Rec me music, part 2!

[oyceter]

I still haven't decided what music to get yet! I'm trying to listen to everything and pick what I like.

So... Does anyone have more recs for happy, bouncy music by women of color? I looked at my music library, and it is embarrassingly white.

Comments

[seaya.livejournal.com]

Happy and bouncy? Well, hmm. I'm not sure if this qualifies exactly as that, but, M.I.A. has a new album out that is interesting.

I guess Thalia is happy and bouncy and poppy, and so is Shakira (both are Spanish language).

And Zuco 103 has a Brazillian front woman, and they are pretty good.

Have you heard of Zap Mama? They have great harmonies.

That should be a good start.

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

How do you feel about North African/Middle Eastern Dance Music?

[gwynnega]

Joan Armatrading, especially the Show Some Emotion album. (It's not all happy and bouncy, but a lot of it is...)

[littlebutfierce]

Emm Gryner's "Symphonic" is a really bouncy, happy song. I love everything of hers that I've heard, but a lot of the other stuff is more somber. And she's Filipina Canadian, woo!

[rilina.livejournal.com]

My current favorite female Jpop and Kpop artists are YUKI and Younha. And, of course, Ikimono gakari has a female lead singer.

Classic Motown?

I have cds by Lauryn Hill and Corinne Bailey Rae on my to-buy list, but I don't think they particularly fit your happy, bouncy requirement.

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

Hmm. My limited music library is also pretty white, and the stuff that I can identify as being definitely by women of color is not exactly bouncy. (I mean, I suppose I could check the lyrics for the Cambodian CD, but I know at least some of those songs are about the Khmer Rouge so I'm thinking no.)

I am very fond of the Dixie Cups' version of Iko Iko, which I have on a CD of music from New Orleans.

[heresluck]

Seconding the Zap Mama recommendation -- they're wonderful! Oh, and also Joan Armatrading; she has a Best Of that is a very good introduction to her music. Other possibilities: Angelique Kidjo (all her CDs are good, but I especially like Oremi), Gigi (wonderful self-titled CD), Walela (okay, their CD is not actually happy/bouncy, but it's so lovely), Laura Love (especially Octoroon and Shum Ticky), Kinnie Star (not always happy, but mostly energetic), and... hmm. Most of the rest of the artists I can think of are hip-hop or neo-soul, which I don't know whether you listen to. Oh! Lisa Hunter, but her CDs were always pretty hard to find and may now be impossible.

OK, now without the html snafu!

[vonnie-k.livejournal.com]

The Noisettes, What's the Time, Mr. Wolf?. The Noisettes are a new British band and the lead singer, Shingai Shoniwa, is of Zimbabwean descent. She's awesome: here is the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C91iV8gQb1U) for the lead-single, "Dont Give Up".

Cibo Matto, Viva La Woman. A Japanese duo whose all consuming passion, next to music, seems to be food. (All of the songs on the album is about one food item or another.) Their songs are more languid and slinky than energetic though. I like them a lot. You might be familiar with "Sugar Water", which was featured in an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".

I have sadly very little contemporary R&B stuff. Some Lauren Hill & Macy Gray -- I guess Macy Gray is bouncy. Depends on how much you like funk. I have tons of jazz with African-America female artists, but I suspect that might not be up your alley.

Then there is Nina Simone, who is the opposite of happy & bouncy but my, her stuff is good. ANGRY, but good.

[takumashii.livejournal.com]

I would go to French-language African music for some really fantastic stuff, although the only group that I'm really really familiar with is Les Nubians.

[snarp]

Megababe's Speak Japanese or Die is quite cheerful!

I think? I don't know if this is the sort of thing you're looking for.

Re: OK, now without the html snafu!

[seaya.livejournal.com]

I was going to recommend Cibo Matto, but I thought maybe that would be too cliched.

But I will add that their second album is much more bouncy.

[seajules]

Imani Coppola. She's not always happy, but most of her stuff is undeniably bouncy, and there are bonus sfnal references in a lot of her songs.

This is the video to her song that was getting a fair amount of play several years back, "Legend of a Cowgirl." I love the skewering of some famous sexist tropes in the course of it, starting with the setup of most ZZ Topp videos.

[chr0me-kitten.livejournal.com]

Ditto to NOISEttes, Cibo Matto, & M.I.A.

Also, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Res, Missy Elliot, Jill Scott

[octopedingenue]

Wow, aside from J/K-pop and soundtracks, my music is embarrassingly white too. I will steal from your recs!

Here are a few (non-Jpop) I have that I love:
Mary J. Blige featuring U2 as her glorified backup band - One
Tracy Chapman - Telling Stories I will never not want to marry and grow old with this song.
Tracy Chapman - She's Got Her Ticket relatively bouncy?
Tracy Chapman - For My Lover slow and deep and bittersweet, I am not worthy
Alana Davis - Turtle socute!
Morcheeba - The Sea I love female-fronted electronica so much and Morcheeba is some of the best.

[octopedingenue]

IIRC this month's UTNE magazine has a spread (taken from another magazine?) of Africans who rock in various ways, and there were quite a few musicians.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

Do you like gospel? Sweet Honey In the Rock is awesome, a cappella women of color. I find gospel cheering and bouncy, but lots of people disagree.

Zap Mama is bouncy and cheerful.

[theodosia.livejournal.com]

I hope someone has mentioned Joan Armatrading to you. "Walk Under Ladders" for preference!

[the_willow.insanejournal.com (from livejournal.com)]

I second Zap Mamma and mention also Angelique Kudjo. Some of her albums are peppier than others however.

Oh and for pop music there's Samantha Mumba.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

That is fabulous.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

me'shell n'degeocello, i'm digging you like an old soul record. i love the entire album that's from (even though i've forgotten the name of it!) but other tracks, such as "if that's your boyfriend (he wasn't last night)" are not precisely happy and bouncy.

[seajules]

I love Imani. And she's got a new album coming out at the end of October.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Shonen Knife. Insane Japanese girlpunk that I can't really describe, except to say that I do think it would fit your bouncy requirement. There's an album out there that is a soundtrack album for the Powerpuff Girls cartoon show that is somehow one of the finest rock anthologies I have heard, and Shonen Knife's contribution is particularly impressive (though the whole thing is good). Upon looking on Amazon, I find there are about six Powerpuff albums; this (http://www.amazon.com/Powerpuff-Girls-Heroes-Villains/dp/B00004TZZO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-6004366-6075662?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1188266740&sr=8-1) is the one I mean.

Also Lush, whose song 'Ladykiller' is an feminist smackdown. Miki Berenyi is Japanese/Hungarian.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I love M.I.A. and so second the rec, though I suspect that she is not the sort of bouncy you are looking for.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

The Main Hoon Na soundtrack is pretty darn boppy. Not all female voices, though. I walked into an Indian grocery, and the video of Chale Jaise (www.youtube.com/watch?v=NayYxeRXj7Q) was playing on the TV. I bought the soundtrack then, and later rented the movie.

[red-eft.livejournal.com]

I second Sweet Honey in the Rock- it's not quite bouncy in the same way pop is, but it's good, and energizing.
J-pop, on the other hand, is as pop-happy-bouncy as it gets. I'm really fond of Morning Musume, but I don't know if they're on iTunes... I know Puffy Ami Yumi is, though- they do the 'Teen Titans' themesong, and are also very hipper.