Various Artists - Afro-Rock Volume One (2002, Kona / 2010, Strut Records)
I have noticed recently that there have been a lot of less--than-interesting revivalist com--pilations put out in the name of Afro-funk, Afro-beat, Afro-delia, Afro-dis, Afro-dat. Please close the door afro you go through it.
However there is one real absolute total 100% flawless gem among the accumulated Afro detritus blowing in the wind. Afro Rock Vol. 1 (Kona) is its title and it does rock, very seriously. It is certainly not the output of some dingbat dj with a goatee, square glasses and baggy trousers, but the work of a man who has actually paid his dues in Africa. It is the result of a lot of hard work and effort by Duncan Brooker, a white English guy. A vinyl fanatic from 13, he was 16 when he stumbled into African music the same way many of us did, via Fela Kuti.
When he was 19 in 1994, he got a job as a runner/driver/dogsbody for news agency Reuters. He traveled extensively following the stories. This eventually took him to Nairobi, where after the job he was involved in had finished, he jumped ship and begged a job with a top Kenyan news agency. Spending six months there Duncan commented that he was "Fetching and carrying, flying, driving and bussing around East Africa: Zaire, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, I'd be sent up to the borders of Ethiopia to pick up people and tapes. When I wasn't working and sometimes when I was, I'd be looking for records."
Over the following seven years, he went back to Africa on record--hunting safaris every winter. He managed to accumulate a vast number (20,000+) lps and singles, quite a feat given the harsh and dusty conditions of Africa and its vinyl-destroying capabilities. Not only did he find these records in the markets, in boxes sitting in direct sunlight on the ground, but in one case he was "looking for somewhere to stay in Dar es Salaam, checking out the hotel room which was cheap, but not nice and I was not sure whether to take it. I noticed a pile of records covered in dust stacked on the wardrobe. I took the room and when I left took some of the records with me."
He even fell ill while sifting through the18,000 slabs of vinyl that were covered in a 20-year-old six-inch-deep crud in the upstairs room of Melodica Records, a shop at a dusty crossroads in Nairobi run by a early top figure in Kenyan music, Abdul Karin.
Duncan began to rediscover some of the seminal East African bands of the '70s like Air Fiesta Matata, as well as unearthing stunning pearls from other parts of Africa that had been popular 35 years ago. Not content with just the vinyl, and on a very personal mission to save this music and reintroduce it into the wild, Duncan has over many years tracked down the artists, producers and master tapes sometimes found stored in a chicken shed covered in guano.
Some tracks on this groundbreaking compilation were only ever available on cassette, some were never released, like "Yuda" by Dackin Dackino, a real weird West African curious obscurity mix-up. Recorded in Zaire in 1974, it is most certainly Congo Afro-beat. A pro-Africa, pro-Mobutu storyline jostles with an Afro-beat-ish groove, while a jazzy sax wails away.
Duncan is instrumental in not only rescuing the remaining records, but he has plans to bring some of the musicians out of the obscurity to which they had retreated. And very good luck to him, because Afro Rock Vol. 1 is a stunning compilation of really genuinely great tracks; there are no fillers here. It is ram--packed full of really obscure music from a number of groups that time seems to have forgotten about, if it ever knew about them in the first place, and also from countries that recently have not gotten much of a mention. For example, old Nigeria is hip at the moment, Mali is pretty hot for the modern roots. As always, Senegal is interesting. But Kenya? Sierra Leone or Ghana? Afro Rock Vol. 1 is an intelligent and caring compilation and Duncan has volumes two and three lined up and ready to go. But before that let us run down the tracks on volume one.
First up is an exceedingly rare Kenyan track from 1974; Ishmael Jingo's "Fever." Previously only available as a single, it is heard here in its complete and unabridged form. A drum break opens up proceedings and the track bumps into a slice of pretty heavy Afro-funk that shuffles along with a bouncy 6/8 time and great horns.
Sierre Leonian Geraldo Pino whips out a mid-'60s slice of Afro--soul with "Heavy Heavy Heavy." This stormer features a rampant wah-wah guitar and swirling Hammond organ swimming around in a real-er-heavy rhythm. Steele Beauttah is one of the stars of this compilation, the singer with seminal Kenyan band Air Fiesta Matata. The track featured here, "Africa," gallops along at good clip with a distinct Afrobeat style. A guitar break freaks out, Steele grunts and the backing singers intone. Recorded in 1978, this is a fine workout.
The Mercury Dance band gives us "Envy No Good," a ditty that sounds like it has been inoculated with a strong dose of Fela Kuti. Next up is the aforementioned Congo-Afrobeat groove by Dackino, and yes, it really is a curiosity, a 12-minute rarity with a thundering rhythm, wild breaks, a flying cymbal, fantastic ringing guitar and a soprano sax which freaks out. A killer cut.
Ghanaian K. Frimpong and his Cubano Fiestas bring us "Kyenkyen Bi Adi M'awu." This is a totally monster track. Sly Dunbar would have been proud of the drummer's rim technique as he clacks out its rock-solid metallic tack-tack-tack, tack- tack. The Farfisa organ is absolutely gut-grabbing in its flowing rinky-dinkness. Sixties jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan would have been very happy to have played the trumpet here. In fact the playing is very jazzy throughout, a ethereal flute floats through the sound, a whacked-out George Benson guitar style picks its way through the almost--reggae-like rhythm. The vocals power out in a totally soulful fabbo intensity with a beautiful melody. A true genius track.
Orchestra Lissanga is another Congo combo. Very little is known about the track featured here, "Okuzua." But it starts with fuzzy guitar and a amplifier buzzing away in the background. Rough, tough, distorted sound with a impassioned Afrobeat vocal and scorching horns. Great stuff. From 1972 comes Super Mambo 69, another Congolese group and their "Sweeper Soul," which ferries you immediately to the heart of African soul. This was evidently the B side of their "Hot Pants" 45, and this is what Wilson Pickett would have recorded if he had been born in Kinshasa. On "Mabala," the Yahoos of Kenya swiftly whip on a nutty instrumental with early electronic "space" sound effects swooping over a kicking tenor sax-led groove.
From Ghana in 1974 the Bokoor Band give us "Onukpa Shawarpo" where a crisp rhythm guitar lays down a foundation for the harmonica playing of group leader (and noted musicologist) John Collins. Harmonica? When was the last time you heard a lead harmonica? Things are brought to a rousing conclusion by "Pem Dwe" from Nkansah and Yaanom. Nkansah was a former member of the African Brothers. Dating from 1975, this is in the same vein as Count Prince Miller's cut of "Mule Train." Mad, crazy and bad. People have forgotten how to play nutty guitar like this.
Afro Rock Vol. 1 is one of those really important compilations that occasionally comes along. Full marks to Duncan Brooker and we should say a big thank you to him for personally saving this groovy music from the dust and the chicken shit.
--by Dave Hucker, "Hey, Mr. Music" column, The Beat magazine, Volume 21, Number 1, 2002 via http://www.technobeat.com/HUCKER/Guano.html
Tracklist (2002/2010)
06:45 | 01. Jingo - Fever
06:35 | 02. Geraldo Pino & The Heartbeats - Heavy Heavy Heavy
03:52 | 03. Steele Beautttah - Africa
04:54 | 04. Mercury Dance Band - Envy No Good
12:09 | 05. Dackin Dackino - Yuda
06:56 | 06. K. Frimpong & His Cubano Fiestas - Kyenkyen Bi Adi M'awu
08:49 | 07. Orchestra Lissanga - Okuzua
02:45 | 08. Super Mambo 69 - Sweeper Soul
04:11 | 09. Yahoos - Mabala
03:17 | 10. Bokoor Band - Onukpa Shawarpo
04:47 | 11. Nkansah and Yaanom - Pem Dwe
Strut Records bonus track (2010)
08:50 | 12. Jingo - Untitled (Keep On Holding On (Part 1), as listed on digital releases)
Amazon bonus tracks (2010)
03:05 | 13. Funky Movements Band - Trouble Maker
04:56 | 14. Steele Beautttah - African Stomp
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