Thursday, January 12, 2012

Nyboma - Doublé Doublé (1984)

With Bopol as the thread, let's take a listen to Nyboma from his 1981 release (reissued by Rounder for US distribution in 1984). Recorded in Togo's Studio Cineato, this album was a massive hit, and one of the first Congolese records to be marketed in the US and Canada.

Nyboma is backed by his band Kamalé Dynamique, which features Dally Kimoko on wonderful lead guitar, Bopol on bass, and Ringo Moya on drums. Nyboma, of course, is one of Congo's greatest singers, having played a key role in many bands for four decades. His performance on this album is as sweet as any of his recordings.

Coming in the wake of Sam Mangwana's African All Stars, the rumba on this album is stretching its boundaries with the incorporation of other West African influences, including highlife. Preceding the explosion of full-charged soukous by a few years, this release retains the charm of classic rumba. Side A of the album is compiled on the excellent Stern's Nyboma collection, Nyboma & Kamalé Dynamique, which is still available, but here is the entire set.

4 comments:

FrancoPepeKalle said...

This is a great work done by Nyboma. Nyboma is the genius behind this great material. I am so interested in how great Nyboma was and is today. Nyboma is someone who was gold everywhere he went. This is a great material from King Nyboma. Nyboma was a great pioneer act.

Apurva Bahadur said...

Thank you! - An excellent album.

Boogie said...

Your addiction is a great joy for me! Thanx for all these gems. I first came in contact with Soukous when I worked as a truck driver in the 80s and had to cross Paris twice a week. There were these 2 local radio stations with all the electrifying African music. Most of your rips are of pristine quality. Please don't feel offended when I have a suggestion on this one: Just like magic, mono recordings loose most of their distortions, when you convert the stereo rips into real mono files. I've tried it here, and also have adjusted some frequencies. Please hear the result, it's magic, and Nyboma deserves it!
http://rapidshare.com/files/1766634077/NybDouDouMp3.rar
On my blog you find some African stuff, too: radio_boogie.moole.ru Enjoy!

Anonymous said...

Great stuff--and once again, thank you for your continuing efforts to spread such great music from a continent that seems to have it in overflowing measure.