For those who know and love Dakar, you’d probably laugh and say, “really? are you kidding?” if I told you that a new amusement park opened here, just down the street from Soubedioune fish market. Ah yes, the Disney of Dakar, a West Africa Wonderland - say hello to Magicland!

A bunch of us went down yesterday afternoon to check out this wonder of the sub-Saharan world. We ate cotton candy, watched our friend’s cute kid ride the rollercoaster, bashed the crap out of each other at the karting, and even rode some mechanical bulls. Good, clean fun made twisted by the fact that all of this was happening in my dusty home of Dakar.

If you’re asking yourself, “what’s the big deal? It’s just some crappy new amusement park,” you need to get your ass over to Senegal and see why such things can only be funny.

Anyway, in honour of all that’s plastic and metal on the West African Atlantic coast I’m going to post some carnaval soukous music by the late Pépé Kallé. Sometimes known as the Atomic Bomb, this rather portly master of the Congolese soukous sound is right up there with some of the top soukous musicians out of Congo during the 1970-90s. He’s played with some great musicians in his day like Diblo Dibala and Kinanga “Boeing 737″.

I always like a good dose of rumba rhythm on a Monday. You can also enjoy some if you buy Gigantafrique, Kallé’s 1990 best-of release that contains the track I’m posting today.

Pépé Kallé - Cé Chalé Carnaval

I’ve read both negative and postive reviews of Freedom Blues - South African Jazz Under Apartheid. Some feel that it’s an inspiring collection of uplifting jazz music by black musicians who, despite living under the brutal repression of South African apartheid, still managed to crank out great music. Others feel that the music on the album is just another example of African pop imitating American musical style, and that the “joyous” sound has more to do with sounding like John Coltrane than expressing a desire for freedom or happiness. Still others think that the real “freedom music” of South Africa sounds nothing like this.

Personally, I don’t care. Bottom-line is that “despite this” or “not despite that” there were some amazing jazz musicians living and playing in South Africa and Zimbabwe during the apartheid years. The most well-known among them are of course Dollar Brand and Hugh Masekela, but the album also features several lesser-known talents.

I had a hard time picking a track to post. I finally settled on Dollar Brand because I play piano and like to think that in another life I may have been able to play as well as he does. Give this track some time - it breaks nicely at around the first minute.

Dollar Brand - Bombella

Orchestra Bella Bella is a classic Congolese rumba group from the 1970s and 80s. They were formed in 1969 by the late Soki Vangu (Maxim Soki) and Soki Dianzenza (Emile Soki). The younger Soki brother, Emile, was only 16 at the time.

They went on to make many recordings during the early 1970s, playing alongside other rumba orchestras in the Zaire scene like Orchestre African Music and Orchestre Lipwa-Lipwa. Pepe Kalle was one of their most well-known members, joining the band in 1972 for a brief stint. Future Congolese stars Kanda Bongo Man and Diblo Dibala also played with Bella Bella in the early 80s.

There are currently three different five-volume “best-ofs” floating around, though I recommend the ones you can buy at Stern’s. Today’s track can be found here and here.

ps- Thanks again, Alex, for the wonderful music.

Orchestre Bella Bella - Tikela Nga Mobali

You can now subcribe to a Benn loxo du taccu “new post” e-mail list.

If you subscribe, everytime I put some new music up on the site you’ll get a simple text e-mail with a link to the new post. Just toss your e-mail address in the box to the right there and click “sign up” to get going. You won’t get anything but new post notifications and your address will be safe in my personal database for no one else to play with.

Starting from today, I’m also going to podcast the songs on my posts.

Today we’re going to listen to a track by a “Malagasy Traditional Music Ensemble”, Tarika Sammy. They sing and play southern-Madagascar sounding music, making use of traditional instruments and multi-part harmonies.

The group formed in 1982 in Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital city, though they didn’t release their own LP until 1996. Unfortunately they haven’t released anything since - anyone know if they’re still together?

This post’s selection comes off their one and only full-length solo release, Beneath Southern Skies from Shanachie records.

Tarika Sammy - Tsarovy (Remember)

Damn, what the hell happened? I used to have all the time in the world. Now I’m at work and it’s 5:40pm and all I can say is this:

If you couldn’t look to Benn loxo du taccu for your Senegalese hip-hop needs, what then? Here’s some Dakar-area old school hip-hop. Well, old school in Dakar hip hop terms: a couple tracks off Jololi’s year 2000 compilation, Da Hop.

ps- Sorry about the skip or two. Scratched CDs are tough to rip.

Posse & Doudou - Africa Lakalé
Boul N’Baï - SIDA

After the last post’s sounds it’s high time for a kora remix.

Today’s first track comes off Hadja Kouyate and Ali Boulo Santo’s 2003 album, Manding-Ko, recorded at Dakar’s Studio 2000. Hadja Kouyate is the daughter of Guinean griots who, as far as I can tell, most people believe is Malian. Ali Boulo Santo isn’t Malian either - he’s Senegalese, a Dakarois even. Regardless, the album is a collection of nice Mandingo kora music accompanying Kouyate’s beautiful singing. Pan-West African, Malian sounding at times and generally good all ’round.

The remix bit comes off an album on the same label, Frédéric Galliano’s Frikyiwa, called FKW 016: Electronic Experience in African Music. The title sort of describes what the album is all about - definitely worth a listen.

My copies of both albums are courtesy my good friend, Alex. Happy birthday, Alex, and cheers for some great new additions to the collection.

Hadja Kouyate & Ali Boulo Santo - Agne Tolona
Hadja Kouyate & Ali Boulo Santo - Agne Tolona recontructed

I’ve upgraded the software that runs this site to Wordpress 1.5. It seems to be working well, but if you notice any bugs please let me know.

In honour of this mis-a-jour I’m going to post a particularly beautiful kora piece by Toumani Diabate and Ballake Sissoko. We already heard Diabate on this site, but I’m in the mood so let’s just go with it.

This song is off their aptly-named 1999 album, New Ancient Strings. The album’s title is a play on the title of Sidiki Diabate and Djelimadi Sissoko’s classic album, Cordes Anciennes. The elder Diabate and Sissoko were famous for introducing Western music markets to the sound of the kora. This album is an attempt by their sons to keep the Malian kora tradition alive and well.

Toumani Diabate & Ballake Sissoko - Bi Lambam

In case you haven’t noticed I’ve been really busy lately and have been slacking a bit on the posts. Benn loxo is going to continue indefinitely, but the reason why it’s stalled a bit lately is part travel, part work and mostly because I’m moving to Paris in the Spring. Don’t worry - I’ll keep posting during and after the Parisian relocation. In fact, at my new job at AP Paris I’ll still be working closely with our West Africa office and will be responsible for some stuff in North Africa.

It’s ironic, but there’s arguably a better pan-African music scene in Paris than in Dakar. I’ll definitely have more access to great African music there, too. Regardless, in honour of this move we’re going to listen to some music by some French North Africans based in South-East France, Gnawa Diffusion.

We haven’t touched North Africa much on this site. I think when I move to France I’ll start focusing more on the north side of the Sahara, but for now we’ll stick to the Sahel and all that’s sub. Today’s an exception - pop the champagne, I gotta new job.

Gnawa Diffusion’s style varies from rap to reggae to raï and they sing in Arabic, French and English. Most of the lyrics and music are put together by the group’s front-man, Amezigh Kateb. They often sing/rap about the plight of North African immigrants in France, but they also produce such weighty tracks as Je Suis Un Fauteuil. Either way, I like what I hear. I have much to learn about the music from my neighbours to the north.

The track I’m posting today is off a bootleg bought in Morocco (right, Jake? and thanks for the CD, by the way) so please correct me if the track title is incorrect. Not sure what album name is, either. I think it’s one of those street “best ofs”, but whatever. There are some solid tracks and the following is definitely worth posting. Buy some here.

Gnawa Diffusion - Sabrina

A while ago I wrote a post about Amampondo, a great Xhosa group from a town near Cape Town, South Africa, who specialize in marimba music. Today we’re going to listen to Madosini, another South African musician interested in preserving local culture and history who once sung with Amampondo.

Known as “The Veteran” in her homeland of Mpondoland-Transkei, Madosini is an amaMpondo musician who uses the uhadi (music bow), umhrubhe (mouth bow) and isistoloto (Jewish harp) to accompany her rhythmic singing, chanting and dancing. Her performances are more theatre than straight music as she mixes them with story-telling and traditional dance.

Madosini has a dual political agenda: preserving indigenous culture and fighting for women’s rights in Africa and beyond. She has done much to awaken South Africans, particularly the Xhosa peoples (whose music I love so much in case you haven’t noticed), to their own rich musical and and cultural history. She’s also empowered a whole generation of women to assert themselves in the face of an often misogynistic society.

Musically she has a very unique sound. Today’s pick is particularly cool in my opinion because of its dub feel - hypnotic. You can buy the album for download here if you’re into it.

Madosini - Nozimanga (Uthando Luphelile Dub)

Once again my favourite Benn loxo listener, sufi, has come through with a great album: Super Biton de Segou’s Afro Jazz du Mali.

I had heard of the Orchestre Régional de Segou before, but I had no idea that they morphed into Super Biton during the 80s. They have a serious Bambara sound and include several musicians who went on to solo fame like Mama Sissoko and Mamadou Doumbia. As far as I can tell they released four albums between some time in the late 1970s and 1986. Afro jazz du Mali was their last full-length as a group.

Segou, by the way, is Mali’s second largest city. It sits on the Niger river an hour or two north-east of the capital, Bamako. It used to be an important administrative centre for the French colonials. More interesting is Ségoukoro, a small town just outside of Ségou. It used to be the capital for the Bambara Malian empire that ruled most of West Africa - thousands of kilometres in either direction - during the 18th century. You can find some really cool Bamana/Sudanese architecture around these spots.

Super Biton de Segou - An’Niya

We’ve never heard any music from Gabon on this site, so today’s the day.

Pierre Akendengue is an outspoken musician from Gabon still living, performing and recording in Libreville. He spent the early part of his early career in France but moved back to Gabon in the early 80s. His lyrics are often political and he is deeply entrenched in the development the cultural life of his home country. Akendengue is also a big believer in pan-Africanism and you’ll often hear him sing about uniting African people - if you can understand Myéné, that is.

Even if you can’t understand his native tongue it’s hard not to like his music. His early stuff is often folky, sometimes tinged with a strange near-psychedelic edge. Echoes and electrical “zaps” abound. Beyond that, though, you get some great singing and nice acoustic guitar work. Early Pierre Akendengue as Libreville’s Cat Stevens? I laughed outloud as I typed that, but it’s sort of true.

Today’s track is off Nandipo, Akendengue’s second album. It was released in 1976 and led to some degree of international fame when it won the “Prix de la jeune chanson française” at Midem, the annual Cannes record industry event.

I picked this track in particular because I’ve had a really weird day at work and it’s is the only thing that seems to make sense. I also picked it because it’s good, and not the song most people know by this guy - the relatively annoying “Afrika”.

Pierre Akendengue - Oma Ayiya

I like Ghana Soundz Vol. 2 even better than the first. It bursts with funk.

Today’s selection off this compilation is by Ebo Taylor Jr. & Wuta Wazuri. Ebo Taylor Jr., son of the relatively well-known Ghanaian guitarist Ebo Taylor, was a pretty solid musician in his own right. The keyboards on this track are pretty funky, even though at moments they sound a touch like some tripped-out segment from an ELP track. Wuta Wazuri back Ebo’s keys up with some of their 70s Ghana pop-funk.

The liner notes to Ghana Soundz 2 say that this track is “an end-of-the-night wobbler for sure.” Exactly.

Ebo Taylor Jr & Wuta Wazuri - Mondo Soul Funky