Digital Africa DJ mix from DJ Spooky

DJ Spooky has posted an incredibly lovely, Africa-themed mixfile. He explains...

Brian Eno once famously remarked that the problem with computers is that there isn't enough Africa in them. I kind of think that its the opposite: they're bringing the ideals of Africa: after all, computers are about connectivity, shareware, a sense of global discussion about topics and issues, the relentless density of info overload, and above all the willingness to engage and discuss it all - that's something you could find on any street corner in Africa.

I just wanted to highlight the point: Digital Africa is here, and has been here for a while. This isn't "retro" - it's about the future.

Link to "Ghost World: A Story in Sound," by DJ Spooky the Subliminal Kid, produced for the Dokolo Foundation at the Venice Biennial 2007. (thanks, Susannah Breslin!)

UPDATE: Some users have reported that the website crashes Firefox, though that wasn't my experience -- anyway, here's a direct link to the M4a file!

• [knellotron]

  “If computers were like Africa, it would be backward, in permanent crisis, underfed, diseased, smelly, in need of constant aid from the outside, corrupt, impoverished and susceptible to political engineering from entities wanting only to exploit it and its people.”

  You obviously don’t run Vista.

• [DeWynken]

  did anyone else’s Firefox crash horribly with Quicktime errors when they tried Spooky’s site?

• [zosa]

  Thanks for the link!…here is my favorite place to go for African mixes:

  http://awesometapesfromafrica.blogspot.com/

• [mike3k]

  My favorite place for African music is Benn loxo do taccu ( http://bennloxo.com/ ).

• [everichon]

  That link totally crashed Firefox, rather messily. Which is a shame, cos this looks really good.

• [License Farm]

  I’m using Firefox and had no trouble. I do wish it was a .mp3 rather than .m4a; I’m on a Mac, but I sometimes play my music on PCs.

  Spooky/Miller is so awesome. I own his Viral Sonata album, which he describes as the musical equivalent of negative space in art. I also love his remixes of Kool Keith’s “Object Unknown” and Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls.”

• [nonsapiens]

  Computers are like Africa? What the hell is everyone smoking?

  If computers were like Africa, it would be backward, in permanent crisis, underfed, diseased, smelly, in need of constant aid from the outside, corrupt, impoverished and susceptible to political engineering from entities wanting only to exploit it and its people.

  /I live in South Africa
  //Grew up in Kenya
  ///Utaenda jehanamu

• [JoeBlack]

  “…and above all the willingness to engage and discuss it all – that’s something you could find on any street corner in Africa.”

  Afreekah the myth, the single entity, the Dark Continent of Big Smiles and Bigger Animals? Not every street corner is as welcoming as this, and the sheer diversity of cultures and peoples on this continent?

  It renders the use of the continental title to define the peoples almost … colonial in aspect.

  Anyway, as a black Zimbabwean, I’m sceptical about anything with Africa in the title, because our identity is less African but more ethnic and national. We don’t even like our neighbours :-) (although probably more our fault than theirs)

• [elNico]

  Aw, jeeez!

  Mr Spooky needs a Holiday in Somalia!

• [Brian Damage]

  I dabble with DJ software and mixed a short 40-minute Africa-inspired tribal house set a couple of years back. Please download and enjoy!

  http:/www.demodulated.com/music/mixsets/Brian%20Damage%20-%20Shamanica.mp3