Thursday, February 4, 2010

Exuma- I, II & Do Wah Nanny (1970-71)

Let me just say- I'm completely in love with Nina Simone. A couple of years ago, my friend Scott gave me an amazing lesser known track by her, called "22nd Century". To say its an epic mystical speculative protest ballad is the best way that I can see fit to describe the thing. I became obsessed. So, after years of wondering about the song, I discovered that it was first written and performed by an anachronistic Bahamian Afro-folk artist named Exuma.
Turns out, Nina recorded excellent renditions of no less than three of this guy's songs- Dambala, Obeah Woman and 22nd Century. That was all the endorsement I needed, so I went and found his first three albums. They rule.

"Dambala"


"Fire In The Hole" (anyone else recognize the Ariel Pink sample at the beginning?)


"You Don't Know What's Going On"


Media Fire Download Link: Exuma I, Exuma II & Do Wah Nanny (folder)

Exuma I (1970)

Exuma, The Obeah Man 6:16
Dambala 5:34
Mama Loi, Papa Loi 4:32
Junkanoo 3:24
Seance In The Sixth Fret 7:14
You Don't Know What's Going On 3:27

Exuma II (1970)

Damn Fool 4:20
Baäl 6:26
Paul Simon Nontooth 5:14
Fire In The Hole 6:47
A Place Called Earth 6:22
We Got To Go 2:48
African Rythm 4:53
Zandoo 4:47

Do Wah Nanny (1971)

Do Wah Nanny 4:20
Silver City 6:30
Eyebrows And Beard 2:55
She Looks So Fine 4:10
Roweena 4:54
The Bowery 3:24
22nd Century 9:00
Do Wah Nanny (Part 2) 3:00
The Vision 8:14

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

thank you so much.
Have discovered so much through yr splendid blog.
The mississippi records!!

And Exuma!!!
wow. this guy still sounds as truly unique, exotic, trippy and exciting today as he was back then.
Just as good as dr john's "gris gris" which is a masterpiece in my book.

now, the thing I am constantly looking for...
where is the track "Yesu ka mkwebaze" from the mississippi record "Lipa Kodi Ya City Council" taken from?
I desparately need to hear more from them...only thing I've found out is that it's from Rwanda.
Passing this along here as you are one of the greatest music sources I know of. Peace. K

Ghostchild said...

And I thought I was the only one. I am glad to see I'm not alone with my Nina Simone, and Exuma fetish. I have almost all his CDs now, and I must say that 22nd Century is one of the spookiest , most fascinating things ever written. Love Nina's version, and I wish Exuma was a household name for songs like "Damn Fool" and all his ritualistic sounding tunes. I discovered your blog while looking for Disco Not Disco. Kudos and all those nice things to you.

FQ said...

Awesome!
The media folder is down, could you repost the link please?

Cheers