Sound D'Afrique Volume 1: Soukous Dance Party on Mango

Sound D'Afrique Volume 1 is a fun collection of African Dance Music that came out on Mango records in the 1981. It was the first Soukous collection released on a major label for a Western audience. If you have a compelling need of cheering up, this album would definitely do the trick.

The album is a six track sampler that has songs from groups from five African nations, from the French speaking areas of Africa, though African languages are sung throughout. I don't have a lot of information on this album, but I do know that it sounds great, joyous in fact. The only band I recognize is Etoile De Dakar from Senegal.

Me Bowa Ya is the first track and it is a killer, with the great swinging horn line at the start. Makes you want to hop off the couch and start dancing. It is by Mekongo from Cameroon, which may actually be Mekongo President, the closest name of a group I could find. I'm listening to it now and I'm jerking my head back and forth like the "Night at the Roxbury" brothers from Saturday Night Live. Absolutely stellar.




Massoua Mo is next, by Eba Aka Jerome the Ivory Coast, a sunny seven and a half minute guitar workout with multiple vocalists. One of the real highlights here is Bo Mbanda, by Pablo, from what was then known as Zaire, now Congo. I love the guitar breaks where you have two different interlocking guitar riffs going on at the same time. And again great horn parts and group vocals.



Rounding out the album Kambou Clement from Upper Volta perform Dounougnan, a more toned down dance number with sharply chiming guitar work. Etoile de Dakar (Senegal) perform Jalo, a warm mellow number with great dramatic lead vocals by Youssou N'Dour. The album ends strongly with Moboma by Menga Mokombi which is absolutely beautiful, a wonderful finish to a terrific album.

I'm sorry that I don't know more about this. There are no liner notes to speak of here. I don't know what they are saying, and I don't know the band personnel or singers. But nonetheless this is a record that moves me. I know I see comments in Amazon regarding African pop Cds from expatriate Africans. Almost invariably a person will state, "I grew up with this music, or I used to listen to this on cassette when I was a teenager--I now hear this music again after all these years and I cry (or at least put me in a state of joy)." I can only imagine what that must feel like. All the familiarity, memories, nostalgia for homeland and family and friends. I feel a lot when I hear this music and that's coming from an entirely different and less significant level. It's too bad that this is so very out of print. It probably would be a lot easier to get this on vinyl. But at least for the time being you can at least hear a little bit of this great music right now.

Francis Bebey's Fantastic Akwaaba--Traditional Experimental Masterpiece From Cameroon

Akwaaba is a truly singular album by Francis Bebey (1929-2001), one of the most important Cameroonian composers and artists of the 20th century. The album came out on John Storm Roberts' Original Music label in 1984 and it is one of those albums that defies comparisons. He takes traditional African music forms here, mashes them up a bit, and puts an experimental, sometimes playful spin on things. The featured instrument throughout is the sanza or thumb piano, which is an extremely popular instrument in Africa. On some songs there is also the pygmy pipe, or Ndehou, which sounds a bit like a recorder or flute. He also experiments with types of vocals, including a croaking double voice technique which sounds like a variation on Tuvan throat singing.

On this album the music is old and new, in a way like an Albert Ayler album follows early jazz tradition but also transmutes into chaotic free improvisation. Listening to this album, you can hear him trying new things, but his outlook is steeped with tradition, ritual, history, and the many variations of African music. There is a hypnotic surrealistic magic at work here folks. I've heard bits and pieces of this before, but like seeing a seemingly familiar face, as a whole you have an artist boldly venturing into uncharted areas.

I played this album years ago to one of my cousins when he was about ten, and he was mesmerized by this album. He actually got stuck on the second song Bissau, and insisted that I play it over and over again. I finally wound up buying it for him, and his poor family had to listen to it for five hours straight on a vacation drive to Cape Cod. But I can't say I blame him. Bissau is a potent combination of funky bouncing bass, sanza and pygmy pipe riffing, with Bebey's sometimes elegant vocals segueing into a throaty droning counterpoint.

The title song Akwaaba is simply a phenomenal otherworldly instrumental track. I can't believe the music that he gets out of a finger piano. Bebey is also a virtuoso guitarist (no guitar on this album though) who capably transferred his gifts to this deceptively simple instrument. Look at the album cover--you probably thought he was text messaging an acquaintance here, but he is putting his thumbs to more productive use.

At seven songs and only forty minutes, the album tracks pass by quickly. The finale Di Sengi is another cool  percussive workout. Binta Midiallo is mesmerizing, with devotional impassioned vocals that are almost a musical instrument onto themselves, hovering over the rhythm of the talking drums. The drum beats in their lock groove repetitiveness remind me of some of the experimental German electronic bands, like Can.



Francis Bebey was an amazing individual and an inspiration to many other African artists. In addition to his adept musicological background, he was also an acclaimed author and was a cultural ambassador to the World for Cameroon. He studied at the Sorbonne and also spent time in America. He produced numerous albums over the years, continuing to record even into his seventies. If you can get a hold of this long out of print album, do it. I recommend it very highly to people like me, who can't get enough interesting and creative music to listen to. This is a very special record.