Dinosaur on the ark

After coming out of quarantine this week, I decided to look up peruse Pitchfork (which actually doesn't happen that often). I decided to check out their "Best new albums" section and saw an interesting name: The Very Best (Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit) - The Very Best Mixtape.

It immediately caught my attention...because well, Mwamwaya is definitely an african name (which part? I would soon find out).
So it seems that Esau Mwamwaya (a dude from Malawi, but I believe lives in London) and Radioclit teamed up, took current songs and remixed them. Some songs are still very recognizable, some aren't.

Mwamwaya sings in Chichewa for the most part, though there is some english in there. The songs end up being a mix of tropical/happy/sometimes rockish - it's actually pretty hard to describe, but I generally like it. I think it's pretty cool that african music is making its way again into I guess you could say popular music to some extent? (I just remember it was everywhere in the 80s - Paul Simon, Johnny Clegg, Peter Gabriel, even Public Image Ltd (with their song 'Rise') had africany elements). I just really like the guitar, haha...and well the beat in general :)

Here is the tracklist and in bold my faves at the moment:
1) Kamphopo (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya, music: Architecture In Helsinki - Heart It Races)
2) Wena (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya & Bleksem, music: DJ Cleo - Wena)
3) Tengazako (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya, music: M.I.A - Paper Planes)
4) Chikondi (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya, music: Hans Zimmer - True Romance Theme)
5) Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (The Very Best Remix) (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya, music: Radioclit & Vampire Weekend)
6) Hide And Seek (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya & Teki Latex, music: TTC - Batards Sensibles)
7) Salota (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya and Blk Jks, music: Cannibal Ox - Life’s Ill)
8] Boyz (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya, Akon & M.I.A, music: M.I.A -Boyz)
9) Sister Betina (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya & Mgarimbe, music: Mgarimbe - Sister Betina)
10) Birthday (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya & The Ruby Suns, music: The Ruby Suns)
11) Funa Funa (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya, music: Radioclit)
12) Kada Manja (classic version) (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya, music: Radioclit)
13) Dinosaur Of The Lost Ark (The Very Best remix) (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya & Ben Brewer, music: Bermuda)
14) Get it Up (The Very Best Remix) (vocals : Esau Mwamwaya, Santogold, M.I.A & Northern Cree, music: Radioclit)
15) Will You Be There (vocals: Esau Mwamwaya & Michael Jackson, music: Michael Jackson - Will You Be There)

So far the most looped track is definitely 13 though...I absolutely love the guitar in it and I guess just everything about it, haha (after the 30 second intro).

Here are a couple of the songs:
Kamphopo (this one is shot in Malawi. The happy kids are cool :D)


Cape Cod


Dinosaur on the ark


Anyways, back to post-flu catch up! :D