Ooh.. a big package from Stern’s arrived yesterday.

A Benn loxo listener suggested that I have a listen to a new collection of Dar Es Salaam star Maestro King Kiki’s rumba from the 70s and 80s, Maestro of Tanzania.

It’s a great collection. My only gripe is the production quality; so much of what is going on in the background is hard to make-out because the levels and acoustics are all over the place. Still, a fun listen.

King Kiki is actually Congolese but he’s one of Tanzania’s most popular musicians from the older generation. We’ve been sort of working a Congolese music in other countries vibe recently, so King Kiki fits nicely into the mix.

I would tell you more but the lack of liner notes and my general lack of east coast African music knowledge leaves me hanging. Once again, I ask the more-knowledgeable-than-I Benn loxo listeners to fill us in.

And thanks for the tips- they keep my collection growing.

Maestro King Kiki – Salza

A while ago Benn loxo listener extraordinaire, Fabian, sent me a vinyl rip of the Western Jazz Band’s album, Vigelegele.

I’ve had so much listening to catch-up on that I only got to it today.. and it’s amazing. I’d heard the first track, Rosa, before but it’s the the last track on the B-side, the one you’ll hear today, that blew me away.

The slight echo and distortion on the guitars gives this album’s music a special quality.

You might have already heard some Western Jazz Band from another album back in August when I did a post about Original Music’s Dada Kidawa, Sister Kidawa compilation.

You might have also heard them over at Steve Ntwiga’s great site – he posted a track from this album a couple months ago. Steve: I imagine we’re both on Fabian’s mailing list.

Sorry there’s no purchase link, but I think that this album has been out of print for quite some time and hasn’t been reissued.. yet.

Maybe I’ll see some of you tonight, maybe not, but regardless I hope you all have a good weekend. I think I’ll take a break for a couple days. See you Monday.

ps- Thanks, Fabian.

Western Jazz Band – Wana Saboso

I’m determined to eventually get a post in for every single Original Music release. I know that many of you, or at least those who read often, may already have these albums, but bear with me. It’s a personal goal to collect and post a sample from every album in the OM catalog.

Today’s picks come from Original Music’s 17th release, Mbuki Mvuki. It’s a compilation of, in their words, “terrestrial hits from the catalog”. So if you’re not into running around, collecting every release, this album is a good sampler of much of what the label offered.

According to the liner notes, Mbuki Mvuki is Bantu for “to shuck off one’s clothes in order to dance.” I don’t know about you, but that’s what we’re doing here in our Paris apartment this sunny Saturday morning.. dancing, possibly with some by-request Diana Ross thrown into the mix, coffee in hand.

Three of my favourite tracks off the compilation from Ghana, Tanzania and Nigeria. Enjoy your Sunday.

Professional Uhuru – Madzi Me Sigya
Salim Abdullah – Wanawake Wa Tanzania
New Star Orchestra – Olefaya Loko

There’s something really sexy about the word ‘rumba’. It’s also a bit of a misnomer in that over the years it came to represent a variety of Cuban-influenced musical styles popular across Africa, not all of them ‘rumba’ in its original sense.

While the heart of rumba was in the country-formerly-known-as-Zaire, there were many great groups in other countries as well. One reason is the civil war that erupted in Belgium Congo during the 1960s. It forced many Congolese musicians out of the country, a bunch of whom ended up in Tanzania.

Tanzania, located in East Africa just below Kenya, was heavy into the Afro-Congo-Cuban sound during the 1960s. Original Music’s 1983 compilation, The Tanzania Sound, captures this beautifully.

Reading the liner notes this morning I noticed a translation of the lyrics for the Dar Es Salaam Jazz Band’s up-beat track, Fitina Nyingi: “Everyone’s rotten, nothing’s any good, I’m better off alone than with these no-goods.”

Now if that isn’t an upper to get us through a grey Friday, I don’t know what is!

ps- thanks, John.

Nuta Jazz – Janja Yako
Cuban Marimba Band – Beberu
Dar Es Salaam Jazz Band – Fitina Nyingi

I happened to sit beside Charles Schillings at a good Sicilian restaurant last night in Paris. Hopefully this means we’ll be featuring some Afro-electro remixes sometime in the future. Either way, the forthcoming Hôtel Costes 10 that he slipped us features a great opener with the kind of North African overtones we so appreciate here at Benn loxo.

Anyway, back to more Original Music…

Today we’ll hear a couple tracks off Dada Kidawa Sister Kidawa, an interesting compilation of Cuban/Afro-Arab music from Tanzania in the 1960s.

It features venerable bands such as NUTA Jazz plus several others like the Kiko Kids Jazz and the Cuban Marimba Band. All these groups emerged during a guitar-based, dance music phase in Dar Es Salaam that emerged during the early 60s.

The compilation’s title track is perfect for what is probably France’s quietest week. Everyone is on vacation, most stores and restaurants are closed. If Paris were on the ocean I’d be down on the beach, listening to Western Jazz Band as I sipped a cocktail under a palm tree.

ps- Benn loxo listener, Zakariyya, is looking for Afel Bocoum’s Alkibar. Does anyone know where he could buy or trade for a copy?

Kiko Kids Jazz – Tanganyika na Uhuru Kids Jazz
Western Jazz Band – Dada Kidawa