This song has nothing to do with Hallowe’en. The French want to have nothing to do with Hallowe’en.

But wait, what’s this? Memories of dressing up as Tyson (yes, the ever-famous Senegalese lutteur) for a late-arrival Hallowe’en last year; of being stuck in an Abuja hotel room with only Trace to keep me company on another Hallowe’en; of khaki suits, dark sunglasses and other Ancien Régime déguisements in Paris this Hallowe’en.

I guess I’m quite involved with this pagan festival, both in France and in Africa. So who has time to write on such nights? It being Cameroon Week(s), however, I’ll squeeze something in: now is the time on Sprockets when we dance to Les Têtes Brulées.

Happy Hallowe’en.

Les Têtes Brulées – Zanzi Collection

The horns at the beginning of today’s tune make me feel like I’ve just won the jackpot on some early 90s game show. Amazing.

Yeah, I may know nothing about Les Black Styl but it’s the sound that counts, no? Feel free to fill in details in the comments if you know anything more about these guys.

So Cameroon week continues with some fun makossa rhythmized rock-out. Don’t worry, by the way: there’s still lots more Cameroon music to feature, so this week might stretch into two..

Black Styl – Lob’a Ma Sawa

Today we continue with Cameroon Week with some get-your-ass-moving makossa from Prince Eyango.

Eyango is one of the top Cameroonian makossa musicians. While he lives in LA most of the time and records almost exclusively in Paris, he’s still a local hero and one of the key players in the makossa scene.

Makossa is arguably Cameroon’s most popular form of music (I say arguably because 50 Cent probably gets more airtime), and is a great example of traditional rhythms and melodies mixing with modern dance music. It originally started as a more folky style in opposition to the then-dominant Nigerian highlife. As it gained popularity during the 60s and 70s it took on a more dancefloor feel. By the 1980s it had evolved into its current energetic form with strong base, quick soukous-like guitars and that uptempo drumbeat.

You can catch Eyango fairly often in concert around the world. I noticed on his web site that this summer he played to crowds in England, China, Canada and the US. Not bad for a once small-time musician from Douala.

Today’s track is one of his bigger hits and was released in 1991, a year before he moved to California. I love the title and the lyrics. Those who know me know that one of my favourite sayings is, “I’m over it.” Just saying that makes me want to send a big shout-out to Bryan in Prague. Sudden flashbacks of Lord of the Flies, ducking curfews and portages..

ps- Marta, thanks again.

pps- saw a great Antibalas show at the New Morning last night. Tony Allen came on for a track or two at the end. While I’m not normally a super-fan of their albums, they put on an amazing show. Great crowd, great music, lots of fun. Cobra!

Prince Eyango – Les problèmes

My friend from Dakar, Marta, who now lives in Cameroon, recently sent me a big pack of CDs straight from the Marché de Congo in Douala. I’ll be featuring music from these discs over the next few days. Big thanks, Marta, and look for your CDs in the mail soon!

Thanks to Marta, it’s official: it’s Cameroon week at Benn loxo du taccu.

Today we’ll start with some Keng Godefroy. He’s not very well known outside of Cameroon, at least I’ve never heard of him and he isn’t that Google-able. I do know that he’s a young, rising star in Cameroon with a slowed-down makassi musical style that I like. You can buy his 1997 album, Letse, not the one featured here today, on Amazon.

I don’t know the name of the today’s songs nor the album they’re from as the copied CD is unlabeled, direct from the market. So once again we have a bit of a mystery post. I’ll leave it up to Benn loxo listeners to fill in the details and I’ll e-mail Marta to see if she can enlighten us. In the meantime, enjoy the makassi.

Modern makassi music was made famous by Cameroonian musician Sam Fan Thomas, who I’ll maybe feature later this week. The rhythms come from traditional Makassi music in Western Cameroon, and you’ll recognize that typical Central African feel. Makes you want to shake like soukous.

ps- a Benn loxo listener is looking for a copy of the Nigerian 419 anthem, I Go Chop Your Dollars by Osofia, that’s mentioned in this article. If any of you know where to get it or have a copy kicking around then post a comment.

pps- quick tip for Benn loxo listeners: you can listen to all the music here as a podcast at http://bennloxo.com/feed/rss2

ppps- request for music by Dolly Rathebe. Anyone?

Keng Godefroy 1
Keng Godefroy 2

A long time ago some of you asked for some more Namibian music. While browsing in a Parisian world music store I spotted a compilation I’ve been meaning to grab for a while, A Hand-Full of Namibians. The album was put together in 2004 and released in 2005 by On The Corner records with the help of Papa Wemba, among others.

As with all these kinds of compilations, it’s a mixed bag. However, three or four really solid tracks make the album a good buy. Most of the artists are young and not very well known outside of Namibia adding to the appeal.

I picked two tracks off the album for today’s post. The first reminds me of a Namibian Dave Matthews (in a good way), and the second is more what you might expect to hear from Namibian modern folk/pop music. Enjoy.

ps- slight screw-up with the e-mail notification. It’s fixed now, but if you’re not getting notification e-mails for new posts please sign-up again. The unsubcribe feature works again, too.

Ras Sheehama – Inotela
Sebulon Gomachab – !Uri Piris