I promised another track off the 1972 Africa Dances compilation in my post yesterday, so here you go.

Les Bantous de la Capitale are one of Congo’s oldest bands still playing (as far as I know). Formed in 1959, they were heavily influencial in the development of Congolese rumba and early soukous. Today’s track, Lisie, is a particularly Congolese-laid-back rumba. It makes me think of palm trees, coconuts and slow-moving ceiling fans.

It’s strange listening to such relaxed, happy music when it comes from a country still divided in two by a brutal civil war. All I can say is, “way to go Belgium.” They really gave Portugal a run for their money for the worst colonizer crown. And no, you aren’t allowed to blame it on the king.

Anyway. Enjoy the tropical rumba. Grab a piña colada or something.

Bantous de la Capitale – Lisie

A few posts ago I mentioned that highlife started out as more of a big-band thing, ie orchestras and horn sections rather than rhythm guitars. Something about my Monday morning coffee makes this kind of sound fit the bill for today’s post.

The Broadway Dance Band is a classic big-band highlife group out of 1950s/60s Ghana. I wish it was easier to find bands and concerts featuring this kind of music these days since if you put a few whiskeys in me I love dancing to the stuff. High-heeled ladies and guys in white-collared shirts wilting in the humidity, sleeves rolled up.

Got this track off that great 1972 pan-African compilation, Africa Dances. I was going to post another track off this album today but I’m a touch shy on bandwidth so I might wait until tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Broadway Dance Band – Broadway Special

I mentioned The Allenko Brotherhood Ensemble in my post yesterday. Since I’m in the mood for some afrobeat I thought I’d post a track off that album to kick-off the weekend.

The Allenko Brotherhood Ensemble isn’t a group but rather an effort by Comet records in 2001 to unite some contemporary musicians and DJs with Tony Allen’s drum beats. Instead of same-old same-old remixes the album incorporates Allen’s classic beats with new styles… with great results.

My favourite track off the album is by Tweak from Straight Ahead Recordings. It’s also one of the closest in style to Tony Allen, particularly his recent solo works. I’ll illustrate this by posting a track off Allen’s 1999 album, Black Voices.

Tony Allen – The Same Blood
Tweak – Leroy

I’ve posted quite a few West African hip-hop tracks but I don’t think I’ve posted any Afro-French or Afro-American hip-hop collaborations. There are loads but two that stick out in my mind are 113′s “Voix du Mali” with Oumou Sangaré off their 2003 album Dans l’urgence (thanks, sufi, for reminding me about this track) and Tony Allen’s Jekalewa off the Nu Afrobeat Experience compilation.

OK, you probably know all about Tony Allen. Pioneer of afro-beat along with Fela Kuti, drummer and one of the main forces behind the Africa 70 band, &c &c &c. His trademark rhythm is timeless and instantly recognizable. You still hear it on great albums such as the Allenko Brotherhood Ensemble compilation and those by Antibalas. Allen is especially cool since he hasn’t stopped trying new things- he continues to release a wide variety of tunes with rnb, soul, hip-hop, jazz and even house musicians and DJs. He may be a little age-ed but the guy manages to stay cutting edge.

113, named after the Parisian banlieue 113 (think lower-class French suburb), are most famous outside of France for that unfortunate but oh-so-catchy tune “Tonton du bled” that came out when I was living in Paris a few years back. I promise they’re more than that, though, and even though I’m not a super-fan they have some solid tracks. Today’s pick is, in my opinion, one of them. Sangaré’s singing is beautiful and the rapping/rhythm works well. Listen especially to the last minute and a half or so.

Tony Allen – Jekalewa
113 – Voix du Mali feat. Oumou Sangaré

There’s this great club in Dakar called Le Voyageur. If you hit it on a good night it’ll be packed until dawn with a couple hundred sweaty, university-aged Central Africans dancing to hip-hop, rnb and, most often, soukous.

I like the Voyageur because as much as I enjoy Senegalese mbalax, contemporary Congolese music, particularly soukous, is much easier to move to. Something about the quick, repetitive rhythms and swiftly-picked electric guitar makes you want to stick your ass right out there and shake it around the dancefloor. (My back is almost better so this may soon be possible.)

Soukous is one of the most recognizable forms of sub-Saharan African music. It has a large following in Western countries not limited to African ex-pats, comes in many forms and has been around for a long time. Old-school African music collectors will sneer at new forms of the music while the kids at Le Voyageur will laugh at the soukous of old.

In today’s post I’m going to do a hack-job at tracing the evolution of the kind of modern soukous you’ll hear in the DRC, the Voyageur or some hot-spots in Ixelles, Brussels.

First we’ll start with Kanda Bongo Man. In 1981 his album, Iyole, was a major hit both in Europe and in the DRC. Its success helped further the morphing of soukous into a high-energy dancefloor music as many of us now know it.

Secondly, Kanda’s star guitarist, Diblo Dibala, used this success to launch his own project, Loketo. Loketo, like Kanda Bongo Man’s band, inspired many other bands and eventually splintered into numerous soukous spin-offs.

Third, Dibala eventually left Loketo and put out a few solo albums and others with Matchata. His style remained consistent: a high-energy soukous infused with quick guitar, nice harmonies and fast rhythms.

Dancefloor soukous is now firmly established as the dominant form of music in Congo thanks to the work of Kanda, Dibala and others. It continues to evolve, so lastly I’ll post a track by one of the current kings of the Congolese music scene, Koffi Olomide. He has developed his own flavour of modern soukous called ndombolo that’s currently all the rage in Kinshasa.

ps- I’m pleased to announce that I’ve hopefully struck up a deal with some local hip-hop and graffiti artists in Dakar so we’re going to try to do some kind of a multi-post feature next week. Stay tuned…

Kanda Bongo Man – Iyole
Koffi Olomide – Droit de véto
Diblo Dibala – Super K
Loketo – Pingui Bill

After yesterday’s hardcore we need to swing East and take it down a notch.

Aster Aweke is one of contemporary Ethiopian music’s finest voices. She was born in Gonda, Ethiopia, but grew-up in Addis Ababa. By the mid-1970s she had developed an interest in local music and started singing with some groups in Addis. Her powerful voice attracted the attention of musician Ali Tango who would go on to support her musically and financially as her career developed.

In 1978 she got a break when she started singing with the Roha Band. By ’79, however, Ethiopia was descending into political chaos. Aweke fled the country, eventually settling in Washington DC by 1979. In the USA she quickly gained popularity among the American-Ethiopian community and eventually attracted quite a large following back home.

Two songs today, one from 1991′s album Kabu and another off the first volume of the wonderful Desert Blues compilation.

Aster Aweke – Tchewata
Aster Aweke – Y’shebellu

Today’s post is going to be a little strange for two reasons:

1. I’ve managed to throw my back out and have been confined to my bed with codeine, paracetamol, a muscle relaxant and Nurse K.
2. I’ve had a few requests for some music that you’d really have a hard time buying or even hearing outside of Nigeria and/or West Africa.

Fuji has been around since the 1970s. It’s mainly a Lagos thing and its artists and fans are primarily Yoruba, one of the largest ethnicities in Nigeria. Its high-speed percussion and vocals have their roots in Islamic Ajisari music, although modern fuji sounds nothing like it. Among Yoruba youth in the Lagos area, fuji is the most popular form of music, arguably eclipsing even hip-hop.

Fuji is basically Nigeria’s equivalent to drum n bass. I read one guy refer to it as “afro-hardcore”. It’s a super high-speed genre of contemporary Nigerian music that is almost impossible to dance to unless you know what you’re doing or have done a lot of something.

I’m not sure if I like fuji too much, but it’s definitely unique. Much like Senegal’s mbalax, fuji is purely local and very popular. Cultures outside of Yoruba Lagosians would have a tough time finding their way around the music. Let me know if you’re into it. And seriously, even if you hate the stuff, if you’re ever in Lagos and get the chance to go to a hot fuji club you shouldn’t miss it.

Today’s picks are by the “King of Fuji”, Abass Obesere. He’s the in-thing among the young fuji afficionados on the Lagos mainland.

Obesere – His Excellency
Obesere – OBTK

I need some help identifying a song. I know that it’s by Chief Stephen Osadebe, but I don’t know the song name. It’s off a compilation titled “Ebeano’s Greatest Hits” that I picked-up in Nigeria, but the liner notes are completely wrong as so often happens with these bootlegs. If anyone knows more please let me know.

While listening to the Osadebe tune this morning it occurred to me that I hadn’t yet posted any highlife from Ghana. Highlife has its roots in Ghana during the 1930s and only later showed up in Nigeria. It’s only appropriate that we feature some here.

Highlife as most of us know it evolved out of a fusion of West African and Western European/American sounds in and around Ghana during the 1960s. At this time post-colonial West African countries were actively encouraging the development of local culture while trying to become modern nations. These efforts are in a way perfectly represented by highlife: traditional rhythms and local languages fused with electric instruments and Western funk/soul elements.

Today’s track by Ahamano’s Guitar Band is an older-school highlife classic from the 1960s gold-coast heydey.

Chief Stephen Osadebe – ?
Ahamano’s Guitar Band – Me Nsae Da

We’ve been laying it on heavy with the funk lately but I have a lot of cooking to do tonight so I need to chill-out a bit this morning. Time for some Jamaican guitar meets Senegalese vocals and talking drumming.

During the 1970s notable Jamaican guitar player Ernest Ranglin went on tour with Jimmy Cliff to West Africa. He apparently liked what he saw and heard here as much as I do, but it took him 20 years to get back and make a record with some local musicians.

Never one to slack, Ranglin didn’t just find any old griots to join him on the album. We have Baaba Maal and his band Daande Lenol, Mansour Seck at the mic, plus some great upstarts (who are new to me, too): Alioune Mbaye Nder and Cisse Diamba Kanoute, a 14-year old Senegalese singer. Much of the composing is done by Maal and Seck but it all fuses nicely with Ranglin’s bluesy guitar.

The results are amazing. This is one my favourite West Africa fusion albums, right up there with Talking Timbuktu and Mississippi to Mali. These guys would be great to see live.

Ernest Ranglin – Ala Walee
Ernest Ranglin – Anna

A couple of days ago I posted some West African funk by Ambolley off Afrodisiac‘s collection, Booniay!!. It was the site’s busiest day ever, with more hits and unique users than ever before. I figure that makes it worth spinning up some more.

In 2003 Afrodisiac released another funk compilation titled The Danque!!. It’s the result of one man’s crate digging quest over a 10-month period all over West Africa. Check-out their site for more info. While it is not quite as good a collection as Booniay!!, there are still some jems. I’ll post a couple here today.

I bought this album online and therefore don’t have the liner notes. I scraped the Internet clean trying to find information about the groups I’m posting today but came up empty. I guess they’re just 45rpm singles from Ghana, Nigeria or another English West Africa country, but I don’t know much more than that. To be honest I’m a little confused because I actually thought that Guerilla was from the Carribbean, not West Africa. Could someone clear this up?

Either way, here’s some off-beat 70s West African funk to fire-up your Thursday workday.

Guerilla – La Popo
Mustapha – I’m Coming