African faves/what else sounds like this

[Tsundoku]

This is one of the best things I've bought since ... I don't know when. As I know nothing about African music, I thought I'd start a thread to see what people's African faves are, especially if they are in a similar vein to this.

I don't even really know how to define what I'm looking for really. Mellow , soulful - not the hard funk end of African music, nor disco, not the more heavy Zamrock type stuff, nor the more frenetic "highlife" (scare quotes as I'm trying currently to tighten my understanding of what highlife is). This is from Guinea-Bissau, but I also picked up a Nigerian LP this summer which puts me in mind of it - by Sir Waziri Oshomah, if you are curious but I can't find any Youtube clips. Another recent favorite would be the Mary Afi Usuah reish. I realize it's obviously a ludicrously huge field, but I thought it might be nice to have quite an open discussion and trade a few links and names.

[Tsundoku]

Also killer:

Incredible vocals on this, that remind me of Arabic/North African music.

[Plainstone]

in a similar vein to this.

Sounds like you're enjoying the Cuban influence, so maybe some early Congolese rumba? The structure is often fairly similar to the track you posted as by the 60s/70s they were playing longer songs split over two sides of a 45 with the lyrics and melody prominent on the first side and the guitars and what's known as the sebene on the flip for the dancers.

Here's a nice comp of Franco et Le TPOK Jazz

Also, Malian stuff like Super Biton is in a similar vein to the Super Mama Djombo track.

or Bembeya Jazz?

Then there's Orchestra Baobab, but maybe I should stop there for now?

[Tsundoku]

That's all brilliant, thank you! Going to listen now.

I also picked this up when I was in Paris this summer (from Superfly). It has a couple of slower tracks, like this one, which are lovely, amongst some much more uptempo tracks which I like less:

[Tsundoku]

by the 60s/70s they were playing longer songs split over two sides of a 45 with the lyrics and melody prominent on the first side and the guitars and what's known as the sebene on the flip for the dancers.
?

Ah! The track I posted above has a fast section at the end which did seem a bit incongruous. Now you've said it, I'm sure the explanation is something like this.

[Tsundoku]

Bembaya jazz is absolutley sick. I'm listening now. I rarely get through a whole album at work but I might make an expection here.

[Little Jimmy Oddman]

I really like that Super Mama Djombo track so looking forward to checking out the other suggestions.

Many of my favourite African songs are on the Continental Drift mix I did a while ago. My tastes for African music are similar to my tastes for all music - bit daft, bit weird, disproportionate enjoyment of private press - but there might be something you like. You can hear it on the link on my signature.

[Shere Khan]

Don't know if this will suit.

[Plainstone]

You can hear it on the link on my signature.

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[Tsundoku]

I really like that Super Mama Djombo track so looking forward to checking out the other suggestions.

Many of my favourite African songs are on the Continental Drift mix I did a while ago. My tastes for African music are similar to my tastes for all music - bit daft, bit weird, disproportionate enjoyment of private press - but there might be something you like. You can hear it on the link on my signature.

I actually have that downloaded Jim. I have listened to it but it's been lost in the general deluge of kraut CDs and rap MP3s that dominates my iTunes. I will relisten.

[SirSlim]

Sir Victor Uwaifo - ekassa 24

this one has haunted me since first hearing it on Charlie Gillett's radio show in the early 80s - beautiful.

[Tsundoku]

Don't know if this will suit.

That's great, though I prefer it with the vocal rather than the horn which starts - horn seems to kinda dominant otherwise? The cuban influence is really to the fore. When is it from. I have actually been listening to a lot of Etoile (Star) de Dakar material on the Yootubes, though I am still confused as to the various iterations of the group. Youssou N'Dour used the band as a launching point for his solo career.

[Tsundoku]

Incredible stuff. The vocal here has that Arabic twinge I mentioned above:

[Little Jimmy Oddman]

Plainstone - here's the link to the mix.

https://m.mixcloud.com/ljoddman/cont...c-from-africa/

[Shere Khan]

That's great, though I prefer it with the vocal rather than the horn which starts - horn seems to kinda dominant otherwise? The cuban influence is really to the fore. When is it from. I have actually been listening to a lot of Etoile (Star) de Dakar material on the Yootubes, though I am still confused as to the various iterations of the group. Youssou N'Dour used the band as a launching point for his solo career.

Well Dexter Johnson is the sax player so he does feature strongly. The recording is a live one from 1969. There's some good stuff on Teranga Beat, and they're nicely presented too. I also have this Mar Sek LP they did but I'm not sure it's what you're after. It features unreleased tracks from 1969, 73 and 80. Some are live.