Global A Go-Go presents:
Sahra Halgan’s back story is so compelling that it can be a distraction from her brilliant music. She was a nurse on the front lines of Somalia’s civil war when her own country’s air force dropped bombs on her home town of Hargeisa in Somaliland, driving her and thousands of others into exile.
Then she was a faceless refugee in France for 24 years, working as a cleaner and a cafeteria worker, raising five children, and playing music as a side hustle. In Lyon, Halgan connected with a couple of open-eared local musicians and this trio (now a quartet) has honed a remarkably organic sound that you could call East African post-rock: They’re muscular, angular and soulful, recognizably Somalian yet unlike anything else from there or anywhere else.
Halgan’s new album Hiddo Dhawr (Keep The Culture) is named for the music venue she opened in Hargeisa in 2013. You’ll hear three songs from the album, my favorite album so far in 2024, this week on Global A Go-Go.
Also this week (Sunday April 7, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site): South African a cappella, Gabonese singing in praise of maximum leader Omar Bongo, a ticket giveaway to see the twangy soul-cumbia band LA LOM at Richmond Music Hall on Tuesday night, Oluko Imo’s Trini Afrobeat and new dancehall South Sudanese style from Dynamq.
Podcast: radio4all.net/program/117651
All the podcasts: radio4all.net/series/Global%20A%20Go-Go
Note: The recording of this show had a tech glitch so I’ve reconstructed the failed section, with the exception of a mic break between Mau Gatiyo and Amral’s Trinidad Cavaliers, which apparently is gone for good
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros, “Global a Go-Go”
from Global A Go-Go
BMG Rights Management (US) LLC - 2001
England UK
Miriam Makeba, “Nongqongqo (To Those We Love)”
from An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba
RCA Records Label - 1965
South Africa
Diepkloof United Voice, “My Brother”
from Harmonizing Soweto: Golden City Gospel & Kasi Soul from the new South Africa
Ostinato Records LLC - 2023
South Africa
Groupe D'Animation Kakoula Djele De Bongoville, “Yaya Omar Bongo”
from Merci Yaya Bongo - Les Groupes d’Animation Féminins du Gabon 1982 - 1989
Secousse - 2024
Gabon, 1986
Hamed Gazonga & International Challal, “Les jaloux saboteurs”
from Les jaloux saboteurs
King Music - 2017
Chad-Cote D'Ivoire, 1983
Ry Cooder & Manuel Galban, “Drume Negrita”
from Mambo Sinuendo
Nonesuch/Warner Records - 2003
USA-Cuba
Grupo Kual?, “Kumbia En La Soledad (feat Aurelio Pedraza Y Su Acordeón Sabanero)”
from Konexiones
Discos Rolas - 2022
México
Mau Gatiyo & Los años maravillosos, “Poder Militar”
from Baño Unisex
Sello In-Correcto - 2023
Colombia
Amral's Trinidad Cavaliers Steel Orchestra, “90% Of Me Is You”
from Heat
Calypan - 1975
Trinidad & Tobago
Oluko Imo, “One Afrika”
from Glory Of Om
Soundway Records Ltd - 2024
Trinidad & Tobago-Nigeria-USA, 1995
Comrade Fatso & Chabvondoka, “Korokoza (feat. Outspoken & Lassana Diabaté)”
from Korokoza - Single
Nomadic Wax - 2011
Zimbabwe
Bill Lupoletti Global A Go-Go April 7th, 2024
Posted In: Music Shows