Another Re-Up

Occupying a location somewhere near the intersection of Afrobeat, Juju and garage rock, the album Uhuru Aiye by Bob Ohiri and his Uhuru Sounds (Ashiko Records AR 001, ca. 1985) is often rumored but seldom heard. A track from it appears on the new collection Nigeria Afrobeat Special (Soundway SNWCD021), so it's worth taking a closer look.

Bob Ohiri was a guitarist with Sunny Adé's African Beats and is said to have briefly played with Fela's Africa '70, although I can't confirm that. The "Uhuru Sounds" were apparently a one-off - basically just some guys jamming in the recording studio. The only members credited on the sleeve are "Prince," "Bob" and "Shegun."

So what to make of the music? Uhuru Aiye is truly an odd and idiosyncratic amalgam - like no "World Music™" or "Afrobeat" or "Afrofunk" you've ever heard. It doesn't always succeed, but when it does it works very well.

Like my previous posts "Unknown Fela," Uhuru Aiye was originally contributed by me to Uchenna Ikonne's blog With Comb and Razor. It went off-line a while back, so I thought I'd make it available again.

Bob Ohiri & his Uhuru Sounds - Ariwo Yaa

Bob Ohiri & his Uhuru Sounds - Obhiha

Bob Ohiri & his Uhuru Sounds - Aiye

Bob Ohiri & his Uhuru Sounds - Nigeria London na Lagos

Bob Ohiri & his Uhuru Sounds - Imo State Express

Bob Ohiri & his Uhuru Sounds - Africa is Free for Us

Bob Ohiri & his Uhuru Sounds - I Like to Be Free

Download Uhuru Aiye as a zipped file here.

The Down-Home Sounds of Kakai Kilonzo

Major players in the '70s and '80s music scene in Kenya, Kakai Kilonzo and his band the Kilimambogo Brothers were one of the few benga groups whose popularity crossed tribal lines. It helped that they recorded in Swahili as well as their native Kamba language, but the quality of their musical output no doubt played a major role as well.

Kilonzo's beginnings in life were modest indeed. His daughter Anita Kilonzo writes:

Kakai Kilobzo was born in1954 at Kilimambogo in Machakos district. He attended Primary education at Kilimambogo in 1962 to 1965. He definitely did not finish it because of lack of school fees. Kakai then sought for cheap labour like herding in to help his poor family. These continued for a duration of five years.

In 1970 he was employed in Thika town at farms that dealt with pineapple plantations as a harvester.

While in Thika, Kakai made single stringed guitars which were made of tin, due to his interest in music. He played then during his leisure time in the farms. Through his peanut earnings he managed to by a box guitar. He used to entertain local people at night during his off-time; which is termed as Tumisonge in Kamba.

Kilonzo's talents as a musician soon won him renown. He recorded "Kaylo Kyakwa na Mary" in 1974 and with the Kilimambogo Brothers scored many hits like "Baba Mkwe," "August One" and "Mama Sofia." Many of these recordings are collected in two CDs, Best of Kakai Vol. 1 (Shava Musik SHAVACD011-2, 2002) and Best of Kakai Vol. 2 (Shava Musik SHAVACD017, 2006) and an LP that was released in 1987, Simba Africa (Popular African Music PAM 03). As far as I can tell, these compilations are all out of print.

Well before his time, Kakai Kilonzo passed away in 1987 after a brief illness. His presence in the Kenyan music scene is sorely missed.

Many years ago I dubbed onto 10" tape reels a number of 45s by Kakai Kilonzo and the Kilimambogos, and was recently able to digitize them. None of these are on any of the above-referenced pressings. Except for "Christmas Day," which is in Swahili, these records are all in Kamba. For the most part I have no idea what the lyrics are about, but I presume that they deal with the usual subjects of Kenyan popular music: Family matters, love and harvests. It is benga, the music of Kakai Kilonzo and artists like him, that is the true voice of Kenya's rural majority - blunt and straightforward, real Kenyan "country music."

Here's a recording from the late '70s or early '80s, the A & B sides of Kakai Kilonzo Sound KLZ 7-002:

Kakai Kilonzo & Kilimambogo Brothers Band - Kithetheesyo Ki Muka

Kakai Kilonzo & Kilimambogo Brothers Band - Katuli Lungi

Les Kilimambogo LES 007:

Les Kilimambogo Brothers - Mutwawa Niwatwana

Les Kilimambogo Brothers - Mathitu Mowe

Les Kilimambogo LES 08:

Les Kilimambogo - Ngungu Na Muoi

Les Kilimambogo - Kilinga Munguti

The Kilimambogos celebrate the birth of Christ on Les Kilimambogo LES 16:

Les Kilimambogo - Christmas Day Pts 1 & 2

Hear another Kilimambogo Christmas song here. Here are the A & B sides of Les Kilimambogo LES 17:

Les Kilimambogo - Sera Ndungembeti

Les Kilimambogo - Ngomelelye Kitambaasye

Let's close with the Swahili sounds of the Original Kilimambogo (OKB) Stars. The OKB Stars were formed in 1978 when Joseph Mwania left the Kilimambogo Brothers Band to form his own group. This recording was issued as New Mwania Sound NEW 108:

Joseph Mwania & the Original Kilimambogo (OKB) Stars - Mama Sheria Pts 1 & 2

For more rustic, down-home Kamba sounds, go here. Download the songs in this post as a zipped file here.

Mensy's "New Sounds"

For many years I've wanted to know the identity of the Camerounian group Mensy, whose scorching tune "Ane Ya" opened up the 1982 compilation LP Sound d'Afrique II (Mango MLPS 9754).

I'm sorry to say that 28 years of research have turned up nothing about Mensy, but many moons ago I was thrilled to discover a whole LP by the group in a long-lost African record store in DC. New Sounds of Africa Vol. 1 (Discafrique DARL 021) contains not only a longer, uncut version of "Ane Ya" but three more slices of Afro-funk that make your typical deracinated World Music™ sound like nursery rhymes!

As the LP sleeve contains no recording information at all I wish I could tell you who the nimble guitarist on "Ane Ya" is or who's responsible for the brilliant horn work of "Sotuc." I'll just have to let you hear for yourself. Enjoy!

Mensy - Ane Ya

Mensy - Dis-Le Moi

Mensy - Mari Na

Mensy - Sotuc

Download New Sounds of Africa Vol. 1 as a zipped file here.

A Musicians' Musician

Back in the 80s Toto Guillaume ("Toguy") was a ubiquitous session musician on recordings coming out of Cameroun. The great guitarist and arranger first made a splash in the '70s alongside François Nkotti and Emile Kangue in the influential group Black Styl. His first solo hit "Françoise" was released in 1974, followed by "Mba Na We" in 1975. Together with the bassist and producer Aladji Touré, Manu Dibango, Emmanuel Nelle Eyoum and others, Guillaume played a pivotal role in crafting the modern makossa sound based on the traditional rhythms of the Douala region.

Among his albums, Toguy's 1985 release Elimbi na Ngomo (TN Productions TN 591) is justly famed, but I've always had a soft spot for 1983's Makossa Digital (Disques Esperance ESP 8404), with its lush strings and brilliant arrangements. A true pinnacle of makossa!

Makossa began to fade in the late '80s, a victim of its own formulaic sound, but for a time it was Congo music's main rival for the affections of African music fans. Toto Guillaume too dropped out of sight around this time, but I understand he's been making a comeback in recent years.

Enjoy Makossa Digital, and I promise I will make Elimbi na Ngomo available also sometime in the future:

Toto Guillaume - Mundende Mwa Bedimo

Toto Guillaume - Mulema Mwa Muna

Toto Guillaume - Bata Ba Nunga

Toto Guillaume - Paï 'a Nyambe

Toto Guillaume - Ewes' Am

And, because Makossa Digital, like most Camerounian releases of the era, is much too short, here's a "bonus track" from 1983's wonderful 3-disc compilation Fleurs Musicales du Cameroun (Afrovision FMC 001/002/003):

Toto Guillaume - Seto Nyola

Download Makossa Digital (+ "Seto Nyola") as a zipped file here.
A technical note: I haven't been posting many vinyl rips here lately because the stylus on my turntable was way past its expiration date, and I didn't want to harm my treasured old LPs. But listening to Makossa Digital and other rips I've made since getting a new stylus it's apparent how much sound quality I had been sacrificing with that old needle as well. I'd like to re-rip and re-upload much of the old material but that's obviously going to take a while. In the meantime I'd appreciate your input. When I processed Makossa Digital I tweaked the high frequencies upwards just a little bit as it seemed to add a fair bit of clarity to the sound. However, I'm aware that my hearing is not what it used to be, and what sounds fine to me may be hopelessly screechy to others. So, let me know. Input from people with a background in audio engineering is especially appreciated.

More Live Youssou

As promised, here is another "live" recording by Youssou N'Dour & le Super Etoile de Dakar, the cassette Live Olympia (Productions SAPROM), recorded in Paris and released in 1991.

Live Olympia finds Youssou & the band in the more simplified mode they exhibited, at least in the international market, after achieving world fame in the mid '80s. The music is "catchier" and the performances shorter and less complex than in the earlier Jamm La Paix. Still, this is a recording well worth listening to, with a nice rendition of "Immigrés" and interesting alternate versions of some other Super Etoile hits.

Youssou N'Dour & le Super Etoile de Dakar - Sabar

Youssou N'Dour & le Super Etoile de Dakar - Bamako

Youssou N'Dour & le Super Etoile de Dakar - Immigrés

Youssou N'Dour & le Super Etoile de Dakar - Xaley Rew Mi

Youssou N'Dour & le Super Etoile de Dakar - Medina

Youssou N'Dour & le Super Etoile de Dakar - Jaam

Download Live Olympia as a zipped file here.

Live Youssou

Thanks to Aduna for posting Show!!! A Abidjan (1983), a rare live LP by Senegal's Youssou N'Dour. I was inspired to post a couple of live recordings by him myself, starting with the cassette Jamm La Paix (Productions SAPROM).

Toshiya Endo's essential Youssou N'Dour discography lists Jamm La Paix as issued in 1986, and that sounds about right. Recorded live at the Thiossane Night Club in Dakar, it features the jazzy Super Etoile sound that got us hooked back in the '80s, before the depredations of "World Music™" took hold. The band (credited here as "Super Etoile de Dakar I") has never sounded tighter, with inspired performances by all present:

Youssou N'Dour & le Super Etoile de Dakar I - Jamm (La Paix)

Youssou N'Dour & le Super Etoile de Dakar I - Sama Doom

Youssou N'Dour & le Super Etoile de Dakar I - Ale Samba

Youssou N'Dour & le Super Etoile de Dakar I - Sabar

Youssou N'Dour & le Super Etoile de Dakar I - Yonent

Youssou N'Dour & le Super Etoile de Dakar I - Jigééni Rééw Mi

Download Jamm La Paix as a zipped file here. Later I'll be posting Live Olympia, a live recording from 1991.

The Best of Thione Seck

This week I'm embarking on yet another Spring Break College Tour, this time with my younger daughter Ify. As you may recall, the last couple of times I did this with my other daughter Aku we were able to pick up some nifty Senegalese sounds from a somewhat disreputable storefront on 116th St. in New York City.

Unfortunately we won't be making it out East this time around (maybe next year), but I did want to pass on something I picked up on one of those earlier trips. Best of Thione Seck is not an "official" pressing, but it should be, gathering as it does some of the best tunes from Seck's cassette releases.

Thione Seck himself is rather well-known to African music aficionados thanks to the release in 2005 of his album Orientation (Sterns STCD 1100). He came to notice in Senegal in the late '70s as a vocalist for the legendary Orchestre Baobab, but soon left to form his own roots-orienteed ensemble Le Raam Daan ("Going Slowly Toward Your Goal"). Today he is considered one of the greatest Senegalese vocalists of all time. I featured a few tracks from Best of Thione Seck in an earlier post, but I'm sure you'll appreciate it in its entirety.

Thione Seck & le Raam Daan - Dieuleul

Thione Seck & le Raam Daan - Mane Mi Gnoul

Thione Seck & le Raam Daan - Mass Ndiaye

Thione Seck & le Raam Daan - Domou Baye

Thione Seck & le Raam Daan - Khare Bi

Thione Seck & le Raam Daan - Diongoma

Thione Seck & le Raam Daan - Yaye Boy

Thione Seck & le Raam Daan - Sakh Yi

Thione Seck & le Raam Daan - Yeen

Thione Seck & le Raam Daan - Yenn Bi (Mame)

Thione Seck & le Raam Daan - Khalel

Thione Seck & le Raam Daan - Bamba

Thione Seck & le Raam Daan - Rara

Download Best of Thione Seck as a zipped file here. The picture at the top of this post is by Tom Verhees. It is taken from the LP Le Pouvoir d'un Coeur Pur (Sterns STCD 1023, 1988).

One Man Thousand

The 1976 album Asaase Asa (Brobisco KBL 016) was a breakthrough hit for Alex Konadu, establishing him as Ghana's foremost exponent of "roots highlife." The title song is based on a true story about Mr. Asaase Asa, who lost both his wife and sister when they were killed by a falling tree. It is dedicated to all who have lost their loved ones.

Konadu had been singing since an early age, and became a leader of the Kantamanto Bosco Group before moving on to the band of the well-known Kwabena Akwaboah for three years and then to the Happy Brothers Band. After going solo he was discovered by the producer A.K. Brobbey and the rest, as they say, is history.

His ability to draw crowds wherever he goes has given Konadu the appellation "One Man Thousand." Withstanding the vicissitudes of fame and fashion, and staying true to his vision of pure, unadulterated highlife music, he has been an inspiration to Ghanaian musicians for years. While Konadu has issued many wonderful recordings over the decades, Asaase Asa is still considered one of his most noteworthy achievements. Enjoy!

Alex Konadu's Band - Obi Aware Wo

Alex Konadu's Band - Me Ne Me Aserene

Alex Konadu's Band - Obiri Pajampram

Alex Konadu's Band - Owuo Mpe Sika

Alex Konadu's Band - Emum Aso Dae

Alex Konadu's Band - Asem Ne Me Ara

Alex Konadu's Band - Asaase Asa

Alex Konadu's Band - W'awu Da Ho No

Download Asaase Asa as a zipped file here. For a taste of Alex Konadu recorded before a live audience, be sure to check out his album One Man Thousand Live in London.

Another Souvenir

As a follow-up to the last post, here is another ukumbusho (souvenir) from another great exponent of Muziki wa Dansi, Tanzania's International Orchestra Safari Sound.

IOSS was formed in 1985 when businessman Hugo Kisima dissolved his group the Orchestra Safari Sound, and recruited six members of Mlimani Park Orchestra to form a new orchestra. IOSS & Mlimani were considered the two top rivals for leadership of the Tanzanian music scene for a time but for some reason Kisima dissolved IOSS in the early '90s. Confusingly, at one point Ndala Kasheba briefly revived the "old" Orchestra Safari Sound, and there may have been two factions of the International Orchestra Safari Sound, the IOSS (Ndekule) and IOSS (Duku Duku).

Shukrani kwa Mjomba (Ahadi/Flatim MSCAS 513) is credited to the International Orchestra Safari Sound (Ndekule), and as usual with Ahadi/Flatim releases provides no recording information other than a track-listing. As "Chatu Mkali" on the cassette inexplicably cuts off in the middle of the song, I've used the version from the CD Musiki wa Dansi: Afropop Hits from Tanzania (Africassette AC 9403, 1995), which is still in print and available here. Enjoy!

International Orchestra Safari Sound - Shukrani Kwa Mjomba

International Orchestra Safari Sound - Shida

International Orchestra Safari Sound - Pendo

International Orchestra Safari Sound - Majuto

International Orchestra Safari Sound - Kaka Kinyongoli

International Orchestra Safari Sound - Chatu Mkali

Download Shukrani Kwa Mjomba as a zipped file here. More IOSS here. The batik at the top of this post is taken from this website.

A Tanzanian Souvenir

Orchestra Vijana Jazz, one of Tanzania's top dance bands, was founded in 1971 under the sponsorship of Umoja wa Vijana Tanzania, then the Youth League of the ruling Tanzania African National Union (TANU). Over the last couple of decades as the Tanzanian economy has "liberalized" I suspect Vijana has had to make its own way. It quite possibly may not exist anymore. The Orchestra has undergone numerous personnel changes over the years, notably the death of vocalist Hemed Maneti, who wrote some of the band's most memorable tunes like "Mary Maria" and "Tambiko la Pamba Moto."

"Ukumbusho" literally translates as "reminder" but it probably more closely means "souvenir" or "in memoriam." The cassette Ukumbusho: Hayati Hemed Maneti (Ahadi/Flatim MSKCAS 514) was apparently issued to commemorate the life of Vijana's beloved lead singer. As usual for an Ahadi/Flatim production the sound quality is not up to snuff. Musically it's memorable indeed.

Orchestra Vijana Jazz - Jiko Limenuna

Orchestra Vijana Jazz - Najilaumu

Orchestra Vijana Jazz - Nilitaka Iwe Siri

Orchestra Vijana Jazz - Unikubalie

Orchestra Vijana Jazz - Ndoa Ni Kuvumiliana

Orchestra Vijana Jazz - Madaraka Kwenye Bar

Download Ukumbusho as a zipped file here. More Vijana Jazz on Likembe here, and you can find another great cassette by them here.