Sound D'Afrique II 'Soukous' (1982)

By the early 1980s reggae had gained a large audience in the U$, perhaps the greatest "foreign" penetration of the music market since the Cuban wave that began decades earlier. After Bob Marley's tragic death in 1981, Island Records saw an opportunity to experiment with marketing African music, which already was ubiquitous in many European urban centers.

Among the first probes were the two Sound D'Afrique  compilations of African pop. This second volume was released in 1982, and while it is not exactly a collection of soukous, it is a set of Congolese music and three songs from nearby countries influenced by rumba. What is remarkable is that none of the musicians collected was a major star, except perhaps for the very talented Pablo Lubadika Porthos. A few months after this record was released, Island unleashed King Sunny Ade's Juju Music, completely eclipsing the Sound d'Afrique records and igniting the "world music" heyday.

This album does collect the major hits from the assorted musicians, however, and it is a pleasant listen. The opening two cuts, from Central African Republic's Lea Lignanzi and Cameroon's Mensy, are sweet, and Pablo's "Madeleina" is fine. A few individual albums from these and other musicians on the album, as well as this record itself, were once available on the excellent Global Groove site.

Enjoy!

Zani Diabate & The Super Djata Band (1986)

As a military coup rocks Mali today, throwing the country into chaos, this ferocious music from The Super Djata band could be one choice for a soundtrack. Perhaps a melancholic ballad from Rokia Traoré would be a better choice, but that is a separate discussion.

Zani Diabate burst onto the international market with this record, and his fierce guitar became the focus of critic notice. He is compared on the album sleeve to Jimi Hendrix, T-Bone Walker, B.B. King and Freddie King, but his innovative accomplishment was providing a completely new interpretation of Malian guitar.

This album throbs with energy, though it is not all generated by Zani's guitar. Super Djata was co-founded by the great Daouda "Flani" Sangare, and his urgent singing is easily as remarkable as the guitar. You can read more about this extraordinary musician on Worldservice's very first post. Percussion is always up front on this session, with trap drums jousting with traditional Malinke drumming. The album rocks, from beginning to end, sounding just as fresh and modern now as it did a quarter century ago.

Enjoy!

Review: Desert Blues by Twos - Tinariwen and Terakaft

When Tinariwen emerged on the world stage with their album The Radio Tisdas Sessions, in 2000, Tuareg rebel music became an instant sensation. The band's introduction of electric guitar into a traditional call-and-response music in the '80s, paired with revolutionary lyrics and insistent, throbbing rhythms, led to the band's legendary status among the Tuareg. Listening to the music for the first time, one could hear a great desert space: It was a revelatory experience.

The desert remains at the heart of Tassili, in many ways a more austere and intimate recording than earlier Tinariwen CDs. Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, the band's leader, penned the songs, and his guitar and voice center the album, especially on the solo acoustic lament, "Tameyawt." The whole album has a solemn tone; perhaps that reflects the reality of drier, hotter deserts and atrophied liberation struggles. 

Tassili reaches for a more international sound on two songs. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band drops some chops into "Ya Messinagh," which is a little startling on first listen, just because it is so foreign to this music and therefore unexpected. It is not a perfect marriage, but it does explore the blues frontier of the song. The following "Walla Illa" has the harmonic vocalizations of Tunde Adebimpe, giving it a pop smoothness that seems out of place. The generous twelve songs on this album leave room for these experiments, however, and whether acoustic or electric, the whole album is charged. It's a great one to listen to with headphones.

The recent Terakaft release Aratan N Azawad is in the same genus, though Terakaft has a much more evident rock edge powered by dual electric guitars. Propelled with ample, driving percussion, many of the songs on this album gallop, and if you close your eyes, you can imagine camels and horses.

Terakaft and Tinariwen are closely related bands, with several Tinariwen veterans forming the core of Terakaft, so it is not surprising to find similarities in their music. Terakaft's lyrics are more directly confrontational, decrying the plight of the Tuareg peoples caught in changing reality. The attitude of defiance imbues the music, too, giving it a brash edge. Rebel music, for sure, apart from "Akoz Imgharen." That song is just as surprising as the departures in Tassili, but this time it is a West African guitar mash-up that creates an intriguing mix that may have made it onto my exclusive dance tape.

Both these bands have been characterized as 'desert blues' by promoters and critics alike, trying to shoehorn this music into a box with Ali Farka Touré and others. Don't believe it. This is authentic music that adapts and appropriates what ears hear, like all music, evolving in the creative process with tentacles that extend in all directions. Both of these albums are powerful blasts from the desert. That's characterization enough. You can get them at your usual digital download source, or with their beautiful and informative packaging here.

Tata Bambo Kouyaté - Djely Mousso (1988)

I don't know about you, but I tend to go through phases of listening intensely to one style of music, and then am captivated by another. Currently it is almost impossible for me to tear myself away from early Congolese music. I am reading Gary Stewart's fascinating Rumba On The River, and thanks to Global Groove, dialAfrica, worldservice and others, I am able to listen to the two Congos' musical history as I read about it. Yet at another time I was immersed in mandé music.

Tata Bambo Kouyaté is one of the great griot voices of Mali, and this powerful album catches her peaking. The album opens with the brilliant, sharp guitar of Modibo Kouyaté, and when the rhythm section drops in you think: This is it! Then Tata Bambo begins singing and you forget for a second that there is any instrumental accompaniment at all. The voice is overwhelming. It sweeps you away, and then the guitar draws you back for a suite of tribute songs delivered with passion.

This album was produced by Ibrahima Sylla with Boncana Maïga, a partnership responsible for uncounted outstanding recordings. While Modibo's guitar and Moriba Koïta's ngoni carry the traditional current, Maïga's electric bass and keyboards have a funky edge that gives the ageless praise singing a completely modern setting. Tata Bambo rides above it all, demanding attention with her extraordinary voice. Grab this extraordinary album, listen to it with headphones, and don't let go.

Enjoy!