Beneath The Music: An African History of Bass

[APWW #586] [Originally aired in 2010] This week, Afropop celebrates one of the true unsung heroes of African music: the bass. Join us as we slap, pop and thump our way across the African diaspora with our ears tuned to those fat sounds beneath the music and the funky men who make them. Our tour of the global low end will begin with an exploration of virtuosic bass wizardry in Cameroon. Then, we’ll go to Cuba to find out how bassist Israel “Cachao” Lopez invented mambo with the well-placed pluck of a finger. After that, we’ll stop by Detroit and hear how the innovations of funk bass playing got the whole world dancing. Special guests include Cameroon native Richard Bona, thought by some to be the best bassist alive today, and Bakithi Kumalo, one of Africa’s premier bassists and the man behind the groove on Paul Simon’s Graceland. Produced by Marlon Bishop.