Counterculture to Modernity? Music from Africa in the 1960s

In this week's episode Jeremy and Tim expand their series on Afro-Psychedelia with a multi-show exploration of the music of Africa, beginning today in the 1960s. They discuss the contested and shifting conceptualisations of Africa through history, the emergence of Marcus Garvey and Pan-Africanism, Paul Gilroy's seminal book The Black Atlantic, and the production of the specific relationship between Black Americans and Africa as a form of identity.

Jeremy and Tim look at the national liberation movements of the mid-twentieth century, starting with Highlife music in Ghana, Congolese Catholic chorales, and two legends of South African music and activism - Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba - including their improbable meeting in a musical production of King Kong. Finally, Tim and Jeremy link up Babatunde Olatunji's seminal album Drums of Passion with psychedelic currents already explored in the show like the Grateful Dead, John Coltrane, Santana, and the dancefloor of the Loft.

Tim and Jeremy look at the national liberation movements of the mid-twentieth century, starting with Highlife music in Ghana, Congolese Catholic chorales, and two legends of South African music and activism - Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba - including their improbable meeting in a musical production of King Kong. Finally, Tim and Jeremy link up Babatunde Olatunji's seminal album Drums of Passion with psychedelic currents already explored in the show like the Grateful Dead, John Coltrane, Santana, and the dancefloor of the Loft.

Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert are authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.  Produced and edited by Matt Huxley.

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Tracklist:
Babatunde Olatunji - Gin-Go-Lo-Ba
Santana - Jingo
E T Mensah - Ghana Freedom
E. K.'s No. 1 Band - Ene Maa Abaso
Les Troubadours Du Roi Baudouin -- Sanctus (Missa Luba Song)
Monks of Keur Moussa - Le Seigneur Nous Offre Sa Bienveillance
Hugh Masakela - Grazing in the Grass
Miriam Makeba - Kwazulu (In the Land of the Zulus)
Letta Mbulu - Mahlalela

Books:
Paul Gilroy - The Black Atlantic
John Chernoff - African Rhythms, African Sensibility: Aesthetics and Social Action in African Musical Idioms
Ned Sublette - "The Kingsmen and the Cha-Cha-Cha". In Eric Weisbard (ed.), Listen Again: A Momentary History of Pop Music.
Timothy Taylor - Global Pop: World Music, World Market