Carlos Alberto "Katchas" Martins - Broda (Funana pioneer and Bulimundo mentor, 1977)

(DMC 111-101).

One aspect I could not guess when I begun Muzzicaltrips blog, is the number of people around the world it would lead me to meet or to exchange with.  Today's post comes from one of theses interesting exchanges, as it's a contribution from Norway, proposed by Olav Aalberg, great connoisseur of music from Cabo Verde.

Dangerous trips to Angola by Muzzicaltrips (Semba, merengue, kizomba selection from Angola 70s)

Muzzicaltrips taking part of various musical projects including radioshows, I'd like to share some "dangerous trips" or "viagens perigosas" in Angola realised recently for Radio Capsao. A special musical selection based on dusty records, archives from golden era from this country culturally influenced by portuguese colonists, by other lusophone colonies, by Cuba and the Caribbean, and for sure by specific african musical  heritage. Wars and instability during the 60s to 80s also influenced a unique musical production : semba, merengue, kizomba, but also political music and struggle songs (or propaganda songs, depending on point of view), reflecting a wide spread imperialist oppression feeling.

Trio Select in Action (Haiti, 1971)

(Marc Records MDVG-219).

Haitian music can be very good setting fire to the dancefloor, but can also be very fresh and sweet to your ears. Here's a beautiful example with a song from Trio Select vol. 2, led by guitarist and popular singer Henry Gesner (1925-1998), very famous under his surname "Coupé Cloué".

Conjunto Papaupa and a brief glimpse on afro-venezuelan culture

(Music With Soul 7").

Actual growing interest for "tropical" music provides a wide variety of projects and vinyl releases. Muzzicaltrips looked into a afro-venezuelan influenced project (Conjunto Papa Upa, from the Netherlands based label Musicwithsoul), a very good actual DJ friendly sound, loaded with interesting traditional elements. This was opportunity to exchange with the father of this project, Alex Figueira, a real music specialist on the (yet little documented) afro-venezuelan culture.

Lets  start with a synthetic 7 minutes historical introduction to afro-venezuelan culture:

Jazz Hot magazine views about Fela and Afrobeat in 1981

Every year is celebrated a Fela Day (few weeks ago in Paris), proving that Fela Kuti's spirit is still gliding around, despite a very varied comprehension. Good occasion anyway to search in muzzicaltrips archives, and look at how evolves perception of african music along the years. Here's an article about Fela Kuti which reveals part of the perception of a jazz magazine from 1981 (Jazz Hot, first jazz magazine in Europe created in 1935).

Toto La Momposina and Baranquilla Carnaval Live in La Habana (2013)

Afrocolombian spirit gliding over La Habana, could be a good summary of this unique night, beginning in the Teatro de America, and ending in the streets as an improvised carnaval...

On their way back from Santiago de Cuba (where Fire Festival 2013 had Colombia as special guest), colombian artists including a Baranquilla folkloric group and Toto la Momposina were booked for a concert to share afrocolombian culture, carnaval music and dance. The venue was one of La Habana numerous theaters, Teatro de America, which was open in 1941 (Avenida de Italia, locally know as Galiano) and still transmits the majestic atmosphere from this golden era.

Dieuf-Dieul de Thies (Unreleased senegalese sounds from early 80s)

(TRLP017).

An obscure 80s band from Thies in Senegal have just been brought back to life by label Teranga Beat. Dieuf-Dieul played from 1979 to 1982, but it appears their music never have chance to be released on a proper vinyl nor tape album until today. That's why i found interesting to present this record on Muzzicaltrips and to discuss with Teranga Beat Label founder, about these recordings and amazing piece of senegalese musical heritage.

Dieuf-Dieul was run by Pape "Abdou Aziz" Seck, ex member of Guelewar from Gambia,  not to be mismatched with  70s figure Pape "Serigne" Seck (from Star Jazz de Saint Louis, Star Band de Dakar, Number One du Senegal). To have an idea of  his carreer, Pape Seck played guitar in following bands:

Randy Weston - Tanjah (Afrojazz with Gnawa tinge, 1973)

(Polydor PD5055).

Entering Randy Weston spiritual world is a long story. Let's just have a glimpse at his special relation with the city of Tangier (Tanjah is local name).

After experiencing several african countries during the 60s, Randy Weston decided to move from New York to Africa. Tense politcal situation in Nigeria was cooling down his initial will to live in this english speaking country he already visited in 63 and 67. And finally, the great feedback and feeling he had during his 1967 concert in Morroco, additionnally to musical discovery of the Gnaoua, made him move there from the late 60s.

Meeting with Lansiné Kouyate and David Neerman (Afrojazz, 2012)

Kouyate-Neerman, Palmwine Mandingo Party, Nuits Sonores 2012.

This unique musical experience is based on a duo: Kouyate, balafon player from Kangaba in Mali, and Neerman a french vibraphone player. More than a cultural meeting, the dialogue between this two cousin instruments is here pretext to creative explorations in rhythm and melody. Taking roots in both jazz and mandingo tradition, the created atmosphere is definitely modern: although recorded in an analog studio, the second album integrates the balafon with breaks and vibraphone effects research. The title "Skycrapers and Deities" reflects perfectly the approach, linking up modernism and tradition, concrete and mysticism, human and god. 

Pedro Laza y sus Pelayeros - Fandango (and Porro from Colombia, 60s)

(Fuentes LP 0011).

This early LP recorded by Pedro Laza for Fuentes label consists of 2 kind of styles widely played in Colombia: Fandango and Porro. 

Fandango is originally an old spanish ternary rhythm, but being brought early to Colombia, it integrated local influences, african drums, brass bands (bandas papayeras), to become a successful style for record industry in the 50s.

Michel Kingué - Nout'am (Makossa goes Afrofunk, 1977)

(Songhoi SON 822).

Michel Kingue (1933-2007) contributed to introduce makossa to occidental ears in late 60s playing clarinet and saxophone. Among his collaborations with Gilles Sala on Songhoi Records, here is Nout'am from 1977. First part of the track is a folk style song which turns into killer afrofunk... His daughter Weyah is pursuing the family musical tradition and explained me that title of the track might be misspelled as in duala language "ndut'am" means "pain".

Mangalha - The biggest vinyls collection in Angola

Jose Henrique Ribeiro, famous in Luanda as "Mangalha", comes back in this interview on his vinyl collector experiences in Angola.

He begun to collect and spin records from the late 60s, following angolan music evolution and influences from abroad. He had up to 26 000 LPs, shaking angolan dancefloors during 40 years.

It is said in Luanda that when somone wants to organise a party with low budget for food and drink, he needs to choose Mangalha as DJs sothat the guests only care about dancing...

We can also observ here that preserving a country's cultural heritage assumes a political character as sometimes confused with resisting to external influences, in this case white portuguese colonists