Teranga Beat returns to its roots in West Africa and more precisely to Gambia, to present Galgi, the second album of Bai Janha’s groovy steamroller Karantamba on the label. The first album of Karantamba - Ndigal was a crucial one for the label as it was its third release, marking its identity: exploring cultural hybrids where traditional music is still present, in that specific region of West Africa in the beginning and later on to other parts of the continent and the Mediterranean.
Galgi was recorded 4 years after Ndigal in 1988 in Studio Wings in Dakar on reel tapes. An Afro-Mading jewel that remained unreleased until today and as an original ‘80s recording, guitars and synthesisers are thriving together with a killer groove throughout the entire album. The difference between Galgi and the previous recordings of Karantamba is not only the ’80s sound but also the female vocals of Ndey Nyang!

Galgi means “Slave ship” in Wolof, a track dedicated to the people who suffered during the Atlantic slave trade, and this is why the photo of the cover was shot in the emblematic House of Slaves in the Gorée island in Dakar. The song remains contemporary, as many people today take the risk of sailing through the maelstrom of the Atlantic Ocean towards unknown shores—a journey reminiscent of the historical immigration from the West Coast of Africa, where slave ships once set sail. This time though, it reflects an effort to escape the realities imposed on Africa by former colonisers since the continent gained independence.

This album was realised with the support of Eligo Audio Culture: eligoaudioculture.com More

Teranga Beat proudly presents the drummer-composer Yannis Angelopoulos, aka Jan Van and his last project "Streams". A well known musician in the Athens jazz scene, accompanied by three fellow musicians, he created an album with a tough= background story.

Jan Van started as a drummer in clubs playing popular greek music (laïka) even before he was 18, a typical first step for a musician in Greece. In this way he experienced the underground and in fact the surrealistic atmosphere of the laïka greek clubs. At the age of 20, he started working as a roadie (installing drums) and it was then that he realised a drummer can be a musical directorproducer and not just a session musician. So he decided to continue his education and in 1996 he went to study at the Rotterdam’s Conservatorium's (Codarts) Jazz Department, where he stayed for seven years. Soon after his return to Athens he started wondering how to fuse jazz with laïkodimotiko (lumpen, popular music), something detectable in his recent discography.

Since the mid ‘00s, Jan Van has been working on various jazz projects in Athens, even though the years preceding the 2010s were something of a tough period for the local scene, with limited live opportunities. Furthermore, since 2010, Greece has famously been at the epicentre of the global financial crisis. In an already dysfunctional cultural system during this decade, culture eventually became a luxury. Following ten years of recession, in March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic destroyed the efforts of the country that was struggling to recover and took away any hope.

Under high psychological pressure, Jan Van had the idea of a jam session as a way-out for expression. At the same time, the particular concept of water and its properties were stuck in his mind. Water’s fluidity and momentum and the idea of a quiet streaming state, shaped the only concept he eventually shared with his fellow musicians before starting to play. He only wanted them to have the energy of the water as a reference.

By the end of May, a few days after the end of the lockdown, they gathered in a studio and recorded a live session of spontaneous compositions and improvisations. During that session each musician took a step back to listen and give space to one another. None of the tracks was composed before the recording. The result is a deep album which consists of organic beats with spiritual jazz vibes, sometimes exploring fusions with demotika (traditional) elements, sometimes leaning to cinematic atmospheres.

The recording was mixed on 2 inch reel tape with analog equipment, to achieve the best possible sound quality. The LP version of the album is a Deluxe Edition and comes with a high gloss laminated gatefold cover and a digital download code. More