Calling England home
I don’t follow poetry nearly as closely as I follow music, but I know enough to realize the T.S. Eliot Prize is a big deal. It’s given annually to the author of the best new poetry collection published in the UK or Ireland. And this year it was awarded to Anthony Joseph, who you’ve heard on Global A Go-Go many times, for his collection Sonnets For Albert.
Joseph is a poet and novelist, lecturer in English at King’s College London and a recording artist with ten albums to his name where his voice interacts with the melodies and rhythms of calypso, soca, jazz, Afrobeat and funk. On this episode of Global A Go-Go you’ll hear three selections from those albums, going back as far as 2011 and up to his most recent release, 2021’s The Rich Are Only Defeated When Running For Their Lives.
Also this week (Sunday April 9, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site): Immy Owusu’s “Afrodelik lo-fi highlife”; Benin’s Gangbé Brass Band, the world’s most valuable collaborators; the funky sounds of Somalia; what’s new in reggae; and cumbia, gradually then suddenly.
Podcast: radio4all.net/program/115166
All the podcasts: radio4all.net/series/Global%20A%20Go-Go
Show archive
Playlist
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Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros, “Global a Go - Go”
from Global A Go-Go
BMG Rights Management (US) LLC - 2001
England UK
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S.E. Rogie, “Baby Lef Marah”
Mississippi Records - 2010
Sierra Leone, 1960s
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Mawuli Decker, “Mawu Nafako Nam”
from Borga Revolution, Volume 2: Ghanaian Dance Music In The Digital Age, 1983-1996
Kalita - 2023
Ghana, 1983
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Hazmat Modine, Natalie Merchant & The Gangbe Brass Band, “Child of a Blind Man”
from Cicada
Geckophonic - 2011
USA-Benin
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4 Mars, “Natesha (Compassion)”
from Super Somali Sounds from the Gulf of Tadjoura
Ostinato Records LLC - 2021
Djibouti
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Dexter Story, “Wejene Aola (feat. Kamasi Washington)”
from Wejene Aola (feat. Kamasi Washington) - Single
Soundway Records Ltd - 2016
USA
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Bakaka Band, “Geesiyada Halgamayow”
from Mogadisco: Dancing Mogadishu (Somalia 1972 - 1991)
Analog Africa - 2019
Somalia
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Martha & The Muffins, “Echo Beach”
from Echo Beach (30th Anniversary Remixes)
Echo Beach - 2010
USA-France
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Hugo Blanco Y Su Arpa Viajera, “Infinito”
from Saturno 2000: La Rebajada De Los Sonideros 1962-1983
Analog Africa - 2022
Venezuela, 1962
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Grupo Kual?, “Kumbia De La Changa (feat Ramón Rojo Sonido La Changa)”
from Konexiones
Discos Rolas - 2022
México
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Anthony Joseph, “Calling England Home”
from The Rich Are Only Defeated When Running For Their Lives
Heavenly Sweetness - 2021
Trinidad & Tobago-England UK
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Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band, “Started Off As a Dancer”
from Rubber Orchestras
Naive - 2011
Trinidad & Tobago-England UK
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Anthony Joseph, “Slinger”
from Caribbean Roots
Heavenly Sweetness / Strut - 2016
Trinidad & Tobago-England UK