 | | Staff Benda Bilili is a group of Congolese street musicians who play a fusion of rumba, reggae, and vintage R&B. |
 | | Konono No. 1 combine the spirit of traditional African music with the junk instrument concept and the progressive electronic aspect of modern times. |
 | | With his dynamic vocals and flamboyant personality, Papa Wemba (born Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba) played an essential role in the evolution of Central African music. |
 | | "The Good, the Bad & the Queen" refers to all the subjects that live under the London sun, so it's a fitting if awkward moniker for a project -- not a band, as its leader has strenuously asserted -- designed by Blur frontman Damon Albarn as a way to return to writing about England, specifically London, the subject that brought him to fame in the mid-'90s as one of the leading lights of Brit-pop. |
 | | It's not for nothing that the members of Kékélé named themselves after a fibrous vine from their native Congo River basin. |
 | | Mbilia Bel's career took off in the mid-'80s when she sang alongside Tabu Ley on a number of recordings and tours, also recording solo albums at the same time. |
 | | According to the liner notes of the multi-artist compilation African Ambience: The Ultimate African Dance Party, released in 2000, Loketo was "a sort of Zairian supergroup of 'new generation' musicians known for a super-tight, high-energy, show with spectacular dancing and flawless vocals". |
 | | Kasai Allstars, a Congolese collective comprised of musicians from five different bands, were showcased on the third album in the Congotronics series released by the label Crammed Discs. |
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 | | Not a band or group as much as a further side project for Blur and Gorillaz vocalist/songwriter Damon Albarn, Monkey: Journey to the West was a stage adaptation of a 16th century Chinese novel entitled Journey to the West. |
 | | As the frontman for Blur and Gorillaz, Damon Albarn helped shape the British mainstream during the '90s and beyond, first establishing himself as a Brit-pop icon before expanding into hip-hop, opera, electronica, and world music. |
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 | | Tabu Ley Rochereau (born Tabu Ley) is one of Africa's most influential vocalists and one of its most prolific songwriters. |
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 | | There's no doubt that Franco was, in every sense of the word, a big man in African music. Sometimes weighing in at 300 pounds, he also earned his nickname as "The Sorcerer of the Guitar," making it sing like no one before, with effortless, fluid lines. |
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 | | A spin-off from Zaiko Langa Langa. One of the most energetic of the "new-wave" soukous bands. ~ J... |
 | | Samba Mapangala left Zaire and settled in Kenya in the late '70s. He first led a soukous band of Zairian musicians called Les Kinois (Kinshasa Boys). |
 | | ZLL is one of the key groups of the Congolese New Wave: a nebulous coalition of up to 20 musicians who have thoroughly updated soukous by infusing it with an almost electric energy. |
 | | b. July 1949, Kasseya, Shaba Province, Zaire. A leading light of the mid-80s, Paris-based soukous scene, guitarist and songwriter Kasseya began his career in the Zairean capital, Kinshasa, in the early 70s, as a session musician for vocalists like Sam Mangwana and M’Pongo Love. |
 | | Session singer who became one of the first Paris-based soukous stars, setting the standard with several '80s LPs. |
 | | Bozi Boziana is a most successful young guitarist, singer, and bandleader in the Democratic Republic of Congo. |
 | | Initially, Blur were one of the multitude of British bands that appeared in the wake of the Stone Roses, mining the same swirling, pseudo-psychedelic guitar pop, only with louder guitars. |
 | | He's the guitarist of one of London's most delightful Brit-pop bands, and Graham Coxon is the quiet one. |
 | | In addition to his prodigious careers as a director, writer, producer, sound designer, and carpenter (to name a few), David Lynch also stretched his artistic reach to music. |
 | | Dan "The Automator" Nakamura is a San Francisco-based hip-hop producer whose work with "Kool" Keith Thornton on the latter's Dr. |
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 | | Conceived as the first "virtual hip-hop group," Gorillaz blended the musical talents of Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, Blur's Damon Albarn, Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori, and Tom Tom Club's Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz with the arresting visuals of Jamie Hewlett, best known as the creator of the cult comic Tank Girl. |
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 | | Born in Brooklyn as Omar Jarel Gilyard, future producer/MC Jneiro Jarel spent the early part of his childhood moving around the country due to his mother's job in the U. |
 | | A cross-continental collaboration, Extra Golden began with Ian Eagleson's documentation of the Benga music of Kenya and Nairobi for his doctoral thesis. |
 | | Along with 2562, Martyn is the most recognizable face of the Dutch dubstep scene. He first made an impression in 2005 with a couple of singles that garnered him immediate underground applause for the way he seemingly managed to integrate both techno and jungle/drum-n-bass techniques into the then fledgling sounds of dubstep. |
 | | Dreadlocked San Diego-bred yoga instructor Sumach Ecks (who also travels under the names Sumach Valentine and Randy Johnson) turned from rapping with the Masters of the Universe crew and DJing with Killowattz to focus on his solo endeavors under the name Gonjasufi. |
 | | A dubstep producer specializing in dark, atmospheric sounds, Brighton's Ital Tek (born Alan Myson) first appeared in 2006 on the download label Net Lab. |
 | | Group Inerane hail from Agadez, Niger. They are a byproduct of the Tuareg rebellion of the 1990s. The Tuareg rebellion is cyclical and historic, reaching back to the beginning of the 20th century and continuing into the 21st. |
 | | Like Harmonic 33 and Reload, Harmonic 313 is a moniker of Australian electronic producer Mark Pritchard. |
 | | A collaboration between producer Kevin Martin (God, Techno Animal, the Bug) and distinctive vocalists Roger Robinson and Kiki Hitomi, King Midas Sound surfaced in 2007 with a track on the Soul Jazz compilation Box of Dub. |
 | | Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs is the solo project of Orlando Higginbottom, an Oxford-bred twentysomething whose hummable dance music combines electro-pop, Euro-house, and 2-step beats. |
 | | Bewitching, atmospheric melodies and glitchy electronic beats make up the music of electronic artist Emika. |
 | | Associated with Warp Records, among other labels, Rustie is an acclaimed dubstep producer from the United Kingdom whose style draws from hip-hop and electro. |
 | | Stephen "Thundercat" Bruner spent the last part of the new millennium's first decade becoming the go-to bassist for practically every artist in black vanguard music. |
 | | London-based musician Kwesi Sey, aka Kwes. (note the intentional period), got his start producing early demos for the xx and collaborating with Micachu (of Micachu & the Shapes) on a project named Kwesachu. |
 | | In 2007, during their stint as lecturers at the Red Bull Music Academy (a series of workshops offered by the soft drink company, coupling seminars on dance music with club events), Australia natives and music industry veterans Steve Spacek (Spacek, Black Pocket) and Mark Pritchard (Global Communication, Troubleman, Harmonic 33) teamed up to form a new ragga-influenced electronic project called Africa Hitech. |
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 | | The first hip-hop crew signed to the Sub Pop label, Shabazz Palaces is the brainchild of Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler, although the Digable Planets member isn’t so quick to admit it. |
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