Music from around our continent keeps giving the rest of the world’s best a run for their money reports Charles Leonard and Matthew Burbidge.
It is only partly true what Zimbabwean band the Bhundu Boys sang in their hit Radio Africa song: “I’m hearing only sad news from Radio Africa.” The great news is that the continent still produces some of the finest music in the world.
Many people know the music by African superstars such as Salif Keïta, Youssou N’Dour, Angélique Kidjo, Orchestra Baobab, Fela Kuti and Oliver Mtukudzi. But there is a whole treasure trove just outside the mainstream or maybe a little forgotten.
To celebrate Africa Day on May 25, the Mail & Guardian is bringing you 15 of these must-haves from our continent.
TOP THREE
Prince Nico Mbarga and Rocafil Jazz
Sweet Mother
In 2004 the BBC conducted a poll to discover Africa’s favourite song. The winner was Nigerian singer Prince Nico Mbarga’s delightful Sweet Mother. Performed in the highlife style and sung in Pidgin English, it was a song that almost didn’t see the light of day because in 1974 EMI thought it only had “childish appeal” and turned it down.
Luckily, it was released two years later and, because it was sung in Pidgin so was accessible to Africans far beyond Nigeria, it went on to sell more than 13-million copies. The rest of the album is as life-affirmingly upbeat as the title track. – Charles Leonard
William Onyeabor
World Psychedelic Classics 5: Who Is William Onyeabor?
I came to the mysterious William Onyeabor late with 2009’s fabulous Nigeria 70 – The Definitive Story of 1970s Funky Lagos compilation on which his strange but compelling synth-driven Afrobeat song Better Change Your Mind was one of the stand-out tracks. But outside Nigeria little is known or available from Onyeabor.
Last year worldbeat record label Luaka Bop released a truly brilliant 13-track album, Who Is William Onyeabor? – compiled from his eight albums released between 1977 and 1985. As they say in the sleeve notes of the triple LP version, “it took time and serious wooing to persuade Onyeabor” to agree to the release this compilation of “Afro-funk”, which suggests “spaceships leading into helium-voiced choruses singing in a jingle-jangle, tuning from faraway stars”.
Onyeabor refused to fill in the gaps in his history, leaving us just with this document, and what an astonishing record it is. – CL
Orchestra Super Mazembe
Giants of East Africa
Orchestra Super Mazembe was formed in 1967 in the southern part of what was then Zaire. They moved to Nairobi and established themselves as one of Kenya and East Africa’s most popular groups in the 1970s.
This compilation Giants of East Africa is the beautiful sound of trans-border and cross-cultural pollination, a mix of Kenyan benga and Congolese soukous – you can almost smell the frangipani and ripe mangos when you listen to Super Mazembe.
The album includes their hit Shauri Yako. I agree with a reviewer who said this album would have been perfect if it included their cover of the Everly Brothers’ hit Words of Love (Maloba D’amour). But for that you’ll need to get their other fine album, Kaivaska. – CL
Click here to see the complete selection of 15 must-haves from our continent via Mail & Guardian.
PHOTO: Prince Nico Mbarga’s Sweet Mother was voted Africa’s favourite song and sold 13-million copies.
