2024 Afromondo Showcase took place at SOBs January 11th with Nelida Karr, Nkumu Katalay, Ilam, Wesli, Sipho Kunene and Woza Masakela, and Dawn Drake performing sets.
Afromndo Showcase, January 11th 2024. Video credit: Matt Wittie
Nelida Karr and Alex Boicel on stage at SOBs
Produced by Alex Boicel the Afromondo event showcased a kaleidoscope of musical roots and perspectives. Alex is traveling back to Senegal but is planning a Juneteenth show in Marcus Garvey Park on his return and bringing back the Mandingo Festival this year. He told us “ I want to start suprising people with new and different voices from Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Africa.
Nkumu Katalay at the Afromondo Showcase, SOBs, January 11th
Opening the evening was music in the Congolese Rumba/Soukous tradition peppered with funk, and Afro Cuban jazz filtered through the contemporary vision of Nkumu Katalay. Multi-instrumentalist and bandleader, Katalay describes his music as Rumbian Funk, based in New York, he inevitably works with major touring acts, most recently Koffi Olomide, and thus has an encyclopedic repertoire to draw on. So each performance can go in any number of directions. On this night it was a fast-paced loose set of high-energy tunes including his most recent single “Maboko Pembe”.
Nelida Karr sat in the spotlight on the stage at SOBs softly playing her acoustic guitar, She had traveled from Equatorial Guinea to be at SOBs, arriving earlier in the day, now she waited. As the room gradually quieted, the intensity of the guitar playing increased, with lightning quick motions her hands moved over the frets of the guitar. With pinpoint precision chunky chords based on the rhythms found in her tiny West African country leapt from the guitar captivating the audience. She draws on local rhythms, from the Bubi ethnic group in particular, Over the guitar (and keyboard accompanying her) she reached soaring peaks of seemingly improvised skat-like vocal styling which captivated the audience throughout the set.
Wesli perfoming at Afromondo at SOBs, January 11th 2024
West Africa meets the Caribbean in Weslie’s music. From the Artibonite region of Haiti, voodoo and rara are his musical roots, he went to Africa to play guitar with Alpha Blondi and Tiken Jah Fakoly in Cote d’Ivoire and learned to play Manding music with Sekou Bambino in Guinea. His unique experiences provide the elements that make his music what it is today. An engaging layering of rhythms, Reggae, soukous, afrobeat, rara, voodoo, rap music music, dynamic vocal interaction between himself, Anie Alert with chorus from the musicians. Wesli says it is 60/40 Haitian African mix .
Ilam performing at the Afromondo Showcase at SOBs, January 11th 2024
Nelida Karr from Equatorial Guinea
Ilam perfoming “Mi Soussi” at the Afromondo Showcase
Senegalese musician Ilam performed solo at SOBs that was as captivating as when he is backed by his full band. He dug into his Fulani roots, which shone brightly on “Mi Soussi” a Sahel blues and “Laram” which he recorded with Baaba Maal for his 2020 album “Néné. Ilam relocated to Montreal in 2014, he has thrived there and his music reflects the city’s rich multi-cultural scene. His repertoire now includes songs in the Québécoise folk tradition as well as reggae rhythms.
Woza Masekela is led by drummer Sipho Kunene and includes musicians who worked with Hugh Masekela: Richard Cummings, keyboards; Morris Goldberg Alto Saxophone/Penny Whistle; James Delano Zollar, Trumpet/Flugelhorn; Ayodele Maakheru, guitar; Emanuel ‘Chulo’ Gatewood, Bass Guitar; Chief Baba Neil Clarke, Percussion. The band keeps Masekela’s memory alive in the music and in the spirit in which it was played.
Dawn Drake and ZapOte at the Afromondo showcase January 11th 2024 at SOBs