Jun 8/06
The Togo Upset?
I’m sitting here in a hotel room in Stuttgart, taking a break from the football fever that’s been building here, in Berliln and in Munich. As promised, I’ve lined-up a few posts by artists from African countries that are competing in the World Cup. A friend here picked the Ivory Coast as the tournament’s sleeper hit. No way, I say. Today I feature my underdog pick, Togo.
Bella Bellow had a great name. She’s also one of Togo’s most famous musical exports. The young Togolese vocalist got her break when, at 23, she travelled to Dakar in ‘66 for a music festival. She got noticed and went on to record a bunch of successful albums. Her beautiful ballad-style brought her success both in Africa and in Europe, including performances at the Olympia in Paris and recordings with Manu Dibango.
Unfortunately Bella Bellow’s career was cut short when she died in a car crash in 1973 at the age of 27. Her music is still popular today and she remains for many the queen of the “chanson togolaise”.
Today’s track features Bellow in collaboration with Manu Dibango. I love the way the wah-wah and typical Dibango rhythmic style blends with her beautiful voice. I can picture this song accompanying the slow motion, flashback portion of a good soul-era gangster movie…
ps- Heidi in Dakar wants to know: “Someone told me there’s a Vivian N’Dour song about Senegalese men leaving for Europe and the women left behind. I’ve tried some Internet research, but haven’t come up with anything. Does it ring a bell for you?” If you know anything about this song please leave a comment.
Manu Dibango feat. Bella Bellow – Dasiko
Tags: cameroon
My Wolof isn’t perfect but I’m pretty sure that the song Heidi’s looking for is “Amul Visa” (‘No Visa’) which is on Viviane’s album “Fii ak Fee”.
All I have by Bella Bellow is some greatest hits LP on Sonodisc – so what do I know – but the only stuff on it that I liked are the two or three tracks that Manu Dibango produced (don’t know if the track you posted is one of them). The rest is a little slick for my taste, and reminds me of Miriam Makeba and the likes (brr…).
quel dommage! Togo just lost against Swiss team. The referee denied a 100 % sure penalty. Chek out this interesting site:
http://front-line.blogspot.com
soccer doesn’t care about black people?
[...] Manu Dibango feat. Bella Bellow – Dasiko. This track comes from Benn Loxo du Taccu, an African music blog I stumbled upon while researching this post. The following is Matt Yanchyshyn’s post regarding Togo: “Bella Bellow had a great name. She’s also one of Togo’s most famous musical exports. The young Togolese vocalist got her break when, at 23, she travelled to Dakar in ‘66 for a music festival. She got noticed and went on to record a bunch of successful albums. Her beautiful ballad-style brought her success both in Africa and in Europe, including performances at the Olympia in Paris and recordings with Manu Dibango. [...]
Thanks so much for this post! I’m doing a project on Togo for my French class and this is the first site I’ve found with adequate information on Bella Bellow. You’ve been a huge help, and this post was really well written. Thanks again!