VOA [Voice of America] Global English : March 22, 2020 04:00PM-05:00PM EDT

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VOA [Voice of America] Global English : March 22, 2020 04:00PM-05:00PM EDT

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Closed captions transcript: 00:05:05 Hello everyone happy weekend this is music time in Africa I'm Heather Maxwell 00:05:11 broadcasting from Washington this is the 1st of several editions of the show that 00:05:16 speaking produced in the midst of our world's coronavirus pandemic 00:05:21 a few things are different the main one being I'm recording from my portable home 00:05:26 studio still in Washington d.c. 00:05:29 But not at Voice of America headquarters that means no live guests no Kwame all for 00:05:35 you joining me for Song of the week but I've still got 00:05:39 a great show for you we're going to get through this together people and the music 00:05:44 will help keep our spirits up so here's what's inside today 00:05:49 a great lineup of kinds Afrobeat reggae dancehall And now for the soul classic 00:05:55 Mondeo and rock 00:05:57 n live band music Angolan these songs by an old school African room by 00:06:04 Song Of The Week is no bad divide by up and coming out from pop artist rock cash 00:06:11 from Liberia and I've got 2 features for one from Mali about singer 00:06:17 songwriter Rokia currently in prison in France over child custody dispute 00:06:24 posthumous brings us the latest on that from Bob Hope and the other on 00:06:28 a much lighter note from Nairobi about former Olympic swimmer turned rapper and it 00:06:35 must be said also 00:06:36 a white blue eyed Kenyan Jason dumb furred aka some I keep in mind below the 00:06:43 brings us this feature and finally mixed in among all of these great songs and 00:06:48 features I've got Covidien 19 news as it regards some of your favorite African 00:06:54 artists cancelled tours sicknesses postponed events I'll get you informed about 00:07:00 what's happening in the African music industry worldwide. Ok So sit back everybody 00:07:07 relax and enjoy the show we start out in Togo with the amazing award winning singer 00:07:14 . This is or mix them up her newest single she sings you know there are 00:07:21 people out there who want to see you fail mind them just mix them up confuse them 00:07:27 and you keep on doing your. 00:07:42 Blog. 00:07:57 This morning. 00:08:04 Because. 00:08:15 As. I said. 00:10:28 Yes. Ok everybody this is Heather Maxwell and you're out 00:10:36 of music time in Africa now to Nigeria Here's the latest single 00:10:42 a cell and say time is precious times 00:10:44 a gift every 2nd using Well lo. And. 00:13:07 Yes use your time oh well people that will see me with cell and say hey Downing's 00:13:13 I'm Heather music time in Africa and broadcasting from my home studio in the heart 00:13:17 of the United States capitol city Capitol Hill Washington 00:13:21 d c And you know why Carone up virus. 00:13:30 Music and. Fame and you. Can see these days you cry enough because. 00:13:38 This next song is by boss 00:13:40 a cuckoo yachties the leading and Bony player from Mali Goni is the traditional 00:13:46 lute known throughout the us to hell and North Africa that has existed since 00:13:53 1352 are you here in this 650 years old this instrument is 00:14:00 it's also called other names in other areas like the hollow more the game very even 00:14:04 since here in the north Africa so anyway Bostic who's band called is his family 00:14:11 his wife sings his children play other instruments This is one of my favorite songs 00:14:18 of his most recent album that features another famous Mali and singer songwriter 00:14:23 and guitarist. The song is called calm now which translates as she 00:14:29 left me alone you know it's about 00:14:31 a man whose lover has left him. Going 00:14:40 to give. Me any longer. 00:14:48 You know. To 00:14:55 make. The news. 00:15:01 Because. 00:15:15 But you. Are going to. Need to. 00:15:23 Come. 00:15:31 To. 00:16:04 The. 00:16:22 Good. News. 00:16:31 Sol This is county but coming back to the coronavirus pandemic and how it's 00:16:38 affecting African musicians. And got hammered by it last week 00:16:45 they were in the middle of 00:16:46 a big European tour and then everything just fell apart. Told me the story on 00:16:52 what's happening and he's speaking in French here so I'll translate so I start out 00:16:57 by asking him if he and his family are all Ok. Dollars. 00:17:06 I'm fine I arrived home safely everything is fine but it was really difficult they 00:17:12 cancelled 10 concerts response to come on March 21st but on the 20th Royal Air 00:17:19 Morocco cancelled my return flights. 00:17:26 So I had to buy new tickets Tunisia air but when we got to the airport I see that 00:17:32 Tunisia air was also blocked so I was really stuck at the airport the Frankfurt 00:17:38 Airport in Germany so I was obliged to again by new tickets on Ethiopian air and 00:17:45 that's how we got back to the course but I lost 00:17:48 a lot of money nobody helped us I had to pay all of that money out of my own pocket 00:17:54 we lost all of the money that we were going to make on this tour all of it but we 00:18:00 can't do anything and we really can't blame anyone else so I had to dig deep and 00:18:05 pay for the hotels all the tickets everything just so we could make it home all in 00:18:10 all the whole thing cost me about 50 to 60000 euros but thank God we are 00:18:17 back safely in bomb 00:18:18 a clone of. Music. 00:18:28 You know 00:18:28 a lion for the live stream right is I don't mind 100 on Saturdays and Sundays 00:18:33 Iceman 115202200 unit. To view in News dot com click 00:18:41 then choose feel in Africa. All right hey guys so we just heard from. And 00:18:48 his ordeal with coded 19 well award winning God may end up 00:18:54 reggae dancehall artist don't boy also have big problems I spoke to him earlier 00:19:00 this week from Atlanta Georgia in the u.s. 00:19:03 Waiting for his. Flight home to our crop Thursday he said I've called off and 00:19:08 postponed all my events and tours and headed back home man well I hope you made it 00:19:13 back safe and sound stone Boy Well let's listen to one of his latest tracks called 00:19:19 African party from his new album the one he was promoting when he was supposed to 00:19:23 be doing all of his tours in the us I'm no God junction. 00:19:34 Box. 00:19:42 To get to. See my. 00:20:01 God I'm. Going to. 00:20:17 Pick up. 00:20:40 My car loads up. The back. 00:21:03 Foot. 00:22:50 Oh yeah that was with African party 00:22:53 a track off his new album on low but Junction this is the next well I hope you're 00:22:58 doing well and enjoying your weekend despite the coronavirus pandemic. That is 00:23:04 terrorizing the whole world we're doing Ok here too but you know all trying to sell 00:23:10 porn teen and we're promoting I'm actually broadcasting right now from my home 00:23:15 studio but I'm so happy we're all still together doing this thing called music time 00:23:21 in Africa to number you to Number One of the But number 3 with the number 2 Hello 00:23:28 World My name is be. A freak and you are listening to music time in Africa with 00:23:34 nuts keep it low. No we're going to slow things down 00:23:41 this next song is from South African singer songwriter Amanda Benedict Antony 00:23:46 popularly known as Amanda black is called does 00:23:50 a win now I'm here for you now black 1st achieved recognition in 2016 00:23:57 following the release of her single. And then the debut album by the same name 00:24:03 which was certified Platinum 3 weeks after its release. This song. Comes off 00:24:10 her 2nd album Our released October 26th the sun. 00:24:18 I'm told you do. All the. 00:24:27 Details. And not all it seems. 00:24:36 I really do. Gene Pool Hall. 00:24:48 Just zoom. 00:24:55 Zoom live. Live 00:25:02 live. 00:25:18 I. 00:25:31 Did. 00:26:27 Ok that was when not by Amanda black Hey everybody I'm Heather Maxwell I've got 2 00:26:34 more tunes for you before we get to Song of the week and then more awesome music 00:26:39 from Uganda d 00:26:40 r c and Morocco plus 2 features one how Mali and singer songwriter Rokia Prodi has 00:26:47 wound up incarcerated in Belgium and to 00:26:51 a Libyan swimmer gone rapper in Kenya with 00:26:55 a Mexican twist Ok back to right now here is 00:26:59 a fresh new sound out of montréal this is Dhaka Dombo. With the title track of his 00:27:05 debut album just released March 13th. Is originally from the. 00:27:13 French and about illegal immigration calls on African youths to refuse to board 00:27:20 those makeshift boats risking their lives in order to reach the West I spoke with 00:27:26 earlier this week who is also frustrated by the outbreak because he had his album. 00:30:53 That was. A little bold the album is brand new out on all 00:31:00 platforms his release concert in montréal is postponed until. Further notice due to 00:31:05 the you know what. It's music time enough. 00:31:15 All right time for a little classic. This is a 2 Moody 00:31:20 a 2 by singer Eduardo out of Angola not. 00:31:55 Long. Long. 00:32:40 Time. 00:33:00 Yet. 00:34:27 Everybody that was Eduardo by you from Angola I had 00:34:30 a mass Well now we turn to Liberia. As the 00:34:37 song of the week. Yeah so Song Of The Week is no 00:34:44 bad vibes by an artist on the rise in Monrovia he reached out to me on Twitter in 00:34:50 response to 00:34:51 a call out that I made to artists who've been affected by the coronavirus His name 00:34:57 is Nelly. A k 00:35:00 a. Here's what he wrote. Hey serve I am an African artist from Liberia 00:35:07 I saw your post about being interrupted by Corona virus outbreak I bent down for 00:35:12 a year as an upcoming artist then I released 00:35:15 a new project on the 7th of this month March while in the process of promoting the 00:35:21 response to the project by the public was really positive until 1000 showed up in 00:35:27 Monrovia Liberia on Friday the 13th and put a stop to 00:35:31 a lot of movement which has affected the promotion of my project Ok well rock cash 00:35:37 sent me a single his project and it's good it's called no bad vibes Let's take 00:35:44 a listen. 00:35:52 What are you doing. But you 00:35:59 do like I do things that make you crack through. 00:36:06 Your love. To work your. 00:36:14 Comfort. 00:36:27 Come From. 00:38:08 After. 00:39:06 All right Soledad was no bad vibes by rock cash from Liberia and that was Ok 00:39:13 well not here to finish this out with me but you all know it Song of the week. 00:39:22 Hey I'm Heather Maxwell This is music time in Africa and I hope you're all enjoying 00:39:26 the show so far in case you're just tuning in I'm broadcasting today from my home 00:39:30 studio in Capitol Hill Washington d.c. 00:39:33 Because corona virus it has me and many of us in the nation's capital 00:39:40 quarantining whether we have the virus or even symptoms of it or not we are all 00:39:45 social distancing. Now let's catch up with reporter Brum Posthumus in 00:39:52 bomb 00:39:53 a cult and find out the latest on our day's incarceration my. Heather 00:40:09 on every one of music time in Africa this is 00:40:11 a sad story but also one that is full of defiance last week Wednesday Molly woke up 00:40:18 to the shocking news that one of the national heroes who have been taken off 00:40:24 a plane and into 00:40:25 a French jail before we go into the details of this case it's important to 00:40:30 understand what she represents especially for 00:40:33 a generation of young Molly and women growing up with her music I spoke with. A 00:40:39 passionate advocate of Mali and culture Here's what she has to say. 00:40:58 D.l. 00:40:58 Says many of us songs are related to. Life she says she was very young and her parents 00:41:05 were having arguments then released which talks about exactly that. 00:41:12 She played that song over and over again and was consoled the same happened when 00:41:18 her father passed away listened to 00:41:22 a song that deals with death You're listening to it now. 00:41:32 This is true for so many women of her generation. Is Us she is that 00:41:39 independent young people to take charge of their destiny. And they cannot 00:41:45 possibly be to sit in 00:41:47 a cell somewhere in Europe. Reactions 00:42:01 to Rocky hours in prison months were swift in Mali Belgium and in France support 00:42:06 movement started a petition attracted $30000.00 signatures in less than 00:42:10 a week. Managers Rocky cultural space called. He told me how they 00:42:17 went about it. Plains how he 1st 00:42:23 wanted to know what the problem was he called one of the family lawyers and heard 00:42:27 about the accusations of child abduction levelled against her this he assured me is 00:42:33 false he personally saw former partner coming into Bamako to see their child 00:42:39 frequently and what's more rockier paid for his tickets. You know is 00:42:46 a French musician composer and arranger he worked with Michael and remembers her as 00:42:51 a perfectionist she'd keep 00:42:53 a mental record of whatever musical project she was working on and with nothing but 00:42:59 the very best from her musicians. 00:43:11 Academics journalists activists football stars musicians there has been 00:43:16 a great outpouring of support for one of Molly's greatest stars and this voice you 00:43:22 are hearing belongs to another rising star this time from. She wrote 00:43:27 a song in support of her idol. 00:43:36 Explains that she is d. 00:43:38 Crying the injustice that's put Rocky in 00:43:40 a French jail it's not just that she needs to have justice it's larger than that 00:43:46 the world needs because she stands for peace unity and equality. 00:43:58 One of the fair all finds it extremely sad that these wars happen between too 00:44:02 formal of us he adds the story stands for many where 00:44:07 a European and an African part of fight over children the African side almost 00:44:12 always loses even when the raw grave accusations leveled against the European side 00:44:18 as is the case here too well Rocky s. 00:44:22 Case get 00:44:22 a fair hearing. This song is called 00:44:29 news so which means at my home and that's where Molly and want to see them at home 00:44:35 united with her child to fortify her because she started the hunger strike more 00:44:40 than 00:44:40 a week ago an extradition hearing is planned for Wednesday March the 25th Holley is 00:44:46 holding its breath despite. This put. 00:45:07 Thank you Brom posthumous. A free go band is the 00:45:13 longest lasting musical group in the history of Uganda it has existed for 45 years 00:45:19 I just love their set even though the band has rotating members they've just always 00:45:25 maintained great sound Here's one of my favorite cuts from their 2015 album. 00:45:40 You know. 00:45:51 John I. 00:46:06 Don't know. Which. 00:46:15 Is the most far. Far removed from. 00:46:23 The point. 00:46:41 Where. They are not going to. 00:46:53 Get. That. Yet and that 00:47:00 was a free go band from Uganda with Ali now 00:47:03 a challenge. Hey darling listeners. This is Heather Maxwell and before hooking up 00:47:08 with below d.d. 00:47:10 In Nairobi for his feature interview with Sam I keep which means the big fish I 00:47:16 want us to listen to this beautiful touching ballad by Congolese singer. And 00:47:23 featuring. This song needs to be received by the heart people. 00:47:30 First and he says when you're alive when you're in your prime tell your family you 00:47:35 love them before they leave this earth tell people you appreciate and show them you 00:47:41 love them don't wait until the moment they're near death to roll out your riches 00:47:47 don't wait til they're suffering to show them you love them then folly comes in 00:47:53 when they're alive show them how much you love them and how much you treasure than 00:47:58 those who depend on you tell them I love you don't wait until they die to roll out 00:48:03 your gold on their tombs that's why you should tell them today I love you family I 00:48:09 love you now's the time to prove it don't wait til they're in heaven don't wait til 00:48:15 they disappear in hell tell them now I love you family I love you. 00:48:35 Don't know. 00:48:47 If you saw. 00:49:01 Ome. Movie. Move. 00:49:09 You get. Hit you get 00:49:12 a. Job You know the time was run up almost. 00:49:19 Thank you Subban womb 1000 don't cut. During the Kobo movie. You'll end up 00:49:26 coming in. Oh you'll get to love God told you about Google 00:49:33 his chin local gun lobby could. Go up to the end up. 00:49:41 Moving is 00:49:42 a. Neat thing it's been along with me. You 00:49:51 . Will cause 00:49:52 a lot about whom I now book on. Bullock he said look I'm going to move because they 00:49:58 like to buck I was see my old gun nut I would. Move 00:50:06 to 00:50:06 a low sub and bold boy to chimp let me clear the bowl you'll get 00:50:13 his mean I'm not going to those being naughty he'll move move to something funny 00:50:20 the teeth long long in the bud day. Who think I 00:50:27 should move me soon me. Let me let him have 00:50:33 a look at the give. Me. 00:50:45 Time When will you know you're going to snuggle up. Close enough 00:50:52 to have a kinda nothing but a good. Cause in 00:50:58 a livable nutmeg anything long. Tongue was on 00:51:04 a couple of key songs. 00:51:13 So. It was. 00:51:22 The son to me. 00:51:30 To. The to me 00:51:37 me. 00:51:44 No. Longer. And that was funny family my local 00:51:51 cons are featuring funny. All right so now let's go to Nairobi and learn about this 00:51:58 big fish wrapper Jason Dunford and his music that's got a Mexican twist below d.d. 00:52:04 Reports. One Greetings from Nairobi Kenya thank you so much have 00:52:11 a Maxwell. And to them to some fun vibes from this part of the world on music time 00:52:18 enough to come to talk about mind. 00:52:34 The kind of to find. Out. 00:52:48 The music you're listening to from the debut album by a Kenyan artist known as 00:52:52 a Jason down for he's a former on limpy and Sweeney is also 00:52:55 a journalist and is now 00:52:57 a rapper his stage name is so much cool which translated from the Kiswahili 00:53:01 language means the big fish obviously 00:53:03 a reference to swimming skills he performs. Music alongside 00:53:07 a mexican this year in Kenya called romantical But how did the school there meet 00:53:12 mine. So I had done my studies and completed my graduate degree in California we 00:53:18 had gone to my training and got 00:53:21 a swimming scholarship that during my swimming days after that university based on 00:53:26 performance I stayed on to work in the corporate world and we kind of got into the 00:53:30 reggaeton music culture of California because you know there's 00:53:32 a lot of influences from Latin America and that part of the world when I came back 00:53:36 home because we started my business I was you know coming with to work as 00:53:41 a journalist I heard on the radio this is crazy reggaeton being combined and 00:53:47 getting it so this is the sounds of my you from. The Latin American is struck me 00:53:51 that this is something unique I think don't think anyone had ever done it before. 00:53:59 So I thought of it from 00:53:59 a perspective of journalist What an interesting story about how did how did this 00:54:03 even happen right I mean you know I thought the song was pretty cool and pretty 00:54:06 good you know that I had 00:54:07 a regular on feel like Yang coming in as well so it's good not bad I guess that's 00:54:12 why some radio stations had picked up on it and then when I met him and he just 00:54:16 like straight in the moment they're going to do song with me now that was kind of 00:54:19 a. Let's give it 00:54:20 a go let's meet of the week and I'm not working right now but and took the project 00:54:24 forward from. 00:54:35 His name. 00:54:48 To. Be fun to be d.v.d. 00:54:54 And. There's a song I did with 00:54:58 a journalist colleague of mine. Song and it features Sheba Murray who was 00:55:05 she was 00:55:06 a lady. American was in Kenya. Working in education she says I'm going back to 00:55:13 Los Angeles Pete and myself to conceptualize this for me on location because he 00:55:17 told me he'd been a singer and he showed me 00:55:19 a demo that he had done in college this song cover some I said when I put 00:55:23 a rock on it and we do 00:55:24 a collaboration and then she became into the mix because I was connected with it 00:55:28 and so it came to. 00:55:59 One. Sweet Song by Jason done for Also known as somebody 00:56:07 the big fish It's called some featuring someone. And it's on the. T.v. 00:56:13 For now thanks for listening. To you right back to have the music time enough for 00:56:19 Carl. Thank you 00:56:26 Bill Oh Davey Well we've got time for one more tune so here's the most recent 00:56:31 single from the Moroccan life band from taco meat the rock tribes this young rising 00:56:37 group whom I've met twice in Morocco and they're all just lovely talented smart 00:56:43 great guys were also touched by the coronavirus they had 00:56:47 a July and August tour scheduled for Spain France and Italy Well now it's all put 00:56:54 on hold indefinitely enjoy this refreshing sound. Tribes. 00:57:26 A. 00:58:53 Call it is time to say. Thanks so much for joining in also 00:59:00 thanks to the artists who responded to my tweets African music and the coronavirus 00:59:05 . And thanks to. 00:59:13 Outstanding journalistic. 00:59:24 Take it seriously. Saturday and Sunday at 00:59:32 5 and 20. 500 00:59:39 universal time and Saturdays and Sundays. 525 and 20. 00:59:48 Can always find us on line at. Any time. Time in 00:59:55 Africa till next week stay healthy and stay. 01:00:04 This is the news via remote some Elton Senator Rand Paul confirms Sunday that he 01:00:10 tested positive for covert 19 he's the 1st u.s. 01:00:14 Senator to do so by 01:00:15 a tweet from the Kentucky Republicans account said the senator is feeling fine and 01:00:19 is in quarantine the senator said he was 01:00:22 a symptomatic and had not been in contact with any known carriers of the novel 01:00:27 coronavirus that was tested out of an out of an abundance of caution due to his 01:00:32 extensive travel and recent events as many Americans across the United States 01:00:37 struggle to get tested for cope with 19 critics have taken to social media to ask 01:00:42 how and why the senator got 01:00:44 a test if he was asymptomatic and had had no contact with the carrier Meanwhile 01:00:49 German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Sunday that she has gone into self 01:00:53 quarantine after the doctor who gave her 01:00:56 a routine vaccination on Friday tested positive for the virus Europe has become the 01:01:01 epicenter of the cope and 19 outbreak the hardest hit nation Italy reported 01:01:05 hundreds of new deaf. On Sunday the total number of deaths in Italy has now 01:01:10 surpassed 5400 there are 53578 confirmed cases of the virus in 01:01:17 Italy according to Johns Hopkins coronavirus Resource Center Spain is also hard hit 01:01:22 with more than $25000.00 cases Spanish opera singer plus ago Domingo confirmed on 01:01:27 Sunday he has tested positive for covert 19 in Africa cases have emerged in Angola 01:01:34 Eritrea South Africa Uganda and Zimbabwe the Us Food and Drug Administration has 01:01:40 granted an emergency authorisation to a u.s. 01:01:42 Company to distribute rapid coronavirus tests test produce results in 1545 minutes 01:01:48 they will initially be made available to hospital and emergency rooms so I know 01:01:53 where the virus 1st began late last year has reported no new local infections for 01:01:58 14 hit 4th the 3rd day in 01:02:00 a row this is the way news North Korea is 01:02:07 welcomed welcoming what it says was 01:02:09 a letter from President Trump to North Korean leader Kim Jong un saying it was 01:02:13 a sign of the very special and firm personal relations between the 2 leaders 01:02:19 a senior trumpet ministrations official confirmed the president sent him 01:02:22 a letter and calls it consistent with the administration's efforts to engage global 01:02:27 leaders during the ongoing pandemic the International Olympic Committee says it is 01:02:32 weighing whether to go ahead with the Summer Olympics the organization has faced it 01:02:37 has faced mounting opposition to the current schedule for the Tokyo 2020 games 01:02:42 which includes 01:02:43 a start date of July 24th athletes teams and federations have been calling for 01:02:47 a delay due to the coronavirus outbreak c.n.n. Reported Sunday the i.o.c. 01:02:53 Is giving itself up to 4 weeks to decide whether to continue the games on the 01:02:57 current schedule Indian Police say hundreds of Maoist rebels killed 17 police men.