Album Notes

This is the first in a series of compilations to come out of Ashkenaz, the legendary World and Roots music venue in Berkeley, California. All tracks were recorded Live at Ashkenaz on the dates listed!

1. Afrissippi (Senegal) 11/1/06 – Ayo Leele
2. Babá Ken & the Afro-Groove ConneXion (Nigeria) 5/26/07 – Shaba
3. Solo Cissokho (Senegal) 8/15/07 – Sayate Jong Tula
* featuring Ousseynou Kouyate, vocals
4. Thomas Mapfumo (Zimbabwe) 6/5/07 – Mwana Wemurombo
5. Nawal (Comoros) 7/27/07 – Salama
6. Moh Alileche (Algeria) 1/2/08 – Be Happy > The Groom
7. Mamadou & Vanessa (Mali) 11/16/07 – Haklima (8:24)
* featuring Stephen Kent, Didjeridu, and Amadou Camara, Djembe
8. Najite & Olokun Prophecy (Nigeria) 7/28/07 – Bolo-Oya

The pulsing heart of the San Francisco Bay Area’s World Music and Dance community, Ashkenaz has for over 35 years spread a universal message of Peace and Justice from its roots to its rafters, through the joy of music and song and the pounding of countless thousands of happy dancing feet. This compilation celebrates the expression of the African Diaspora as it has come to visit Ashkenaz in live performances in recent times. The vibrant collection of great African artists represented here – from Algeria/Kabylia, Senegal, Nigeria, Mali, Zimbabwe and the Comoros Islands - have all left their homelands to find new lives in the wider world, some in the face of intolerable oppression in the political and economic realities of their own countries. Forming new bands in their adopted homes in Europe and North America they have continued to communicate their love for and identity with their own traditions and bring their deep sense of self through their new global perspectives to the spinning world, as they live it. They have brought their Africa here into our hearts too, and we are ALL the better for it!

Stephen Kent - KPFA “Music of the World”