(awesome tapes, new york / berlin)

"a good blog is a goldmine." - JENNIFER ALLAN (THE WIRE)

after a stint in GHANA researching the local hip-hop movement, BROOKLYN's BRIAN SHIMKOVITZ, a trained ethnomusicologist, has accumulated hundreds of cassette tapes of rare african music from ZIMBABWE to ETHOPIA to SENEGAL. he has been sharing his bounty through his popular blog AWESOME TAPES FROM AFRICA, which he takes on the road as a DJ - expect a trip to the music cultures of an entire continent! recently, AWESOME TAPES FROM AFRICA has played high profile events such as ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES (2010 and 2011), ROSKILDE, and GILLES PETERSON'S WORLDWIDE FESTIVAL. next to that, BRIAN SHIMKOVITZ hosted a special project at PARIS' prestigious MUSEE DU QUAI BRANLY and a night of music from GHANA at BERLIN's WORLDTRONICS festival.

AWESOME TAPES FROM AFRICA is now also a label, with the first release just made available via SECRETLY CANADIAN distro: the critically acclaimed LA GRANDE CANTATRICE MALIENNE VOL. 3 is a classic 1982 recording by MALI's legendary diva, NÂ HAWA DOUMBIA. expect more releases to follow in the coming months.