ANALOG AFRICA Archives - Guerssen Records

Legend Of Funaná

GuerssenAdmin — Sun, 18 Sep 2016 22:00:00 +0000

In 1997, a quiet, unassuming man of 59 years old named Victor Tavares (better know as Bitori) walks into a studio for the very first time to record a masterpiece which many Cabo Verdean consider to be the best Funaná album ever made. Bitori’s musical adventure had begun long before this point. It was 1954 when he embarked on a journey across the seas to the island of Sao Tomé Principe. The young man’s hope was to return to Cabo Verde with an accordion. Following two years of hard labour Bitori had succeeded in saving enough money to acquire what was to become his most valued possession, his cherished instrument. The two month journey back to Santiago, his island of birth, proved time enough to master it. Self taught, Bitori developed his own style, an infectious blaze, that quickly caught the attention of the older generation. Before long Bitori was being asked to share his musical talents, igniting the local festivities around Praia with his music. But not everybody welcomed the rural accordion based sound. Perceived as a symbol of the struggle for Cape Verdean independence and frowned upon as music of uneducated peasants, Funaná was prohibited by the Portuguese colonial rulers. Performing it in public or in urban centres had serious consequences, often jail time and torture awaited musicians that were “caught in the act”. In light of such persecution the genre of Funaná began to slowly disappear. In 1975 Cabo Verde achieved independence from Portuguese colonial rule. Along with Cabo Verde’s independence came a lifting of the ban placed on Funaná. The musical repercussions in Cabo Verde were plenty and many upcoming artists embraced Funaná, translating and adapting its musical form in new ways. It was not to be until the mid 90’s, however, that Funaná in its traditional form was actually recorded. It was a young singer from Tarafal, Chando Graciosa, who was to play a key role in this event. Upon hearing Bitori, Graciosa immediately felt drawn to Bitori-s unique playing style, a raw and passionate sound accompanied by honest lyrics that reflected the harsh reality of the Cabo Verdean working class. He eagerly approached Bitori suggesting they joinforces and travel overseas with the objective of taking Funaná beyond its rural roots. The two of them, with others in tow,achieved their goal and travelled to Europe, introducing a receptive European audience to the vibrant energy of Funaná. Eventually Bitori returned to his beloved Cabo Verde. Graciosa opted to settle in Rotterdam in order to pursue his career. He vowed, however, to bring Bitori across to Holland at a later date to record an album. In 1997 the time was ripe to immortalise the sound Bitori had shaped over a time span of fourdecades. Built around a formidable rhythm section, formed of drummer Grace Evora and bass player Danilo Tavares, “Bitori Nha Bibinha” was recorded. The recording catapulted Chando Graciosa to stardom, making him Cabo Verde’s No.1 interpreter of Funaná. The success in Cabo Verde was phenomenal and Funaná rapidly gained the recognition it deserved, especially in urban dance clubs. Bitori’s songs quickly became standards classics known and loved throughout the country. The musical success, however, was solely limited to the Cabo Verdean islands until now!

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Roi du Ziglibithy

GuerssenAdmin — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 22:00:00 +0000

The star of Ernesto Djédjé started rising in the late 60s, when he became the guitar player and leader of Ivoiro Star, founded by Amédée Pierre, star of Dopé, the leading musical style at the time. Annoyed by the “congolisation” of the Ivorian music that was taking place within the band, Ernesto left the group and emigrated to Paris in 1968 to record his first few singles arranged by Manu Dibango and influenced by Soul, Rhythm & Blues and Jerk. Those recordings reflect the musical mood at that time which was dictated by two musical trends within the Ivoirian scene: Traditional music, embodied amongst others by Amédée Pierre on one hand and imported music from the States, Cameroon and Zaïre on the other. And while the first trend was generally neglected, the youth fully embraced the second and as a result bands such as “Les Black Devils”, “Djinn-Music”, “Bozambo”, “Jimmy Hyacinthe”, shot to stardom overnight by recording mainly funk and disco music. It is within this context that Ernesto would draw the inspiration for a future formula.
Returning to Côte d’Ivoire in 1974 Ernesto began looking for like minded musicians to form the mighty “Ziglibithiens”. Diabo Steck (drums), Bamba Yang (keyboards & Guitar), Léon Sina (Guitar) and Assalé Best (chef d’orchestre and Saxophon) would become the core of the group and together with Ernesto they began thinking of ways of combining the rhythms and chants of the Bété people and fuse them with Makossa, Funk and Disco and create a musical style that was both Ivorian and International. He called his experiment Ziglibithy and his first two albums, immortalised at the EMI studios in 1977 in Lagos and released on the Badmos label, took West Africa by storm turning Ernesto Djédjé into an icon overnight and one of the legends of African music.
Ernesto Djédjé died in mysterious circumstances on June 9th, 1983 – at the age of 35 – shocking the whole Ivorian nation.
And although the end came abruptly, it didn’t come soon enough, and Ernesto had time – within 5 albums – to cement his legacy as one of the most innovative artists the Ivory Coast ever produced.
The song Zighlibitiens, brought to Colombia by an aeronautical mechanic in the early 1980, would become a huge hit on the Caribbean Coast. Renamed “El Tigre” by locals soundsystem operators – certainly due to the Badmos logo – that particular song would reach legendary status in Barranquilla and Cartagena. Setting fire to uncountable local parties, it has become one of the most sought-after Album in that part of the world. And so, while Ziglibithy has mostly disappeared from the airwaves of its country of birth, on the other side of the Atlantic, its fire continues to shine bright.

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Roi De L’Agbadja Moderne 1974-1983

GuerssenAdmin — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 23:00:00 +0000

Gnonnas Pedro’s “Mo Ngbadun Re” – a song written to pay tribute to Nigerian and Beninese musicians – would change the trajectory of Analog Africa, forever.
And while the Nigerian artists were more or less familiar to Samy (the label founder), when Gnonnas began singing about ‘Picoby’, ‘Renova’, ‘Annasoua Jazz’, ‘Super Borgou’, ‘Super Star’, ‘El Rego’, ‘Black Santiago’ and other bands from Benin that he’d never heard of, he was driven to find out more. The conclusion of this musical experience was that if a star like Gnonnas Pedro sang about these bands it could only mean that he knew something that we didn’t. Could it be that the Benin Republic had more to offer than its size suggested? There was only one way to find out. Samy arrived in Cotonou in August of 2005 and that’s how a Gnonnas Pedro song brought Analog Africa to Benin, and the rest is history.
While 4 songs by this magnificent artiste were included in the compilation Legends of Benin from 2009, this time Analog Africa has the huge honour to present a full and deserved project about Gnonnas Pedro, the king of Modern Agbadja. Very early in his career our friend had landed his first hit with a song called ‘Dadje Von O Von Non’. It was an Agbadja, an ancestral rhythm played during burial ceremonies in Le Mono, the region where Gnonnas Pedro’s family came from. Gnonnas adapted, modernised and coined it ‘Agbadja Modern’ and that’s how he became known and beloved as ‘Roi de l’Agbadja Moderne’.
Almost a decade later, in the mid-70s, Gnonnas secured a deal with African Songs Ltd and later with the Take Your Choice (TYC), two labels out of Nigeria. At that period Gnonnas had been recording and performing for a decade, and while a few of the original band members had left, the majority of the musicians had stayed with him. The relatively consistent membership of ‘Les Dadjes’ meant that they had developed into a well-oiled groove machine by the time the ‘Nigerian years’ began. The various masterpieces the band recorded between 1975 and 1980 in Lagos catapulted Gnonnas Pedro to superstardom back home in Benin, but also made him a name in other West African countries, where his songs were regularly broadcast on the national airwaves. Sometimes called ‘The Band That Speaks All African Languages’ for their ability to perform songs in numerous languages ‘Les Dadjes’ also spoke all kinds of rhythms, with a special emphasis on Cuban and Benin rhythms.
Around 1980, Gnonnas fulfilled the lifelong dream of starting his own label and one of the first albums on the newly founded Gnoinsopé label included the track ‘Yiri Yiri Boum’, which took Benin by storm and cemented Gnonnas as one of the country’s most important artists.
The double-LP ‘Roi De L’Agbadja Moderne 1974-1983′ from Analog Africa comes as a Gatefold with a full-color 8-page booklet including photos. Featuring 16 of Gnonnas’ finest songs that resonated across the African continent, the unique blend of Agbadja, Cuban fon, jerk, highlife, and other African rhythms sung in Fon, Mina, Yoruba, French, English, and even Spanish offers a truly unique musical journey.

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Take One (1974-1979)

GuerssenAdmin — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 23:00:00 +0000

In 1972, the country of Rhodesia – as Zimbabwe was then known – was in the middle of a long-simmering struggle for independence from British colonial rule. In the hotels and nightclubs of the capital, bands could make a living playing a mix of Afro-Rock, Cha-Cha-Cha and Congolese Rumba. But as the desire for independence grew stronger, a number of Zimbabwean musicians began to look to their own culture for inspiration. They began to emulate the staccato sound and looping melodies of the mbira (thumb piano) on their electric guitars, and to replicate the insistent shaker rhythms on the hi-hat; they also started to sing in the Shona language and to add overtly political messages to their lyrics (safe in the knowledge that the predominantly white minority government wouldn’t understand them). From this collision of electric instruments and indigenous traditions, a new style of Zimbabwean popular music – later known as Chimurenga, from the Shona word for ‘struggle’ – was born. And there were few bands more essential to the development of this music than the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band.

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Leon Keita

GuerssenAdmin — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 23:00:00 +0000

A fixture on the Malian music scene, Leon Keïta was born in Conakry on the Atlantic coast of Guinea in 1947. After completing his studies he found his way to the Malian capital where, in addition to founding the Piano Jazz Orchestra, he worked as a teacher, organiser of cultural festivals, and accountant for the National Tobacco and Match company. During this time he also wrote reports for the Malian President Modibo Keita, and at the end of meetings he would sometimes entertain the delegates with a song or two.
In 1970, alongside his close friend Manfila Keita, Leon helped to found the legendary Rail-Band, which became a celebrated mainstay of Bamako’s nightlife and launched the international careers of Salif Keita, Mory Kanté andmany others. Leon himself went on to join Les Ambassadeurs Internationaux, with whom he toured throughout West Africa, before departing to work on his own compositions.
When Leon was ready to visit the recording studio he invited his friends from Les Ambassadeurs Internationaux to serve as his backing band; the collaboration yielded two records, both released in 1978 on the Papa Disco label. A year later Leon released “Rythmes et Mélodies du Mali”, co-written with his brother Germain and backed by the magnificent Orchestre Black Santiago; featuring infectious trumpet from band-leader Ignace de Souza, the LP was recorded in Benin at the Satel Studio in Cotonou.
Although Leon didn’t make many solo recordings, his songs continue to inspire the reverence of anyone fortunate enough to have heard them. In recent years the song “Dalaka” was rediscovered by Barranquilla’s sound system operator Carlos Estrada and became an unexpected hit on the caribbean coast of Colombia.
Twelve years after the release of the critically-acclaimed Bambara Mystic Soul compilation, this new compilation takes another deep-dive into Mandingue culture with five rare sides recorded during Leon Keïta’s fabled late 70s sessions. The LP, pressed on 180g virgin vinyl and housed in a beautiful jacket screen-printed in Greece, is limited to 2000 copies worldwide.

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Ary Lobo 1958-1966

GuerssenAdmin — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 22:00:00 +0000

Limited Edition LP with a Gatefold Cover
and a 180g high quality virgin vinyl

“Whoever has been following the musical movements happening within our culture, must have noticed this young singer hailing from the North of Brazil. An absolute master of Baião, Côco, Batuque and other related musical genres and the owner of an art one hundred percent his own, Ary Lobo is the ideal interpreter of northeastern songs”

These words taken from the original liner notes of Ary Lobo’s first LP, “Forró con Ary Lobo” recorded in 1958, are in no way exaggeration. How many Brazilians have been bewitched by his voice nobody can say for sure but what is certain is that it is a voice that could have gone silent forever, as Biographer Elmo Barros explains:
“Hailing from Belém do Para in the north of the country, Ary Lobo was ready to launch his campaign on the south of the country and set out for Rio de Janeiro in October of 1955. There he encountered the usual southern biases against singers from the North and it was only after meeting Gadé, a respected pianist, that he was able to secure an audition at Rádio Mauá.
But that the opportunity nearly turned into a disaster as he arrived to that session in such a frail state that he couldn’t perform. Insufficient and irregular feeding had affected his breathing making it impossible to give his voice the necessary power. Fortunately the audition was postponed and on his second attempt he was able to secure a five month contract with the station where he became known as a Samba singer. As his reputation grew, he was signed To RCA Victor in June of 1956.”

The music scene in Rio began catching wind of the newcomer who cultivated the personality of a Northeastern singer with deep roots in Afro-Brazilian heritage. He would kick start the new decade by recording what many describe as his best work, “Aqui mora o ritmo” (Here lives the rhythm) released in 1960. That album was followed a year later by “Cheguei Na Lua” (I arrived on the moon) in which he sang of his passion for space travelling and for the moon in particular.

But the moon was never going to be enough for Ary Lobo who had a gypsy soul and loved to wander the country, participating in “caravans” (as tours were called back then), performing in concert halls as well as playing in nightclubs, cabarets and bregas; those storied houses where cachaça was free-flowing, where resident prostitutes received their clients, and where the party often lasted until dawn. This demi-monde full of temptations was an inspirational paradise for a bohemian like Ary Lobo but also his fall from grace.

Ary Lobo recorded one LP every year until 1966 when he released “Quem É O Campeão?” (Who Is The Champion?) this last album for RCA Victor. All these recordings are wonderful road trips taking the listener through the various regions of Brazil; the tour guide on the journey is none other than Ary Lobo himself who, besides philosophy, science, politics and religion, would ornate the whole travel experience with an in-depth look into the traditions of a Brazilian society moving toward modernity.

Forró, as with so many genres, enjoyed its moment of greatness, but by the end of the 1960s, its popularity had started to fade and Ary Lobo was forced to start moving from one city to another in search of work opportunities. Eventually he arrived in Fortaleza, where he lived until his death in 1980.
Among the singers and songwriters to emerge from Pará in the 1950s, Ary Lobo’s achieved a level of national fame unique for his time. As an interpreter of more than 700 songs his records not only brought him great notoriety but also provided him with a lot of cash. “O nosso valor que venceu na Maravilhosa” (Our values that won in Rio)” was the headline the Paraense press used to describe Ary Lobo’s conquest of the south. But what exactly did his victory mean? For black and mulato artists coming from impoverished contingent of Brazilian society, the ability to play a leading role in the world of radio, recordings and live performances was a significant achievement. This makes it easier to understand why so much of the money Ary Lobo obtained from his musical success was spent on the conspicuous pleasures of being a star.

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Siriá

GuerssenAdmin — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:00:00 +0000

Cametá, a historical little Amazonian town on the shores of the river Tocantins, is the birthplace of the scorching music known as ‘Siriá’; a cross pollination between the music of the inhabitants of the quilombos, a Brazilian hinterland settlement founded by escaped slaves of African origins, and the indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest. It is a breathing, pulsing, emphatic beat, and the modernized version of this local music, created by Mestre Cupijó, has been igniting street parties and traditional festivals across the state of Pará in Northern Brazil for decades. And at last in 2014, the combustible sound of Siriá will be celebrated internationally as the feverish, tropical sound of the summer!

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The Movers Vol 1 – 1970-1976

GuerssenAdmin — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 23:00:00 +0000

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.

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Orchestre Massako (Limited Dance Edition)

GuerssenAdmin — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 22:00:00 +0000

An adept of folk rhythms, Mack-Joss’s career as a musician began when he was just 17 of age and he quickly established himself as a staple of Libreville’s nightlife scene, singing in various local bands. By 1966 he had released “Le Boucher”, his first hit which swept the African airwaves and earned him the respect of Franco, the legendary master of Congolese Rumba. Franco’s encouragement helped transform him from a Gabonese singer into an ascendent figure of pan-African culture.

Between 1968 and 1970 Mack-Joss and his Negro-Tropical immortalised a good number of singles recorded in a makeshift open-air recording studios and in 1971 Gabon armed forces decided to form their own band. Mack-Joss was recruited to become the band leader and this was the birth of Orchestre Massako which became Gabon’s national orchestra.

At the end of the 1970’s funds were made available to bring recording equipment over from France. Studio Mobile Massako was born and Mack-Joss’s songwriting ability provided hit after hit. The master tapes with the recordings were sent to Paris for mixing and Mack-Joss would personally make the journey to France, carrying the reels in his hand luggage. The vinyl records were then pressed in France and shipped back to Gabon, and to other distributors throughout the continent. About a dozen long play records were recorded between 1978 and 1986 and most were released on Mass Pro, Mack-Joss’s own label. A few of these recordings featured a singer from Guinée Conakry by the name of Amara Touré who had joined Orchestre Massako as a singer in 1980 and had become an important ingredient in the band’s success. His specific voice, impossible not to recognise, left no one unmoved (ask those who listened to the compilation AALP078).

Mack-Joss’s retirement in 1996 marked the end of Orchestre Massako. With a four decades spanned career, his contribution to Gabonese culture cannot be overstated and continues to inspire the respect and devotion of people who knew him.

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Buli Povo

GuerssenAdmin — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 22:00:00 +0000

“Antonio Sanches provided the “out of space” lead track on the Label’s seminal “Space Echo” compilation. Impossible to find for many years, the sound of “Buli Povo!” is just as arresting and mesmerizing today as it was on the day it was released. It has just taken us thirty-five years to catch up with António’s vision”
Funaná,the most african of music styles from Cabo Verde had been banned by the Portuguese Rulers. But in 1974, with independence and the birth of the Bulimundo band, everything changed. Their leader, guitarist Katchás, believing it was time for a new approach, decided to dig deep into the ancient rural roots of Funaná and modernise it with a full band electrified setting. the idea gave birth to a whole new chapter in the already rich Cape Verdean musical landscape.

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