American independent record labels
Record labels established in 2006
2006 establishments in New York City