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The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

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Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#71

Post by snarfy »

betwixthewires wrote: post #9

A lot of people don't really know it, but American country music is the most commercially successful music genre worldwide and is popular in places such as southeast Asia, Mongolia, sub Saharan Africa, even India and Latin america. Europeans and city dwelling Americans love to shit on it but the world loves it, probably because it's easy to relate to lyrically and uses pleasant melodies and simple to follow rhythms.…

My Egyptian musician friend who loves country music explained it to me as being exotic sounding and uniquely American. He also really enjoys live music and there are a lot of country bars with talented musicians playing.

Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#72

Post by ydlr »

yawboakye wrote: post #39

American country music buff here. Until recently Ghanaian music was mostly about the lyrics—it was impossible to make music that didn’t have great lyrics about love, life, work, religion, you name it. Music was a great instructor in traditional values. For lovers of the old music American country music fits right in since it’s probably the only(?) music export from the US that doesn't glorify crime, debauchery, all t…

As another American country music buff, all my favorite country songs glorify crime, debauchery, and non-traditional values. I guess that is another great thing about the genre... its breadth.

Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#73

Post by Fargoan »

rufus_foreman wrote: post #60
yawboakye wrote: post #39

American country music buff here. Until recently Ghanaian music was mostly about the lyrics—it was impossible to make music that didn’t have great lyrics about love, life, work, religion, you name it. Music was a great instructor in traditional values. For lovers of the old music American country music fits right in since it’s probably the only(?) music export from the US that doesn't glorify crime, debauchery, all t…

>> For lovers of the old music American country music fits right in since it’s probably the only(?) music export from the US that doesn't glorify crime, debauchery Early one morning while making the rounds I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down Went right home and I went to bed I stuck that loving 44 beneath my head

6 in the morning, police at my door

I read the Johnny Cash lines in the same cadence as Schooly D or Ice T. No idea if it's the same, never heard the Johnny Cash song

Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#74

Post by jamal-kumar »

dendrite9 wrote: post #33
jamal-kumar wrote: post #21

Another interesting African music genre: Desert Blues [1], which mostly comes out of the Western Sahara. I like this example (Title: Tinariwen (+IO:I) - Ténéré Tàqqàl (what has become of the Ténéré) ) [2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_blues [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boiiiVh52v4

I was introduced to this music in 2009 or so and it's been a consistent part of my musical diet since then. I remember reading the blog post about Music from Saharan Cellphones and the method of getting the songs. I found this relevant comment on the Sahel Sounds post from 2010: "In the effort of cultural exchange, I traded for a few Townes Van Zandt albums; we’ll see if they’ve survived next time I’m back in Kidal."…

Yeah the region has some incredible stuff. If you've never heard it before the master musicians of jajouka are pretty great. The way it builds up is just amazing [1]

Sub-saharan music with similar influences like Ghanaian Hi-life is also really cool [2]. I think the first time I heard any of it was actually starting off a DJ set of mostly electronic stuff, but it fit really well [3]

There's a pretty good curation of stuff over at Awesome Tapes From Africa as well [4]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjQefHjLSTo

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0KPmzb9gHY

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEyWIqQCTWk

[4] https://www.youtube.com/c/AwesomeTapesFromAfrica

Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#75

Post by rufus_foreman »

Fargoan wrote: post #73
rufus_foreman wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> For lovers of the old music American country music fits right in since it’s probably the only(?) music export from the US that doesn't glorify crime, debauchery Early one morning while making the rounds I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down Went right home and I went to bed I stuck that loving 44 beneath my head

6 in the morning, police at my door I read the Johnny Cash lines in the same cadence as Schooly D or Ice T. No idea if it's the same, never heard the Johnny Cash song

Sounds like we need a mash-up.

There's a Cash/Eazy-E one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2zlIIcH7SY

Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#76

Post by markrages »

grapeskin wrote: post #65
yawboakye wrote: post #39

American country music buff here. Until recently Ghanaian music was mostly about the lyrics—it was impossible to make music that didn’t have great lyrics about love, life, work, religion, you name it. Music was a great instructor in traditional values. For lovers of the old music American country music fits right in since it’s probably the only(?) music export from the US that doesn't glorify crime, debauchery, all t…

> For lovers of the old music American country music fits right in since it’s probably the only(?) music export from the US that doesn't glorify crime, debauchery, all the non-traditional African values Since the 90s I recall country music being full of cheating on your girl, getting drunk, kicking someone's ass, and so on. Other pop music is more about getting girls in the club or whatever, but country has fairly si…

Or shooting a man in Reno, just to watch him die.

Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#77

Post by jamal-kumar »

twelvechairs wrote: post #58
jamal-kumar wrote: post #21

Another interesting African music genre: Desert Blues [1], which mostly comes out of the Western Sahara. I like this example (Title: Tinariwen (+IO:I) - Ténéré Tàqqàl (what has become of the Ténéré) ) [2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_blues [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boiiiVh52v4

Worth noting Ali Farka Toure (the first name mentioned in the 'Desert Blues' link) didn't like people calling his music 'blues' at all - for instance see [0] [0] https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/mar/08/guardianobituar...

From your linked article:

His work certainly echoed the blues - and, in particular, the playing of John Lee Hooker - but it was a comparison that first boosted his career, and then infuriated him. He told me that he played African music, not blues, and that "this music has been taken from here. I play traditional music and I don't know what blues is. For me, blues is a type of soap powder."

Haha wow, that's definitely worth noting

Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#79

Post by mc32 »

thematrixturtle wrote: post #52
samatman wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think 'adapt' might be a better word, but absolutely they do. I agree it's not as easy to find, I have a Thai country CD from the early Naughts in storage somewhere, I bet if you went with the right searches on your streaming source of choice you'd turn it up.

Australian country music is a thing, look up eg Slim Dusty. In Thailand, the local equivalent is luk thung.

Geoff Mack / Lucky Starr with the Original version of "I've been everywhere":

Mack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OZWi-mTkNU

Starr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdxOy-TxWwE

Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#80

Post by unmole »

betwixthewires wrote: post #9

A lot of people don't really know it, but American country music is the most commercially successful music genre worldwide and is popular in places such as southeast Asia, Mongolia, sub Saharan Africa, even India and Latin america. Europeans and city dwelling Americans love to shit on it but the world loves it, probably because it's easy to relate to lyrically and uses pleasant melodies and simple to follow rhythms.…

> American country music is the most commercially successful music genre worldwide

[citation needed]

> even India

Yeah, no. Unless you are using a very liberal definition of popular. American music is a niche in India and country music is a niche within a niche. Rock, pop and hip-hop are far more popular.

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