Outernational is a new night celebrating the least authentic, least worthy and most exciting in international funk, disco, psych and dance.
TQ Ed John Doran is taking over the decks at The Redchurch Brewery in Hackney tomorrow night (Friday, March 27) in order to play dancefloor orientated music from Egypt, Nigeria, Brazil, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, the Lebanon, Kenya, Syria, India, The DRC, Japan, Thailand…
Inspired in part by his regular column for The Guardian and designed to be cover for his heinous monthly bills from Discogs, the night is a rejection of the often uptight and patronising idea of "world music" in favour of the gloriously inauthentic realms of fusion.
This playlist is an attempt to cover just some of the styles of music Doran will be playing. (Apologies to those irate fans of Argentinian cosmic disco and Angolan drum and bass who feel slighted by the narrow scope of his choices. Please feel free to suggest tracks for him to check out below. He’s all ears…)
1. Insanlar – ‘Kime Ne’
This Turkish psych/acid group Insanlar ("Humankind") really go for it with pitch-shifted vocals and improvised baglama. ‘Kime Ne’ ("So what?") was recorded live at Mini Muzikhol studios in Istanbul in 2010, and is my favourite song of recent months. (I missed it first time round but got to hear it this year thanks to an excellent double 12" release by Honest Jon’s, with a couple of pearlescent, back on form, Ricardo Villalobos remixes.)
2. Maurice Louca – ‘Al Mashoub’
Louca, a native Cairene, cast his net far and wide in order to record last year’s magnificent Salute The Parot LP, calling on talents as diverse as electro chaabi vocalist Sadat, Sun City Girl, Alan Bishop and Canadian leftfield artist Sam Shalabi.
3. Orlando Julius – ‘Disco Hi-Life’
Damn you Kristiana records in Dalston! Every time I walk through your doors I end up light in the pocket. Super worth it when I come out with something like this however…
4. Nana Love – ‘I’m In Love’
Damn you BBE records! Every time you release a great album like this classic African disco boogie reissue I end up light in the pocket. etc.
5. Mohamad Al Ali – ‘Sway To Me’
This is probably the most played record in my DJ box of the last two years and I’ve never not seen it go down an absolute storm. Great Syrian wedding rave from the Houran province.
6. Francis The Great – ‘Look Up In The Sky’
After coveting my pal Horton Jupiter’s copy of this record for ages, I nearly dropped £270 on an original copy during a ‘moment of madness’ on Discogs late one night. I didn’t, and then when literally a week later I saw that they’d finally reissued it on vinyl while shopping in Sounds Of The Universe I could have kissed the woman behind the counter. Sorry Horton.
7. Zia – ‘Heleleyos’
Damn you Finders Keepers records! Every time you release an album like the psychedelic Iranian compilation Pomegranates which features this track, I end up lighter in the pocket. etc.
8. Elias Rahbani – ‘Dance Of Maria’
I’ve been getting to grips with the immensely talented and prolific Lebanese family Rahbani recently and this track is by the composer and arranger Elias.
9. Ziad Rahbani – ‘Abu Ali’
And talking of which, ‘Abu Ali’ is a killer slice of cinematic funk, by his brother Ziad. A killer cut.
10. Atomic Forest – ‘Obsession ’77’
It’s claimed that they’re India’s only psych rock band… Well, I’m not sure about that but they’re certainly the best I know about.
11. Fela Kuti – ‘Gentleman’
This has been my go to Fela track for DJing for a few years now. Not that I’m ever going to get tired of hearing ‘No Agreement’, ‘Expensive Shit’ or ‘Zombie’ but there’s something ultra-satisfying about the Bomb Squad in Nigeria vibe of this track that you can’t beat.
12. The Rift Valley Brothers – ‘Mu Africa’
Damn you Soundway records! Every time you release a compilation like Kenya Special which features this stomping funk cut, I end up lighter in the pocket… etc.
13. Ghost – ‘Aramaic Barbarous Dawn’
Every country has a Ghost but you could easily argue that Japan has the best of the bunch.
14. Acid Arab Featuring Sadat & Alaa Fifty – ‘Hez Hez’
This is a marked change of pace for Egyptian chaabi duo Sadat and Fifty after teaming up with Euro producers Acid Arab but very satisfying for it.
15. Hailu Mergia – ‘Tche Belew’
Tche Belew was one of the reissues of last year and it will keep us going until Hailu Mergia’s set at Field Day this Summer.
16. M. Ashraf Ft. Ahmed Rushdi – ‘Dama Dam Mast Qalandar (The Sound Of Wonder)’
I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of how bananas this record sounds at full volume.
17. Foster Manganyani Na Tinstumi Ta TIlo – ‘The Angels’
Originally released as a cassette for the congregation of Pastor Foster Manganyani’s South African church, this record was produced by Nozinja of Shangaan Electro.
18. Lula Côrtes & Zé Ramalho – ‘Raga Dos Raios’
Mind-melting Brazilian psych.
19. John Berberian – The Oud And The Fuzz
Berberian was American born to Armenian parents but a master oud player nonetheless. A lot of his material was in a very classic tradition but this smoking psych freakbeat wig out really is the best of both worlds.
20. The Ex And Getachew Mekuria – ‘Musicawi Silt’
Veteran Low Land squat punks The Ex have been the unlikely, yet prominent and effective, ambassadors for the Ethio Jazz sound in Europe for many years now. Here they team up once again with revered saxophonist, Getachew Mekuria.
21. Ata Kak – ‘Daa Nyinaa’
Hectic and immensely satisfying, it’s good to see that Awesome Tapes From Africa have finally managed to secure an official release for Ata Kak’s infectious Ghanaian hip house demo, Obaa Sima.
Outernational is on tomorrow night at Redchurch Brewery. More details here
