muddy waters
Active member
orchestra baobab is about as good as it get. check out pirate's choice, recorded just a little bit before the sessions which resulted in bamba (which is a compilation of two albums from 80 and 81).
franco & l'ok jazz from zaire/congo is a must as well. get his recordings from the early 70s which are especially amazing. likambo ya ngana is the name of a really good disc.
super mama djombo is a personal fave, only recorded one session that i know of, in 1980. they're from guinea bissau and were pretty political and the lead singer was exiled shortly after recording and lives today in san francisco.
bembeya jazz national, from the tiny country of guinea (not bissau, just guinea) is bad-ass nearly on the level of baobab and rail band. check out 10 anos de succes, which is a live recording from 1973. insane guitar playing.
rail band from mali is an institution in african music, you've probably already heard of them so no need to belabor it.
duo ouro negro was a group from angola that recorded a disc in lisbon in the late 50's known in portuguese as 'africanissimo'. it is haunting. lots of thumb piano and percussion, but nothing like the new agey african music produced with those instruments today. lyrics in portuguese and mostly angolan dialect.
bonga is another angolan music, who recorded sessions in 72 and 74 that are indispensible. his sound is a little reminiscent of the cabo verde type of thing, for example, cesaria evora, except the sound is more rustic and acoustic, less pop, due to when it was recorded.
mulatu astatke is featured on a serioes called ethiopiques, in volume 4. sort of arabian psychadelic instrumental music from ethiopia, 1969-1974. featured in the jim jarmusch movie broken flowers. bad ass.
orchestra bella bella, another golden age group from congo, recorded 'et les freres soki' in 1974. sparse, amplified guitar and flat horns. lots of singing in unison. beautiful.
etoile de dakar was a group that famously featured youssouf n'dour back in the 70s. xalis from 1978 is damn good. very much like baobab, same languages (wolof and some spanish), excellent electric guitar excursions on every track.
king sunny ade has to be mentioned as another giant from nigeria... juju music from 1982 is his most famous album, released on the same label that broke bob marley in europe and the u.s. perfection of the highlife sound.
fela is an establishment and a one man empire and really needs no introduction. i would go with the albums gentleman and zombie, powerful stuff.
someone mentioned ali farka toure... speaking of mali desert blues rock, the current group amadou & miriam is great (and i have a huge bias against present recordings, as my list demonstrates). they're a blind couple who play rock and they do some cool atmospherics that almost remind me a little of pre-electronic radiohead
hope that intrigues
franco & l'ok jazz from zaire/congo is a must as well. get his recordings from the early 70s which are especially amazing. likambo ya ngana is the name of a really good disc.
super mama djombo is a personal fave, only recorded one session that i know of, in 1980. they're from guinea bissau and were pretty political and the lead singer was exiled shortly after recording and lives today in san francisco.
bembeya jazz national, from the tiny country of guinea (not bissau, just guinea) is bad-ass nearly on the level of baobab and rail band. check out 10 anos de succes, which is a live recording from 1973. insane guitar playing.
rail band from mali is an institution in african music, you've probably already heard of them so no need to belabor it.
duo ouro negro was a group from angola that recorded a disc in lisbon in the late 50's known in portuguese as 'africanissimo'. it is haunting. lots of thumb piano and percussion, but nothing like the new agey african music produced with those instruments today. lyrics in portuguese and mostly angolan dialect.
bonga is another angolan music, who recorded sessions in 72 and 74 that are indispensible. his sound is a little reminiscent of the cabo verde type of thing, for example, cesaria evora, except the sound is more rustic and acoustic, less pop, due to when it was recorded.
mulatu astatke is featured on a serioes called ethiopiques, in volume 4. sort of arabian psychadelic instrumental music from ethiopia, 1969-1974. featured in the jim jarmusch movie broken flowers. bad ass.
orchestra bella bella, another golden age group from congo, recorded 'et les freres soki' in 1974. sparse, amplified guitar and flat horns. lots of singing in unison. beautiful.
etoile de dakar was a group that famously featured youssouf n'dour back in the 70s. xalis from 1978 is damn good. very much like baobab, same languages (wolof and some spanish), excellent electric guitar excursions on every track.
king sunny ade has to be mentioned as another giant from nigeria... juju music from 1982 is his most famous album, released on the same label that broke bob marley in europe and the u.s. perfection of the highlife sound.
fela is an establishment and a one man empire and really needs no introduction. i would go with the albums gentleman and zombie, powerful stuff.
someone mentioned ali farka toure... speaking of mali desert blues rock, the current group amadou & miriam is great (and i have a huge bias against present recordings, as my list demonstrates). they're a blind couple who play rock and they do some cool atmospherics that almost remind me a little of pre-electronic radiohead
hope that intrigues
