Blog April 16, 2015
Five Stars: A Benin Roots-Pop Primer
<p>In Benin, a small francophone country in West Africa, traditional music, vodun spiritual music and popular styles of roots music are intimately entwined. Creative artists transform traditional music into roots-pop by altering and 'modernizing' rhythms and instruments, writing their own compositions in the styles they interpret. There are many, many styles of roots-pop, but the baseline of dense percussion and intricate vocals is a constant. Roots music is extremely popular: artists sell thousands of CDs and DVDs of music videos, pack stadiums for concerts and frequently appear on national television. Let's check out five awesome roots-pop artists from Benin. Most are featured in our program <em>Benin Roots Alive. </em>If you want to hear more, be sure to check out the Benin Roots Pop Mix we're dropping next week.</p>
<p><strong>Allevi- </strong>known as 'the prophet,' is from the Mon0-Couffo region of south-west Benin. He performs <em>toba hanye</em>, a roots-pop style that uses a large lamellophone (think 'thumb piano' but really big, like the Caribbean <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADmbula" target="_blank"><em>marimbula</em></a>) as the lead 'drum.' Producer Morgan Greenstreet attended the release concert for his latest album, and you can hear the recording he made on the program <em>Benin Roots Alive.</em></p>
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