You're lucky to be able to attend those activist parties, lagatta. Live music is so much better than Youtube. You might give the first one a try, btw. It's audio only & one of the best songs on the album. Lots of links on the same pages to similar u-toob vids.
Yes, many African musicians, when they become popular, experiment with Western styles & technology, which can affect their traditional sound. Tinariwen, that merry band of Tuareg desert musicians were described by Pablo like this
Terrorist blues for your anarchist cravings from the best band on planet Earth.
They've gone global big time and were on The Colbert Report recently with some American musician. I hardly recognized their music it was that softened for the American ear! Hard to get that balance. I'm so happy when they are able to make a living with their talents. Shame to see when they change so much to appease the West. I often wonder how that process works. I have hope their next album with get back to basics. They have a good number of albums in the old style though.
A little less well known is the group Staff Bendi Bilili. Most members are disabled victims of the polio virus, and were once homeless, living around the area near Kinshasa zoo. They make incredibly joyous and complex music. Worth a Youtube search when you can.
If any of you use torrents to download, this is Pablo's page at kickass.
http://kat.ph/user/pastafari/ If you look under the tab "uploads", he leaves very nice descriptions of the artists, with photos, etc., even if you don't download them. I don't download via torrents any mainstream "corporate" music, but because I know that Pablo supports these artists by buying CDs and going to performances, I feel a bit better about it.
Hmm, punk - Sex Pistols, Ramones, Dead Kennedys to name a few. Some female punks - Nina Hagen is great. Bikini Kill, Poly Styrene and of course Patti Smith.
Metal - I like some Korn and Nine Inch Nails now and then. It can be very invigorating to feel the blast of their art after watching and reading the inane drivel that comes out of the brains of the 1 % day after day. Korn does some interesting stuff about the fallout of child abuse, and NIN does battle with corporate labels. With a song like Happiness Is Slavery, ya gotta think Trent Reznor is onto something. I'll never forget Rage Against the Machine as the backdrop to the Seattle protests. Though they're more punk, hip hop and thrash, they take inspiration from early metal. My anti-autoritarian self likes this:
Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, all songs by the band were placed on the list of post-9/11 inappropriate titles distributed by Clear Channel.
Jeesh, censorship much?
