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African Discographies

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Only connect-- with mento, early Congo,
reggae, Congo unplugged and East African 45s

Latest podcast Where has all the vinyl gone?
has Cuban bolero, real rumba, Congolese
rumba from Rock-a-mambo and Les Bantous,
cavacha from Les Kinois and G.O. Malebo,
Benga, Cumbia electronica and jazz

Greetings, Platterbugs!

Updated 1 September 2019

News

Los Fakires, jamming Cuban street music via Mark Crowson on our facebook page

Tiny Desk concert from Ileana Cabra Joglar and her band iLe, desde Puerto Rico

I've updated the discography of orch Negro Succès with 60 singles from the Loningisa label

Jazz notes

There's another new John Coltrane album "Blue World", a soundtrack from 1964 never before released with the classic quartet running through "Traneing in," Like Sonny" "Naima" and three takes of "Village blues."

CHIEF STEPHEN OSITA OSADEBE
OSONDI OWENDE (Hive Mind)

The hand-lettered banner for this LP attempts to create a logo for the artist and adds the subtitle, "The Consistent Highlife King" which is rather modest but certainly speaks the truth about Chief Stephen. His numerous albums feature a long track on each side: at some point it breaks down to talking drums and other percussion and then the guitars start to wind back in with wahwah and perhaps the backing harmony singers turn the melody around a bit, then Chief Stephen comes back singing in his warm musing voice and for another fifteen minutes all is right with the world. Maybe a muted trumpet steps up to solo. Consistent yes and consistently great. First released in 1984, this disc by the Sound Makers International was hailed immediately as a masterpiece in Nigeria and beyond. It's the summation of all of their finest ideas: the Chief's slightly haranguing world-weary vocals are a litany of Igbo aphorisms over a soothing blend of guitars and percussion. It doesn't build to a climax, it merely subsumes you in its warmth. Stephen O. Osadebe started out in the late 40s in Lagos as a nattily attired Nat King Cole-style crooner. After the devastating Biafran civil war in the 60s Nigeria tried to regain its composure and its prominence as an economic force in West Africa. Many bands turned to the USA for inspiration, even while international corporations sucked out the oil from under their feet. Bucking the trend towards Western-style music, Osadebe kept on crooning and promoting his laid-back drawn-out groove in album after album, and they are all dreamy and superb. He toured the US 20 years ago and recorded a fine album called Kedu America, benefitting from better studio facilities. But of the homegrown discs, this may be his finest hour.

NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN & PARTY
LIVE AT WOMAD 1985 (RealWorld CDRW225)

Anniversaries pop up all over, deaths, half-centuries and other commemorations remind us of passing time. Woodstock was 50 years ago. I was coming of age in my own way, hitchhiking from the UK to Istanbul with a five pound note sewn into the lining of my jacket. I slept in barns and abandoned cars. The further East I got the more my long hair excited attention, until the problem was solved by the Bulgarian border guards who cut it for me since they did not want any Anarchists coming into their country. I sold my jeans in Sofia to rent a room and buy food, and depended on the kindness of strangers to get by. I got my share of big festivals with tens of thousands of attendees, like the Rolling Stones in Hyde Park after Brian Jones died, and the debut of Blind Faith in the same spot. WOMAD, the music festival started by Peter Gabriel, is celebrating many things (including 30 years of their RealWorld record label) but notably the first appearance of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan before a Western audience in 1985. He shared the bill with New Order, Rochereau, The Fall and many others. It's also 22 years since his passing. But it's hard to believe it was 15 years between Ravi Shankar breaking out in the West and the emergence of Nusrat. But while they both come from the Indian subcontinent they could not be more different. Ravi was a classical musician who showed a generation of rock guitarists what the art of improvisation was really about. Nusrat had a gift from his God, making him arguably the greatest singer of the second half the twentieth century. He too reveled in spontaneous improvisation, using his vocal chords instead of strings. After WOMAD Nusrat was in demand by Western acts who felt they could improve on the simplicity of his music -- basically singing and handclaps with a harmonium for continuo. At the time RealWorld recorded Love & Devotion in the studio, but decided to overdub mandolin and guitar. Soon after that the remixing began, by Michael Brook, Massive Attack, Dhol Foundation, and others, culminating in the posthumous remixes by Gaudi. Essentially there's nothing new here, if you already have some of the scores of great live Nusrat recordings. But if like me you don't mind listening to another live version of "Alla Hoo" or "Haq Ali Ali" then you should indulge yourself in these twenty-minute versions with extensive vocal improvisation and the dramatic ebbing and flowing of religious fervor that is palpable.

JUFFUREH BAND
ABARAKA BAKE (Chicken Attack Records)

The further disembodiment of music with digital files released (where? into the web, the net, the aether?) with no packaging or actual info often leads to perplexity for reviewers. There is a cover image of an African guy with a guitar; we put it on and hear zippy guitars and drumming that might be East African, vocals on echo, an electronic keyboard that could be from Cameroun. So I am stumped. Tanzania? Angola? I like it and am starting to focus on Kenya or environs though I don't recognize the language. Wait, Gabon? since it sounds a bit like Ngoss Brothers. Is this a keyboard or a baritone sax? Track two has a distinct sax but the beat is reggae so that doesn't pinpoint their home. Two more tracks, very good music but impossible to locate. Then two added tracks called "B-sides live" which suddenly are mbalax, pure and simple, so now my focus is shifted to West Africa and in desperation I do some googling to discover they are from Gambia. They were formed 30 years ago but due to usual struggles (penury, migration), they have only one previous recording. This is essentially an EP of 4 songs plus two added live tracks. It is really fine.

JOHNNY CLARKE
CREATION REBEL (North Parade VP4220)

Twenty years ago, in the late nineties, the Blood & Fire label in the UK put out a great series of CDs by King Tubby, Big Youth, Yabby You, Max Romeo, the Congos and many other top shelf Jamaican artists. These sets were beautifully packaged and lovingly curated with thorough liner notes by Steve Barrow. One that escaped me at the time was Johnny Clarke's Dreader Dread which collected singles cut for Bunny Lee in the mid-70s. The VP Music group had a great idea: not merely to reissue the Blood & Fire selections but to expand on them by adding a whole additional CDs worth of material from the same sessions. More is more, and in this case, it's all great stuff. The Aggrovators were the studio band which meant anyone who happened to be free got the gig. Just the list of drummers sounds like a pirate ship's crew: "Tin Leg" Adams, "Carlie" Barrett, Brother Benbow, Santa, and of course Sly Dunbar. Sly came up with the "flying cymbal," a sound unique to Bunny Lee productions which requires both hands to hit and dampen the cymbal. Johnny acquired the nickname "Studio Idler" because he seemed to be always hanging around, but this paid off when he was to record a song with Earl Zero. Lee was not happy with the result and went to Tubby's studio with the rhythm track; since Clarke had come along he sang the vocals to "None shall escape the judgment." Tubby added what Lee asked for, an outer space sound, by running the track through a high pass filter. He cut an acetate which caught fire on his sound system and soon Tubby was making acetates for other sound systems. Clarke began writing his own conscious songs and with his everyman vibe became a hitmaker on the appropriately named Jackpot label. "I was born and raised in the ghetto with the blood of African roots," he sang. Until the advent of dancehall in 1979 and the ascendancy of artists like Barrington Levy, Frankie Paul & Sugar Minott, Clarke put out dozens of singles on Striker Lee's labels, most of them chart toppers or at least dance hall scorchers. Ultimately the "flying cymbal" became a liability in Bunny Lee's recordings. By the time you get to the final track, Clarke's 1975 cover of Marley's "I'm gonna put it on" which has "Ring of Fire" horns (an Alpha Boys School favorite), the flying cymbal has become a tiresome distraction.

The Year in Review, so far

(click on maps at the top of the page to get to continent of choice)

August 2019

Early Congo Music 1946-62 is filed in Congo Classics part 2
as is the latest compilation of Jean-Bosco Mwenda
Wuta Mayi La Face cachée goes to Congo part 4
Peru Negro is filed in Peru
and Hama Sankare's Ballebe can be found under Mali part 5

July 2019

Rough Guide to Country Blues is filed under Blues (USA)
Hope Masike can be found in Zimbabwe
Ouma's I love you Inna is in Mali 5
Dona Onete's latest is filed in Brasil pt 3
Marcia Griffith's Sweet & Nice is filed in Jamaica part 5
Kongo dia Ntotila is filed in Congo part 4

June 2019

Salum Abdallah & Cuban Marimba Band are in Kenya/Tanzania 2
Jambú e os Miticos Sons da Amazonia can be read about in Brasil part 3
Chano Pozo's Rumbero Mayor is reviewed in Cuba part 4
Massa Dembele's Alumaye and
Las Maravillas de Mali went to Mali part 5
Youssou Ndour's History can be read about in Senegal part 3

May 2019

Africa Negra's latest Alia cu omali from Sao Tome is filed for convenience in Cabo Verde
You can read about Canalon de Timbiqui's De mar y rio in Colombia part 2
Robert y su Banda is also filed under Colombia part 2
Adama Barry's latest is reviewed in Mali part 5
Nigeria 70: No Wahala is reviewed in Nigeria 2
Angelique Kidjo is from Benin, which is where you can read about her Celia tribute

April 2019

Hama Sankare's Niafunke is filed in Mali part 5
Culture on Nighthawk is filed in Jamaica 5
Los Jubilades' Llave del Son
& El Comite's So What? are both filed in Cuba pt 4
as is Complete Cuban Jam Sessions
Yapunto latest can be found in Colombia part 2
Mdou Moctar's Ilana the Creator is filed in Niger

March 2019

I've added two book reviews to the bookshelf
Houssam Gania's Mosawi Swiri and Moulay El Hassani's Atlas Electric made their way to the Arab section
(Remind me to create a page for Morocco)
Ry-Co Jazz's Dansons avec le Ry-Co Jazz is filed in Congo Classics part 2
Cumbia Beat volume 3 went to Peru, of all places
Orchestre Abass de Bassari Togo should be found under African Miscellany

February 2019

Kwi Bamba are filed in Guinée
Star Band de Dakar reissue is filed in Senegal part 3
Nostalgique Kongo is filed under Congo Classics 2
Yelsy Heredia can be read about in Cuba part 4
Coumba Gawlo is filed in Senegal part 3
Etienne Charles' latest is reviewed in Trinidad

January 2019

Bassekou Kouyate's Miri &
Livio's Melodies Mandé are both filed under Mali part 5
Delgres' Mo Jodi can be found in the Caribbean section
Tita Duval & Bobby Rey's Cumbias Internacionales went to Colombia part 2
Les Bantous de la Capitale's Hommage to Grand Kalle &
Nganga Edo's Le Patriarche are filed under Congo part 4
Tartit's latest can be read about in the Niger section

The Top Ten New releases and Top 8 Reissues of 2018 are here

The Top 16 of 2016 is HERE

Top 15 of 2015 is HERE

My Top Ten of 2014 can be found HERE

My Top 12 of 2013, with best reissues, etc, is online HERE

My Top Twelve of 2012 is HERE

My Top Ten of 2011 can be found HERE

My Top 9 of 2010 is online HERE

Click HERE for my top 10 of 2009

Click HERE for my top 9 of 2008

Click HERE for my top 10 of 2007

Click HERE for my top 11 of 2006

MY BEST-SELLING BOOK!

BACK IN PRINT (Second edition, November 2012)

A DISCOGRAPHY OF DOCTEUR NICO
By Alastair Johnston

LETTERBOX

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