A quick post today, this time from the other side of the Congo river.

A few readers have mentioned a compilation called Kinshasa ‘96 that came with the 21st volume of the French magazine, Revue Noire. A Benn loxo reader, Olivier, was nice enough to share a copy with me.

It’s filled with a variety of great contemporary Congolese music, from rumba to hip-hop. There’s very little information on the web site, so unfortunately I’ll have to post yet another track with missing details. The album has some music by groups I’ve heard of before, but the one I picked for today doesn’t even have an artist listed.

If you know the artist or anything further about today’s selection or other tracks on the compilation, please let us know in a comment. Hope you enjoy the music regardless.

Petit Jazz

While in Argentina I couldn’t help but notice that there are almost no black people – I maybe saw half a dozen during my two weeks there. I guess maybe I’m more sensitive to this fact since I live in Senegal, but still… especially considering it neighbours Brazil. I was hoping to find some African diaspora musical niche there, but that’s a little tough when only 0.001% of the population is of African origin. I could post some tango or folklore, but this is an African music web site so we’ll save that for another day.

The reason why the population is so white/indigenous is a point of great debate in Argentina at the moment. I had the good luck to sit beside an author on a flight from Buenos Aires to Salta who recently published a popular book on the subject. Her theories about Argentina’s lack of a black population are many and varied, and mostly a sad comment on the country’s turbulent history. But again, this site is about African music and not South American history so I’ll let someone who’s more familiar with the subject to fill in the blanks in a comment.

Regardless of its lack of any form of widespread multiculturalism, Argentina is a wonderful place. Friendly people, amazing geography, thick steaks, good wine and great music to go with it. On top of all this Buenos Aires is a sophisticated and incredibly inexpensive city. I have to love a country where I can be swimming under a waterfall during the day, tossing a beer bottle at St. Patty’s that night, trying to tango the next and then sweating in a nightclub at 5am on a Wednesday. Beautiful, clean, safe and interesting.

Now after all that, why not listen to some Congolese music? Ed aka sufi passed me a really great tune before I left on vacation. I must have listened to this track 100 times on planes, buses and trains in Argentina.

I really don’t know much about Mango Negro Kwala-Kwa except that they were a popular rumba group in Congo Brazzaville during the late 60s and early 70s. Today’s track is from 1972 and was their most famous release. Even if you’re not into it at the beginning be sure to listen until the 3rd minute – there’s a great snare beat that kicks in, making this song particularly original and infectuous. You can buy it at Stern’s.

Mando Negro Kwala-Kwa – Massamba M.J.

I’m going to Argentina for two and half weeks so there won’t be any new posts until March 29th.

I leave you with some Mbilia Bel, one of the first female mega-stars of African music. She became popular when she started singing with Tabu Ley Rochereau during the 1980s and eventually earned a reputation as a solo artist through her work with percussionist Rigo Star in Paris. She now lives on the West Coast in the US.

You can grab today’s track on Bel’s 1991 album, Bameli Soy.

Enjoy, et bientôt.

Mbilia Bel – Lizanga Bambanda

On this busy Tuesday morning I’m happy to say that I stumbled upon a random musical find: Dakar’s Moussa Sissoko playing with jazz pianist Joachim Kühn.

Ala Tamala, the track I’m going to post today from the 1999 album of the same name, is an amazingly energetic fusion track for the workday. Djembe, conga and piano on fire.

You can learn more about the album and order it at the label’s site (if you speak German), blueflame records. If you prefer to shop for downloads you can grab a copy on emusic.

Moussa Sissoko – Ala Tamala

On Saturday I took a daytrip to the epicenter of Mouride Islam: Touba, Senegal. The trip proved to be a bit of a lengthy adventure (like nearly all roadtrips in West Africa) but I’m glad I went.

Mouridism is a spiritually and culturally-infused West-African brand of Islam, reviled by Middle Eastern Islamic purists and loved by the Senegalese and Gambian masses. Some of the marabouts (religious “guides”) have huge sway over national politics here. The founder of Mouridism, Cheikh Amadou Bamba, is burried in the massive mosque found in the city of Touba, as are all of the deceased Mouride leaders to date. Touba is also home to Senegal’s largest and strangest market – rumour has it you can buy AK-47s here cheap, and I can confirm that the street traders give a good deal on Japanese Yen.

The incredibly large mosque in Touba is clad in gaudy, imported pink marble and brightly coloured ceramics. Each Friday ten to twenty thousand people come here to pray. Once a year, during the annual pilgrimage called the Magal, around two million people from all over the world descend on Touba to pay hommage to Cheikh Amadou Bamba and his disciples.

Touba the city, both mosque and market, is the best example of Senegalese culture I’ve seen to date. Money and mosques, beggars and BMWs; Senegalese Islam and the marabouts that control it are all about getting to heaven quickly, but with as much bling-bling as possible.

No matter what you think about Bamba and Mouridism you can’t ignore its importance to Senegalese culture and how impressive its mosques, traditional costumes and monuments are.

In honour of the trip I’m going to post some Gambian dancehall/rnb devoted to Serigne Touba (Serigne loosely means “father” or “Big Man”) and the movement he started. Yes, the songs are a bit cheesy in that Gambian pop music way, but they make a perfect companion to a Touba trip for reasons you’ll have to experience to believe.

The pictures in this post are (top to bottom): the main mosque at Touba, detail of the moulded ceiling in the Touba mosque, and the beautiful main mosque in Diourbel, a small city 200km East of Dakar..

The Dancehall Masters – Serigne Touba
The Dancehall Masters – Self-titled