Crucial Material – January 26, 2018
Some big ones coming through the speakers this week, damn! No funny business with the latest yield of releases, and that is a fact. It’s left it hard for us to pick a favourite… so we’ll leave that up to you! Go get ’em. Chris Dave and the Drumhedz “Chris …
Remembering Hugh Masekala
Not often is a musician the embodiment of an entire musical genre let alone a social movement. In the case of South African Jazz giant Hugh Masekela who sadly left us today, the argument can be made that his powerful horn playing and songwriting accomplished just that. Masekela flourished in …
George Mukabi “Furaha Wenye Gita” (Olvido / Raw Music / Mississippi Records)
via Olvido: An almost mythical figure of African acoustic guitar, George Mukabi’s reinvention of fingerstyle quickly spread from western Kenya throughout East Africa before his tragic death in 1963. Hailing from the Luhya-speaking Kisa Region, George Mukabi combined local elements of the nyatiti lyre and sukuti drum into the bouncing …
Ayetoro “Ominira!” (Funsho)
Ayetoro is an internationally acclaimed Afrobeat band led by composer and pianist Funsho Ogundipe. He was a regular at Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti’s Shrine, and formally launched into the Nigerian music scene in 1998 with his top 50 hit ‘Something Dey’ – a blues-flavoured piano-driven tune from an album of the …
Siassia & Tokobina “Siassia & Tokobina” (Nouvelle Ambiance)
via NA: New wave rumba disco crossover, recorded in Paris in the mid ’80s. 4 tracks spanning rumba, disco, new wave and reggae experiments from Congolese singer Albert Siassia and his group Tokobina, including two previously unreleased tracks taken from original demo tapes. Siassia & Tokobina by Siassia & Tokobina …
Sandy B “Amajovi Jovi” (1994, Invisible City Editions)
via ICE: Invisible City returns with the hotly anticipated reissue of Amajovi Jovi by Durban’s O.G. kwaito giant, Sandy B. Originally self-released on cassette and a white label 12”, rumour has it Sandy had to remake the tracks from memory because even he couldn’t find a copy. In its original …
Zazou Biyake “Noir et Blanc” (1983, Crammed Discs)
via CD: At last, the re-mastered vinyl reissue of one of the biggest cult albums in the history of Crammed Discs. This record is constantly being (re)discovered by generations of fans, musicians and DJs, who hail it as an unsurpassed Afro/electronic milestone. Noir et Blanc by Zazou Bikaye The album …
Los Camaroes “Resurrection Los” (1979, Analog Africa)
via AA: Cameroon, 1978: it’s like any good western movie. A man drifts through the plains at the furthest edge of the country in search of two former gunslingers, hoping to coax them out of retirement for one last showdown. Except this time, the weapons are guitars and the gunslingers …
Exclusive Premiere: Forastero “El Submarinista En El Tejado (Susso aka Huw Bennett Remix)”
UK bassist and producer Susso AKA Huw Bennett is best recognized for his debut album “Keira” on the UK’s Soundway record label in 2016. “Keira” was a surprise package of deeply rooted electronic music repurposing the sounds of the Mandinka people of Gambia. This remix of Forastero, Madrid’s jazz-not-jazz outcasts …
Manu Dibango “Electric Africa” (1985, Tidal Waves Music)
via TWM: Manu Dibango needs litle introduction, born in Cameroon in 1933, Manu developed a musical style fusing jazz, funk, and traditional Cameroonian music. He’s definitely among the best known African artists outside of Africa. Collaborations were numerous and include top acts like Fela Kuti, Herbie Hancock, Bill Laswell, Sly …
Various Artists “Sweet As Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa” (Ostinato)
via Ostinato: In 1988, on the eve of a two decade civil war, Somalia’s authoritarian ruler Siad Barre launched punishing air strikes on the north of the country, known today as Somaliland, in response to agitations for independence. The bombing levelled the entire city. Barre targeted Radio Hargeisa to prevent …
Vincent Ahehehinnou “Best Woman” (1978, Analog Africa)
via Analog Africa: In early 1978, Vincent Ahehehinnou left the Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou without explanation. He had been one of their principal vocalist since 1968 and had helped transform them from a hard-charging nightclub band into a musical powerhouse and Africa-wide sensation. By the end of 1977, after an …