Main content

Andy's Kitchen and On the Road in Africa

Andy Kershaw introduces his own cassette recordings of music from his travels in Africa during the 1980s.

During the 1980s, DJ Andy Kershaw travelled around Africa and the Americas searching out great music and taping it on his Walkman Pro, a new broadcast-quality cassette recorder that was bringing about a revolution in mobile recording. He also used it to capture his celebrated Kitchen Sessions, held in his small flat in Crouch End. In the first of four features, Andy delves into his boxes of cassettes and brings us music from his journeys in Africa - including his encounters with the then-unknown Ali Farka TourΓ©, and the vibrant music scene of the newly-independent Zimbabwe - plus Kitchen Sessions from Cajun musicians Eddie Lejeune and DL Menard, also American singing legends Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore (first broadcast in 2020).

Available now

44 minutes

Music Played

  • Butch Hancock & Jimmie Dale Gilmore

    One Road More (London, July 13 1988)

  • Butch Hancock & Jimmie Dale Gilmore

    The Wind's Dominion (London, July 13 1988)

  • Ali Farka TourΓ©

    Kadi Kadi (London, October 1987)

  • Dembo Konte & Kausu Kuyateh

    kora duet (The Gambia, December 1986 )

  • Desmali y su Grupo Bamba de La Costa

    The Suffering of Antonio (Equatorial Guinea, December 1991)

  • DL Menard, Eddie LeJeune & Ken Smith

    J'etais au Bal (London, April 1990)

  • The Christian Army Band

    Commit your way to the Lord (Chinoye, Zimbabwe, January 1988)

  • Madzia Matatu & Teresa Machingambe

    Tariro (Harare, Zimbabwe, March 1989)

  • Madzia Matatu & Teresa Machingambe

    Gospel song (Harare, Zimbabwe, March 1989)

  • Mali Keletigui Diabate

    La Bamba (Bamako, Mali, November 1988)

  • Super Rail Band in Bamako

    unnamed piece (Bamako, Mali, November 1988)

  • Ali Farka TourΓ© & Haira Arby

    Patience (Timbuktu, Mali, December 1988)

Broadcasts

  • Sun 20 Sep 2020 18:45
  • Mon 15 Aug 2022 22:00

Featured in...

What was really wrong with Beethoven?

What was really wrong with Beethoven?

Georgia Mann and neurosurgeon Henry Marsh explore the puzzle of Beethoven’s poor health.

Classical music in a strongman's Russia – has anything changed since Stalin's day?

What composer Gabriel Prokofiev and I found in Putin's Moscow...

Six Secret Smuggled Books

Six classic works of literature we wouldn't have read if they hadn't been smuggled...

Grid

Seven images inspired by the grid

World Music collector, Sir David Attenborough

The field recordings Attenborough of music performances around the world.