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African Discographies

Greetings, Platterbugs!

Updated 1 March 2024

News

Franco presents Les Editions Populaires, new double album from Planet Ilunga out today

De Mar y Rio: Colombian roots, new from Palenque Records

Amadou & Mariam aand Baaba Maal will heaadline the WOMAD festival this summer in England

Merengue Tipico, a new compilation from la Republica Dominicana, and Bongo Joe; article here (via Ken Abrams)

on April 5, Mississippi Records will reissue the 3rd Rail Band LP from 1973. See mali2 for my review of it when it came out on Secret Stash a few years ago.

Tony's picks: Tony Pitt likes Faso from Guinea, with kora and electric guitar; it came out 5 years ago, but if it's good we still want to hear it; and this one from 2020 by Marco Zanotti (Italy) and Jabel Kanuteh (Gambia)

The Sorcerers serve up their take on Ethio jazz from Leeds, recommended by Dave Atkin

A 2-hour Josky Special on Ambiance Congo radio, with David Noyes

nice pictorial article on the sound systems of Barranquilla, via "El Rey" Juan Carlos

Must-see Video

Jazz Crazy interviewed me about the recent Ngoma release: Interview with Alastair Johnston about the Ngoma label & "The Soul of Congo"
Matthew's channel is great: he has also posted 43 rare Congolese & other world 78s from his own collection

The Los Angeles League of Musicians, LA LOM, are an instrumental trio formed in Los Angeles in 2021, who cover everything from Afrosound to Smokey Robinson. They blend the sounds of Cumbia Sonidera, 60’s soul ballads and classic romantic boleros that emanate from radios, backyard parties and dance clubs of Los Angeles with the twang of Peruvian Chicha and Bakersfield Country. Their videos have a nostalgic saturated "technicolor" look to them & don't miss "Juana la Cubana"

via Robert Leaver: "Africa Mokili Mobimba" by Playing For Change, another engaging Song around the World

R. I. P.

Lisandro Meza, Colombia accordion-player and singer, known as the King of Cumbia

Aston "Family Man" Barrett, bass player and leader of the Wailers band

Latest Muzikifan Podcasts

(Note: The muzikifan podcasts are hosted
on Soundcloud; please subscribe on their site)

B'wanga, from Iggy Pop to Son House,
with cumbia, Cuba, soukous and more
blues

Get on Down: mellow mix with blues &
stride piano, funk, Monk, Nusrat in dub;
Congo and a dash of Guinée

Gitari na Congo: As advertised, a lot of
Congolese guitar, but with flashes of
Bollywood, reggae and Sudanese groove

March Onwards features all the new releases reviewed below, Congo funk and punk, Cuban classics, Mali roots and rock, Cumbia, Egyptian oud, Bo Diddley and Beefheart

NGWAKA SON SYSTEME
IBOTO NGENGE (Eck Echo EE008)

This is a new outfit, led by Love Lokombe and Bom Bomolo, two founders of Kokoko! which was an exciting Congolese roots band we celebrated in the year 2019 when they issued Fongola. This new project continues the feeling of that group: employing home-made guitars made with jangling wires and knackered percussion. It's an innovative blend of soukous, techno and garage. The title means "Seizing the opportunity" and they grasp it with both hands. They have brought in Diego Gomez, a Colombian dub engineer, to manipulate the tracks, but he has left it pretty straightforward with some echo here and there and, I am guessing, a few loops. There is always exciting music happening in Kinshasa and at the forefront are little informal bands jamming in backyards or homemade studios with the most basic equipment. Kinois becomes "Ki-noise" with a little switch from French to English. There's rap (but not obnoxious) on the second and third drum-driven tracks, however the meaning is not explained, so we just enjoy the sound. Words that are explained tell us to take off our shoes, kick back and relax.
Side B opens with "Bo lobi pe," which is call and response but seemingly mostly "lo lo lo!" — "La la la!" There is a simple and infectious guitar loop backing this. "Zanga mbongo (there is no money)" is a great example of the "forget your troubles and dance" genre. It's wild soukous, with an electric mbira, or maybe it's a home-made plastic marimba: whatever it is there's a lot of buzz on it. Two or three raunchy guitars chop and change in the background behind cheerful choral singing. Then the echo starts to pile up, the animator yells and they go for broke, determined to get you moving and grooving.
Meanwhile, their old band Kokoko! have a new single out, "Mokili."

CONGO FUNK! (Analog Africa no 38)

Bandcamp hosted a "listening party" for this new album from Analog Africa which was a great way to hear the whole thing (4 vinyl sides) in one sitting. As Congolese music is the wheelhouse of my little musical barque I was pleased to be part of the audience. Anchoring the set are some familiar names, Tabu Ley, Les Bantous, Les Frères Soki, Abeti Masikini, OK Jazz and Zaiko Langa Langa, but most of these artists appear with unfamiliar selections. Congolese Funk does owe something to James Brown (after all it was Zaire where he made his big splash in Africa) but the local musicians also picked up on movie soundtracks such as Shaft by Isaac Hayes (1971) and Curtis Mayfield's Superfly (1972). The anticipation of unknown Congo Funk is met with the exciting kick-off track, Petelo Vicka et son "Nzazi" with the storming "Sungu Lubuka," from a very obscure 1982 LP (which is due to be reissued at the end of the month by Ketu Records of Marseille). There's a bouncy groove with saxes playing against bass and a cowbell. What a find! Folkloric vocals over choppy guitars deliver "Mfuur ma" from Minzoto ya Zaire's 1979 debut album. Then we hear the M.B.T.s with their "MBT's sound," a single issued in France in 1977 by another totally obscure band, who were protégés of the talented guitarist Abumba Masikini, brother of Abeti. Side 1 ends with Abeti herself, performing "Musique Tshiluba," with her Redoubtables band which spawned the careers of Rigo Star, Mbilia Bel and Tshala Muana. The Luba people of Eastern Kasai gave us the mutuashi dance. But this is nothing like that! Psychedelic guitar with maxed-out effects burbles over a wall of horns. The big blast on side B is Tabu Ley's "Adeito" which was a smash hit at FESTAC in Lagos, 1977. The band opened that show with an instrumental of "Ain't no sunshine," which Bill Withers had performed at the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974. Fortunately Rochereau refrained from singing it. Les Bantous turn in a superb instrumental that fills out the rest of side B. Samy ben Redjeb was assisted in his search for Congo's lost funk treasures by a Beninois record label owner who gave him half the tracks on this compilation; then he was further helped by Volkan Kaya who answered most of the questions during the listening party, though no one answered Matt Temple's question, Didn't you have alternate titles in mind?
Side C begins with "Nganga" by Orchestre Bella Bella, which was also on a Grands Succès vol 1 CD. Here it sounds better than on the CD, though the vocals and brass are still overmodulated. Celi Bitshoumani was a stalwart of OK Jazz and a fierce bass player and composer ("Mado"). Here is his own band from 1978, sounding quite like OKJ, delivering a gem: "Tembe na tembe ya nini." The balance tips with the remainder the disc, for we get OK Jazz themselves doing "Lolo Soulfire" complete with grunts and groans out of the James Brown hip pocket. Personally these slavish imitations of JB's Famous Flames do little for me as there are so many of them and of course, they are nothing compared to the real thing (which I was privileged to see in a small club), but, to my surprise, this is when the listening party sat up. Everyone starting going WOW! Yes! "Finally... we want more of this," etc. Clearly Samy knows his audience because the punters buy something with "Funk" in the title expecting African imitations of "Cold Sweat" or "Night Train." The rest is frosting, but it is very sweet. Zaiko's track is pure soukous, we even learn that the group was on a long night train ride when guitarist Manuaka asked the drummer Meridjo to match the rhythm of the wheels going over the breaks in the rails, thus the Cavacha beat was born. "Fiancée Laya" by G.O. Malebo is another odd one out, as it doesn't sound like funk, more like French chanson meets rumba Congolaise. This was gathered on a Sonodisc Merveilles du Passé collection, so its backbeat and punchy horns should be familiar. The liner notes tell how Armando put together a line-up of top class musicians, but fail to mention they were the core of African Fiesta Sukisa which walked out on Nico in 1969, so le Docteur should get the credit with assembling these talents. At first they were called African Soul and recorded a great album with Lucie Yenga, but after Authenticité they changed their name to Géant Orchestre Malebo, after the body of water (Malebo Pool) that separates the capitals of the two Congos.

TAREK ABDALLAH & ABDEL SHAMS EL DIN
OUSOUL (Buda Musique)

Recall how big the Ottoman empire was? That massive force that embraced Turkey and several Arabic nations was home to many musical forms that evolved over the six centuries of their sway. The major musical cycles are comprised of opposing strokes that react like call and response, with a beat and a counter or offbeat. In the West we derive rhythms from listening to nature or machinery, such as railway locomotives ("Click clack," "Chan chan," "Train kept a rollin"). Similarly Arabic poetic forms were sometimes created from listening to the work of the blacksmith. These little cycles are grouped into suites that are known as maqâm. The simple instrumentation of this album allows us to hear clearly the two components on the oud played by Abdallah and the riqq (big tambourine) plied by his musical partner El Din. The riqq is skin-covered and struck with dexterous fingers, recalling the subtlety of tablas. The two Egyptians are joined here by Christian Fromentin on violin. Between them the oud and violin create a whole orchestra of sounds. And lest we forget, the Ottoman Empire is more of our time (lasting 600 years from the 14th century to the early twentieth): but the Egyptians have 8000 years of continuous culture which survived Persia, Greece and Rome and then, in the last two centuries, France and England. Their arts evolved but are rooted in the most ancient traditions on earth. There is even humor in here, though I am probably the only one to hear "Willie and the Hand jive" among the riffs of the Raqsa "Dance Nawahand."

ADAMA YALOMBA
TANOU (Remote Records/Studio Mali)

Modern rhythms and production values meet an ancient chordophone from West Africa. Based in Mali, Remote Records is a workshop and studio space which fosters young talents and seeks to keep traditional music alive through education and promotion. This is a set of traditional music delivering the mellow Malian groove along with more uptempo tracks with guitars, bass and drums. Mostly the backing is traditional slapped gourd and scraper percussion. Adama Yalomba has adapted and mastered an ancient six-string lyre, known as the n'dahn, which his father played. First he doubled the number of strings, which are wire, and in the end it sounds a lot like a kora. But, as opposed to the kora, associated with griots, or hereditary story-tellers, the n'dahn was a casual instrument played by travelers. It is akin to the n'goni, as it is also based on a wooden armature and skin-covered sounding board. Yalomba, in fact, learned his art on a kamele n'goni which, he admits, is easier to keep in tune. This is his third album, that I know of: previously, on Waati sera he played electric guitar and ngoni as well as n'dan. That was an attempt to establish him with rock credentials, though his songwriting is strong and doesn't really need the flashy Western rock trappings. He has carved himself a niche in the traditional Malian soundscape with his mastery of this almost-forgotten small ax. He has also appeared alongside and in collaboration with many of the big names of Malian music, such as Toumani Diabaté, Bassekou Kouyaté, Habib Koite, as well as Tidiane Seck and Oumou Sangaré. He is emerging as a strong original talent.

MALI LIVE

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba turned up the heat in chilly Berkeley and delivered a wake-up set to the grey panthers at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, who were up past their bedtime. We ran into my friend Lulu from Round World Music and before the show we were reminiscing about the golden era in the last century when we would go to three or more shows a week as San Francisco exploded with clubs and great acts. Among others, we recalled the fantastic shows of Barbarito Torres, the Cuban laoud player and how, at the end of one of them, he asked for requests. I almost clobbered Lulu when she called out "Guantanamera," as it's the hokiest tourist song imaginable. Lulu has been to Cuba and was just taking the piss, but Torres and his group responded, graciously, and performed a sublime version. Bassekou was joined by his wife Amy Sacko on vocals, and their son Mamadou on bass ngoni, the percussionists were a nephew on talking drum and a brother on calabash. Despite the stripped-down instrumentation they managed a lot of variety, and Bassekou used effects pedals on a couple of solos. He also has a great stage presence and at one point lamented Taj Mahal couldn't be there (Taj lives in Berkeley) to lend his voice, but went ahead and did an imitation blues growl for what he called "African blues." Mamadou took a solo on bass and played a reggae riff, indicating what he likes when he is not playing "traditional" music, but they did have a very dubby vibe. The highlight was "Jama ko" when the bass and percussion got very loud and deep and then Bassekou turned on wah-wah and echo on his ngoni. It was spacey and intense at the same time. Because of the fixed seats no one danced, apart from one clown who got in front of the stage to jam on maracas before he was gently asked to sit down by one of the staff. Bassekou said if you want an encore you need to sing and dance. And what did he play? "Guantanamera," a fantastic capper to the evening's show.





Most Recent Reviews

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

February 2024

Afrika Muye Muye! Tanzanian Rumba 1968-70 is filed in Kenya/Tanzania part 3
Wagadu Grooves from all over West Africa is filed in Mali part 6
Mohammad Syfkhan can be found in Arabia (though he lives in Ireland)
Gao Hong with Ignacio Lusardi Monteverde are in Old world miscellany
Aguidavi do Jeje are found under Brasil 3

January 2024

Mama Sissoko Live is filed in Mali part 6
The return of Dieuf-Dieul can be read about in Senegal part 4
Principe y su Sexteto are found in Venezuela
Said Chalaban is filed in Morocco

November 2023

Idrissa Soumaoro's Diré is filed in Mali part 6
The Afro Senegal compilation African Music is filed in Senegal part 4
El Clan Antillano can be found in Colombia part 3
Bixiga 70's latest is found in Brasil part 3

October 2023

I put Noor Bakhsh into India & Pakistan part 2, though he is somewhere between
Fruko's El Violento is in Colombia part 3
Hailu Mergia's live album can be read about in the Ethiopia section
Catrin Finch and Aoife ni Bhriain are filed in the sprawling Old World Misc section
remind me to sort it out as there's everything from Tuvan throat singers to Bjork in there....
Allen Kwela is in South Africa part 2

September 2023

Ngoma: the Soul of Congo can be
read about in Congo Classics part 2
and also in the Top Ten of 2023, see below...

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MY BEST-SELLING BOOK!

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BACK IN PRINT (Second edition, November 2012)


A DISCOGRAPHY OF DOCTEUR NICO
By Alastair Johnston

Poltroon Press, 2012, expanded to 88 pages; list price $19.95.
Available now. Click HERE for details.

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