1970s cumbia tropical + 21st century hip-hop = Panama Doaba
TheFunky Isthmus Mixtape featuresinstrumentals produced by Gnotes for the upcoming Gnawledge EP Panama Doaba, mixed by DJ Canyon Cody with acapellas from Maluca Mala, Calle 13, Isa GT, Tego Calderón y más.
Produced by Gnotes with an Akai MPC 2000XL and a microKORG synthesizer, Panama Doaba features original Gnawledge hiphop remezclas of Panamanian calypso, funk and cumbia from the 1960s & 70s, sampled from Soundway Records 12″ vinyl compilations Panama! Vol. 1, Panama! Vol. 2, & Panama! Vol. 3.
THE FUNKY ISTHMUS MIXTAPE tracklisting
1. Papi Brandao Y Su Ejecutivos “Decidete Mi Amor” (Gnawledge Remix)
… con Maluca Mala ["El Tigeraso"] and Calle 13 ["La Jirafa"] 2. Papi Brandao Y Su Ejecutivos “Viva Panama” (Gnawledge Remix) 3. Papi Brandao Y Su Conjunto Aires Tableños “La Murga de Panama” (GN Remix)
… con Yaga & Mackie ft. Tego Calderón ["Fuego Fuego"] 4. Los Jimaguas “Los Dos Hermanos” (Gnawledge Remix)
… con Julio Voltio ["Mambo"] 5. Sir Valentino con Combo Esclavos Alegras “Masters are Gone” (GN Remix) 6. Alfredo Y Su Salsa Montañera “La Escoba” (Gnawledge Remix)
… con Isa GT ["Pela'o"]. 7. Bush y Sus Magneficos - Nana Nina (Gnawledge Remix) 8. Chocolate Caliente – Mi Guajira Inspiracion (Gnawledge Remix)
… con Black Point ft Sensato ["Watagatapitusberry"] 9. Beby Castor con Los Juvenilles “Llororas” (Gnawledge Remix)
Our 2010 Gnawledge tour visited Los Angeles, Boston, New York and Seattle from May 13th to June 5th. Betwixt official performances were curbside cyphers, neighborhood juergas and latenight house parties.
May 13th — Our first show (photo above) was a Granada Doaba improv experiment featuring 3 rappers, 3 flamenco guitarists, 2 hand percussionists and a dancer. Performing at Los Angeles’ historic flamenco venue El Cid, Granada Doaba featured acoustic freestlyles from Mandeep Sethi & Moses Soweto-Tsali, and a funky set by our good friends LoCura.
May 24th — We celebrated 6 years ofGnawledge in Bostonwith a party at Beat Research. The night began with an acoustic version of Buena Vista Social Club’s “Chan Chan” featuring Gnotes on guitar, Noni Kai on vocals and Afro DZ ak on trumpet (video above).
The show transitioned into a tropical bass DJ set from Canyon Cody, who debuted the newest Gnawledge album Panama Doaba. Read more about the Boston party at Wayne&Wax and check photos del amigo Zach Cole.
May 27th — TheGnawledge NYC Showcase featured 4 Gnawledge MCs and guest appearances from 3 New York locals. Hosted by Brooklyn veteran the1shanti [pictured above with Gnotes and Mighty Om], the crowd got rowdy for Nyle x Naysayers, a four-peice hip-hop band with a charismatic frontman (Nyle) and an amazing drummer (Isaac Teel).
Gnawledge performed a medley of new/old material from the last 6 years. Multi-instrumentalist rappers Gnotes and Afro DZ traded verses from their solo albums, and played flamenco guitar & trumpet in support of Boston soul singer Noni Kai, who showcased her beautiful voice during an acoustic Granada Doaba performance. Gnawledge was also joined on-stage by guest percussionist Duke Mushroom from Harlem’s Earthrise Soundsystem, an immensely talented musician who brought a goodie-bag of global drums and transformed the rap concert into a dance party.
May 28th — Our cumbia hip-hop remezclas Panama Doaba got heavy rotation in New York, where DJ Canyon Cody performed with Afro DZ ak and the1shanti at a Williamsburg house party (photo above). Produced by Gnotes, Panama Doaba explores the funky isthmus in the 1970s as a tropical bass follow-up to Granada Doaba. An unruly Brooklyn house party was the perfect way to unwind after our big concert, and it was our first chance to rock with Cumba Mela, an NYC global bass DJ trio that knows how to throw a damn fiesta.
May 29th – After playing with Gnawledge at Santos, Duke Mushroom invited Afro DZ ak to perform at the Globesonic show on the Hudson Pier (photos above). It was a beautiful summer evening for a free outdoor party, with more than 1,000 people dancing to 3 outstanding DJs (Derek Beres, Fabian Alsultany & Bill Braggin) accompanied by the impeccable percussion of Duke Mushroom and mighty trumpet ofAfro DZ ak (video below).
May 30th & 31st — DJ Canyon Cody got back on the decks at Love, a Greenwich club with an absolutely immense soundsystem, and then Bembe, a Brooklyn dance club with a reputation for hot&sweaty bootyshaking. Hosted by DJs Atropolis, Thornato and 2melo from Cumba Mela, the weekly cumbia convocation at Bembe is a superb scene, with passionate live drumming and a sensual dance crowd. Como un pez en agua, Canyon Cody kept the party jumping with help from the1shanti and Gnotes on the mic [photo below]
June 5th – After New York, Gnotes and Canyon Cody went back to Seattle for a Gnawledge rap show with Elemental Zazen and Irenic. Zazen — who recently leaked his new track featuring Canibus — performed his new song “Lockjaw” produced by Seattle-native Jake One (video below).
With the Spring 2010 tour done, Gnawledge will soon release Panama Doaba while finishing final touches on upcoming solo albums from Elemental Zazen and Gnotes.
Gnawledge rappers Gnotes and Elemental Zazen will perform together in Seattle on Saturday June 5th at the Lo-Fi Performance Gallery. Both artists will debut new material from their upcoming albums, which feature production from Jake One, Blockhead, Illmind, Kno, Eligh, JFerra and BSBD.
Since moving from Boston to Seattle, both Zazen and Gnotes have been working on their follow-ups to The Glass Should Be Full and Rhymes and Beats. Zazen’s album features collaborations with Jean Grae, Gnotes and Canibus — a track recently leaked at Potholes in my Blog.
Also performing will be Irenic, MC Premonition, DJ Chocolate Chuck and Canyon Cody. Tickets $5, show @9pm. Lo-Fi is located at 429 Eastlake Avenue East in Seattle WA.
We’re celebrating 6 años of Gnawledge in Boston with a FREE party at the Enormous Room with DJ Canyon Cody featuring live performances by Afro DZ ak (trumpet), Gnotes, (flamenco guitar) and Noni Kai (vocals).
Gnawledge @ Beat Research
Enormous Room (Central Sq.)
567 Mass Ave (Cambridge)
May 27th / 9pm-1am / 21+ / $0
RSVP @ Facebook
72 months young, we’ll be bailando al ritmo tropical with our Boston bredren at Beat Research, a free weekly experiment in party music hosted by Wayne&Wax and DJ Flack.
Gnawledge will host a label showcase in New York on Thursday May 27th at Santos Party House, featuring live performances by Afro DZ ak, Gnotes, and Granada Doaba.
Hosted by Gnawledge selector Canyon Cody, our 6th annual family reunion will feature a special guest appearance from Nyle with his live band The Nay-Sayers. Also performing is the1shanti [aka Brooklyn Shanti], dubbed the Indian Bambaataa by the Universal Zulu Nation.
A veteran of the New York underground rap scene, Nyle has 3 free albums and one of the coolest live hip-hop music videos I’ve ever seen:
Granada Doaba — with jazz trumpeteer Pete Shungu and flamenco guitarist Sean Dwyer — will feature vocals from Baltimore rapper Mighty Om and Boston soul singer Noni Kai. Also performing with Granada Doaba will be special guest percussionist David “Duke Mushroom” Schommer from Earthrise SoundSystem.
Gnotes and Afro DZ ak will perform songs from their solo albums [Rhymes and Beats & Elevation]. Gnotes will also debut new music from his upcoming album Conflicts and Interests, which features collaborations with Devin the Dude, Blockhead, Eligh, Metaform & Ilmind.
Cumbia — mostly associated w/ Colombia nowadays — originally came from the funky isthmus of Panama. Our newest Gnawledge remix project Panama Doaba brings hip-hop back to 1970s panamanian cumbia, with production from Gnotes and Canyon Cody.
The original “Llororas” was written by Venezuelan singer Oscar D’León in 1975 and became a huge hit across Latin American. Our remix samples a Panamanian cover version by Beby Castor con Los Juvenilles, from the Sally Ruth 45 (SR161), later re-released by Soundway Records on Panama 3.
We’ll be playing a bunch of our new Gnawledge cumbia remixes @ Beat Researchin Boston w/ Wayne&Wax on May 24th, and then @ Bembe in Brooklyn w/ Cumba Mela on May 31st.
Akwaaba Music just released the new album Konteh Kunda by Gambian kora player Jali Bakary Konteh, along with audio stems for a remix competition. Download the Gnawledge remix below and check out Fairtrilizer for other great submissions.
Produced by Gnotes, the Gnawledge remix drops heavy drums&synth (@ 1 min 28 secs) over Jali Bakary Konteh’s funky vocals and masterful kora playing.
Jali Bakary Konteh comes from a griot family which includes some of the worlds most reknowned kora musicians. He runs the School of Music in Brikama, Gambia (pictured below), with lessons in kora, percussion, balafon, fula flute, and traditional Mandinka dancing.
Buy Jali Bakary Konteh’s new album Konteh Kunda atiTunes &Bandcamp.
The Gnawledge crew will be in LA on Friday April 9th for a show with Ugly Duckling (video below) at The Airliner. Gnotes will debut new material from his upcoming album Conflicts and Interest, featuring collaborations with Devin the Dude, Blockhead, Illmind, Metaform and Elemental Zazen.
With quality boombap every Friday, Urban Underground Weekly at The Airliner is one of the last true-school hiphop nights in LA —> so far in 2010 they’ve hosted Keith Murray, Pigeon Jon, Sunspot Jonz, Abstract Rude, Mr. Lif and Akrobatik
Gnotes will be joined on-stage by fellow gnawledge bredren Mandeep Sethi, who just released The Worlds Gone Mad, a new free EP featuring “Props 3” produced by Gnotes. Mandeep will also be performing on Monday April 5th at Machine Project in Echo Park alongside tabla guru Robin Sukhadia.
Gnawledge is proud to welcome a new artist to our collective, San Francisco-based rapper Mandeep Sethi. Representing the Universal Zulu Nation, Mandeep Sethi is an old-school MC with an escuela nueva vision for global hip-hop. Politically radical and funky as fuck, Mandeep Sethi was Gnawledge family from the jump, the perfect MC for an eclectic collective like Granada Doaba.
On tour with Granada Doaba, Mandeep Sethirocks with a live band and then keeps the after-party hype with the DJ. But the truest test of any MC is inside the cipher, trading bars on-stage freestyling with fellow Gnawledge rappers Gnotes and Afro DZ [video above].
Mandeep Sethi got flow like Niagara — can’t stop, won’t stop. Ever-scribbling, Mandeep released two free mixtapes in 2009: Set&Ra [produced by Povan Beats] and Paleofuture [produced by Deacon LF, video below].
Mandeep freely distributes his music online because he makes an honest living working on-stage, regularly performing in the Bay [and beyond] with the All-Mighty Family and Non-Stop Bhangra. He’s done concerts from Spain to India alongside Afrika Bambaataa, Ziggy Marley, Camp Lo, RZA, Killah Priest, Michael Franti & Spearhead, with upcoming shows at 111 Minna, Element Lounge, Rickshaw Stop and the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
The sold-out LoCura/Granada Doaba concert in San Franciscowas estupendo. 500 [and two] people packed the Independent for a high-energy flamenco hip-hop performance featuring appearances from more than 20 live musicians, culminating in a LoCura/Gnawledge collaboration [see video below], featuring Mandeep Sethi y La Kata shining bright on the mic in front of their hometown crowd.
Granada Doaba gave its best performance to date. Gnotes stretched his muscle on the flamenco guitar and cajón. Boston Gnawledge bredren Afro DZ ak proved once again that a party aint a party until a trumpet come through. Both musicians passed the microphone with Mandeep Sethi during our freestyle rap cypher.
The concert was a coming-out party for our 19-year-old singer Elexis Trinity, who continues to surprise and impress, while veteran touring musicians Teddy Jack and Rod Martinez held down the ritmo and kept the crowd moving. Daniel Eshoo brought an inmense sound out of his 77-string qanun, taking full advantage of the phenomenon sound system at the Independent. DJ Canyon Cody was dancing in the back, while artist Carmen Abelleira painted La Virgen de Guadalupe rocking out with an electric guitar.
The night began with a beautiful set from Mexican songstress Diana Gameros on guitar, accompanied by flute, cajón and stand-up bass. Gameros is too talented to remain unknown for much longer, so it felt like a special treat to catch her at this stage in her career.
Pero sin duda, lo más impresionante fue LoCura. The San Francisco band had the rowdy crowd dancing throughout their amazing 2-hour set, which ranged from up-tempo reggae to soulful flamenco and funky Cuban son. It’s hard not to be jealous when I see a band that tight. A veteran band with years of experience on the road, LoCura came home and proved that they got the groove in the pocket. It was an honor to share the stage with them, and some of the most fun I’ve ever had.
LoCura will be performing at South by Southwest on March 19th @ Copa Bar & Grill. Their 2008 debut album Animas is available at CdBaby and iTunes, plus they got a brand new album in the oven.
