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I’ve been collecting world musicky Obama for two special iterations of the radio show I do at an undisclosed location - and I’ve discovered about thirty so far. As you can imagine the quality varies, but there are some good ones.

YouTube predictably has been a popular dissemination point. The videos often incorporate montage elements from the Obama campaign - visual and sometimes audio as well. Many of the non-English songs are subtitled because the musicians want the viewer to get the message! The song titles are direct and not always the most creative - a lot of Obamas for Change or just plain Obamas. Although Japan’s Anyone Brothers Band gets special credit for their J-English title Obama is Beautiful World. Given the cause, a lot of volunteer labor has been contributed by musicians and videographers, and many of the songs are offered for free mp3 download.

The very first song on my list was by the group Extra Golden. Extra Golden is a collaboration between musicians from the eastern US with an indie rock background and musicians from western Kenya who play benga, an uptempo guitar-centered popular dance style. Extra Golden’s Obama appreciation song preceded the campaign however. It’s actually a song of appreciation because Obama helped the band secure visas for its first US tour in 2006. As an early entrant it’s one of the few Obama songs on cd, on Extra Golden’s sophomore release Hera Ma Nono.

Once we got into election season I heard about other songs. I first heard about a couple of “official” campaign songs in Spanish, in particular a Mariachi song called Viva Obama credited to “Amigos de Obama” that emerged on YouTube during the primaries.

Not surprisingly, other Kenyan besides Extra Golden have made contributions. Like the Kenyan members of Extra Golden, Kenge Kenge comes from the western part of the country. Kenge Kenge strips down the music of benga bands to its roots - replacing guitar and drum kit with traditional fiddles and percussion - but when they go uptempo as in the second part of their Obama song, the rhythm is quite similar to what you hear in benga. They sing their Obama for Change partly in the Luo language of Western Kenya (with subtitles), partly in English. Their mp3 is not among the freebies - maybe because their on a UK label and the Brits are mad at us for their housing slump and the Pound’s recent nosedive. Poor blokes!

Perhaps the most purely Kenyan Obama song on YouTube is Tony Nyadundo’s Obama. The song was recorded in Kenya and with no foreign label or other foreign meddlers involved. A 2006 recording, it’s in the currently popular stripped-down neo-traditional Ohangla style: just keyboard, drum machine, vocals. And a YouTube Obama slide show - not really a video - featuring proud pix from Obama’s travels in Kenya. The artist and the song are highly regarded in Kenya: Nyadundo won a Kenyan music industry award for it.

Back in the USA, Samba Mapangala, a very prominent African singer now living in the Washington, DC has also chimed in with a lovely song. Mapangala, born in the Congo, represents a tradition of artists rooted in Congolese guitar band dance music - which is vastly popular throughout Africa - who migrated to East Africa. His salad days were with the group Orchestre Virunga in Kenya. His song is Obama Ubarikiwe (Obama be blessed). Samba sings in Swahili and Minneapolis-based 14-year old rapper, Fanaka Ndege raps in English. The video combines live performance footage, produced shots and Obama montage elements.

From the Caribbean, a significant contribution comes from calypso / soca legend Mighty Sparrow with Barack the Magnificent (gotta give some extra points for the title on this one too). Calypso of course is a genre historically dedicated to social commentary so it’s a natural for this application. On YouTube there’s a slide show, not a fully-produced video. But there’s thought in the YouTube production: The still images are sync’ed with the lyrics. For instance Obama is shown talking to Iraq vets when Sparrow congratulates him for standing firm against the war.

And from the smoke-filled world of reggae, Coco Tea’s song has some direct hard-hitting lyrics.

A number of world musicky acts here in New York have contributed songs for Obama. Fula Flute, an ensemble centered around the traditional flute of the Fulani people of Guinea (lead by Bailo Bah and Sylvain Leroux) happened to be in the studio recording an album and whipped up a song and a video with subtitles. In West Africa it’s typical to sing tribute songs to prominent people (including political leaders) and so the singer Abdoulaye Diabate just applied that to Obama and his family. The session engineer (Ethan Donaldson) literally ran the song over to me so I could have it in time to play on the radio! Although anyone can now download it from Fula Flute’s web page.

Manze Dayila is a young Haitian singer in New York living a particular version of the American dream (with a bit of nightmare in the mix): Eight months pregnant, she joined a raft convoy and floated from Haiti to Miami. She then was detained in Cuba for a month - finally released because she was about to give birth. Manze made her way to New York, busking in the subways (although she’s going upscale with a gig at Joe’s Pub on election eve). She just released her first cd, Sole. Manze has recorded a rollicking song for Obama in the misik rasin style, which is known for its political commentary. The Youtube video is charmingly low budget, shot in a hotel room with musicians and dancers jump-cutting in and out of the picture and bold text graphics.

And Jose Conde, an independent Cuban-American bandleader contributed his Respondele a Obama. Conde was inspired by the fact that his Cuban mom is voting for Obama - older Cubans in America often vote conservative as a response to Castro. (And he got Emmy award-winning documentarian Nicole Betancourt to direct, pro bono.) Jose also put subtitles on his video. It is one of the more sophisticated songs in terms of argument, making concrete points against the current administration as well as championing Obama. After all the title says to the viewer / listener: respond to the government by voting for Obama.

The contributions I’ve found from outside the African diaspora have been a little quirkier, I have to say. Perhaps my favorite is Obama is Beautiful world by a Japanese j-pop style group that seems to be connected with a show on radio station FMaiai, Anyone Brothers Band. The YouTube video shot on and near the beach features many happy waving locals, the Obama Shoes Center (see below) a toy boat launch (perhaps to carry a message across the Pacific to the U.S.), and a Y-M-C-A style dance routine (O-B-A-M-A, that is).

So what’s this all about? Well, there is a coastal fishing town in central Japan named Obama (hence, the Obama Shoes Center). The two Obamas are aware of each other, as the AP reported in March: Obama the town sent Obama the candidate its trademark local sweet bean cakes and other locally-produced gifts and Obama the candidate sent Obama (the town) mayor Toshio Murakami a personal note of thanks.

This past summer Obama, Japan decided to add to the fun by incorporating its political namesake into its Obama festival. Anyone Brothers Band produced their song and video in and around Obama, Japan. The song lyrics (translated to English here) convey affection for both Obamas. For instance: Wide, open ocean and dazzling, bright sun / Seems like they reflect the future of faraway America. And the chorus: Obama is Number One! Which Obama? Well clearly, both! In addition, a friend who knows about these things tells me that the male singer is attempting to mimic an American accent in a manner that’s common in Japan.

Let’s finish our little survey with an engaging song that nicely symbolizes crossing the inter-ethnic divide. Oui, On Peut - Yes We Can! blends the black and white zydeco and cajun musical traditions of Louisiana. The song was composed by fiddler Dirk Powell (who’s rooted in Appalachia but is steeped in Louisiana traditions as well) and features Dirk with other talented young artists mostly from Louisiana: Christine Balfa, Jeffrey Broussard, Zydeco Joe Citizen, Corey “L’il Pop” Ledet, and Linzay Young. The video like many blends in montage elements from the Obama run.