The Freedom Principle

The Freedom Principle Canada's longest running syndicated radio show (40+ years) featuring new releases of the African diaspora.

Featuring music of the African Diaspora, this program sees acoustic ensemble music as a developing world jazz incorporating styles and rhythms which draw from indigenous sources. On the air since June 1986, The Freedom Principle features new releases from the disparate genres of the African Diaspora with occasional forays into specialized thematic programs. Past programs include Manding Swing, Con

golese Rumba, Zimbabwean Liberation, South African Jazz, Mississippi Delta Slide & Moan, African Impressionism in American Jazz, etc.

Alex Cuba - (2025) Índole (Canada) - Caracol RecordsÍndole is Alex Cuba’s eleventh studio album, released November 7, 20...
12/02/2025

Alex Cuba - (2025) Índole (Canada) - Caracol Records
Índole is Alex Cuba’s eleventh studio album, released November 7, 2025, on Caracol Records. The project focuses on Afro-Latin musical lineages, drawing from Afro-Cuban, Afro-Colombian, Afro-Peruvian, and contemporary Latin traditions. Cuba performs all instrumentation except horns, continuing his practice of full creative control. Guests include Roberto Vizcaíno Jr. (who appears on the opening duet “Espíritu Temba”), Bacilos, and Chabuco. The album’s central themes involve ancestry, resilience, and personal identity within the African diaspora.
The lead single “Palabras Vacías” stands out for its minimalist arrangement and country-tinged influence. The 12-track set includes “Ella Es Oro,” “Solo Déjate Querer,” “Nada Es de Verdad,” “All My Nights,” and the closing track “Ganas.” Índole follows a long stretch of award-recognized work—multiple Junos, Latin Grammys, and a Grammy win for Mendó—and continues Cuba’s self-produced, bilingual, pan-Latin approach rooted in both Cuban and Canadian musical contexts.

Provided to YouTube by ONErpmPara Contarte Este Amor · Alex CubaÍndole℗ Caracol RecordsReleased on: 2025-11-07Composer Lyricist: Alex CubaStudio Producer: Al...

Athena & Chains of soul - (2025) Spirit of Aretha - Bonsaï MusicAthena & Chains of Soul, a Paris-based collective led by...
12/02/2025

Athena & Chains of soul - (2025) Spirit of Aretha - Bonsaï Music
Athena & Chains of Soul, a Paris-based collective led by vocalist Athena, bring a contemporary edge to Aretha Franklin’s songbook on Spirit of Aretha. Rather than trying to match the Queen of Soul’s towering presence, Athena leans into her own vocal identity—a warm, tensile alto shaped by jazz phrasing and modern R&B inflections—while the band’s tight, groove-forward arrangements open new angles on classics like “Respect,” “Think,” and “Chain of Fools.” The interpretations land with clarity and uplift, honoring Franklin’s lineage while carving out space for Athena’s distinctive tone and emotional directness.
Chains of Soul keep the foundation lean and propulsive, pairing crisp rhythm-section work with just enough vintage grit to keep the material grounded. The slower pieces—“Ain’t No Way,” “Natural Woman,” and “Spirit in the Dark”—highlight Athena’s control and interpretive restraint, while the uptempo tracks tap into the collective’s Parisian soul-scene energy. Spirit of Aretha ultimately succeeds as both homage and renewal: a lively, respectful reminder of Franklin’s enduring power, filtered through the voice of a singer with her own story and a band committed to keeping the spirit of soul music moving forward.

🎧 Streaming: https://idol-io.ffm.to/think-2💿 Presave album: https://idol-io.ffm.to/spiritofaretha🎙️ Our playlist Athena & Chains of Soul: https://www.you...

Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues - (2025) The Blues is My Biography - Rosa's Lounge RecordsBilly Branch’s The Blues Is...
12/02/2025

Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues - (2025) The Blues is My Biography - Rosa's Lounge Records
Billy Branch’s The Blues Is My Biography is an autobiographical set recorded in Chicago and Alameda, produced by Larry Batiste and featuring the current Sons of Blues lineup with guests Bobby Rush, Shemekia Copeland, and Ronnie Baker Brooks. The album includes eleven tracks that draw on Chicago blues, R&B, and mid-tempo shuffles, with Branch on harmonica and vocals throughout. Several songs reference his personal history (“The Blues Is My Biography,” “Harmonica Man”) and his long associations within the Chicago scene.
“Begging for Change” features Copeland on lead vocals, while Rush appears on the opening track, “Hole in Your Soul.” The record also includes a cover of “Dead End Street” and closes with an instrumental, “Return of the Roaches.” With most compositions written or co-written by Branch, the album functions as a career summary that documents his musical development, influences, and long-running work with the Sons of Blues.

Provided to YouTube by The Orchard EnterprisesBegging For Change · Billy Branch & The Sons of Blues · Shemekia Copeland · Ronnie Baker Brooks · Larry Dwayne ...

Eparapo - (2025) Truth To Power feat. Dele Sosimi & Afla Sackey – SREparapo returns to Wah Wah 45s with two new tracks, ...
12/02/2025

Eparapo - (2025) Truth To Power feat. Dele Sosimi & Afla Sackey – SR
Eparapo returns to Wah Wah 45s with two new tracks, “Truth To Power” and “Coca-Colonization,” marking their first release since the 2023 remix projects that followed their debut LP Take To The Streets. The group once again features Dele Sosimi—longtime Fela Kuti collaborator and a central figure in the UK Afrobeat scene—and Ghanaian percussionist and vocalist Afla Sackey. Led by bassist and bandleader Suman Joshi, the ensemble continues its focus on politically engaged Afrobeat rooted in classic rhythmic structures and extended groove-based arrangements.
Both tracks address contemporary political concerns through Afrobeat’s established framework of social commentary. “Truth To Power” and “Coca-Colonization” respond directly to the rise of disinformation, divisive rhetoric, and the erosion of civic trust, reflecting the themes outlined by Joshi in the release notes. The singles were issued as a double-sided project on Wah Wah 45s.

Download & Stream: https://kud.li/wah7066Subscribe: https://sb.kud.li/UCZixZmu0z9tdml7Ti1ixamgOfficial stream from Wah Wah 45s. Distributed by Kudos Records...

Ismay - (2025) Finding Lucinda; Music from the Documentary - Neanderthal RecordsIsmay’s Finding Lucinda plays like a fie...
12/02/2025

Ismay - (2025) Finding Lucinda; Music from the Documentary - Neanderthal Records
Ismay’s Finding Lucinda plays like a field notebook from a six-year pilgrimage into the creative world of Lucinda Williams, tracing the crooked road between artistic uncertainty and self-definition. Recorded in ranch barns, cafes, folk clubs, and even the Library of Congress, these performances map out the formative terrain that shaped Williams’ songwriting — from early poems by her father Miller Williams to the raw country-soul turns of “Greenville” and “Am I Too Blue.” Joined at different points by Buddy Miller, Charlie Sexton, Los Texmaniacs, Warren Hood, and Mary Gauthier, Ismay offers not imitation but attentive listening: a way of studying how influence, place, and persistence slowly refine an artist’s voice.
As a soundtrack, the album doubles as a living companion to the documentary, carrying the dust and immediacy of the journeys that produced it. The recreated 1981 session and the barn recordings feel especially intimate, revealing how Williams’ work lives in the spaces and communities that nurtured her. Finding Lucinda ultimately stands as both homage and inquiry — a portrait of an artist shaped through others, and a quiet reminder that lineage, curiosity, and long attention can be creative acts in their own right.

Freestyle Digital Media will release the music documentary 'FINDING LUCINDA' on September 9, 2025, available on VOD and DVD across North America.Directed by ...

Jeb Loy Nichols - (2025) This House Is Empty Without You - Timmion RecordsOn This House Is Empty Without You, Jeb Loy Ni...
12/02/2025

Jeb Loy Nichols - (2025) This House Is Empty Without You - Timmion Records
On This House Is Empty Without You, Jeb Loy Nichols returns to Timmion Records with a collection of ten understated soul songs recorded with the label’s house band, Cold Diamond & Mink. The album follows the same analog aesthetic as his previous Timmion collaborations—warm rhythm-section grooves, unfussy arrangements, and Nichols’ soft, conversational vocal delivery. Tracks such as “First Night Away From Home,” “Here With You,” and “Step In” highlight his steady blend of country-soul, southern R&B, and folk-leaning songwriting, while the band supports him with gentle organ lines, clean guitar fills, and a deep in-the-pocket rhythm feel.
The material focuses on themes of love, companionship, and everyday reflection, with Nichols maintaining his signature understated tone rather than leaning into heavy production. Additional harmonies from Emilia Sisco add a subtle gospel shading to several tracks, reinforcing the album’s classic-soul atmosphere. While it fits smoothly within the Timmion catalogue, This House Is Empty Without You stands out for its consistency and clarity of intent: a straightforward, well-crafted set from an artist who continues to favor warmth, simplicity, and timeless songwriting over stylistic flash.

Provided to YouTube by BWSCD IncBlack Water Girl · Jeb Loy Nichols · Cold Diamond & MinkThis House Is Empty Without You℗ 2025 Timmion Records LtdReleased on:...

Jowee Omicil - (2025) sMiLes - BasH! Village recordsJowee BasH! Omicil’s sMiLes is a jubilant, borderless journey throug...
12/02/2025

Jowee Omicil - (2025) sMiLes - BasH! Village records
Jowee BasH! Omicil’s sMiLes is a jubilant, borderless journey through Afro-Haitian rhythm, cosmic jazz, and spiritual improvisation, guided by his mantra: “trust the note.” Moving from Abbey Lincoln’s Throw It Away to tributes for Roy Hargrove, Wayne Shorter, and Miles Davis, the album echoes its influences without ever falling into imitation. Omicil’s multi-instrumental fluency — saxes, flutes, Rhodes, pocket trumpet, piano, voice — shapes a soundworld that feels spontaneous and alive, slipping easily from kompa heat to Ghanaian celebration, from shimmering 52nd Street swing to voodoo-drum undertones.
Across the record, joy and risk sit side-by-side, whether in stripped-down solo pieces or the tender closing duet with Dominique Fils-Aimé. The music flows like a restless conversation with lineage and place: Cap-Haïtien to New York, Port-au-Prince to Montreal, Haiti to the cosmos. sMiLes ultimately reads as a manifesto of creative freedom — a reminder that Omicil’s truest instrument is motion itself, and that his music remains unmistakably his: vibrant, generous, unpredictable, and full of life.

"Trip to Ghana" by Jowee Omicil is a powerful reflection on overcoming injustice, connecting Haiti and Ghana — two nations bonded by their fight for freedom....

Kelan Phil Cohran & Legacy - (2025) African Skies - Listening PositionAfrican Skies marks one of Kelan Phil Cohran’s few...
12/02/2025

Kelan Phil Cohran & Legacy - (2025) African Skies - Listening Position
African Skies marks one of Kelan Phil Cohran’s few major projects outside his work with Sun Ra’s Arkestra and The Artistic Heritage Ensemble. Commissioned in 1993 by Chicago’s Adler Planetarium, the suite connects Cohran’s long-standing interests in astronomy, cultural history, and instrument building. The ensemble features two double basses, two harps, percussion, cornet, violin, saxophone, voice, and the Frankiphone—the electrified kalimba he designed and later passed on to his sons in Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. Recorded just weeks before Sun Ra’s death and dedicated to his mentor, the music draws on Nile histories, Dogon cosmology, and broader African geographies, originally accompanying panoramic astronomical footage for the Adler program.
Listening Position, a new imprint under the Stones Throw umbrella, now issues the first fully restored edition of the album. The reissue sources the original DAT tapes, restored by Michael Graves and mastered by Josh Bonati, and is presented on heavy vinyl with the Adler’s program notes and restored artwork. The release highlights Cohran’s wider legacy in Chicago—his work as a founding member of the AACM, his teaching, and the lineage continued by his eight sons in Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. African Skies returns as a clear document of Cohran’s meditative, research-driven approach to composition and his ability to frame large-scale ideas through an acoustic ensemble.

Provided to YouTube by Stones Throw Records LLCThe Dogon · Kelan Phil Cohran & LegacyAfrican Skies℗ 2025 Listening PositionReleased on: 2025-11-07Main Artist...

KOTOA - (2025) Earthwise EP - Wah Wah 45sSouth London’s Kotoa arrive with Earthwise, a five-track EP released on Wah Wah...
12/02/2025

KOTOA - (2025) Earthwise EP - Wah Wah 45s
South London’s Kotoa arrive with Earthwise, a five-track EP released on Wah Wah 45s and produced by Benedic Lamdin. Formed in Loughborough Junction, the band—Maia Avery (sax, vocals), Memphis Koloi (guitar, vocals), Frank Black (bass), Sam Hillier (keys), and Laurie Campling (drums)—work at the intersection of dub, trip hop phrasing, and the current wave of African-influenced jazz emerging from Brixton’s live-band circuit. Their earlier singles “Higher Being” and “I Am,” along with a standalone cover of Fela Kuti’s “Zombie,” (included here as a bonus) helped establish their profile on radio and positioned the group within South London’s politically engaged, groove-forward scene.
Earthwise develops these ideas across five distinct tracks. “Higher Being” opens with trance-leaning Afro-jazz textures; “Thieves & Scammers” draws on 1970s roots reggae; “Charge It” engages Afrobeat protest traditions; “I Am” leans toward soul-jazz writing; and the title track revisits an early rehearsal jam that shaped their ensemble identity. Lamdin’s production foregrounds interplay, low-end weight, and the group’s chant-driven vocal approach. The EP situates Kotoa among the South London bands combining rhythmic intensity with direct, socially aware lyric writing.

Download & Stream: https://kud.li/wahdig216Subscribe: https://sb.kud.li/UCZixZmu0z9tdml7Ti1ixamgOfficial stream from Wah Wah 45s. Distributed by Kudos Recor...

Noura Mint Seymali -(2025) Yenbett (Mauritania) - Glitterbeat RecordsMauritanian griot singer and ardine player Noura Mi...
12/02/2025

Noura Mint Seymali -(2025) Yenbett (Mauritania) - Glitterbeat Records
Mauritanian griot singer and ardine player Noura Mint Seymali returns after nine years with Yenbett (Glitterbeat), a 15-track set that tightens the electrified Moorish sound she mapped out on Tzenni and Arbina. Recorded largely at home in Nouakchott with her core band—Jeich Ould Chighaly on electric guitar, Ousmane Touré on bass, and drummer/co-producer Matthew Tinari, alongside co-producer Mikey Coltun (Mdou Moctar)—the album pivots around the dialogue between Seymali’s women’s harp (ardin/ardine), her griot-led vocal poetry, and a heavily amped desert-rock rhythm section. Opener “Bidayett Lehjibb” and the full-band take on “Lehjibb” sketch the template in miniature: a spare, reverberant ardine prelude that flips into flanged guitar, thick bass and drums, with Seymali’s voice moving from distant invocation to close-up ululation. Across the record she draws on family and lineage—her composer father Seymali Ould Ahmed Vall, her stepmother Dimi Mint Abba, her ardine-playing grandmother Mounina—while reaffirming her role as a working griot: stitching praise, love, and narrative verse into performance and treating each song as a new mosaic built from traditional poetic sources.
Yenbett (“it grows,” in Hassaniya Arabic) is sequenced as a continuous arc, its main pieces threaded with short, more acoustic “Wezeun” and “El Vaïz” interludes that keep the harp, hand drums, and tindit timbres in focus. “Guéreh,” a revived wedding dance song associated with blind tindit player Jeich Ould Abba, sets call-and-response vocals and handclaps against off-kilter, dub-treated guitar; “Knou” and “Tassirit” build from slow, echoing intros into dense, circling riffs, with Tinari’s drumming and Chighaly’s solos pushing toward Saharan psych territory. “Ch’tib (Naha)” and “Hagala Geyeul” lean into khaima-tent energy, layering male and female griot voices, trancey basslines, and hints of 1970s synth percussion, while closer “Lebleida” brings the focus back to Seymali’s ardine and vocal heft. The result is an album that keeps Mauritanian griot practice at its centre while presenting it through an urban, amplified desert-blues lens, informed by Tuareg rock but rooted firmly in Nouakchott’s own continuum.

Title: Lehjibb لحجبArtist: NOURA MINT SEYMALI نورة منت سيماليAlbum: Yenbett ينبتLabel: Glitterbeat RecordsStream / Download : https://idol-io.ffm.to/yenb...

Pelengana Blo - (2025) Hunter Folk Vol II; tribute to Bantoma Sanogo (Mali) – Mieruba -MLThis release documents the firs...
12/02/2025

Pelengana Blo - (2025) Hunter Folk Vol II; tribute to Bantoma Sanogo (Mali) – Mieruba -ML
This release documents the first recorded work of Pah Diarra, known as Pelengana Blo, a hereditary master of donso foli from the Ségou region. The album forms the second entry in Mieruba’s Hunter Folk series and is dedicated to Bantoma Sanogo, a major figure of the Ségou donso tradition and Pelengana’s primary musical influence. Unlike the first volume, which focused on the Wassoulou style, this edition centres on the Ségou lineage of the hunters’ repertoire.
Recorded in 2019 by Ahmed Fofana, the album captures six live performances featuring Pelengana Blo on donso n’goni and voice with Nitié Koné on keregne. The recording method preserves the acoustic environment without electrical amplification, foregrounding the instrument’s metal resonators, the accompanying chorus, and the keregne’s pulse. Each track reflects a specific narrative or function within donsoya: praise for renowned hunters (“Niangara”), moral tales (“Makono”), symbolic animal imagery (“Warakoro”), explanations of ritual practice (“Boli”), acknowledgement of benefactors (“Terema Malo”), and accounts of journeys across Ségou (“Donso”). As an archival document, the album provides rare access to a regional tradition typically heard only in ceremonial contexts.

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Pierre Dørge, Kirk Knuffke - (2025) Songs for Mbizo – SteepleChase RecordsDanish guitarist and composer Pierre Dørge rev...
12/02/2025

Pierre Dørge, Kirk Knuffke - (2025) Songs for Mbizo – SteepleChase Records
Danish guitarist and composer Pierre Dørge revisits the music of South African bassist Johnny “Mbizo” Dyani on Songs for Mbizo, a quartet session featuring longtime collaborator Kirk Knuffke (cornet), bassist Thommy Andersson, and drummer Martin Andersen. Dyani’s influence on Nordic jazz runs deep—he fled apartheid South Africa in 1964 with The Blue Notes and later settled in Denmark, where his work shaped Dørge’s New Jungle Orchestra and a generation of Scandinavian musicians. The album includes new interpretations of all four pieces from Dyani’s 1979 Song for Biko, alongside selections from other Dyani releases.
The recording alternates between melodic ensemble playing and freer improvisation, highlighting the contrast between Dørge’s tonal, color-shifting guitar and Knuffke’s clear, lyrical cornet. Rhythmic cues from Andersson and Andersen evoke both the township roots of Dyani’s writing and the chamber-like feel of Dørge’s long SteepleChase history. Blues pieces such as “Blues for Bra Dick” sit alongside more atmospheric works like “Confession of Moods,” and the session closes with a slower, reflective reprise of “Song for Biko.” The album functions as both tribute and documentation: a focused return to Dyani’s repertoire through the lens of musicians who knew him and have carried his influence forward.

Provided to YouTube by The Orchard EnterprisesAll In All · Pierre Dørge · Kirk KnuffkeSongs for Mbizo℗ 2025 SteepleChase Productions ApSReleased on: 2025-11-...

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