and some Colombian headbangers, known as Kumbia Temor
Remember Baka Beyond and how outraged we were at the liberties taken with the pygmies' music in 1991? Now it seems anything is fodder for manipulation, and Baka Beyond has returned
David Noyes hung up his DJ hat after decades on community radio in Richmond, Virginia. Here is his final show, a Docteur Nico special with yours truly as guest
On the tube
the opening ceremony from the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympics showed how such ceremonies should be done: Lots of singing and dancing, plus drumming, lots of sabar drumming and powerful singers: Mah Damba sings the national anthem, Baaba Maal appears at about 38'30"
There is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And it is positively spilling over with gold nuggets from the Planet Ilunga label on this new 2-LP set of Roger Izeidi-produced tracks, most of which are presented for the first time in over 60 years! These tracks from four different bands appeared on the CEFA & Tcheza labels in the early/mid-60s. Roger Izeidi learned from Bill Alexandre, the Belgian musician and A&R man at CEFA, and then worked his way up through the Belgian Fonior label as their man in Congo. By the early sixties Roger was managing his own labels, resulting in 8 different imprints, from CEFA (Compagnie d'Enregistrement du Folklore Africain) to Vita of African Fiesta, Tcheza, Flash, Hit-Parade and others. The first side is dedicated to the Bantou Jazz (who would soon morph into Bantous de la Capitale), recorded in Brussels in 1961 and issued on the CEFA label. The B side is 1962-3 recordings of the great OK Jazz, also on CEFA, while the second disc covers two of the biggest bands of the mid-sixties on the Tcheza label: Johnny Bokelo's Conga Succès and Negro Succès of Bholen and Bavon Marie Marie. The accent is heavily Latin as that was the ascendant musical style of the time, with guajira, cha cha and son montuno, and of course a fine bolero thrown in for balance. "Guantanamera" kicks it off, with a busy guitar solo (I think this is before Papa Noel joined the Bantous so is probably Gerry Gérard). Noel turns in "La Luna y el Sol," another romping groove with Nino Malapet on sax. Nino and his clarinet step to the mike for "Rosalie wa Nino" with interwoven soprano sax from Jean-Serge Essous. The counterpoint on guitar is beautiful. Behind them Saturnin on congas and other percussionists pulse away.
Side B presents OK Jazz, and while they grew to become "all powerful," the other bands here gave them a run for their money in the early 60s. Only one of the OK Jazz tracks has previously appeared on a compilation and it is "Oyo nde zoba" by Edo featuring his sweet clarinet; he also wrote "Le Jardin de l'OK Jazz" a brisk cha cha. Another gem is "Camalo" by Brazzos as the band lean heavily into the cha cha rhythm.
The Negro Succès tracks are all uncollected, and only two of the Johnny Bokelo & Conga Succès tracks might be familiar to collectors: "Mwambe no 5" which is one of his most famous hits (rightfully so: it's an early example of the James Brown stone groove), and "Je n'ai rien" which was on L'Afrique danse no 1 on Sonodisc. Bokelo certainly had all the chops on his guitar (check out his soloing on "Iqueno charanga") and hopefully his hundreds of singles will be collected before they become lost.
I know "Mambo Coco" by Negro Succès (as it was reissued on a Sono/African 45). Bholen calls out "Son montuno!" as the sax goes into a gorgeous solo over the comping guitars and conga backbeat. It's simple but exquisite. This is one to put on repeat. There are only four tracks from Negro Succès and of course I am greedy and want more. But this music is now scarce and a hard to find in good condition: the best songs were played until the grooves wore out. This compilation explains why this music was so popular at the time and is still thrilling as the early bands explored the freedom of their own studios and producers like Roger who helped them showcase their talents.
This is a noteworthy album from a group whose name Seffarine refers to a crossroads. In Southeast Morocco there is an oasis at Mhamid el Ghizlane where caravans paused as they crossed the Saharan desert. Amazigh, Jews, Gnawa, Arab nomads and others met here and the town was a melting pot of cultures and ideas. Lamiae Naki is a singer whose family migrated north to Fes but whose roots extend back into West Africa; Nat Hulskamp is her partner, a flamenco guitarist who also plays the oud. Together they form Seffarine and their second album (the first was a decade ago in 2016) evolved out of a residency in the oasis town of Mhamid where they met and jammed with local musicians. The musical exchange brought in Daouda Mangara, an ngoni player from Mali, and Aziz Ozouss an Amazigh multi-instrumentalist on percussion. The album opens with "Ah ya liyyam" which is fresh and light; it has delicate vocals over handclaps, krakebs (qraqeb) and guitar. Lamiae truly has a lovely voice and the recording does justice to it with the half dozen musicians on each track distinctly articulated. The renowned Latin Grammy winner Antonio Rey guests on Spanish guitar on "Al Qithara" (the Arabic word from which we get guitar); this is moody and explores some romantic corners before resolving into classical flamenco riffing. It's the longest track on the album but could easily have gone on longer. A different ngoni player steps up for "Jitu Lina," another lively outing. Then we slow down for "Moshattatoun," with just the principals: Lamiae's singing and Nat's acoustic guitar, accompanied by bowed double bass and percussion. This is their strength, though nicely paced within the surrounding tracks where oud, darbuka and bendir (frame drum) add flavor and texture to the mix. The last cut "Yeddiha" has a warm and wiry "desert blues" feel to it.
Fun upbeat Chicha music from some of the originators: Los Shapis is a band from Huancayo, Peru who broke out with this debut album in 1981. On the cover they look like punk rockers but they ply their guitars very differently, using it as a single-note lead instrument to modify the Cumbia beat. Every instrument is soaked in reverb and the guitarists fiddle with effects. The singer encourages them when he is not singing about betrayal, loss, heartbreak and all the ups and downs of life in the Andes. Guiro and bongos back a drummer who keeps the loping beat bouncing along like a mule chewing coca leaves. There's an organ back there also in the vast echoey studio, holding down washes of chords. This is a tight band and a great example of the joyous sound of urban Peru in the 80s.
The title of this album means "Stormy weather" and the tempest is the result of a cross-cultural clash between the three principals in the group: Marwan Fakir, the Moroccan leader who plays violin, with electric guitar and saz-player Louis Desseigne and double bassist Antoine Despatures. No holds are barred as they jump into intense jams with the rhythm alternately on the guitar or bass. They are just a trio but after ten years together can bring da noise when needed and often in concert they are joined by a ney player bringing some traditional North African wind to the set. Yes, there are overdubs, as on the title cut where their tribute to Amazigh music is concocted from guitars, saz (a long-necked Anatolian lute) and lautar (a skin-covered lute, cousin to the guembri). "Orange Express" is a lyrical tribute to Armenian melodies redolent with nostalgia as the bass is bowed, the violin is plucked and the guitar goes off on a Bill Frisell-like exploration. This is tight and also dramatically cinematic in the style of Franco Piersanti. Of course Gnawa music already has a rock component and it's not hard to imagine a bridge to European jazz given the broad assimilation and learning of the trio. But underneath it all is the structure of the classical maqam and when they are not jamming, Fakir is laying it down with strictness and subtlety. It's mostly harmonious and quite exhilarating, though the guitarist gets unleashed and goes off for a few bars of heavy metal indulgence on "Gbahi" that is unnecessary. But Fakir pulls it back down to a mellow mood for "Vieux Koko" to round it out.
Orchestre Baobab of Senegal have a new album, their first in a decade, but with the passing of most of the original members, they are down to seeds and stems keeping the sound alive. The sad thing about this group which featured Barthélémy Attiso, one of Africa's greatest guitarists, was they were never allowed to evolve but had to preserve their 70s Cuban style in aspic to please the marketers. Here they remake a couple of their oldies, such as "Sibou Odia (Marathon)" by Rudy Gomis from Baobab Gouye Gui (1981), with a new female singer, and "Ndiaga Niaw (which always makes me think of "Delilah" by Tom Jones!)," plus they cover a Thione Seck classic, but overall it has a "Stars on 45" ring to it because they are essentially a cover band covering themselves! There are familiar Baobab touches in the vocals, generally fine horn arrangements and the cantering rhythm guitar, but the lead guitar is a poor clone of Attiso. It is pleasant but a sad reminder of lost potential. The outstanding track is "Togne Bakhoul," originally composed by Rudy Gomis for his wife. One for diehard fans or Buena Vista socialites, they seem sadly doomed to becoming a lounge act in Reno.
Far back in the last century, I hung out a lot in Bolinas, California, a small coastal community north of San Francisco that was home to many poets and artists who had opted to live off the grid — aged hippies, New Age types and mainly those who wanted a quiet lifestyle in a town without police or other amenities. It had only a post office, a general store, a coffee shop (Scowley's) and a bar (Smiley's) where I ended up quite often. I met a lot of the residents and some were fascinating. Jo Menell was a film maker I ran into and when he made a documentary about the life of Nelson Mandela, I invited him out to my radio program in San Francisco to talk about it. He was a quiet unassuming chap, not at all egotistical. I never knew his backstory so just watched The Life of Jo Menell (on Kanopy, it's also on AppleTV) and what a story. Born in South Africa where his father (a Jewish refugee) was a gold and diamond magnate, he was educated in England and got a job at the BBC. He never felt at home in England, though in the 60s he was hanging out with Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud in London. He had a bust up with Freud when he discovered they were both sleeping with the same woman! He approached Landrover and told them he would like to drive one of their vehicles from New York to Tierra del Fuego, and write it up: they said sure and so he set off. Returning to England, the BBC asked if he could speak Spanish, Yes, fluently. And had he been to Chile? Yes, great place. Well revolution was brewing and could he fly there and do some pieces for Panorama about it? He spent two years running Chilean TV, from 1970-1, trying to model it after the BBC and became friends with Salvador Allende. When Fidel Castro came to visit he wanted to see snow, so Jo & Allende took him south and after a day of throwing snowballs they sat down to drinking and Fidel told Allende that for his Socialist revolution to succeed he needed to eliminate the oligarchs. Jo sat there cursing he did not have a tape recorder as the two statesmen argued. After the Communists in Chile destroyed the negative of a film he had made on a revolutionary hero, he returned to Europe. In Paris he met the head of Newsweek whose mistress was Jo's girlfriend's room mate! Said head asked him to go to China: he boarded the Trans-Siberian Express with a French photographer. When he got there he was told Newsweek's Vietnam correspondent was out of commission so could he go to Hanoi and report on the war? He describes some very Hunter Thompsonish experiences. There's much more: he sailed around the world in a wooden boat which started to sink in the middle of the Pacific. He ends up back in South Africa when Mandela is freed from prison and asks him if he can make a film about his life. Do you know how to make a film? asked Madiba. His experience was an art movie of 1000 penises called Dicks, made in San Francisco, with narration by women, and a biopic of Bob Marley where he found no one in Kingston would talk to him without cash upfront because they heard Chris Blackwell of Island was backing the picture! As the film was made, Mandela loved being driven around by Jo in his vintage Bentley (the photo is a postcard he sent me). He freaked out because it was a convertible and before the election many people would gladly have assassinated the ANC leader. He took him to the Bahamas to lay low but it was Junkanoo season and the theme was "Mandela" and everyone was wearing Mandela masks! No one spotted the real thing! Menell stayed in South Africa in his 70s and made TV programs about life in the Townships, hoping to give something back and assuage his guilt for his father's exploitation of the miners during Apartheid. Activists said his engagement prevented actual deaths. The soundtrack has Abdullah Ibrahim, Monk, and his teenage pal Hugh Masekela. Jo Menell had some lucky breaks, but what a life he led!
Year so far
(click on maps at the top of the page to get to continent of choice)
October 2026
Timbila ta Venancio is filed in the Mozambique section
La Tene are Swiss and so go to theWorld/Euro misc area
Novalima are on surer ground in Peru part two
September 2026
Dollar Brand, Don Cherry, Carlos Ward's Third World Underground is hard to classify, maybe it's world music, maybe jazz, so I put it under Old World miscellany
Orch Baboma is filed in Congo part 4
Aly Eissa's Eggshells has gone to Egypt, which is in "Rest of Arabia" part 3
July 2026
Mama Sissoko's Diamond Fingers is filed in Mali part 6
Angine de Poitrine vol II creates a dilemma: I can't file them in USA as they are Canadians, so they have gone to Europe (Old World Miscellany)!
Los Orientales de Paramonga are filed in Peru 2
The biography of Don Cherry by Graeme Ewens, Eternal Rhythm is on the bookshelf
June 2026
The Handover went to Arabia part 3
Msindaba Jazz Band are filed in Kenya & Tanzania part 3
Mah Damba is reviewed in Mali part 6
Spok's Raizes is filed in Brasil 3
May 2026
Dr K. Gyasi & his Noble Kings are in Ghana part two
Antoine Dougbe & Poly-Rythmo's compilation can be read about in Benin
Conjunto Angola 70's Turma da Benca is filed in Angola
La Fantástica's rare album now on Vampisoul and
Joe Acosta's Power of love are filed in Salsa
April 2026
Saly Kouyaté's Mali Kelen is filed in Mali part 6
Zanja All stars are filed in Cuba 4 Léve Léve volume two from São Tomé can be found in the Cabo Verde tab
Les Belgicains are right there in Congo Classics 2
Read about Himba Hymn from Namibia in African miscellany
Steve Hernández and his Latinoamericana orchestra are filed in salsa
Ayjay Walzaqat al Jilalia is in Morocco
March 2026
Azuka Moweta and his Anioma Brothers' Kenechukwu is found in Nigeria part 3
Tim Maia's eponymous fourth album is reviewed in Brasil part 3
Roberto y su Nuevo Montuno can be read about in Puerto Rico Music for a Revolution vol 2 is filed in Music of Guinee Indian Talking Machine part 2 is filed in India & Pakistan part 2
Joseph Kamaru's Heavy Combination went to Kenya part 3
February 2026
Los Rogers are filed in Peru two
January 2026
Excavated Shellac: Voices is filed under world miscellany
Lenine's Eita can be found in Brasil part 3
...
PAST TOP TENS BY YEAR
Essentially the best of this website in condensed form:
"Essential reference guide to the Congo guitar king" — SONGLINES 64 **** (four stars)
"I do not know anybody who has such immense knowledge of African music. Congratulations." — Gerhard G (a purchaser)
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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