The enigmatic Amara Touré from Guinée Conakry finally getting a well deserved compilation showcasing all of the 10 songs ever released between 1973 and 1980. Cuban influenced music of a different kind featuring amazing spaced-out guitar works!!

It is the late 50s, and Senegal is going crazy to the groove of Son Montuno and Patchanga. Brought to West Africa by Cuban sailors in the early 40s, these styles were immediately adopted by a flourishing music scene that did not hesitate to embrace the Caribbean sound, mixed it with their own Folklore, and, in the process, created something new. Through the unique cultural fusion of West African and Caribbean influences, Latin music took on a new and unique sound - the format was reinvented.

Producer Ibra Kassé and his Miami nightclub acted as the spearheads of this movement. They brought a breath of fresh air into Dakar’s nightlife, further energising one of West Africa’s most exciting cities. The demand for ballroom parties and live acts exploded, attracting numerous musicians from surrounding countries. One of the musicians who answered this call was percussionist and singer Amara Touré, from Guinea-Conakry. Spotted by Kassé while performing with Dexter Johnson, Touré was asked if he would like to be part of a new project. Little did he know that this project would become a phenomenon.

Immensely important for the development of Senegalese modern music, Le Star Band de Dakar, led by Mady Konaté, became a sort of musical incubator and workshop, where many musicians learned and practiced their trade before moving on to become stars in their own right. Touré’s talent on percussion was undeniable, but it was his powerful and raw voice that captivated the producer. The fascinating way Touré interpreted Cuban music was unparalleled, and it was this feature that encouraged Kassé to recruit the unknown artist. 

Although already brimming with incredible talent, Amara Touré’s joining of Le Star Band de Dakar in 1958 began the band’s meteoric rise to the top. The band quickly became Dakar’s number one orchestra, and it cemented the reputation of the Miami nightclub as the hottest spot in the country. The place was packed nightly, and Dakar was boiling.

Amara Touré’s Senegalese adventure lasted for ten years when he received an irrefutable offer and in 1968, joined by a few talented Senegalese musicians, headed to Cameroon and immediately formed the Black and White ensemble. Many live gigs later and it was time for the first songs to be recorded. A total of three singles were produced between 1973 and 1976. These singles, representing the first six songs on this compilation, fully epitomise and distill the essence of what Touré had learned during his career. His Mandingue roots fused with the Senegalese sound that he had mastered - the perfect foundation for the Touré’s Cuban interpretations.

If Touré’s intention was to create the most sensual music ever recorded in Africa, he might very well have reached this goal. The musicians on the recording sound like they are playing in a smokey, poorly lit juke joint, where dark rum was sipped ever so slowly, and the pulse of the music took up a life of its own. How many couples have danced, swayed, and melted together to the distinct sound of Amara Touré? Nobody can say for sure ...
Amara Touré’s success poured across the borders of Cameroon, and in 1980 he went to Libreville, Gabon, to team up with the powerful Orchestre Massako. Touré recorded an LP at that time which is hailed by many music aficionados as one of the very best African albums. The songs from that LP are the last four on this compilation.

TRACK LISTING

1. N'Nijo
2. Temedy
3. Lamento Cubano
4. Cuando Llegare
5. Fatou
6. N'ga Digne M'be
7. Salamouti
8. Afalago
9. Tela
10. Africa 

Brand new release from Analog Africa. Double LP in Gatefold Cover pressed on 140g high quality virgin vinyl.

Even the most dedicated crate-digger might go their whole life without stumbling across any of the three LPs Antoine Dougbe released in the late 1970s and early '80s.

Yet he is remembered with a mixture of admiration and fear; for Antoine Dougbe was not merely one of the most inventive songwriters to emerge from the fertile music scene of Cotonou, but also a powerful Vodun initiate whose close connection to the spirit world allowed him to refer to himself as "the Devil's prime minister." Whether driven by the thrill of the music or by fear of crossing the Devil's prime minister, Dougbe's records all feature Orchestre Poly-Rythmo playing at the absolute height of their considerable powers. But Dougbe was unique in the sense he neither sang nor performed any of the main instrumental parts. It has been suggested that his involvement with Vodun prohibited him from using his voice for anything as frivolous as a popular song. Instead he provided his songs to Melome Clement, who arranged them for the band; most of the vocals were handled by Lohento Eskill and Amoussou William.

Despite a moderate early success, Dougbe never quite found the audience he deserved, and by the early eighties he had vanished from the music scene. Analog Africa now brings his small but extraordinary body of work to a wider audience with a double LP compilation featuring 12 songs, a mixture of Cuban son, rumba and traditional rhythms of Benin.

TRACK LISTING

1. We Tayi Sin Assi Tche
2. Ze Nou Mi
3. Djomido Ma Dougbe Tche
4. Gnin We A Na Mon
5. Ye Ko Gni Me Towe Dea
6. Adin Gban Non Chouwe
7. Gbe Nan Tche
8. Vile De Nan Gni Noude
9. Mon Non Doto Nagbe Leo
10. Towe Nin
11. Vio Se Gan
12. Ma Won Min Towe Leo

Born in 1952, Albert Nadeau was a French-Caribbean singer ,organist and songwriter from Martinique, known for blending local Caribbean rhythms with funk, soul and reggae inflections.

After fronting the local group Les Leopards, he recorded a small but potent set of tracks in the late 1970s that showcased his raw, emotive voice and taste for groove-driven arrangements.

At the heart of that period stands 'I Am Black' from his 1977 solo LP. The track is a slow- burning tropical- funk/ reggae cut built around a loping groove, organ- based chords and Nadeau's gritty, passionate lead vocal. Musically it sits between biguine-tinged island rhythm and 1970s funk/soul. Though it never entered the mainstream charts, 'I Am Black' is admired for the way it bridges Caribbean musical tradition with the Black Power and soul currents of its era, it has in recent years become one of the most sought-after Caribbean songs.

Brother Mudada, born Alan Fortune, is a veteran Trinidad & Tobago calypsonian who began his career in 1961. He is known for socially conscious music that reflects calypso's tradition of political and cultural commentary. Over the decades, he earned major recognition in the Caribbean, including winning the Calypso Monarch title in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, in 2004 and later receiving a national honor, the Hummingbird Silver Award, for his contribution to music and culture. One of his most influential songs is 'Forward Ever', a calypso anthem centered on perseverance, resilience, and collective struggle. The lyrics encourage listeners to "struggle on," using patience, wisdom, and understanding like weapons in life's battles, and remind them to help others along the way. The song's message and Mudada's delivery have helped solidify his standing as a cultural voice for determination and unity within Caribbean society.

TRACK LISTING

1. Albert Nadeau - I Am Black
2. Brother Mudada - Forward Ever

Five years after the first volume, Analog Africa returns with a second compilation highlighting Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical, one of the greatest practitioners of Peruvian Cumbia Amazonica - 'Galaxia Tropical' features 14 songs with a guitar groove you won't forget, underlying Ranil's extraordinary output as singer, bandleader, record-label entrepreneur and larger-than-life personality.

Born in 1935 as Jorge Raul Llerena Vasquez, Ranil's story begins in the Peruvian Amazon, where the sounds of the forest mixed with stray radio waves from Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador. He quickly understood that breaking into Peru's music industry -- especially as an artist from "the end of the world" -- would be no easy path. He decided to start his own label, Producciones Llerena, something unheard of in this part of the Peruvian Amazon.

With a rotating cast of brilliant musicians by his side, Ranil crafted a sound that locals lovingly called "llullampeo" -- imaginative, unpredictable, and fabulously unrestrained. His percussionists wove grooves that have not resurfaced in the region since, and the 14 songs presented here remain some of the most vivid document of that fearless, free-spirited, often psychedelic ensemble.

TRACK LISTING

1. Galaxia Tropical
2. Bahia
3. Inka
4. Tres Cienaguero
5. Con Ranil Por Supuesto (Interludio 1)
6. Gitanita
7. Albores De Mi Selva
8. Cumbia Del Torero
9. Llora Venus
10. Serenata (Interludio 2)
11. Pueblo
12. Mambo En Espana
13. Lindo Atardecer
14. Andalucia

Hailing from the small Zimbabwean town of Kwekwe, Zig-Zag Band burst onto the scene in the 1980s with a sound they called Chigiyoa vibrant fusion of reggae, traditional rhythms, brass arrangements, and mbira- inspired guitar. The style they pioneered soon became the sound of the region, reshaping Zimbabwe's popular music landscape. Analog Africa are immensely proud and honored to bring their groundbreaking legacy back into the spotlight, celebrating their cultural impact while introducing this remarkable catalogue to a new generation of listeners beyond Zimbabwe

TRACK LISTING

1. Ndzirombi
2. Chenaimoyo
3. Mangaingai
4. Tsvarakadenga
5. Nyamutamba Nevambwe
6. Ndoita Ripi Zano?
7. Ndarimano
8. Rudo Rwemari
9. Pfumo Reropa
10. Gomo Ramasari
11. Mercy
12. Mudzimu Mukuru
13. Hombiro

The 25 songs presented in 'Roots Rocking Zimbabwe - The Modern Sound of Harare' Townships 1975-1980' showcase the birth of the modern music industry in Zimbabwe and the explosion of creativity bands of the 1970s and 80s endlessly delivered.

It was a time of wild experimentation before established genres had crystallised. Rock, rumba, soul and traditional grooves all collide beautifully in this collection, which also includes never before released tracks by Thomas Mapfumo, Oliver Mtukudzi and many other Zimbabwean artists!

TRACK LISTING

1. Chiiko Chinotinetsa
2. Amai A Kwatu
3. Soweto Mujibha
4. Soul Scene
5. Anoshereketa
6. Nyaya Dzinonetsa
7. Hangaiwa
8. The Towering Inferno
9. Joburg Bound
10. Nyamutamba Naziwere
11. Engelina
12. Funky Reggae
13. Introduction
14. Yarira
15. Baby Please
16. Chistiuiti
17. Kwakaenda
18. No Delay
19. Kumalila Ngwenya
20. Shanga Yangu
21. Give It
22. Musikana
23. Taj Mahal
24. Viva Zimbabwe
25. Porter

A fascinating audio-visual glimpse into the little-known sonidero subculture of Mexico City's marginalized barrios, featuring a wild soundtrack of old-school tropical bootleg dance floor classics

TRACK LISTING

Afro Oriental
Cumbia De Los Bee Gees
El Tequilazo
Canelazo
Palenque
La Quinta Sinfonia De Beethoven
Venus
Lamento De Cumbia
Ritmo De Cumbia
La 3a De Los Toquecitos
La Noche
El Compae Nunes
La Luna Y El Pescador
Tanto Tienes, Tanto Vales 
A Bailar El Son Satanico
Cumbia Tropical
Hagan Ruedas
Eso Es Con Velas
Cumbia Del Amor
Malinga
Platico Chino
La China Maria
Te Gusta Como Azucar
Cumbia Candelosa

In its isolated cities, cut off from the fashions of the capital, a unique style of music began to develop, inspired equally by the sounds of the surrounding forests, the roll of the mighty Amazon and Ucayali Rivers, and the rhythms of cumbia picked up from distant stations on transistor radios. With the arrival of electricity, a new generation of young musicians started plugging in their guitars and trading in their accordions for synthesizers: Amazonian cumbia was born.Powered by fast-paced timbale rhythms, driven by spidery, treble-damaged guitar lines, and drenched in bright splashes of organ, Amazonian cumbia was like a hyperactive distant cousin of surf music crossed with an all- night dance party in the heart of the forest. While many of the genre's greatest tracks were instrumental, and others were simple celebrations of life in the jungle, the goal of every song was to keep the party going.

Radio stations in Lima remained unaware of the new electric sounds emanating from the jungle, but a handful of pioneering record producers ventured over the mountain passes to the cities of Tarapoto, Moyobamba, Pucallpa – even Iquitos, a city reachable only by boat or plane – and lured dozens of bands to the recording studios of the capital to lay down their best tracks. Although many became local hits, few were ever heard outside the Amazonian region … until now.

With eighteen tracks from some of the greatest names in Amazonian cumbia, Perú Selvatico is both the improbable soundtrack to a beach party on a banks of the Amazon and a psychedelic safari into the sylvan mysteries of the Peruvian jungle.

TRACK LISTING

Descarga Royal - Los Royal ´s De Pucallpa 03:30
La Cervecita - Sonido Verde De Moyobamba 02:09
Selva Virgen - Los Zheros 02:40
Moyobambina - Grupo Siglo XX De Rioja 02:43 
Humo En La Selva - Los Invasores De Progreso 02:58
La Hamaca - Los Cisnes 02:54
Cumbion Universal - Fresa Juvenil De Tarapoto 03:35
La Trochita - Los Rangers De Tingo Maria 02:40
La Bola Buche - Los Invasores De Progreso 03:21
Bailando En El Infinito - Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical 02:56
Safari En La Selva - Los Cisnes 02:52
Baila Bonito - Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical 02:55
Ali Baba - Los Zheros 02:43
La Palmerita - Fresa Juvenil De Tarapoto 02:57
Recordando A Aguaytia - Sonido Verde De Moyobamba 02:18
El Pasito De Miriam - Grupo Siglo XX De Rioja 02:51
Rio Mar - Los Cisnes 02:34
La Uñita - Los Zheros 02:22

It’s a special, but also a strange sensation to be releasing an album of one of your early musical heroes. I first discovered The Movers on my very first “record safari” in 1996. My destination was Bulawayo, in southern Zimbabwe, and to get there I had to travel via Jo’burg. While in town I stopped at a store called Kohinoor, in search of Mbaqanga – also known as Township Jive – and found a few tapes which I listened to non-stop on the bus that carried me to the land of Chimurenga Music. One of these cassettes included the songs “Hot Coffee” and “Phukeng Special” which instantly became part of my daily life. Twenty-five years later I’m still grooving to them.

What I didn't know at that time was that The Movers were hugely successful during the 1970s; so when it came time to release some of their music, I though it was going to be “a walk in the park” to track down information about them and write their biography. I was in for a rude awakening. Despite their legendary status, there was almost no information available on band or any of its members.

Fortunately Nicky Blumenfeld from Kaya Radio came to the rescue. A few days after I reached out to her, she had managed to get the phone number of Kenneth Siphayi, who is considered to be the founder of the band, as well as vocalist Blondie Makhene and saxophonist Lulu Masilela. Although we left no stone unturned, we were unable to find any of the four original members who seem to have passed away in total anonymity.

The story of The Movers began in 1967 when two unknown musicians – the brothers Norman and Oupa Hlongwane – approached Kenneth Siphayi a stylish and wealthy businessman from the Alexandra township to ask if he could buy them musical instruments. In return he would receive a cut from future life shows and record deals. Kenneth, ended up doing much more, becoming their manager, setting them up in a rehearsal space, and introducing them to an organist who would prove to be the missing link in the band’s skeletal sound. He also gave them their name: The Movers … because, as he said, their music was going to move you, whether you liked it or not.

The band exploded onto the country’s racially-segregated music scene at the dawn of the 1970s with a sound that applied the rolling organ grooves and elastic rhythms of American soul to songs that came straight from the heart of the townships. Rumours of the band started to spread throughout the country and soon the record labels were sending their talent scouts to the Alexandra township to hear it for themselves.

The Movers finally signed to Teal Records in 1969, and their first album, Crying Guitar, went on to sell 500,000 copies within the first three months, launching them into the front rank of South African bands. In their first year they went from local sensations to being the first band of black South Africans to have their music cross over to the country’s white radio stations.

Although the first record was entirely instrumental, The Movers started working with different singers soon after – scoring an early hit with 14 year old vocal prodigy Blondie Makhene – and enriched their sonic palette with horns, extra percussion and various keyboards. Their stylistic range also expanded, incorporating elements of Marabi, Mbaqanga, jazz, funk, and reggae into their soul-steeped sound. But the essence of their music came from the almost telepathic connection of its founding members: the simmering organ of Sankie Chounyane, the laid-back guitar lines of Oupa Hlongwane, the energetic bass grooves of Norman Hlongwane and the simmering rhythms of drummer of Sam Thabo.

The band reached their apex in the mid-1970s, and their hit ‘Soweto Inn’, sung by Sophie Thapedi, became inseparable from the student revolts that signalled a new resistance to the apartheid government. In 1976, however, their manager was forced out, and their producer started to play a more active role in the band’s direction. By the end of the decade there were no original members left. But at their height The Movers were titans of South African soul who left a legacy of over a dozen albums and countless singles of pure groove. On The Movers 1970–76, Analog Africa presents 14 of the finest tracks from the band’s undisputed peak. 

TRACK LISTING

Give Five Or More
Tau Special
Soweto Inn
Soul Crazy
Kudala Sithandana
Oupa Is Back
Balele
Hot Coffee
Gig Soul Party
Ku-ku-chi
2nd Avenue
Phukeng Special
Six Mabone
Plenty Time

In 2010, I had asked Eamon Ore-Giron - aka DJ Lengua - if he would be interested in compiling a Latin project for Analog Africa, and if so, if he had a theme in mind He replied, "Have you ever heard of rebajada?" The question mark above my head, together with the wall of China, must have been the only other object visible from out of space because Eamon, probably noticing I got paralysed, continued, "Rebajada in Spanish means "to reduce, to lower". It's basically Mexican sonideros (soundsystem operators) slowing down the beat of a Cumbia to create a much more tangible music to dance to.

I'll send you a mix I made last year and let me know what you think." And so he did.That mix was called Rebajada Mota Mix and I began listening to it on a loop. Although I was not immediately hooked it was intriguing from the get- go, and so I kept listening until magic began unfolding. Slowed down music allows you enough time to hear right through it, revealing itself in ways I had rarely experienced before. Everything became more transparent and I was noticing sounds normally only perceptible by bats. A near psychedelic experience. That mysterious mix included a few Ecuadorian songs by Junior y su Equipo - aka Polibio Mayorga (a cult fgure in the sonidero scene), a couple of Mexican tunes, one Colombian, and various Peruvian songs, undoubtedly the driving force behind this project.

The sonidero who brought Peruvian and Ecuadorian music to Mexico was the legendary Pablo Perea from Sonido Arco-Iris, and although his fngerprints are all over the compilation Saturno 2000, this selection of songs in rebajada is exclusive to DJ Lengua. With the exception of a few classics from Polibio Mayorga and La Sampuesana – the queen of all rebajadas – most of these songs were probably never performed as such before, let alone released. So how did rebajada come to be? In a nutshell; Rebajada started with two families of brothers – the Pereas and the Ortegas – who travelled all over Latin America and returned to Mexico with heavy loads of records which they would sell to the various sonideros always on the lookout for new tunes. Colombian beats especially seemed to ft almost perfectly with the Mexican dance steps – but they were just a bit too fast. As a result some sonideros began experimenting with equipment, and Marco Antonio Cedillo of Sonido Imperial created a revolutionary pitching system that could slow records down to an extent other players could only dream about. And so rebajada was born . . . or so we thought. At the same time in north of the country, in Monterrey, sonidero Gabriel Dueñez almost got electrocuted by a short circuit that nearly set his record player on fre. As a result the platter started spinning in slow motion for the rest of the party, turning Cumbia into a different affair altogether. The youngsters went crazy for it and started harassing the sonidero with requests to record cassettes for them. Reluctant at frst, Dueñez fnally began recording a series of pirated cassettes called "Rebajada" which included mainly Colombian cumbia and porro in slow- mo exclusively. Those tapes took the city by storm and turned rebajada into a celebrated and defant movement of the youth. Of course it would not be a Mexican urban legend if it didn't include dramaturgical elements, and so for nearly 30 years, until this day and probably for ever, both cities have been arguing and claiming ownership the creation of rebajada for themselves. But sonidera Joyce Musicolor, who never has time for such trivial arguments, got straight to the point: "Rebajada, and the equipment to perform it, is from here [Mexico City] but it was Monterrey that popularised it."

TRACK LISTING

1. Los Dinners - Sampuesana
2. Junior Y Su Equipo - La Borrachita
3. Manzanita - Paga La Cuenta Sinverguenza
4. Hugo Blanco Y Su Arpa Viajera - Infinito
5. Manzanita Y Su Conjunto - El Jardinero
6. Los Feos - Feito Parrandero
7. Junior Y Su Equipo - Bien Bailadito
8. Los Santos - Saturno 2000
9. Lucho Gavilanes - La Danza Del Mono
10. Conjunto Típico Contreras - Capricho Egipcio
11. Los Gatos Blancos - El Chacarero
12. Los Atomos De Paramonga - Pa' Oriente Me Voy
13. Junior Y Su Equipo - Alegrate
14. Grupo Celeste - Todo Lo Tengo De Ti Menos Tu Amor
15. Los Ecos - La Fuga Del Bandido

Dick Essilfie-Bondzie was all ready for his 90th birthday party when the Covid pandemic hit - The legendary producer, businessman and founder of Ghana's mighty Essiebons label had invited all his family and friends to the event and it was the disappointment at having to postpone that prompted Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb to propose a new compilation celebrating his contributions to the world of West African music

For most of the 1970s Essilfie- Bondzie's Dix and Essiebons labels were synonymous with the best in modern highlife, and his roster was a who's-who of highlife legends. C.K. Mann, Gyedu Blay Ambolley, Kofi Papa Yankson, Ernest Honny, Rob 'Roy' Raindorf and Ebo Taylor all released some of their greatest music under the Essiebons banner.Yet Essilfie- Bondzie had been destined for a very different career. Born in Apam and raised in Accra, he was sent to business school in London at the age of 20, and returned to the security of a government job in Ghana. But his passion for music, inspired by the sounds of Accra's highlife scene, had never left him, and in 1967 he figured out a way of combining music and business by opening West Africa's first record pressing plant.The venture, a partnership with the Philips label, was a huge success, attracting business from all over the continent. By the early 1970s Essilfie-Bondzie had left his government job to concentrate on his labels, and by the mid-seventies he was on a hot streak injecting album after album of restless highlife into the bloodstream of the Ghanaian music scene.Essiebons Special features a selection of obscure workouts from some of the label's heaviest hitters. But in the course of digitising his vast archive of master tapes, Essilfie-Bondzie found a number of Afrobeat and Instrumental maszterpieces tracks from the label's mid-70s golden age that, for one reason or another, had never been released. Those songs are included here for the first time.Sadly Essilfie-Bondzie passed away before the compilation was finished. But his legacy lives on in the extraordinary music that he gave to the world in his lifetime

TRACK LISTING

Kofi Psych - Ernest Honny
Dee Mmaa Pe - Joe Meah
Yeaba - CK Mann & His Carousel 7
Shakabula - Santrofi- Ansa
Tinitini - Seaboy & Nyame Bekyere
Ahwene Pa Nkasa - Joe Meah
Ernest Special - Ernest Honny
Africa - Seaboy
Medley - Nyame Bekyere
Say The Truth - Ernest Honny
Wonnin A Bisa - Black Masters Band
Egye Tu Gbe - Sawaaba Soundz
Fa W‘akoma Ma Me - CK Mann Big Band
Odo Mframa - Ernest Honny

It was in Benin City, in the heart of Nigeria, that a new hybrid of intoxicating highlife music known as Edo Funk was born. It first emerged in the late 1970s when a group of musicians began to experiment with different ways of integrating elements from their native Edo culture and fusing them with new sound effects coming from West Africa´s night-clubs. Unlike the rather polished 1980´s Nigerian disco productions coming out of the international metropolis of Lagos Edo Funk was raw and reduced to its bare minimum. Someone was needed to channel this energy into a distinctive sound and Sir Victor Uwaifo appeared like a mad professor with his Joromi studio. Uwaifo took the skeletal structure of Edo music and relentless began fusing them with synthesizers, electric guitars and 80´s effect racks which resulted in some of the most outstanding Edo recordings ever made. An explosive spiced up brew with an odd psychedelic note known as Edo Funk.

That's the sound you'll be discovering in the first volume of the Edo Funk Explosion series which focusses on the genre's greatest originators; Osayomore Joseph, Akaba Man, and Sir Victor Uwaifo: Osayomore Joseph was one of the first musicians to bring the sound of the flute into the horn-dominated world of highlife, and his skills as a performer made him a fixture on the Lagos scene. When he returned to settle in Benin City in the mid-1970s - at the invitation of the royal family - he devoted himself to the modernisation and electrification of Edo music, using funk and Afro-beat as the building blocks for songs that weren't afraid to call out government corruption or confront the dark legacy of Nigeria's colonial past. Akaba Man was the philosopher king of Edo funk. Less overtly political than Osayomore Joseph and less psychedelic than Victor Uwaifo, he found the perfect medium for his message in the trance-like grooves of Edo funk. With pulsating rhythms awash in cosmic synth-fields and lyrics that express a deep personal vision, he found great success at the dawn of the 1980s as one of Benin City's most persuasive ambassadors of funky highlife. Victor Uwaifo was already a star in Nigeria when he built the legendary Joromi studios in his hometown of Benin City in 1978. Using his unique guitar style as the mediating force between West-African highlife and the traditional rhythms and melodies of Edo music, he had scored several hits in the early seventies, but once he had his own sixteen-track facility he was able to pursue his obsession with the synesthetic possibilities of pure sound, adding squelchy synths, swirling organs and studio effects to hypnotic basslines and raw grooves.

Between his own records and his production for other musicians, he quickly established himself as the godfather of Edo funk. What unites these diverse musicians is their ability to strip funk down to its primal essence and use it as the foundation for their own excursions inward to the heart of Edo culture and outward to the furthest limits of sonic alchemy. The twelve tracks on Edo Funk Explosion Volume 1 pulse with raw inspiration, mixing highlife horns, driving rhythms, day-glo keyboards and tripped-out guitars into a funk experience unlike any other.

TRACK LISTING

1. Africa Is My Root - Osayomore Joseph And The Creative Seven
2. Ta Gha Hunsimwen - Akaba Man & The Nigie Rokets
3. Popular Side - Akaba Man And The African Pride
4. Iranm Iran - Sir Victor Uwaifo And His Titibitis
5. Sakpaide No.2 - Sir Victor Uwaifo And His Titibitis
6. Ta Ghi Rare - Akaba Man & The Nigie Rokets
7. My Name Is Money - Osayomore Joseph
8. Ogbov Omwan - Akaba Man & The Nigie Rokets
9. Aibalegbe - Sir Victor Uwaifo And His Titibitis
10. Who No Man - Osayomore Joseph And The Ulele Power Sound
11. Obviemama - Sir Victor Uwaifo And His Titibitis
12. Ororo No De Fade - Osayomore Joseph And The Ulele Power Sound

After being blown away by a few tunes - probably just as you will be after listening to this - Samy Ben Redjeb travelled to the infamous capital city of Somalia in November of 2016, making Analog Africa the first music label to set foot in Mogadishu (Not sure Afro 7 would agree - Ed). On his arrival in Somalia Samy began rifling through piles of cassettes and listening to reel-to-reel tapes in the dusty archives of Radio Mogadishu, looking for music that ‘swam against the current’. The stars were aligned: an uncovered and unmarked pile of discarded recordings was discovered in a cluttered corner of the building. Colonel Abshir - the senior employee and protector of Radio Mogadishu’s archives - clarified that the pile consisted mostly of music nobody had manage to identify, or music he described as being ‘mainly instrumental and strange music’. At the words ‘strange music’ Samy was hooked, the return flight to Tunisia was cancelled.

The pile turned out to be a cornucopia of different sounds: radio jingles, background music and interludes for radio programmes, television shows and theatre plays. There were also a good number of disco tunes, some had been stripped of their lyrics, the interesting parts had been recorded multiple times then cut, taped together and spliced into a long groovy instrumental loop. Like everywhere in Africa during the 1970s, both men and women sported huge afros, bell-bottom trousers and platform shoes. James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and The Temptations’ funk were the talk of the town. In 1977, Iftin Band were invited to perform at the Festac festival in Lagos where they represented Somalia at the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture. Not only did they come back with an award but they also returned with Afrobeat. While Fela Kuti’s ‘Shakara’ had taken over the continent and was spreading like wildfire throughout Latin America, it was the track ‘Lady’ that would become the hit in Mogadishu.

Mogadisco was not Analog Africa’s easiest project. Tracking down the musicians - often in exile in the diaspora - to interview them and gather anecdotes of golden-era Mogadishu has been an undertaking that took three years. Tales of Dur-Dur Band’s kidnapping, movie soundtracks recorded in the basements of hotels, musicians getting electrocuted on stage, others jumping from one band to another under dramatic circumstances, and soul singers competing against each other, are all stories included in the massive booklet that accompanies the compilation - adorned with no less then 50 pictures from the ‘70s and ‘80s. As Colonel Abshir Hashi Ali, chief don at the Radio Mogadishu archive - someone who once wrestled a bomber wielding an unpinned hand-grenade to the floor - put it: ‘I have dedicated my life to this place. I’m doing this so it can get to the next generation; so that the culture, the heritage and the songs of Somalia don’t disappear.’

TRACK LISTING

Daradaa Muxibo (Because Of You Muxibo) - Dur-Dur Band (1991)
Hab Isii (Hug Me) - Omar Shooli (1986)
Check Up My Head - Mukhtar Ramadan Iidi (1988)
Geesiyada Halgamayow (Brave Fighters) - Bakaka Band (1984)
Waakaa Helaa (I Like You) - Fadumo Qassim & Shareero Band (1972)
Sirmaqabe (No Secrets) - Iftin Band (1985)
Baayo (Hey Woman) - Mukhtar Ramadan Iidi (1986)
Hoobeya (Somali Traditional Chant) - Shimaali & Killer (1990)
Shaleedayaa (By Myself) - Dur-Dur Band (1991)
Ladaney (Woman’s Name) - Dur-Dur Band (1991)
Gobonimada Jira (Choose Freedom) - Bakaka Band (1984)
Ii Ooy Aniga (Cry For Me) - Iftin Band (1985)

The Pop Makossa adventure started in 2009, when Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb first travelled to Cameroon to make an initial assessment of the country’s musical situation. He returned with enough tracks for an explosive compilation highlighting the period when funk and disco sounds began to infiltrate the Makossa style popular throughout Cameroon. So why has it taken almost eight years from that first visit to the final compilation? From the very beginning, there were several mysteries hanging over Pop Makossa.
What had happened to Bill Loko, the teenage super-star whose monster hit "Nen Lambo" caused such a sensation that he was forced to flee to the other side of the world? How did bandleader Eko Roosevelt go from Cameroonian prodigy to chief of an idyllic seaside village? And who exactly was Mystic Djim, the dreadlocked producer and mercurial hit-maker whose wizardry on a simple home four-track recorder could outshine even the mighty studios of Cameroon’s National Radio station?
It was not until DJ and music producer Déni Shain was dispatched to Cameroon to finalise the project, license the songs, scan photographs, and interview the artists that some of the biggest question marks began to disappear. 
Makossa, the beat that long before football, managed to unify the whole of Cameroon, was successful in part because it was so adaptable. Some of the greatest Makossa hits incorporated the electrifying guitars and tight grooves of funk, while others were laced with cosmic flourishes made possible by the advent of the synthesizer. However much came down to the bass; and from the rubbery hustle underpinning Mystic Djim’s ‘Yaoundé Girls’ to the luminous liquid disco lines which propel Pasteur Lappé’s ‘Sekele Movement’, Pop Makossa demonstrates why Cameroonian bass players are some of the most revered in the world.
Yet at the end of it all, there was still one final mystery facing the production team at Analog Africa: how was this compilation of amazing sounds from Cameroon going to begin? After many month and hundreds of different running orders, something still didn’t seem to click … until one day they came across a mighty song entitled ‘Pop Makossa Invasion,’ recorded for Radio Buea, a tune so obscure that even in Cameroon it had never been released. Suddenly the whole compilation fell into place...

TRACK LISTING

CD/LP 1:
Pop Makossa Invasion - Dream Stars
Yaoundé Girls - Mystic Djim & The Spirits
Nen Lambo - Bill Loko
Sanaga Calypso - Pasteur Lappé
M´ongele M´am - Eko
Ngon Engap - Olinga Gaston

CD/LP 2:
Ye Medjuie - Emmanuel Kahe Et Jeanette Kemogne
Mininga Meyong Mese - Nkodo Si-Tony
The Sekele Movement - Pasteur Lappé
Mussoliki - Bernard Ntone
More Love - Pat´ Ndoye
Africa - Clément Djimogne

A Portuguese civil servant, entrepreneur and Angolan music fan named Luis Montês self-designed Kutonocas, Sunday afternoon live music festivals started in Luanda in 1961 and is the basis on which this great compilation is built.

This compilation is a dedication to the short lived recording industry in Angola, a brief moment of history between 1969 and 1978 in which three recording companies produced approximately 800 records, mostly singles. They are rare jewels, each song with a significant story and feel behind it. You will hear exciting music blazed with the anticipation of emancipation, tracks fuelled with a sense of unity, community, importance and immediacy. This addictive, outlawed music from Angola shakes and grooves with the smoothness of staccato machine gunfire. The intimacy of those participating in this musical revolution meant they playfully and professionally wanted to trump each other’s style due to the limited recording and performing opportunities. The optimism of Independence can be heard in these recordings; a common goal between the audience and musicians.

The characteristically generous liner notes feature 44 pages acquired in coordination with the National Library of Luanda and the art magazine “Note E Dia” and Analog Africa head honcho Samy Ben Redjeb has managed to collect newspaper clips, extremely rare pictures of the bands on stage and printed interviews from the 70s.

TRACK LISTING

CD Version:
Avante Juventude - Os Angos
Senhor Doutor - Quim Manuel
H'hoca - Tony Von
Kia Lomingo - Urbano De Castro
Bina - Jovens Do Prenda
Mabele - Oscar Neves
Agarrem - Africa Ritmos
Saudades De Luanda - Os Kiezos
Bongololo - Kito
N'Ga Kuna M'Butu - Muhongo
Lemba - Negoleiros Do Ritmo
Snipes - Dicanzas Do Prenda
Bazooka - Carlo Lamartine
Divua Diami - Cisco
Meca - Levis Vercky's
Chamavo - Elias Dia Kimuezo /
Olha O Pica - Africa Ritmos

LP Version:
LP 1:
Avante Juventude - Os Angos
Senhor Doutor - Quim Manuel
N'Hoca - Tony Von
Kia Lomingo - Urbano De Castro
Bina - Jovens Do Prenda
Mabele -Oscar Neves
Agarrem - Africa Ritmos /
Saudades De Luanda - Os Kiezos

LP 2:
Bongololo - Kito
N'Ga Kuna M'butu - Muhongo
Lemba - Negoleiros Do Ritmo
Snipes - Dicanzas Do Prenda
Bazooka - Carlo Lamartine
Divua Diami - Cisco
Meca - Levis Vercky's
Chamavo - Elias Dia Kimuezo
Olha O Pica - Africa Ritmos

Take funk, soul, psychedelia and rumba, mix it up with a thick dose of heavy local rhythms and throw everything in a Benin grinder. The brew is then mixed up with hypnotic Farfisa solos, gritty guitar riffs, distorted bass lines, warm horns and the result, of exorcizing proportion, will lead to frenetic body movements. Some people bang their heads, others jerk their feet or feel an urgent need to get up and start shaking their hips. One thing is common, though, to everyone who submits their ears to a spinning record by the mighty Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou: you simply can't stand still. And this new collection is proof of that - here are 14 funky tracks by the legendary ensemble from Benin.

Starting in 2005, Samy Ben Redjeb, Analog Africa's founder and compiler, made several trips to Benin, where he dug up most of the Orchestra's output recorded between 1969 and 1983: hundreds of vinyl records and a few master tapes, in a total of 500 songs! With all that material in hands and the astonishing richness of the group's meterial, choosing the songs proved to be a tough task. Therefore, it seems only natural that it has taken a few years for this third volume to come out of Analog Africa's sonic treasure trove.

The 14 tracks presented here have never been issued outside of Africa and most of them follow the spirit and sound of the first volume, "The Vodoun Effec", which was a selection of songs released by small and obscure labels from this tiny country which was once known as Dahomey. Some of the songs presented here were recorded using a legendary piece of equipment, a Swiss made Nagra reel-to-reel recorder and one or two microphones, in private houses or open air gardens, mostly at night. And still, it would be somewhat difficult for contemporary musicians and engineers to achieve the stunning quality of raw sound and the atmosphere obtained in these recordings, even if they booked the most modern and expensive studios out there today.

One thing that immediately catches the attention listening to this album is the band's steamroller-like grooves employed by Gustave Bentho, the mythical bass master, and Leopold Yehouessi , the fantastic drummer of the band - for many, Africa's funkiest rhythm sections. The power lying in these tunes is phenomenal and shows true craftsmanship on both the composition and the production side, "Houton Kan Do Gome", composed by Bentho, would have made James Brown proud. "Ecoutes ma Melodie" is destined to become a classical late night tune for the many amazing tropical and afro parties taking place around the globe. "Pourquoi Pas?" and "A O O Ida" would be the kind of sound The Meters would have created were they born in Benin.