I've been on a tear lately digitizing Ivorian cassettes from the early '90s. A few days ago we heard Ze by Gueatan System, and today I present another outstanding work, Zol' Paye by Claude Romy & le Wassiato (EMI E 2411292-4, 1992).
As is often the case, I've been unable to find out much about Mr. Romy or his group. At some point Les Wassiato evolved into Super Wassiato and Claude Romy was joined by Blé Marius as co-leader of the band. Mr. Marius doen't seem to be involved in this earlier incarnation of the group. Le Wassiato are members of the Wé ethnic group, who also live in Liberia, where they are known as the Krahn.
I'm sure you'll agree with me that Zol' Paye is an example of Ivorian dance music at its best. Enjoy!
Claude Romy & le Wassiato - Sagnonweti
Claude Romy & le Wassiato - Zolepahi
Claude Romy & le Wassiato - Deblehi
Download Zol' Paye as a zipped file here. More great Ivorian music from the '90s is on the way!
4 comments:
merci beaucoup, mon ami
Thanks for these John, What stands out with both of these Ivoirian cassettes is how nicely they are recorded. The instruments are clear and well balanced, the recordings breath. This is such a change from the compressed and claustrophobic recordings coming out of Cote D'Ivoire today. Both of these bands were new to me. Great stuff.
Yes, in the early '90s EMI in Ivory Coast did an exceptional job with these cassettes. Remove a little tape hiss and tweak the upper and lower frequencies with audio restoration software and they're almost LP quality. Best of all, the music itself is first-rate! I don't know why these musicians didn't get more attention back in the day. I'll be posting more music like this in the future.
thank u for this. can't wait to hear. i should acknowledge
that matthew's blog led me here.
roberth
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