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

Ok, so it 12:38am and not officially October 12th anymore. But I still wanted to do a Franco memorial post. Several people, including CC at The Beat and long-time Benn loxo contributor, Gertrud, reminded me that October 12th is the anniversary of Franco’s death in 1989.

While I’m a bit tired and low on time tonight, I figure I have to at least re-post my past Franco tracks and put up a new one in honour of the Congolese musical giant. So much of the African music I’ve featured on this site is indebted to Franco, and nearly 20 years later his sounds continue to sell and influence new generations of musicians.

Three past posts:

And a Franco Three
Franco Deux
Sorcerer Guitar

The track on the Franco Deux post is one of my favourite songs ever to come out of Africa. I used to have this tune as my phone ring, and despite how much I love it, it will forever remind me of 8am phone call wake-ups from work on a Saturday. These Saturday Franco wake-ups are only made good by the idea of the beautiful K curled up in bed beside me.. both of us groaning as Franco sings me out of bed. I love you, Katie.

..and another live track off a 1994 Sonodisc compilation that I picked-up at Jussieu this afternoon:

Franco - Nganda Tosalake Fete

I got an e-mail from Benn loxo listener, Connie, webmaster for Gambian Griot School of Music and Dance in Bakau, The Gambia, wondering if I could post some music by the school’s manager, Dembo Jobarteh. The tunes are simple and charming. Sort of just-right for my mood right now.

Here’s what she says about the three tracks:

“1. Gambia Banko (Music & Lyrics: Dembo Jobarteh)
The Gambia is a beautiful country where many tribes live together peacefully. With this song Dembo honors his country and advises people about the importance of love and peace.

3. Bamba Bojang. (Traditional)”

I have many funny memories from The Gambia. Some fun and dirty (very, very long multi-Diague Ndiaye trips during a heat wave with not enough water and busloads of friendly market women), some musical (hanging out with dancehall and hiphop artists at Serekunda market), and some luxury (monkeys, cocktails and beauty at the wonderful Coconut Residence).

The Gambia and Gambians are generally extremely chilled-out, and have no problems joking about the fact that they live under a military dictatorship. It’s amazing that such a small piece of land, so enveloped by Senegal, can be so distinct.

Anyway, these songs remind me of Gazelle-infused nights where you find yourself in a room surrounded by random dudes who suddenly bust-out a djembe and break into song. The recordings could easily be from several living rooms during the rainy season at relaxed parties in the Serekunda outskirts or Dakar HLMs.

Thanks for the music, Dembo. You can check-out his company here and here.

Dembo Jobarteh - Gambia Banko
Dembo Jobarteh - Mama Tamba
Dembo Jobarteh - Bamba Bojang

Can anyone help with these requests by some Benn loxo listeners?

Xalam - Ade
West African Cosmos albums
Wato Sita

Anyway, not much time today to write, but have a listen to some Kandia Kouyaté off her latest album, Biriko. Today’s track features some nice sax by Nicholas Gueret to mix things up a bit.

Mande, Mali, griot, beautiful; you know the deal if you’ve been reading this blog for a while.

Kandia Kouyaté - M’Bensara

Benn loxo listener, Chris, asked me for some music from Burkina Faso for his Burkinabé friend at work. While today’s post is actually Italian in a lot of ways (the singer, Gabin Dabirè has lived in Italy since 1975) the roots of the rhythms and lyrics lie in Burkina Faso. I think it’s a pretty good tune, too, so let’s forget the technicalities. It reminds me a bit of Cheikh Lô, another Burkinabé in hiding.

I went to Burkina Faso once in early 2003 for FESPACO, one of Africa’s largest and most important film festivals. The festival was fun, but the voyage there is what made the trip. It took me and two friends over 3.5 days straight to travel overland from Dakar to Ouagadougou. We went by taxi, train, bus, car, foot and plane. So many of my best stories from my time in West Africa came out of that trip. From surprise bottles of wine on refugee convoys lost in the Malian desert, to avoiding arrest at sketchy midnight border stops, to befriending an ex-child solidier turned cosmetics dealer and turning him onto the joys of Britpop in the hottest train car ever.

One of my best music memories also came out of that trip. In Kayes, Mali, I remember standing on the roof of an old hotel where we were squatting with the aforementioned ex-soldier. It’d been a really long day and we were both tired, smoking a last cigarette before bed and talking about our respective new jobs that started in the coming weeks. Suddenly some beautiful live Malian blues comes blasting out of the small courtyard below, the shady soundsystem bending the tones in an almost beautiful way. The group below had a young female singer on lead vocals giving it her all over an subdued, Ali Farka Touré-esque backing. They were playing to a crowd of three or four indifferent drunks near the bar, but we were transfixed for their whole set and stood there without speaking, sweating in the midnight heat and looking out over the hills of south-western Mali.

Today’s track is available at Calabash on the Africa X album.

Various Artists (Zokue Kpole) - I Ma-Zie

What a weekend. Dressed-up horse races at Longchamp, young French dance parties, Swedish hip-hop découverts and of course Saturday night.

Hats off to Paris, France, for its Nuit Blanche. I’ve had a lot of really great nights over the last few years, but this past Saturday was one I won’t forget for a very long time. Part luck, part bicycle, part good company; this year’s Nuit Blanche ended up being an incredible affair marked by dozens of random experiences, dancing, music and obscure, strange encounters.

I found my way back to my bed sometime near 8am as the sun was rising, 9 hours and many, many kilometers later. Highlights include 6am rest sessions in Sacré Coeur surrounded by 300 live guitarists; scream-infused video golf in the 20th; underground laser lights and yelling public in the 12th; fashion shows and staggering absinthe shots (complete with manifestations) around Belleville; fire-extinguisher touting androgenous circus people mixed with giant giraffe engagements and live camel chill-out sessions way-out near Vincennes. Truly wonderful.

So I think that a much needed night-off Monday needs some relaxing West African 1960s danceband music to take the edge off, yeah?

I’ve written about Guinean music quite a lot on this site, but I’ve never posted any Balla et ses Balladins.

Around independence in 1959-60, Guinea-Conakry’s leaders wanted to promote local culture as a way of creating a new national identity. Several “national” bands were set-up, some official and others not. The state-sponsored Syli Orchestre National de Guinée produced two great bands, Balla et ses Balladins and Keletigui and his Tambourinis, after its split in 1959. This was the golden era of Guinean dance-band music. The most popular band to emerge out of this era was probably Bembeya Jazz National, who formed around in 1961 much under the influence of Balla and others.

Balla et ses Balladins are definitely worth a listen. Their occasional mid-tune guitar break-outs are what I like best. Here are three tracks from three different Syliphone albums to help your Monday go alright.

Balla et ses Balladins - Banbo
Balla et ses Balladins - Mana Mana
Balla et ses Balladins - Kaira