DJ Raf
My first exposure to popular Aftican music was as a teen on the east coast hearing Miriam Makeba’s “Pata Pata” and then Hugh Masekela’s “Grazing In The Grass” which hit #1 in 1968. With all the new rock and soul music emerging during that time competition was fierce, but these stood out as very dance-able and curiously infectious – I simply couldn’t get these tunes out of my head.
Cut forward to my arriving to Santa Cruz in ‘76. Free-spirited and open-minded, I parked my van up the hill and thought I’d check out this little berg. So I walked down to the town clock tower. Next to it was a sidewalk cafe called the Good Fruit Company where I noticed some African’s wearing traditional dashikis and toting fender guitars. They were setting up for a show so I decided to stick around to listen. By dusk they were jamming their Highlife music, gathering a small crowd who danced on the sidewalk outside the cafe. By dark the crowed swelled and spilled out into the street, still dancing. I was wondering if the police would show up because it got loud and people were blocking the road. None showed. Instead, whenever a car pulled up to the crowd they gently backed up and drove the other way. I thought to myself “Wow, where am I? Who is this group?” It was Santa Cruz in the 70’s and Hedzoleh Soundz was playing for free. I decided to stick around.
About a year later while working in my art studio late at night, I heard local community radio station KUSP announce they were looking for programmers. No prior radio experience was necessary, but compiling a playlist was. Being a night owl and eclectic music enthusiast, I thought I’d give this a try. Back east I listened to Pacifica (WBAI) and college stations so I was raised on alternative radio. It turned me on to music I’d never hear anywhere else. The play list I sent to KUSP included Astor Piazzola and Django Reinhardt. I’m sure it helped me get noticed. In Feb. of ‘77 I did my first radio show, Saturday morning from 3:00 to 7:00 am and called it Ante Meridiem Antics. It was mostly free-form jazz and spoken word. From Ken Nordine to Bitch’s Brew to Roland Kirk…great fun.
After a couple-a-three years or so the show moved to a better time slot, midnight to 3:00 am. Now it followed the most popular show at the time, Roots, Rock, Reggae with Lance Linares (who happen to be the station manager). He always left me with some intense “dub” and I found it damn hard to segue from that unbelievable Jamaican sound. Then one day Laura (Lance’s wife, also a programmer) subbed for him and pulled out a Fela Kuti record and I played Zombie. Wow! It had the power, rhythm, lyrics, plus it was a great segue from reggae. I looked for more and discovered artists like Dudu Pukwana, Johnny Dyani, Manu Dibango, and even my old favorites Abdullah Ibrahim and Hugh Masekela. Whenever visiting my family in New York I’d visit the the African Record Center (located in Brooklyn) to collect. In 1980 I decided to change the name of the show The Vinyl Jungle and change it’s musical format to feature only music from Africa.
The 80’s saw an explosion of music from Africa. Acts like King Sunny Ade sold out and KUSP started categorizing Africa via geographic regions. From Soukous to Juju to Highlife to Mbaqanga, some styles even got mainstream recognition (Paul Simon’s Graceland, Michael Jackson’s Wanna Be Startin’ Somthin’). In 1990, after a decade of a midnight to 2:00 am shift, and moving 40 miles away to Monterey, I decided to give up my “air chair” to Mikey Kanner. Since he was already doing another world music program, he co-hosted with Brenda Bryant. They did an outstanding job, and even kept the original name.
Cut to ten years later (got married, had kids, a house in Silicon Valley), I meet up with ‘Pataphysician, Dale Owen, at a party. He said the station was looking for a programmer for my old show. I was then living in Campbell which was a lot closer then Carmel, so I was very excited to be back in 2000. There were more changes within the station than the technology, but the biggest was CD’s as the primary music format rather than vinyl records. The old name just had to be retired, so after many wild replacement suggestions (my favorite was “The Polycarbonate Rain forest”), Rhythm Afrique was chosen.
Another change was a new time slot, 8:00 to 10:00 pm. This definitely helped gain more listeners (and helped me get more sleep). And now through the internet we can have a blog with play lists, local concert listings, information about the artists, and maybe if we’re lucky… podcasts!
I love this music. it’s some of the best in the world. I’d personally like to thank each and every one of you for listening and supporting Central Coast Public Radio KUSP. It’s a privilege to be hosting this program and sharing the rich music from Africa. I hope keep doing this for many years to come.
Keep the Beat,
Rafael DeSoto