With an egg nog aftertaste and wrapping paper all over the floor, Benn Loxo is back…

In 1973 highlife music was in trouble. The old-school were being pushed out the door by cheap disco and funk music from Nigeria and the States. Lucky for us a group of young highlife believers refused to let it die. Some started trying new forms of guitar-heavy highlife, dropping the horns and slow-dance rhythms of old in favour of a faster, harder music. Others created new forms of highlife-funk fusion. It was almost afrobeat, but still highlife. A new funky twist on a great sound.

One of these funk stars is Charles Kofi Amankwaa Mann (C. K. Mann) from Ghana. He took the traditional Ghanaian osode highlife beat and remixed it for the new generation. Add some whriling organ, fat bass lines and highlife harmonies and you get some seriously cool new music.

C. K., as he’s known in Ghana, is a self-taught guitarist and ex-sailor. He got his break playing for Kakaiku’s Guitar Band in the 60s. Once he established himself he started his own band, The Carousel 7. They had a mega-hit in ‘69, Edina Brenya, which propelled C. K. into stardom. It’s around this time that C. K. began to develop his new osode sound and incorporate disco and funk into highlife.

Today’s track was released in 1975 as part of a long-playing party LP. It was a big it, and directly responsible for reigniting the public’s waning interest in highlife music. Personally I listen to it while washing the dishes (combined with dancing) after a few glasses of wine and a good party.

ps- During the 80s C. K. Mann saved highlife again, but this time by mixing its traditions with gospel music. In present-day Ghana highlife is alive and well, though gospel-highlife is the sound of the moment thanks in part to people like Mann.

C. K. Mann - Funky Hi-Life

Tags: funk, ghana, highbeat, highlife

Well, I’m in the Paris CDG departure lounge at the moment. I’m wildly bored since I’ve been traveling and/or arguing with airport officials for about 1.5 days. Before boarding my final flight to the 3rd continent of my journey I thought I’d do a quick post.

I’m on airport wi-fi and without much music at the moment, but I noticed I left a Kante Manfila track on my laptop drive. This song is nicely soothing for my tired ears. Good for a Sunday, too. (It is Sunday, right?)

In short, Kante Manfila is a Mandingo from Guinea who strums a nice acoustic guitar. He used to play in Les Ambasadeurs with Mory Kanté and Salif Keita. Buy his music here.

ps- the picture on today’s post is one I took while flying an ultralight over sand dunes in Namibia. Anyone have any Namibian music they’d like to share?

Kante Manfila - Agne Anko

Tags: guinea, mande

WAKE UP! It’s Saturday! Time for wailing guitars, gyrating buttocks and shaking bosom!

I completely forget who this song is by or what the title is. But long live bootlegs, long live soukous and long live Congo.

Well, I’m awake now… you?

Congolese Music for a Saturday Morning

Tags: congo, soukous

Something about living in a sand-blasted region filled with ex-empires makes the various peoples of the Sahel want to rock-out. Musicians like Ali Farka Toure have popularized the Malian “desert blues” sound, while others like Amadou and Mariam are spreading the sub-Saharan rock love.

Tinariwen is another one of these groups who blend solid electric guitar with local rhythms and song in a successful mix. Their music falls somewhere between North African traditional music, Malian blues and contemporary sub-Saharan rock n roll.

The ten members of Tinariwen are Touareg, a stateless nomadic people from the southern Sahara who have historically been caught somewhere between the borders of the Sahel and North Africa. Many of them are based in present-day Mali where they’ve been oppressed and/or ignored by the Malian government for years.

When time came for the Touaregs to give the finger to Mali and fight for independence Algeria stepped in and promised weapons and support. Ghadaffi also promised them their own state, or at least some form of autonomy in the south of his country and the north of Mali, following a successful revolution. However, always one to make a hollow promise, Ghadaffi duped the Touaregs. They quickly realized that he was just using them as pawns in his own pursuits to gain more territory.

Tinariwen’s music has become the unofficial soundtrack for the Touareg revolution against both Algeria and Mali. Their music has been banned in both countries. They sing about resistance, exile and future independence, and also play a mean guitar.

Formed in 1982, Tinariwen have just recently started to record albums for wide-release. Their 2001 album The Radio Tisdas Sessions did very well, giving the group as well as the Touareg’s plight much media attention. This year they released a second album, even better than the first in my opinion, Amassakoul. You’ll find a track from each in today’s post.

Tinariwen - Chet Boghassa
Tinariwen - Afours Afours

Tags: mali, rock, tamashek, touareg

I’m not the the only guy posting African music. Check out my suggestions below then please leave your own in the comments.

A few Benn Loxo readers and contributors with a fabulous record collection have started their own blog, Akwaaba Sound System. Today’s post features some lesser-known music by Francis Bebey that they introduced to me a couple weeks back. Great stuff - go grab it before it’s gone.

The Suburbs Are Killing Us featured some wild Congolese brousse electronic the other day. You’ll see what I mean when you listen.

If you’re still feeling the Congo, check-out Tikun Olam for some rumba by Sam Mangwana. You’ll often find nice African music on this site.

Funk You featured some Manu Dibango the other day. Always fun…

Today I’m doing something a little different. Yesterday I titled my post “The soul before Bloody Saturday” in reference to the day in 1976 when Ethiopia’s golden age came to a crashing halt, plunging the country into decades of instability, repression and poverty.

I then got to thinking about how so many African countries have been turned on their head in a day. I know it’s never that simple and that these days of revolution are often the result of years of build-up. However, it is interesting to look at trigger points in history; the events that prompt swift political or cultural overhaul.

Burundi is a country that hasn’t had any form of lasting peace in over a century. The Twa were conquered by the Hutu, then the Hutu by the Tutsi, then the Tutsi by the Germans, then the Germans by the Belgians, then the Belgians by the Tutsi, then the Tutsi by the Hutu, then again the Hutu by the Tutsi, and so on and so forth.

The current ongoing conflict is rooted in a post-colonial power struggle between Burundi’s two main ethnic* groups, Hutu and Tutsi. The “trigger day” for this conflict came on the 29th of April, 1972, when a small group of Hutu militants staged an uprising that supposedly resulted in the death of Burundi’s last and former king, Ntare IV. This gave the new Tutsi president Michel Micombero’s government an excuse to put-down the numerically superior Hutu in a brutal genocide that resulted in an estimated 100,000-150,000 Hutu deaths.

My friend Todd was in Burundi a few years back reporting on yet another war there. He brought a little dictaphone with him and made a whole bunch of mini-recordings of interviews, music and the sounds of war. I recently listened to his “best of” CD of these recordings and picked a few of my favourites for the site.

The most interesting, in my opinion, are Burundian president Buyoya’s little speeches on “burundi1.mp3″ and “burundi6.mp3″. What an evil sounding man. Another interesting one is the sound of mortar, rocket and gun fire in the capital, Bujumbura, with the muffled speaking of a BBC reporter on a radio in the background talking about the conflict. Anyway, the clips are meant to be listened to in numerical order. Hope you find them interesting.

Now since I try to keep this site musical and not too political I’ll throw in some Burundian music, too. There’s a clip of Burundian traditional drumming by one of the country’s most well-known groups outside of the country. This style of drumming is an important part of many Burundian ceremonies and rituals. There’s also some contemporary Burundian music by Khadja Nin, a popular and talented female vocalist.

* there has been great debate over whether Hutu and Tutsi are still actually different ethnicities. People of course say they “look different”, but recent genetic and historical analysis say otherwise. Many now believe, as I do, that being a Tutsi just means you come from a powerful ruling family, while Hutus are the poorer, working or servant-class farmers. Different classes, yes, but different ethnicity? Maybe not so much anymore.

Sounds of Burundi 1
Sounds of Burundi 2
Sounds of Burundi 3
Sounds of Burundi 4
Sounds of Burundi 5
Sounds of Burundi 6
Sounds of Burundi 7

Khadja Nin - Mbarik Fall
Les Tambourinaires du Burundi

Tags: burundi

I’m pretty busy today but time for a quick post.

I already posted an Alemayehu Eshete track a while back, but I didn’t really do the guy justice. It’s a rare cloudy day in Dakar and everyone seems to be moving a little slower. Perfect weather for some more East Coast funk from The Man in 1970s Ethiopia.

One has to wonder what would have happened to Ethiopian music if the country hadn’t fallen apart in 1974. With the possible exception of Ghanaian Highilfe and Nigerian Afrobeat, I can’t think of another significant African musical movement in the 60s and 70s that was so cool. Leisure suits, afro cuts and guys running around screaming “baby, why dontchyou come back to me now, you know you want it, baby, you NEED me!” in Amharic.

Anyway. Lots to do. You can find great collections of his earlier music on the Ethiopiques compilations vols. 3, 9 and 10. (Don’t believe emusic, by the way. He didn’t die in 1969. Where’d they get that?)

ps- Unfortunately Eshete discovered the Casio in the 80s and 90s and never looked back. I suggest you stick to his early material if you don’t want to feel the same remorse as you may have felt when you re-watched The Neverending Story a little too late in your teens.

Alemayehu Eshete - Teredtchewalehu
Alemayehu Eshete - Eskegizew Bertchi

Tags: ethiopia

I unapologetically admit that the Kronos Quartet is my favourite string ensemble. In 1992 this San Francisco-base group released Pieces of Africa, a classical fusion album mixing Western string arrangements with songs and rhythms from various spots on the African continent. The album was wildly commercially successful for a “classical” album, reviled by purists and praised by many.

That’s the way it is with Kronos. Purists often hate them, citing their numerous pop ventures and tendency to make albums with names like “Pieces of Africa.” I’m over it. They’re very talented musicians who are unafraid to pimp themselves out on cheap Jimi Hendrix covers if it means getting the public at large to appreciate a little Hildegaard von Bingen.

Their album Early Music is still one of my all-time favourites. Mind you, it brings back painful memories of late nights, long essays and very cold pre-exam crunch sessions while studying in Canada. You should check it out regardless of what you think of today’s selections.

Either way, we’ll stick with Africa for this post. I always sort of thought the kora would go well with a cello.

Kronos Quartet - Wawshishijay
Kronos Quartet - Tilliboyo

Tags: america, classical

We have a guest post today, this time from an especially generous and well-traveled Benn loxo reader, Pieter.

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A predecessor of Orchestre Bantous (De La Capitale), Rock A Mambo swayed fans in the late 1950s with their afrolatin tunes. Made up of the best Congolese musicians (from both sides of the river), it featured people like Kabasele and Nico (of African Jazz fame), Rossignol, Malapet, Pandi, and Essous (of OK Jazz). Rock A Mambo plays on the Ki-Kongo expression rocamambu, ‘one who looks for problems’, a reference to a folk tale of the prodigal son who leaves with nothing but returns home rich. Read Gary Stewart’s Rumba On The River and find out that Baïla was such a hit for Antonopoulos’ Esengo label that Essous got a Vespa out of it, or that (Patrice) Lumumba–then sales manager for BraCongo–hired Rock A Mambo to praise its Polar beer (but they were soon sacked after being seen drinking the rival Primus beer).

Super Cercul was one of the orchestras where Franklin Boukaka started out. Boukaka was a great composer, poet, and activist, killed in 1972 during one of the many revolutions in Brazzaville. Before creating political songs like Le Bûcheron or Pont Sur Le Congo with Cercul Jazz, he composed classic dance tunes in the early 1960s like Adelina. In Pont Sur Le Congo, Boukaka hoped for unity across the river:

Accept this day my prayer
For a united Congo.
If we follow the teachings of Lumumba,
Kinshasa and Brazza will get on well together.
Brothers and sisters on the two banks,
Let’s join hands and forge the glory
Of our Congo.

Enjoy,

Pieter

Rock-A-Mambo - Panchita
Super Cercul - Adelina

Tags: congo

So I went to see one of the Senegal Hip-Hop Awards shows last night at Dakar’s French Cultural Centre. Some groups were pretty funny (including a MC holding a pink plastic cane and sporting a head lamp - supa ghetto), others interesting (Cameroonian mask wearing RnB dancers), and a couple really good (Daara-J almost always puts on a good show). We were particularly impressed by a young MC from Abidjan/Geneva named Kajeem. I’m hopefully going to get a hold of him today so I can grab one of his mixtapes to post on the site.

Anyway, I promised yesterday that I’d post some more “nouveau talent” from the Dakar hip-hop scene. Today you get Flamm J, a politicized Dakar rap group most famous for their big religious kick and attacks on the “corrupting influence” of mbalax music and dancing on young Senegalese women (see this site’s logo). I like them, however, for their incorporation of local instruments into their beats. You’ll hear some kora on today’s track.

The second song is by Bidew Bou Bess (Wolof for “A new star”). I posted this track not because these guys are wildly popular, but rather because they have a unique sound. They use traditional Senegalese singing styles and instruments in their hip-hop with interesting results. And yes, the chorus is a chant to Allah. And yes, much of Senegalese hip-hop is religious. Local spiritual leaders, marabouts, often align themselves with popular hip-hop groups to get their message across and stay on top of the competitive Senegalese Islam power game.

ps- a friend just pointed me to a Slate article about the history of the word “hip”. The author featured in the article thinks that it’s derived from the Wolof word xeppi (pronounced “heppy”) which roughly means “to open one’s eyes”. Thought this was appropriate given the last couple days of posts…

Flamm J - Wedi Guiss (I won’t believe it ’till I see it)
Bidew Bou Bess - Mbaye

Tags: hiphop, rap, senegal, wolof

The 4th annual Senegalese hip-hop awards are going on this week in Dakar.

While Senegalese hip-hop (known locally as “Senerap”) may not be to everyone’s taste, you can’t deny it’s influence and importance on the African music scene. Senegal, this little country in West Africa, probably has the most developed rap concert and recording scene anywhere on the continent. The amount of new groups coming out who record well-produced singles is pretty amazing. Their influences range from 50-Cent to Saain Supa Crew, and they produce a wide variety of sounds for the super-large speakers at Sandaga market in Dakar.

I’ve said this before, but it’s also amazing to me how the rap here is so non-violent. The rappers usually sing about the ladies, how much they love their country, how much they love their God or how much they love their parents. The occasional angry stuff almost sounds out of place in a scene devoted to hard-core rapping about happy things.

Many of you have written asking for more Daara-J. Over the last couple of years they’ve supplanted Positive Black Soul and Pee Froiss as the most popular rap group in Senegal. They’ve also started to make a name for themselves outside of Senegal, touching French and Belgian markets with their 2003 album Boomerang, relased on the UK label Wrasse.

I also promised some “nouveau talent” from the Dakar rap scene this month. So today and tomorrow I’ll be posting music from some new and promising groups on the scene. Today we get the Dakar All-Stars, a group of top Senegalese rappers from various neighbourhoods in Dakar, with a De La tribute track title.

ps- the picture in today’s post is of K’s wall-size mural that hangs in our living room. It’s by Dakar’s Les Mizérables graffiti crew who would be happy to make you a t-shirt or mural if you want one - send me an e-mail and I’ll put you in touch.

Daara-J - Number One
Dakar All-Stars - Ego Sunu Trip

Tags: dakar, hiphop, rap, senegal

I watched a movie set in Sudan last night. And in case you haven’t noticed there have been a few problems there lately - phrases like “world’s worst humanitarian crisis”, “one of the world’s worst places to live or work”, or “Africa’s famine and civil war capital” might come to mind. Over the past 20 years, anywhere between 2 and 8 million people have died as a direct result of civil war, famine and ethnic violence in Sudan.

Despite continued civil strife, religious tension between Christians, Muslims and pagans, ethnic fighting between Arabs and blacks, and several Islamist authoritarian regimes, Sudan does have a few things going for it. It’s not as absolutely hopeless as people outside of Africa tend to say it is. Its economy is actually quite strong compared to most West African nations. Its population is relatively educated, too, and the culture is well-developed. Its AIDS-rate is quite low by African standards. Sudan is also (blessed?) with oil and other major natural resources. While its economy remains based mainly in traditional agriculture, it’s actually growing these days - unlike so many other African nations.

I only say all this because back in Canada and the US the only images that we seem to get out of Sudan are Islamic extermists or Sally Struthers holding a half-dead baby with flies in its eyes. Yes, Sudan has some major troubles including genocide in the Darfur region and an on-going civil war, but it’s still Africa’s largest country and, like almost everywhere else on this continent, a vibrant, interesting place.

With this in mind I’m going to post some Abdel Gadir Salim today. Probably Sudan’s most famous musician outside of the country, Salim sings about the good stuff in life like love. He also incorporates both African and Arabic sounds into his music - just the kind of unity his country so desperately needs.

Abdel Gadir Salim All-Stars - Alhagi
Abdel Gadir Salim All-Stars - Mal Wa Ihtagab

Tags: sudan

My man Ed in Brixton sent me a great album the other day called Heart of the Congo. Classic 1977 Lee Scratch Perry with the help of two Congolese musicians, Seka Molenga and Kalo Kawongolo, straight out of Perry’s original Black Ark sound. You’ll hear what I mean when you listen to those dirty-deep reggae rhythms.

Apparently when Perry put out this album he was pretty tripped out on Rastafarianism and believed it was Jah himself who called upon him to get some guys from Zaire and record some music. The best part of the album, however, is the last trackl: a super-chill remake of Robert Palmer’s “Love Can Run Faster”. I must have played it about a dozen times yesterday while wandering around the apartment or exploring the comforts of my bed on my lazy Sunday.

So hide somewhere where your boss can’t see you, roll one up and then listen to today’s picks. It’s ok to be lazy on Mondays, too.

Seka Molenga, Kalo Kawongolo & Lee Perry - Muto Ya Motema
Seka Molenga, Kalo Kawongolo & Lee Perry - River Stone Love Can Run Faster

Tags: congo, reggae

A renowned musician, poet, radio host, performer and novelist in Africa, Europe and North America, Francis Bebey pretty much did it all. He’s also the guy I wanted to listen to while making my Saturday eggs and bacon this morning. Perfectly acoustic to soothe the mild hangover headache.

Bebey was born and raised in Cameroon in a pro-colonial protestant family. It’s a small miracle that he managed to become a musician given his conservative French upbringing, especially one so passionate about promoting traditional African music and instruments. Lucky for all of us Bebey met a traditional doctor named Eya Mouéssé while he was still living in Cameroon. Mouéssé’s teachings introduced Bebey to the traditional instruments and musical heritage of his country and sparked an interest in African music that would change the course of his life.

Bebey lived in Cameroon, France and the US and worked on a wide variety of projects such as traditional music research for UNESCO and musical collaborations with the Kronos Quartet. He was a true international griot, promoting West African music and culture the world-over through a mix of writing, composing and education.

In May, 2001, Bebey died of a sudden heart attack. His death marked a real loss for African music and jazz lovers the world over. His legacy is intact, however, and he won’t be forgotten.

Francis Bebey - Idiba (Morning)

Tags: acoustic, cameroon

You won’t find today’s tracks on any album. Benn loxo reader Martin brings you a guest post of a couple recordings he made of Salif Keita while working on a Sissoko film in Mali a few years ago. I’ll let him explain (see my translation below):

En 1995 Salif Keita, immense chanteur malien sort l’album “Folon” (le passé), sur lequel il rend hommage à Chris Seydou, styliste malien décédé en 1994, à l’origine du renouveau du Bogolan (mud clothes) tissu traditionnel malien.

Extrait:

“Grand styliste et travailleur acharné,
il a fait connaitre au Monde les tissus
africains, notamment maliens.
Il nous a quitté, qui va nous habiller?”

En 1998 je travaille comme ingénieur du son sur le film “la genèse” de cheick oumar Sissoko, salif Keïta tient le rôle d’esaû le frère de jacob. Nous tournons à Hombori dans l’est du Mali, et je partage le quotidien de salif pendant 4 semaines extraordinaires.

Sa grossiéreté légendaire lui vaut les reproches indignés de tous les maliens, mais en même temps dés qu’il chante, les mêmes se mettent à pleurer d’émotion.

La veille de son départ, il accepte de venir enregistrer une chanson dans ma “chambre”. La voilà, brute d’enregistrement, sans aucun effet, j’ai juste remixé une 2° version avec les grillons nocturnes d’Hombori.

Bonne écoute.
martin

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In 1995 the famous Malian singer, Salif Keita, released his album “Folon” (the past) on which he gives hommage to Chris Seydou, a Malian designer who died in 1994. Seydou was larely responsible for bringing traditional Malian Bogolan cloth back into style (”mud cloth”).

Extract:

“Important designer and devoted worker,
he introduced the world to african cloth
notably Malian.
He left us, who will dress us?”

In 1998 I worked as a sound engineer on Chiekh Oumar Sissoko’s film “Genesis”. Salif Keita played the role of Esau, Jacob’s brother. We shot the film in Hombori in eastern Mali, and I shared Salif’s company for four extraordinary weeks.

His legendary rudeness merits him the indignant reproaches of all Malians. At the same time when he starts singing these same pepole are brought to tears.

The night before he left he agreed to let me record one of his songs in my room. Here’s the result: a no-frills, effect-free recording. The second version is mixed with the nocturnal sounds Hombori’s crickets.

ps- thanks for sharing, Martin.
pps- as it happens there’s a Salif Keita concert in Dakar tonight. See you there?

Salif Keita - Seydou
Salif Keita - Seydou (+Grillons)

Tags: mali

In yesterday’s post I promised that I’d post some more songs from Original Music’s Money No Be Sand compilation. Never one to bail on musical promises, here you go.

Two tracks again. The first I might listen to in my car moments before an ambitious rush-hour highway manoeuver. The Les Rross Orchestra (is that a real double-r?) jamming in Lagos in 1970. (Those close to me might know that if I was reincarnated I might ask to be a fantastically dressed afrobeat dancer in Nigeria between 1969 and 1971.)

The second, oh the second.. quite possibly my favourite song out of Africa at the moment, and one of the better Beatles covers I’ve heard in a long while. Charlotte Dada of 1971 Ghana, what else have you recorded? I imagine the answer might be, “not much.” Either way, metallic polyrhythmic drums backing up a soulful Beatles remake is just what the doctor ordered.

Les Rross Orchestra - The Bad Lit Road
Charlotte Dada - Don’t Let Me Down

Tags: charlotte dada, ghana, lagos, nigeria

We’re back! Thanks for your patience.

We managed to chew-up over 81GB of bandwidth last month. I’m both flattered and determined not to shut-down early again this month. I’m going to limit my posts to 1-2 songs per day from now on. Please try not to download songs more than once. This means that you shouldn’t stream songs nor add them to playlists as URLs - yeah, that means you, Windows Media Player people.

Basically, please save the files to disk only once and play them locally afterwards. If we all play nice it means more music per month for everyone.

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I can’t believe it’s December. Don’t know about you but here in Dakar the sun is shining and the winds are rolling in at a pleasant 28 degrees celcius. Last year we threw some Chinese ornaments on a mini-baobab and called it a Christmas tree. I went surfing on Christmas day in a Santa beard and hat, no joke. I think I might get a Christmas palm up this year.

Anyway, a Benn loxo reader, Todd, put me in a great mood the other day when he sent me a copy of Money No Be Sand. Unfortunately Todd doesn’t have enough time at the moment for a guest post, but I send some respect his way for a great early Christmas (or late Ramadan) present to all Benn loxo listeners.

It’s another odd-ball collection of West African rock and funk put together by the same guy who came-up with the Africa Dances compilation I featured a few posts ago. I can’t tell you how much I love this album, and it’s appropriate that we re-launch the site with some Nigerian 60s rock since a) it’s my favourite, b) that’s how it all began.

I’ll do two days of posts from the album since it’s worth sharing. Today you get some music from The Junkers out of 1965 Nigeria. If you could surf in the murky waters off Lagos Island you might put this in your boombox at the beach party.

Incidentally, “The Junkers” are also a group of planes used by the Luftwaffe during WW2 to bomb the crap out of various allied targets. I wonder if that’s what those guitar-playing dudes in Nigeria were thinking when they named their band…

ps- check the first track to see why I chose the title to this post.

Clint Eph. Sebastian & The Junkers - Jane
Jimmy Solanke & The Junkers - Eje Ka Jo

Tags: nigeria, rock