Afrobeat Vinyl 503 Items

Mr. Money With The Vibe Bone W/ Red Splatter Vinyl Edition

Release: 2019 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Limited to 500 copies on white vinyl!

Inspired by Fela Kuti, Ebo Taylor, Tony Allen and the sounds of West Africa, London 8-person collective Kokoroko presents its first EP. The four tracks reveal a musical vision of Afrobeat, soul, West African roots and inner-London jazz nuances. The wonderful "Abusey Junction" was already included on last year's Brownswood sampler "We Out Here", which was frenetically acclaimed by the trade press (Wire, Monocle, New York Times, etc.) and named compilation of the year 2018 by the London Rough Trade stores.

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Asake

LP | 2023 | US | Original (Empire)

Jorge Ben / Miriam Makeba

Release: 2023 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Pop

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Mr. Money With The Vibe is the debut studio album from Nigerian singer Asake. Following an impressive debut and meteoric rise in the music industry, Asake signed with Ybnl Nation, the label founded by one of the godfathers of modern Afrobeats, Olamide. The 12-track album features elements of traditional Nigerian fuji music, Afropop, and South African Amapiano and sees appearances from fellow Nigerian star Burna Boy and American rapper Russ. The results are an ethereal sonic oasis that clearly sets Asake apart from his peers. Includes the single, “Sungba (Remix),” “Peace Be Unto You (PBUY),” & “Terminator.” 1xLP, pressed on Bone Vinyl with Red Splatter.

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Xica Da Silva

7" | 2016 | UK | Reissue (Mr Bongo)

11,99 €*

The Tony Allen Experiments - Afrobeat Makers Volume 3

Release: 2016 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Two classic cuts from Jorge Ben and Miriam Makeba take either side of this Mr Bongo Brazil 45 reissue.

’Xica Da Silva’ is one of Jorge Ben’s most well-known and well-loved cuts, housed on the legendary Africa Brazil LP that deserves a place in every collection. A magical MPB cut, it instantly transports you to the shores of Rio de Janeiro. With a low-slung funky samba flavour, Ben’s absorbing vocal recounts the legend of one of Brazil's oldest black icons.

On the flip side, Miriam Makeba serves up an entrancing, slowed-down, grooved-out version of ‘Xica da Silva’. A highly influential singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist from South Africa, this low and slow interpretation is doused in strutting guitar, off-beat piano stabs and hypnotic drums providing the perfect platform to let Miriam’s vocal shine through.

Remastered with refreshed artwork.

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Nu Guinea

LP | 2016 | EU | Reissue (Comet)

Release: 2016 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Comet is pleased to announce the third volume of the Afrobeat Makers Series: Nu Guinea - The Tony Allen Experiments.
By re-working the original magic drum patterns from the Afrobeat master Tony Allen, Nu Guinea created a compilation of tracks which is charged by a voluminous electronic jazz-Psyche funk imprint.
For this release, Comet Records teamed up with Early Sounds Recordings, the berlin label, also home to duo Berliners Nu Guinea.
The Naples formed, Berlin-based duo, is a project that arose out of jam sessions, melting synthesizers with instruments, containing a handmade sound that is not aiming for perfection but genuineness. It can be understood as a steadily shaping form, always open for collaborations with other musicians.
They've previously collaborated with singer Wayne Snow (fellow berliner artist on Comet) for the vocal edit of Nu-World, also delivered a remix for Wayne Snow’ ʻRosie Epʼ both recently released on Tartelet Records.

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Mr Bongo Record Club Volume 1

2LP | 2016 | UK | Original (Mr Bongo)

LP | 2018 | EU | Original (Mr Bongo)

Release: 2016 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The first instalment in our new ‘Mr Bongo Record Club’ compilation series – a
selection of favourites, recent discoveries and sought after obscurities, which
form the basis of our DJ sets and our radio show of the same name. Including
cuts by Claudia, Cortex, Dave Pike Set, Fruko, Neno Exporta Som, Connie
Laverne, Barbosa and more.
The original concept for ‘Mr Bongo Record Club’ was a radio show that allowed
us to air our treasured record collections, recorded and broadcast once a
month. We wanted to create an outlet free from any genre or BPM restrictions,
not constrained by the need to beat-mix every record, a space where we could
play latest finds alongside favourites. The only self-imposed rule being that
it had to be played from vinyl.
We have always DJ’d across-the-board, but playing in an eclectic way hasn’t
always been easy. Recently DJ’s such as MCDE, Floating Points, Nick The Record,
Leon Vynehall, Four Tet, Jeremy Underground, Antal (Rush Hour), Sassy J and
Young Marco – to name a few – have opened things up with very diverse sets to
younger audiences; Brazilian samba-rock, next to modern soul, highlife, disco,
boogie, jazz, house, techno and beyond.
We’re seeing a rare groove like sensibility. A shift towards the attitude of
legendary club nights hosted by the likes of Mr Scruff and Gilles Peterson,
where you could hear house, hip hop, Turkish funk, boogie, jazz, dub and Latin
back to back. At the same time it isn't a nostalgic or retro movement, people
have a progressive attitude and a thirst for new-old music. It is a vibrant and
exciting time – we are proud to be a part of it.

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Ebo Taylor

Yen Ara

Dancing Time: The Best Of East Nigeria's Afro Rock Exponents 1973-77

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Ghanaian music legend Ebo Taylor returns with perhaps his finest album to date. But don't take our word for it. That’s coming straight from the man himself. And he should know after more than 60 years in the business. The 81-year-old composer, arranger, guitarist and vocalist has been a key figure in the evolving afro-funk sound since the Seventies, working with the likes of Apagya Show Band, CK Mann and Pat Thomas. Famously, he rubbed shoulders with Fela Kuti while studying in London in the Sixties, before going on to lead the Ghana Black Star Band (featuring Osei and Sol Amarfio from Osibisa) and later the Uhuru Dance Band back in Ghana. Like Fela, he is always pushing forward, constantly reconceptualising his sound and
attuning it for a new generation. Part teacher, part messenger. Listen to Yen Ara and you will not only hear the high-energy afrobeat, sweet highlife, jazz and konkoma influences that he’s famous for. There is also a disco pulse and hard-hitting percussive edge to the tracks, which were produced by Justin Adams (Tinariwen, Rachid Taha, Robert Plant) and recorded in the live room at Electric Monkey Studio in Amsterdam. An Ebo Taylor for these times, you might say.
His group, the Saltpond City Band, are all handpicked local musicians featuring two of his sons. An appropriate line-up on an album whose titles means “we”. And they are on fine form, ripping through tracks such as ‘Krumandey’ (a surefire party starter) and ‘Mind Your Own Business’ (a simple message delivered over a frenetic drum rhythm). Elsewhere, ‘Aboa Kyirbin’ will please fans of tough afrobeat grooves, while Taylor could well be inciting a riot at his next gig with ‘Mumudey Mumudey’, We hear him calling for ‘preshaaah’ and leading us into a call and response as the trumpet takes us higher. And the lift of those horns on ‘Ankoma'm’ evokes some of his finest work such as ‘Love & Death’ and ‘Come Along’, the latter recorded
with the Pelikans and featured on a recent Mr Bongo reissue. This album fizzes and pops with life but the best way to experience Taylor, as always, is live. Catch him on tour in Europe from March 2018.

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The Funkees

2LP | 2012 | UK | Original (Soundway)

Fela Soul 2024 Blue Vinyl Edition

Release: 2012 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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‘Dancing Time: The Best of Eastern Nigeria’s Afro Rock Exponents 1973 – 77’ by The Funkees is the latest title on Soundway to mine the rich musical output of 60s and 70s Nigeria. For the 5 year period this compilation spans The Funkees output crackled with dance floor fire.

Having featured on three of Soundway’s most popular titles, across the definitive Nigeria Special compilation series, we felt The Funkees output deserved closer inspection. Presented here (on CD, download & double gatefold LP) are 18 slices of funky Afro-rock grooves hand picked by Soundway’s Miles Cleret from a selection of the bands 45s and 2 long players.

In the early 1970s The Funkees were the number-one east Nigerian band and the only outfit to seriously challenge the popular Lagos based rock combos MonoMono and BLO.

It wasn't long before promoters in the UK came calling and The Funkees packed up their instruments and moved to London where they quickly established a fierce reputation on the live circuit.

Here they recorded two seminal albums before finally breaking up in 1977 amidst some controversy. This collection features for the first time all of their Nigerian 45s alongside the best of their UK album material and is accompanied by a full interview with original member Sonny Akpan, who still lives in the capital.

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Fela Kuti Vs. De La Soul

LP | 2015 | US (Fela Soul)

Release: 2015 / US

Genre: Hip Hop, Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

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The classic is back! Gummy Soul's Amerigo Gazaway mashes up Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti with acapellas from De La Soul to killer effect! A fantasic journey into the "world of afrobeat rhythms, funky horn riffs & classic hip-hop gems". Bonus track added, now on colored vinyl in a full color picture sleeve!

Afrobeat legend FELA KUTI mashed with DE LA SOUL acapellas to killer effect! A fantastic journey into the world of afrobeat rhythms, funky horn riffs & classic hip-hop gems". This colored vinyl repress comes on blue colored vinyl for the first time. Includes new "secret" 2024 bonus cut.

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2LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Wagram)

Oriental Rare Groove

12" | 2019 | UK | Original (Brownswood)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Rare Groove CollectionExplore the fusion of world music with soul, funk and disco through the Rare Groove Collection.With this new volume, discover unique groove tracks straight from Jamaica!Fully remastered original versions Oriental RARE GROOVEA trip to the oriental peninsula following the steps of the Lebanese disco of Elias Rahbani, cradled by the Morrocan Soul of Ouiness or trained by the Lybian melodies of Ahmed Fakroun...

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Kokoroko

20,99 €*

Release: 2019 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Gumba Fire: Bubblegum Soul & Synth Boogie In 1980s South Africa

3LP | 2018 | EU | Original (Soundway)

I Keep My Feet On The Fragile Plane

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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In 1980s black South Africa a local form of pop music evolved as the disco boom died down and slowly mutated. It was often ubiquitously described as Bubblegum - usually stripped-down and lo-fi with a predominance of synths, keyboards and drum-machines and overlaid with the kind of deeply soulful trademark vocals and harmonies that South African music is famous for.
Compilers Miles Cleret (Soundway) and DJ Okapi (Afrosynth Records) present a selection of 18 rare, handpicked 1980s cuts that highlight the period that nestles in between the ‘70s (where American-influenced jazz, funk and soul bumped shoulders with local Mbaqanga) and the ‘90s when Kwaito and eventually house-music ruled the dancefloors of urban South Africa.
Alongside French-Caribbean Zouk this kind of music has slowly been making its way into the DJ sets of many of the most open minded selectors around the world. This compilation is in many ways a sister release to the hugely popular compilation of Nigerian boogie and disco that Soundway released in late 2016 : “Doing it In Lagos: Boogie, Pop & Disco in 1980s Nigeria”.
The album takes its name from the band Ashiko’s track of the same name Gumba Fire that features on the compilation. The term is derived from gumba gumba, the term given to the booming speakers of the old spacegram radios that
broadcast music into South Africa’s townships and villages. The phrase later evolved into Gumba Fire to refer to a hot party. Put this record on and feel the heat!

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Allegra Krieger

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Double Double Whammy)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 2018 | EU | Reissue (Afrosynth)

Ntombi Ndaba & Survival

Tomorrow 2024 Repress

19,99 €*

Emahoy Gebru Tsege Mariam

Release: 2018 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Incl. her in demand tune "Tomorrow" . Six-track anthology of South African singer Ntombi Ndaba, featuring 2 songs from 3 of her solo albums, Mina Ngiljaji (1988), Mama Nature (1989) and Why Me (1991).
Ntombi Ndaba first rose to fame in 1985 with Ntombi & Survival, becoming one of the most popular singers of the bubblegum era. After setting up the independent label Anneko with her producer A.T. ‘Rubber’ Khoza in 1988, she went solo. Following Khoza’s death in the early 1990s, Ndaba never recorded again.

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Spielt Eigene Kompositionen

LP | 2013 | US | Reissue (Mississippi)

LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Soundway)

Release: 2013 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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A most unusual & stunning album. Tsege Mariam Gebru is an Ethiopian nun who has dedicated her life to helping others. She has been composing & playing music on the piano since the 1960's. Her music is a unique mix of Western classical music in the vein of Erik Satie, Ethiopian music & Religious Christian meditation music. On this reissue of her first LP, originally released in Germany in a very small pressing, we find Tsege Mariam Gebru playing her own compositions solo on piano. She plays with restrained grace & purity. The record invites repeated listening well and is filled with spiritual warmth.

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The Mauskovic Dance Band

12" | 2018 | EU | Original (!K7)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Soundway Records presents the eponymous debut LP from in-demand Amsterdam five piece The Mauskovic Dance Band – fusing no-wave dance punk, Afro-Caribbean rhythms and space disco in a “controlled explosion” (The Quietus).
Entirely self-produced, the band has reiterated their favourite elements of the 70s and 80s legacy of the Afro-Latin psychedelic music of Colombia and Peru, interpreting it through the context of modern day Amsterdam. The output is a lo-fi No Wave groove all its own - rooted in a deep love of champeta, Palenque, psychedelic cumbia, chichi, classic afrobeat and picó soundsystem culture.
Since the release of their “Down In The Basement” EP on Soundway Records in early 2018, the band have found themselves on a hectic European touring schedule – not to mention being involved in other side projects. Following stints with Turkish psychedelic folk rock group Altin Gün, and touring with the re-formed 70s Zamrock outfit W.I.T.C.H., Nic Mauskovic also teamed up with Dutch neo-psychedelic artist Jacco Gardner to form the “cinematic Balearic disco” duo of Bruxas (released by Dutch institution Dekmantel) – and together, they mixed The Mauskovic Dance Band debut album in Lisbon.
Lead single Space Drum Machine encapsulates the band’s prototypical brand of busy rhythmic patterns interwoven with insistent synth stabs and vibrant disco toms, layered with an elastic guitar riff drawing inspiration from Kenyan kikuyu and benga styles. High-pitched vocals describe being on a flight together and inciting each other to press a button of unknown consequence with “push it, push it” - and push it they do, at breakneck pace. And of course, the undeniable influence of Amsterdam’s hotbed of underground dance producers shines through as it does on all tracks - with the vintage psychedelic swirl of synthesiser, lo-fi drum machines and tape recording.

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Red Axes

Trips #1: In Africa

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Habibi Funk)

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Red Axes are very excited to present the first part of their new project called: “Trips", a multi media venture combining music, film and travelling across the globe in pursuit of extra ordinary collaborations. Niv Arzi and Dori Sadovnik are seeking to discover new grounds and sounds, and to record local musicians, indigenous instruments and present workshops for youth music schools. In March of 2017, the Israeli duo touched down in Africa for the first time, and set up camp in both Ethiopia and Ivory Coast, yielding In Africa, a triple header EP which features three slices of contemporary body music, with both East and West African musical motifs. The project will always present a musical release, on vinyl and digital, that was created on the trip, accompanied with a documentary, showing the whole journey.

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Ahmed Ben Ali

Subhana

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie

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2LP | 2016 | Reissue (Decca)

The Lumineers

Cleopatra

32,99 €*

Release: 2016 / Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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2LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Wagram)

Brazilian Rare Groove

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Rare Groove CollectionExplore the fusion of world music with soul, funk and disco through the Rare Groove Collection.With this new volume, discover unique groove tracks straight from Jamaica!Fully remastered original versionsBrazilian RARE GROOVEDiscover the wonders of Brazilian music from 60s, 70s & 80s. A wave of modernity invades the country and Soul, Funk & Disco influences merge with traditional genres such as Bossa Nova, Samba or Batucada. This union led to a colorful and cheerful groove symbolizing the transformation of Brazil.

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2LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Wagram)

African Rare Groove

Niger EP 1 Yellow Vinyl Edition

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Rare Groove CollectionExplore the fusion of world music with soul, funk and disco through the Rare Groove Collection.With this new volume, discover unique groove tracks straight from Jamaica!Fully remastered original versions African RARE GROOVEA journey at the heart of Nigerian afrobeat from Orlando Julius to the ethnojazz of Alemayèhu Eshèté passing by the High-life of the Ghanaian Ebo Taylor...

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Mdou Moctar

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Matador)

Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love?

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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"In 2021, we started the Mdou Moctar mixtape series. These releases compiled field recordings, cell phone voice memos, interview clips, conversations captured in the tour van, and blown-out board recordings from shows all over the world. As a continuation of those mixtapes, we present the Niger EPs, which examine the roots of the Mdou Moctar band. Early Mdou recordings were contained on cassettes, though the humble tape was soon replaced by the quick and easy facilityof cell phone technology. Long bus rides are common in West Africa. On one of these rides, you might be seated next to a stranger and ask "what are you listening to?", then a song exchange would begin over Bluetooth. This is a very real way artists found their music distributed far from home. In that vein, the Niger EP series features solely recordings taped in Mdou Moctar"s home country of Niger. Volume 1 begins the series with a mix of recordings from 2017- 2020, documenting the band at weddings, picnics, rehearsals, and even impromptu house concerts. A must have for any Mdou Moctar fan!" - Mdou Moctar bassist Mikey Coltun

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Kara Jackson

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (September)

31,99 €*

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 2015 | EU | Reissue (Glitterbeat)

Bixiga 70

III

Release: 2015 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Angola Soundtrack Volume 2

2LP | 2013 | EU | Reissue (Analog Africa)

32,99 €*

Release: 2013 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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In 2010, against all odds, Angola Soundtrack Vol.1 was awarded the German Record Critics' Prize in the category "Black music". This victory was all the sweeter for its triumph over the predicted winner, Aloe Blacc's multi platinium record, "Good Things". Many were surprised that the award was handed to a compilation that covered obscure music, but it didn't surprise the team behind Analog Africa who believed such award should have come much earlier. Since discovering the music of Angola 15 years ago, styles such Kazucuta, Rebita and Semba have become an addiction for Samy Ben Redjeb, the compiler, who proclaimed a serious warning in the first edition liner notes:

"Listening to these tracks may cause addiction and provoke heavy rotation!"

Angola Soundtrack Vol.2 - Hypnosis, Distortions & other Sonic Innovations 1969-1978 - The unique blend of incomparable musicianship, passionate delivery and regional rhythms that make these tracks so combustible are no accident. An exceptional set of circumstances existed in the history of Angola before Independence that created the giant leap in the style and standard of bands and recordings of the time.

When Portuguese repressive measures prevented the small Turmas, street musician groups, from being able to perform in Carnaval celebrations in 1961, a Portuguese civil servant, entrepreneur and Angolan music fan named Luis Montês was already in a position to capitalise on Luanda's need for a live music scene. His self-designed "Kutonocas", Sunday afternoon live music festivals, delighted a Luandan population hungry for a communication between the city and musseques (townships). It also forced groups to adapt to a different style of playing that would accommodate large stages and broader audiences. They equipped themselves with electric guitars, and fed on the musical influences from Cape Verde, Congo and the Dominican Republic, while staying patriotically true to their own musical legacy and unique rhythms.

The intimacy of those participating in this musical revolution meant they playfully and professionally wanted to trump each other's style; communication between the groups was frequent as everyone studied each other's records and concerts and players were under a lot of pressure to outdo each other due to the limited recording and performing opportunities. Development of skill and ingenuity was a must, as well as addressing the highly politicised climate. The optimism of Independence can be heard in these recordings; a common goal between the audience and musicians.

Upon reading the characteristically generous liner notes of this new Analog Africa release, you will be given more hints of the crucial melting pot that allowed this short period to have such an outstanding productivity. Featuring 44 pages acquired in coordination with the National Library of Luanda and the art magazine "Note E Dia", Analog Africa head honcho Samy Ben Redjeb has managed to collect newspaper clips, extremely rare pictures of the bands on stage and printed interviews from the 70s.

The stunning pages of passionate photography and artistic design also include interviews with many of the original artists and their families, biographies of the three labels that made it all possible, and of Luis Montês, who was the pulse of the live music scene in Luanda. This compilation is a dedication to the short lived recording industry in Angola, a brief moment of history between 1969 and 1978 in which three recording companies produced approximately 800 records, mostly singles. They are rare jewels, each song with a significant story and feel behind it. You will hear exciting music blazed with the anticipation of emancipation, tracks fuelled with a sense of unity, community, importance and immediacy.

This addictive, outlawed music from Angola shakes and grooves with the smoothness of staccato machine gun fire. Do yourself a favor and submerge yourself into some of the most addictive music created by mankind!

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Mogadisco - Dancing In Mogadishu (Somalia '72-91)

2LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Analog Africa)

34,99 €*

LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Knitting Factory)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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After being blown away by a few tunes – probably just as you will be after listening to this – Samy Ben Redjeb travelled to the infamous capital city of Somalia in November of 2016, making Analog Africa the frst music label to set foot in Mogadishu. On his arrival in Somalia Samy questioned the need for a vehicle full of armed chaperones casually toting Kalashnikovs, deemed necessary to accompany him to the radio station archive every morning, but then began ri?ing through piles of cassettes and listening to reel-to-reel tapes in the dusty archives of Radio Mogadishu, looking for music that ‘swam against the current’. The stars were aligned: an uncovered and unmarked pile of discarded recordings was discovered in a cluttered corner of the building. Colonel Abshir - the senior employee and protector of Radio Mogadishu’s archives - clarifed that the pile consisted mostly of music nobody had manage to identify, or music he described as being ‘mainly instrumental and strange music’. At the words ‘strange music’ Samy was hooked, the return ?ight to Tunisia was cancelled. The pile turned out to be a cornucopia of different sounds: radio jingles, background music and interludes for radio programmes, television shows and theatre plays. There were also a good number of disco tunes, some had been stripped of their lyrics, the interesting parts had been recorded multiple times then cut, taped together and spliced into a long groovy instrumental loop. Over the next three weeks, often in watermelon-, grapefruit-juice and shisha-fuelled night-time sessions behind the fortifed walls of Radio Mogadishu, Samy and the archive staff put together Mogadisco: Dancing Mogadishu - Somalia 1972–1991. Like everywhere in Africa during the 1970s, both men and women sported huge afros, bell-bottom trousers and platform shoes. James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and The Temptations’ funk were the talk of the town.In 1977, Iftin Band were invited to perform at the Festac festival in Lagos where they represented Somalia at the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture. Not only did they come back with an award, but they also returned with Afrobeat. While Fela Kuti’s ‘Shakara’ had taken over the continent and was spreading like wildfre throughout Latin America, it was the track ‘Lady’ that would become the hit in Mogadishu. At the same time Bob Marley was busy kick-starting reggae-mania in Somalia, which became such a phenomenon that even the police and military bands began playing it. Some say that it was adopted so quickly because of the strong similarities with the traditional beat from the western region of Somalia, called Dhaanto. But then suddenly the trousers got tighter as the disco tsunami hit the country. Michael Jackson appeared with a new sound that would revolutionise Somalia’s live music scene. You couldn’t walk the streets of Mogadishu without seeing kids trying to moonwalk. ‘Somalia had several nightclubs and although most use DJs to play records, some hotels like Jubba, Al-Uruba and Al Jazeera showcased live bands such as Iftin and Shareero’ – so ran a quote from a 1981 article about the explosion of Mogadishu’s live music scene. The venues mentioned in that article were the luxury hotels that had been built to cover the growing demands of the tourist industry. The state-of-the-art hotel Al-Uruba, with its oriental ornaments and white plastered walls, was a wonder of modern architecture. All of Mogadishu’s top bands performed there at some point or another, and many of the songs presented in this compilation were created in such venues. Mogadisco was not Analog Africa’s easiest project. Tracking down the musicians – often in exile in the diaspora – to interview them and gather anecdotes of golden-era Mogadishu has been an undertaking that took three years. Tales of Dur-Dur Band’s kidnapping, movie soundtracks recorded in the basements of hotels, musicians getting electrocuted on stage, others jumping from one band to another under dramatic circumstances, and soul singers competing against each other, are all stories included in the massive booklet that accompanies the compilation - adorned with no less then 50 pictures from the `70s and ‚80s. As Colonel Abshir Hashi Ali, chief don at the Radio Mogadishu archive – someone who once wrestled a bomber wielding an unpinned hand-grenade to the ?oor – put it: ‘I have dedicated my life to this place. I’m doing this so it can get to the next generation; so that the culture, the heritage and the songs of Somalia don’t disappear.’

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Fela Kuti & Roy Ayers

Music Of Many Colours

You And Me / I Found A Note

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Music of Many Colours is a joint album between Roy Ayers and Fela Kuti, recorded after a three week tour of Nigeria’s major cities in 1979, during which Roy Ayers performed as the opening act for Fela’s band. The two artists decided to record the album as a round-up to the tour.

Roy Ayers describes the experience saying, “I met Fela Kuti in Nigeria in 1979, and we fell into a great relationship, good personal and music vibes, and we recorded that album together. Fela also came to USA in the eighties and we performed at NYC's Madison Square Garden. Amazingly energetic, Fela Kuti had a very original concept that was called Afro Beat – a genre with a very unique identity and exceptional music. One of Fela Kuti's most impressive qualities was that he was undeniably a brilliant show man, as a musician and as a huge dancer as well. His African concept was truly original… The tour was about two black men together coming together, one from Africa and other from USA, a very exciting collaboration."

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Black Devil's Makali

7" | 2019 | EU | Original (Afro7)

12" | 2018 | EU | Original (Jamwax)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Spacey Kenyan disco stepper with dubby undertones, late seventies origin…

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T.Z. Junior

Sugar My Love

3LP | 2018 | EU | Original (Analog Africa)

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Thandi Zulu known as T.Z. Junior was a young girl from Soweto. She started her musical career with Peter Moticoe who produced "Love Games" with The Young Five on Heads label in 1984. Then, Peter Moticoe brought her to Phil Hollis at Dephon Entertainment who then teamed them up with Attie Van Wyk who was the producer for Yvonne Chaka Chaka at that time.
Phil Hollis started Dephon Promotion (Dephon Entertainment) in the late 70's and developed into the largest independent record company in South Africa. He describes himself as the only person who has been involved in recording of major hit songs in nearly all genres of music in all the languages in South Africa. Phil Hollis was involved in all aspects of the Entertainment industry from production of recordings, recording company, distribution, marketing and promotion, events management, staging major events and filming.
"Sugar My Love" and "Are You Ready for Love" were produced and arranged by Attie Van Wyk. “Back in the 80's I was a songwriter for a band called Ballyhoo when I got an offer from the Dephon Record Company to join them as a music producer. So I quit the band and joined them, producing records mainly for music targeted at the black market in those days,” he says. Between 1982 and 1992, Attie Van Wyk produced over 120 albums, including many for Yvonne Chaka Chaka.

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Dur-Dur Band

Dur Dur of Somalia

36,99 €*

12" | 2018 | EU | Original (Secousse)

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Analog Africa are proud to present the 27th release of their Analog Africa Series. A fantastic, hypnotic and funky compilation from the Dur-Dur Band of Somalia that comes out on a Triple LP.

When Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb arrived in Mogadishu in November of 2016, he was informed by his host that he would have to be accompanied at all times by an armed escort while in the country. The next morning, a neighbour and former security guard put on a military uniform, borrowed an AK-47 from somewhere and escorted him to Via Roma, an historical street in the heart of Hamar-Weyne, the city’s oldest district. Although previous Analog Africa releases have demonstrated a willingness to go more than the extra air-mile to track down the stories behind the music, the trip to Mogadishu was a musical journey of a different kind. It was the culmination of an odyssey that had started many years earlier.

In 2007 John Beadle, a Milwaukee-based musicologist and owner of the much loved Likembe blog, uploaded a cassette he had been handed twenty years earlier by a Somalian student. The post was titled ‘Mystery Somali Funk’ and it was, in Samy’s own words, “some of the deepest funk ever recorded.” The cassette seemed to credit these dense, sonorous tunes to the legendary Iftin Band. But initial contact with Iftin’s lead singer suggested that the ‘mystery funk’ may have actually been the work of their chief rival, Dur-Dur, a young band from the 80s.

Back then, Mogadishu had been a very different place. On the bustling Via Roma, people from all corners of society would gather at the Bar Novecento and Cafe Cappucino, watch movies at the famous Supercinema, and eat at the numerous pasta hang-outs or the traditional restaurants that served Bariis Maraq, a somali Beef Stew mixed with delicious spiced rice. The same street was also home to Iftinphone and Shankarphone, two of the city’s best known music shop. Located opposite each other, they were the centre of Somalia’s burgeoning cassette distribution network. Both shops, run by members of the legendary Iftin Band, would become first-hand witnesses to the meteoric rise of Dur- Dur, a rise that climaxed in April of 1987 with the release of Volume 2, their second album.

The first single ‘Diinleya’ had taken Somalian airwaves by storm in a way rarely seen before or since. The next single, ‘Dab,’ had an even greater impact, and the two hits had turned them into the hottest band in town. In addition to their main gig as house band at the legendary Jubba Hotel, Dur-Dur had also been asked to perform the music for the play “Jascyl Laba Ruux Mid Ha Too Rido” (May one of us fall in love) at Mogadishu’s national theatre. The play was so successful that the management had been forced to extend the run by a month, throwing the theatre’s already packed schedule into complete disarray, and each night, as soon as the play had finished, Dur-Dur had to pack their instruments into a Volkswagen T1 tour bus that would shuttle them across town in time for their hotel performance.

The secrets to Dur-Dur’s rapid success is inextricably linked to the vision of Isse Dahir, founder and keyboard player of the band. Isse´s plan was to locate some of the most forward-thinking musicians of Mogadishu´s buzzing scene and lure them into Dur-Dur. Ujeeri, the band’s mercurial bass player was recruited from Somali Jazz and drummer extraordinaire Handal previously played in Bakaka Band. These two formed the backbone of Dur-Dur and would become one of Somalia’s most extraordinary rhythm sections.

Isse also added his two younger brothers to the line-up: Abukar Dahir Qassin was brought in to play lead guitar, and Ahmed Dahir Qassin was hired as a permanent sound engineer, a first in Somalia and one of the reasons that Dur-Dur became known as the best-sounding band in the country.

On their first two albums, Volume 1 and Volume 2, three different singers traded lead-vocal duties back and forth. Shimaali, formerly of Bakaka Band, handled the Daantho songs, a Somalian rhythm from the northern part of the country that bears a striking resemblance to reggae, Sahra Dawo, a young female singer, had been recruited from Somalia’s national orchestra, the Waaberi Band. Their third singer, the legendary Baastow, whose nickname came from the italian word ‘pasta’ due to the spaghetti-like shape of his body, had also been a vocalist with the Waaberi Band, and had been brought into Dur-Dur due to his deep knowledge of traditional Somali music, particularly Saar, a type of music intended to summon the spirits during religious rituals. These traditional elements of Dur-Dur’s repertoire sometimes put them at odds with the manager of the Jubba Hotel who once told Baastow “I am not going to risk having Italian tourists possessed by Somali spirits. Stick to disco and reggae.”

Yet from the very beginning, Dur-Dur’s doctrine was the fusion of traditional Somali music with whatever rhythms would make people dance: Funk, Reggae, Soul, Disco and New Wave were mixed effortlessly with Banaadiri beats, Daantho and spiritual Saar music. The concoction was explosive and when they stormed the Mogadishu music scene in 1986 with their very first hit single, ‘Yabaal,’ featuring vocals from Sahra Dawo, it was clear that a new meteorite had crash-landed in Somalia. As Abdulahi Ahmed, author of Somali Folk Dances explains: “Yabaal is a traditional song, but the way it was played and recorded was like nothing else we had heard before, it was new to us.” ‘Yabaal’ was one of the songs that resurfaced on the Likembe blog, and it became the symbolic starting point of this project.

It initially seemed that Dur-Dur’s music had only been preserved as a series of murky tape dubs and YouTube videos, but after Samy arrived in Mogadishu he eventually got to the heart of Mogadishu’s tape-copying network – an analogue forerunner of the internet file-sharing that helped to keep the flame of this music alive through the darkest days of Somalia’s civil strife – and ended up finding some of the band’s fabled master tapes, long thought to have disappeared.

This triple LP / double CD reissue of the band’s first two albums – the first installment in a three-part series dedicated to Dur-Dur Band – represents the first fruit of Analog Africa’s long labours to bring this extraordinary music to the wider world. Remastered from the best available audio sources, these songs have never sounded better. Some thirty years after they first made such a splash in the Mogadishu scene, they have been freed from the wobble and tape-hiss of second and third generation cassette dubs, to reveal a glorious mix of polychromatic organs, nightclub-ready rhythms and hauntingly soulful vocals.

In addition to two previously unreleased tracks, the music is accompanied by extensive liner notes, featuring interviews with original band members, documenting a forgotten chapter of Somalia’s cultural history. Before the upheaval in the 1990s that turned Somalia into a war-zone, Mogadishu, the white pearl of the Indian Ocean, had been one of the jewels of eastern Africa, a modern paradise of culture and commerce. In the music of the Dur-Dur band – now widely available outside of Somalia – we can still catch a fleeting glimpse of that golden age.
Listen & Enjoy!

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Jule Henri Malaki

Makiyaj / Tes Idees

Hailu Mergia & Dahlak Band

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Following the success of the Retro-Zouk mixtapes series (4 volumes / 15k plays on Soundcloud), Secousse Radio proudly presents its first official vinyl reissue of a long lost Zouk banger.
Originally released in 1993-1994, those two tracks have been road-tested in various clubs and parties for months and the feedback is clear: it’s dancefloor devastation business.
Their author is Jules Henri Malaki, an established and self-produced artist from Guadeloupe, a French overseas island in the Southern Caribbean Sea.
As the popularity of Zouk music keeps growing every day in Europe, America and Asia, just whisper the name “Makiyaj” to any of the best DJs from the current tropical diggers scene and watch their eyes scintillate… This secret weapon shall not remain secret very long.

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Wede Harer Guzo

2LP | 2016 | US | Original (Awesome Tapes From Africa)

Release: 2016 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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2LP | 2016 | EU | Original (Analog Africa)

Space Echo

34,99 €*

2LP | 2015 | EU | Original (World Circuit)

Release: 2016 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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In the spring of 1968 a cargo ship was preparing to leave the port of Baltimore with an important shipment of musical instruments. Its final destination was Rio De Janeiro, where the EMSE Exhibition (Exposição Mundial Do Son Eletrônico) was going to be held. It was the first expo of its kind to take place in the Southern Hemisphere and many of the leading companies in the field of electronic music were involved. Rhodes, Moog, Farfisa, Hammond and Korg, just to name a few, were all eager to present their newest synthesisers and other gadgets to a growing and promising South American market, spearheaded by Brazil and Colombia.

The ship with the goods set sail on the 20th of March on a calm morning and mysteriously disappeared from the radar on the very same day. One can only imagine the surprise of the villagers of Cachaço, on the Sao Nicolau island of Cabo Verde, when a few months later they woke up and found a ship stranded in their fields, in the middle of nowhere, 8 km from any coastline.

After consulting with the village elders, the locals had decided to open the containers to see what was inside – however gossip as scintillating as this travels fast and colonial police had already arrived and secured the area. Portuguese scientists and physicians were ordered to the scene and after weeks of thorough studies and research, it was concluded that the ship had fallen from the sky. One of the less plausible theories was that it might have fallen from a Russian military air carrier. The locals joked that again the government had wasted their tax money on a useless exercise, as a simple look at the crater generated by the impact could explain the phenomena. “No need for Portuguese rocket scientists to explain this!” they laughed.

What the villagers didn’t know, was that traces of cosmic particles were discovered on the boat. The bow of the ship showed traces of extreme heat, very similar to traces found on meteors, suggesting that the ship had penetrated the hemisphere at high speed. That theory also didn't make sense as such an impact would have reduced the ship to dust. Mystery permeated the event.

Finally, a team of welders arrived to open the containers and the whole village waited impatiently. The atmosphere, which had been filled with joy and excitement, quickly gave way to astonishment. Hundreds of boxes conjured, all containing keyboards and other instruments which they had never seen before: and all useless in an area devoid of electricity. Disappointment was palpable. The goods were temporarily stored in the local church and the women of the village had insisted a solution be found before Sunday mass.

It is said that charismatic anti-colonial leader Amílcar Cabral had ordered for the instruments to be distributed equally in places that had access to electricity, which placed them mainly in schools. This distribution was best thing that could have happened - keyboards found fertile grounds in the hands of curious children, born with an innate sense of rhythm who picked up the ready-to-use instruments. This in turn facilitated the modernisation of local rhythms such as Mornas, Coladeras and the highly danceable music style called Funaná, which had been banned by the Portuguese colonial rulers until 1975 due to its sensuality!

The observation was made that the children who came into contact with the instruments found on the ship inherited prodigious capabilities to understand music and learn instruments. One of them was the musical genius Paulino Vieira, who by the end of the 70s would become the country´s most important music arranger. 8 out of the 15 songs presented in this compilation had been recorded with the backing of the band Voz de Cabo Verde, lead by Paulino Vieira, the mastermind behind the creation and promulgation of what is known today as “The Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde”.

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Orchestra Baobab

Pirates Choice

LP+CD | 2013 | EU | Original (Glitterbeat)

Release: 2015 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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An Afrobeat and Worldmusic classic first time on vinyl.

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Tamikrest

Chatma

World Psychedelic Classics 5: Who Is William Onyeabor

Release: 2013 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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180g vinyl!

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William Onyeabor

3LP | 2013 | US | Original (Luaka Bop)

40,99 €*

Release: 2013 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Damon Albarn & Four Tet dig this gentleman, so you should dig this forgotten master of african synth-craze, too!

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Kenya Special: Selected East African Recordings From The 1970s & '80s

3LP+7" | 2013 | UK | Original (Soundway)

Make It Fast, Make It Slow

Release: 2013 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Soundway Records present Kenya Special: Selected East African Recordings from the 1970s & ‘80s - a treasure-trove of rare and unusual recordings from East Africa. Spread out over two CDs and one triple LP, Kenya Special is accompanied by detailed liner notes, original artwork and photographs.

It follows on from Soundway’s much acclaimed African ‘Special’ series that to date has focused on the highlife and afrobeat output from 1970s Nigeria and Ghana. Kenya Special is a collection of 32 recordings (most of which were only ever released on small-run 45rpm 7" singles) that stand out as being different or unique as well as some classic genre standards. From Kikuyu language ‘liquid soul’, Luo benga and Swahili afrobeat to genre-bending Congolese and Tanzanian tracks recorded in Nairobi, Kenya Special sees Soundway yet again taking the less trodden path. Many of the tracks featured here are peppered with innovation and experimentation highlighting how diverse the music scene in Kenya was at the time.

In 1970s Kenya the two threads of rumba and benga loosely dominated the music scene. Benga quickly became Kenya’s unique contribution to afro-pop; spreading like wildfire through the interior countryside with it’s fast, 4/4 machine-gun beat and intricate electric guitar layers. The Congolese take on Afro-Cuban rumba was introduced by touring bands many of whom settled in East Africa - influencing bands from Kenya and Tanzania to come up with their own take on this popular style. Alongside these styles were small ensembles and hotel-sponsored bands, playing a blend of music that often included rock ‘n’ roll riffs, elements of ‘afro’ music (influenced by West African musicians like Fela Kuti), and multiple other combinations from South African and Zambian guitar styles to disco, funk and Swahili coastal rhythms like chakacha.

Painstakingly compiled, assembled and researched over two years by a team of five people from five countries (Kenya included), Kenya Special is a collection that looks beyond the mainstream and brings new life and recognition to some little known gems and forgotten classics of Kenya’s past.

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Rob

LP | 2012 | UK | Original (Soundway)

19,99 €*

Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate

Release: 2012 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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ROB was an enigmatic recording artist from Ghana who cut two albums for the legendary Essiebons label in 1977. Neither of these were big domestic hits at the time and have since become prized amongst collectors in recent years. The title track from this LP was always one of the most popular on the first Soundway release Ghana Soundz and over the years we have been asked many times to re-issue the LP in it’s entirety. A stranger, slower offering than his more dancefloor funk-laden and Spartan first LP, this record sees ROB in similar territory but with the tempo switched down and the introspection turned up.

ROB’s trademark horns dominate and are supplied by the Mag-2, an army band founded by leader Amponsah Rockson, who named it after the army unit the band played for – the “magnificent” second battalion. In 1977, Rob traveled to the coastal town of Takoradi in search of Mag-2, which had an entire section of its line-up dedicated to horns, with the intension of laying out his proposal to them. Luckily for Rob, the band took him up on it.

With religious overtones and a broody, slightly off-key atmosphere at points it’s certainly one of the stranger afro-funk records to come out of West Africa but with tracks like Loose up Yourself and Make it Fast, Make it Slow he nails it for sure.

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Ali And Toumani

2LP | 2010 | EU | Original (World Circuit)

Release: 2010 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Box Set #6 Curated By Idris Elba 7

Fela Kuti

7LP | 2023 | UK | Original (Knitting Factory)

114,99 €*

Batuco Purple Vinyl Edition

Release: 2023 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Box Set #6 is the latest in a series of comprehensive box set reissues of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti's popular back catalogue. Following previous editions curated by artists such as Chris Martin, Erykah Badu, Ginger Baker, Brian Eno and Questlove, the latest box set in the series has been compiled by actor, producer, DJ, rapper and singer Idris Elba aka Big Driis and features the classics Open & Close (1972), Music of Many Colours (1980), Stalemate (1977), I Go Shout Plenty!!!! (1977), Live in Amsterdam (1983) and Opposite People (1977).

Limited to 5,000 copies, the box set features the artwork of each album faithfully reproduced from the original vinyl pressings, as well as a 24-page booklet with the lyrics, commentary on each album by renowned Afrobeat historian Chris May, previously unpublished photos and an introduction by Elba. All box sets are accompanied by a special 16" x 24" poster designed by Lemi Ghariokwu, the creative force behind many of Fela's groundbreaking album covers.

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Son Rompe Pera

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Aya)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Dubben Meets Made In Brasil

Grilos Cantam Para Anamaria / One Two-Two

7" | 2023 | EU | Original (Matasuna)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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12" | 2023 | UK | Original (Bacalao)

Bosq & Kaleta

Meji Meji / Sonayon

15,19 €* 15,99 € -5%

12" | 2023 | EU | Original (Canopy)

Release: 2023 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Bosq & Kaleta return for the second single off their forthcoming full length album. Uplifiting Afro Disco & Funk are the name of the game on this beautiful release with artwork by Amanda Lobos from Brasil.

It's not possible to pick an A & B side between these two quality cuts, recorded between Bosq's Medellin Studio, NYC & Cotonou, Benin (one of Kelata's hometowns).

Sonayon is a midtempo summertime Afro Disco burner that almost doesn't need a translation from it's Gun (A language native to Benin and some parts of Southern Nigeria) lyrics for you to understand that it speaks of overcoming hardship & brighter days ahead.

Meji Meji, loosely meaning something akin to "two heads are better than one" in Yoruba takes a similarly positive stance, with Kaleta singing about unity over division on a heavy Disco Funk groove with blistering horns and heavy percussion.

Both sides already getting heavy support on dancefloors worldwide.

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Alafia

The Sam Redmore Reworks

17,99 €*

LP | 2019 | Reissue (Real Gone Music)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

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Cnpy007 marks a strong return to Canopy for Sam Redmore, on the second edition in the Alafia series where he impresses with two powerful and inspired re-imaginings of these tropical synth future-classics.

Tough afro-centric broken beats meet dirty fuzz basslines. Chic-esque guitars and icy synths swirl among horn crescendos and steel drums. Sam assembled a troupe of tight players who deliver slick performances which sincerely compliment the original arrangements, while he turns the electronic tropical funk factor to full - Inspired music reinvented for inspired dancefloors!

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Norma Tanega

Walkin' My Cat Named Dog

42,99 €*

Release: 2019 / Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Preorder shipping from 2024-10-25

Tango: The Best Of Astor Piazzolla

Astor Piazzolla

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Acrobat)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Muzikawi)

Jorga Mesfin

The Kind Ones

29,99 €*

LP | 2023 | UK | Original (Soundway)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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This is Mulatu Astatke’s protege and Ethiopian saxophonist and composer Jorga Mesfin’s debut album. It’s a long foray into Ethio-jazz that takes this courageous syncretism further by fusing spiritual experimentation with bits from all kinds of situations in Ethiopian music, jazz music, and specifically Ethiopian jazz music that precedes it.

Jorga Mesfin is widely regarded as one of the most talented contemporary musicians and composers in Ethiopia. He started his professional career at the young age of 17 and has since collaborated with numerous renowned artists, including Tsegaye Gebremedhin, Carolyn Beard Withlow, The Last Poets, Vijay Iyer, Wayna Wondossen, Kirk Whalum, Takana Miyamoto, Gizze Reggae band, Dionne Farris, Aster Aweke, Mahmoud Ahmed, and Mulatu Astatke. Additionally, Mesfin was a resident at Astatke's legendary African Jazz Village in Addis Ababa every Thursday.

Jorga Mesfin is the founder of the Ethio-jazz group called Wudasse. He composed the music for the epic Ethiopian film "Teza" directed by Haile Gerima. His work on the film earned him the Best Music Award at the 22nd Carthage Film Festival and Best Composition at the 5th Dubai International Film Festival.

Muzikawi is an Ethiopian record label, music publisher, studio, artist management, and event organiser with offices in Addis Ababa and Stockholm. We understand and honour the culture of Ethiopia.

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Nkono Teles

Love Vibration

22,49 €* 24,99 € -10%

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (GG)

Release: 2023 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Soundway releases a storming compilation of Cameroonian-born, Nigerian-based super producer Nkono Teles’ solo work. The pioneer of West African electronic music was known for being tapped by over 100 other musicians to produce or arrange their music, from King Sunny Adé, Guy Lobe, even Steve Monite’s album “Only You” and more. Having already appeared on Soundway’s best-selling compilation “Doing It In Lagos”, here more of Nkono’s limited solo work is carefully remastered and reissued on vinyl for the first time. One of a small handful of pioneers of the Nigerian electronic music scene in the 1980s (alongside the likes of Jake Sollo & William Onyeabor), Teles was known for being tapped by over 100 musicians to feature on, produce or arrange their music. The list of ‘80s Nigerian records that his sound and style embellished is seemingly endless: Steve Monite (he arranged and produced the music on the Only You album recently re-issued by Soundway), Dizzy K, Peter Abdul, Odion Iruoje, Steve Black, Rick Asikpo, Feladey, Charly Boy, Majek Fashek & Sonny Okosuns, to name just a few, all engaged his enigmatic production and keyboard services throughout the 1980s. He became known as the first person in Nigeria to push the use of the drum machine into popular music and created a unique and original boogie-funk sound combining these new beats with guitars and an array of new and affordable synthesiser sounds that started appearing in the early 1980s

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Hanna Enlof

Solitude

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Watch Out Now / Try Again HHV Exclusive Red Vinyl Edition

Heroes Of Limbo

7" | 2023 | EU | Original (Mocambo)

13,29 €* 13,99 € -5%

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 2023 | US | Original (Luaka Bop)

Alhaji Waziri Oshomah

Vol. 4

2LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Heavenly Sweetness)

Release: 2023 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The fourth volume of Alhaji Waziri Oshomah"s five-part Volume Series.This release follows World Spirituality Classics 3: The Muslim Highlife of Alhaji Waziri Oshomah (September 23, 2022), which received killer reviews from Uncut (8/10), MOJO, and Pitchfork (7.2), calling it "therapy, worship, ecstasy."Along with the other four volumes of the series, Vol. 4 is now available-for the very first time!-as part of a complete set (in a box): Vol 1 - 5 (1978 - 1985).

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David Walters

Soul Tropical

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Wagram)

African Vibes

At The Bonnie Beecher's Apartment

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Between electronic music and traditional African music, dive into the heart of this subtle mix thanks to the leading artists of the genre!Bonobo - Vaudou Game - Bonga -Guts - Fatoumata Diawara - Philippe Cohen Solal - Manu Dibango -Anschorsong

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Bob Dylan

2LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Culture Factory)

40,99 €*

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 2016 | EU | Reissue (Yep Roc)

Watchhouse

Blindfaller

Release: 2016 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Passarinho Lim.Ed. / Orange

Joao Selva

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Underdog)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 2023 | US | Original (New West)

Sunny War

Anarchist Gospel

Release: 2023 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Mochilla Presents Timeless: Mulatu Astatke

Mulatu Astatke

2LP | 2010 | US | Reissue (Mochilla)

33,99 €*

Release: 2010 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Antibalas Colored Vinyl Edition

Antibalas

LP | 2012 | US | Reissue (Daptone)

World Psychedelic Classics 5: Who Is William Onyeabor

Release: 2012 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The unstoppable, irresistible rhythms and melodies of Antibalas have influenced scores of artists across rock, hip hop, afrobeat and beyond. Born in a Brooklyn warehouse in 1997, 12 piece ensemble Antibalas is credited with introducing Afrobeat to a wider global audience, influencing countless musicians and developing a live show that is the stuff of legend. Members of Antibalas served as musical directors and the house band in the Broadway hit Fela! and penned original music for the show. Members have also recently collaborated/performed with Iron and Wine, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Mark Ronson, TV on the Radio and The Roots. On the heels of the hit musical Fela!, Antibalas ended up reuniting with former member and producer Gabriel Roth, who was at the helm for their first three albums. This self-titled album was their first on Daptone Records.

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William Onyeabor

3LP | 2013 | US | Reissue (Luaka Bop)

38,99 €*

Release: 2013 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Fela Soul Purple Vinyl Edition

Fela Kuti Vs. De La Soul

LP | 2015 | US (Fela Soul)

31,99 €*

2LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Glitterbeat)

Release: 2015 / US

Genre: Hip Hop, Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

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The classic is back! Limited edition for Record Store Day 2015! Gummy Soul's Amerigo Gazaway mashes up Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti with acapellas from De La Soul to killer effect! A fantasic journey into the "world of afrobeat rhythms, funky horn riffs & classic hip-hop gems". Bonus track added, now on colored vinyl in a full color picture sleeve!

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Aziza Brahim

Sahari

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Pingipung)

Odd Okoddo

Auma

17,99 €*

London Afrobeat Collective

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Odd Okoddo is a Kenyan/German duo consisting of Olith Ratego and Sven Kacirek. The two artists met in Kenya, about a decade ago, when Sven Kacirek was recording his "Kenya Sessions", an album that put Kacirek on the map of outernational producers. It was reviewed as a "World Music 2.0" (de:bug magazine), whose "fascination endures" (The Wire). Olith Ratego also made an appearance on the "Kenya Sessions”, on the track "Too Good To Be True".

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Humans

LP | 2019 | EU | Original (London Afrobeat Productions)

A Journey Into Cameroonian Music

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Humans is the new album from sought after international touring band the London Afrobeat Collective. From Europe to Africa, Glastonbury to Nigeria’s annual ‘Felabration’ festival, LAC deliver party music born of their truly global DNA. The nine-strong collective from England, Congo, Italy, France, Argentina and New Zealand combine diverse influences such as Fela, Parliament Funkadelic and Frank Zappa to create an eclectic sound drawing on funk, jazz, rock, and dub to create something addictive and unique.
Their 2015 album Food Chain, received widespread radio support on stations such as BBC 6 Music, Radio X and BBC Radio 2, as well as glowing reviews in The Sunday Times, London Evening Standard, Blues & Soul and Songlines Magazine to name just a few. The new album Humans, (featuring artwork by Ben Hito, renowned for his designs for Parliament / Funkadelic), is a collection of anthemic songs with socially conscious lyrics, set to bold brass lines and hypnotic danceable grooves.
In 2015 the London Afrobeat Collective toured Nigeria, appearing several times on national TV and performing in front of ten thousand people at the New Afrika Shrine during ‘Felebration’. They are no less respected in their home town, having collaborated with the likes of Dele Sosimi and supporting legends such as Ebo Taylor, Fred Wesley And The New JB’s, Tony Allen, and Fela’s son, Femi Kuti.
LAC are now globally recognised for what they really are: not a tribute, but an ever evolving, international band of expert musicians, continuously inspiring each other as they create distinct, sincere and powerful music. Humans is an accomplished work with international flair and cultural relevance from London to Lagos.

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Los Camaroes

LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Nubiphone)

19,99 €*

Savane 2019 Remaster Vinyl Edition

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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For its 3rd releases, Nubiphone is proud to present you a compilation of the best early 7inch releases of the mythical Cameroonian band Los Camaroes.
10 raw tracks taken from various singles from 1968 to 1975, that present the musical diversity played by those seven young people: Bikutsi, Afro-Funk, Jerk, , Soukous, Rumba & Blues music. The band led by the charismatic lead vocal Messi Martin that managed to modernized Cameroonian music.
Deluxe edition that includes an 8-pages booklet, with exclusive pictures, biography in both English and French languages, and a HQ digital download card.

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Ali Farka Toure

2LP | 2019 | EU | Original (World Circuit)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Kings Left Behind Black Vinyl Edition

Ikebe Shakedown

LP | 2019 | US | Original (Colemine)

12" | 2019 | EU | Original (La Casa Tropical)

Release: 2019 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Ten years ago, Ikebe Shakedown began pushing the boundaries of instrumental music. Each new track and live set has sent them deeper into combining the primal elements of ’70s soul, raw psychedelic style, and cinematic Western soundtracks with powerful grooves and soaring melodies. Now, with their new release, Kings Left Behind (Colemine Records), the band is giving listeners more mystery and majesty than ever before. The album features the entire group collaborating to produce tracks that deliver punches right to the gut, even as dreamy guitars and lush horn melodies and string arrangements capture the imagination.

The album was recorded by Ikebe's bassist, Vince Chiarito, at Hive Mind Recording. Opened with Ikebe's saxophonist, Mike Buckley, and another collaborator in 2017, Hive Mind has become a home base for the band, leading to more experimentation with the textures and sounds of a genre they define as Instrumental Soul.

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Skyf Connection

Ten To Ten

18,99 €*

Disco Highlife Reedit Series Volume 1

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Skyf Connection (pronounced skAyf) was a short lived project by long time friends Anthony Mthembu and Enoch Nondala. At the time they were working for Annic Music, an independent label run by married couple Anne and Nic Blignaut. Although the label was known mostly for Zulu, Sotho, Tsonga and other traditional styles, they had a few Disco releases on the label including groups like Keith Hutchinson’s Focus and Enoch’s discovery Lena, who went on to have huge success under the name Ebony a few years later.
In 1984, when an artist didn’t show up for a booked session they decided to make use of the studio time and began working on a demo. At the time Anthony and Enoch had been playing for a year at a new club called Gamsho, located on a farm on the outskirts of Kliptown Soweto. Along with Blackie Sibisi, Sepate Mokoena and Elijah “chippa” Khumalo they made up the resident house band. Due to cultural boycotts and American artists refusing to perform in the country, locals took it upon themselves to fill the market with the American sound the crowds demanded. The demo they recorded at Blue Tree Studios was going to be their product they could use to promote their brand of the American sound. They then took the demo to Universal Studios where their friend and trusted engineer Jan “fast fingers” Smit was working. It would be here that they would polish their demo into something they could take to their bosses and have pressed. Equipped with a DX 7, Linn Drum and some Juno synthesizers they were on their way. Jan lived up to his name and programmed the drums, it is rumoured he could program in almost real time, a skill that translated to the local arcade where he held high scores on many machines. Enoch would be singing and playing guitar while Anthony would do all the Bass and Keyboards. The result was 4 funky party anthems with synth work like no other recording at the time. Their take on what they believed the crowd would want to hear at the beloved club they called home.
From start to finish the 4 tracks portray what would have been a standard night at the Gamshu. Although the club would open earlier and the standard hours of most clubs was 6 to 6 , the band would start playing at 10pm. With their standard set time and Anthony and Enoch unique view on what a Disco should be, they chose the motto Ten to Ten as the album title because those were the hours when they were the stars and Disco ruled the dance floor. To get to the club was a bit difficult, you needed to drive along an empty road where thieves waited for any patrons trying their luck walking after dark. Since there was no transport during the night, the safest way to get home was to wait till the next morning to walk home. Even though in the summer months of Johannesburg light begins to peek in just after 4am, crowds refused to leave and stayed enjoying good music and company until 10am. The lead off track “Let’s Freak Together” has powerful lyrics encouraging people to let go of their worries, put aside any differences and let the music bring everyone to freak and dance together. The whole album is about the joy we can all feel when we share the same moments and how music can bring people together in a unique way, a philosophy shared with the original nightclubs of 70s New York. This approach to music is where the name Skyf Connection comes from, translating from slang to mean the connection we create through sharing, in this case Music and good times.
Skyf Connection would go on to play at Gamsho till the club’s closure in 1986. In those years their popularity lead to being booked for private events like weddings and birthday parties, as well as gigs in some other venues like Mofolo Hall. They would share the stage with many artists through the years learning artist’s songs and providing support as a backing band. After the club closed Anthony would go on to join the house band at The Pelican, another famous club located in Orlando East, as well as dabbling with songwriting for artists like Phumi Maduna and helping Enoch on many projects through the years. Enoch would ditch live music altogether and immerse himself in studio work, starting full time as a house producer and A&R for the recently formed Ream Music. He would go on to produce hit albums for pop artists like Percy Kay and Makwerhu but made his mark discovering countless artists that would become stars in the traditional market. They would remain friends until Anthony’s passing in 2016 and although Anthony is no longer with us his spirit lives in the grooves he left on this one of a kind record. His wife Vinolia will be accepting his portion of the profits on his behalf.

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Ebo Taylor & Pat Thomas

12" | 2019 | EU | Original (Comet)

13,99 €*

K.O.G. & The Zongo Brigade

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Comet presents the first release from its new Disco Highlife series, featuring remastered originals by Ghanaian legends Ebo Taylor & Pat Thomas and disco reedits by LeonxLeon and Leo Nanjo.
Founder of Comet Records, Eric Trosset, started working with those great heroes of West African music, back in 2010. Taking on the role of manager/publisher, Comet teamed up with Strut Records and musician/producer Ben Abarbanel Wolff to revive Ebo Taylor‘s international career with a string of album releases: Love & Death, Appia Kwa Bridge and Life Stories. In 2014, he collaborated with Pat Thomas & The Kwashibu Area Band on a new album, gathering together the old ‘pals’ (Ebo Taylor, Pat Thomas, Tony Allen) in producer Kwame Yeboah’s studio in Accra.
It is with great pleasure that Comet launches this new series. Let's make this beautiful and timeless music the soundtrack to an unforgettable summer!
On side A, comes “Enye Woa” by Pat Thomas, originally released in 1988 on Nakase Records and taken from the album Me Do Wiase. It’s killer disco cut, and as innovative a piece of highlife as it was 30 years ago. Paris-based producer LeonxLeon has been cooking up songs in his Parisian home-studio since 2013. He did a remarkable remix of Cerrone's "Funk Makossa" and more recently released his new Rokanbo EP on Cracki Records. His remix of “Enye Woa” is a classy modern disco cut with funky bass and spacey synths.
On side B is “Atwer Abroba” by Ebo Taylor, a stand out up-tempo track from the album Twer Nyame, originally released in 1978 on Philips West African Records. Tokyo-based multi-instrumentalist/producer/arranger Leo Nanjo formed the first Japanese afrobeat group, Kingdom Afrorocks. Since the band broke up in 2014, Leo has been producing and arranging music with various collaborations, such as DJ Muro, Pushim and Misia. This is a trippy afro-futurist, broken-beat reedit with highlife grooves flying to deep space.

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Wahala Wahala

2LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Pura Vida Sounds)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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12" | 2019 | EU | Original (La Casa Tropical)

Patience Africa

Wozani

2LP+CD | 2018 | EU | Original (Because)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The career of Patience Africa Spanned over 40 years. After almost a decade of success on a major label with her Zulu Disco sound, and a few years in the early 80s experimenting with a more soulful sound, the funky synths of the 80's would force her to stay relevant in the quick changing times. It would be in 1987 that she would sign to the independent Ream Music which with the help of their tight knit in house production team had released hits for upcoming disco artists Makwerhu, Ntombi Ndaba, Sunset, Athena, Percy Kay and more. The label's success in the traditional market made Patience a perfect fit and could have been their first crossover artist.
With the help of owner's Danny Antill and Clive Risko they would cut a 4 track EP that like many others of the time ended up being lost in to the hyper saturated market of the emerging Bubblegum demand. Two tracks would be written by Patience, including the title "Wozani La" Musically these were more aligned with her sound of the 70's accompanied by a purely digital production, but it's the two songs written by label boss Danny Antill that appear on this release. These two songs are unlike anything heard at the time. Embracing full commitment to the digital studio and some extensive and risky experimenting the trio managed to slide heavy house bordering electro pop and a haunting swing beat groove alongside the compositions of Patience to complete this EP for both markets. Although the album had great potential, poor promotion and low sales led Patience to feel cheated and after not earning a cent for the record left the label and took her first break from music since the early 70's. She would later return to her original sound recording up to til 2006 when she released what would be her final album before her death the following year. Still loved by her fans and those who knew her, she is remembered through the Patience Africa Foundation. Founded by her son Mangaliso in 2017 to help create a better South Africa in our lifetime.

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Les Negresses Vertes

10 remixes

LP | 2018 | EU | Original (Mr Bongo)

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Following the reissues of their 4 albums on vinyl earlier this year, French band and pioneers of the fusion of World and Alternative music Les Négresses Vertes continues to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their first album “Mlah” with a new re-issue of their album “10 Remixes”. Repressed by Because Music, “10 Remixes” features remixes of their classics (‘Sous Le Soleil De Bodega’, ‘Voilà L’Eté’, ‘Zobi La Mouche’, etc.) by Massive Attack, Gangstarr, Clive Martin, Kwanzaa Posse, etc.

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Tunde Mabadu

Viva Disco

7" | 2016 | EU | Original (Cree)

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Official Mr Bongo reissue of the ultra-rare Nigerian disco-boogie, ‘Viva Disco’, album from 1980. Originally released on the Afrodisia label, this one is unknown to even the most knowledgable collectors out there.
Tunde Mabadu recorded two albums in the 70’s – ‘Viva Disco’ and ‘Bisu’ as Tunde Mabadu & His Sunrise. Perfect examples of golden-era Nigerian disco & boogie, that still hold their own today.
Licensed from Tunde Mabadu and PMG.

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Doran Versatile Hector

Let It Out / Destruction

12" | 2018 | EU | Original (Soundway)

Release: 2016 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Born in Matura Village, Trinidad in 1949, Doran Dorril Hector aka ''Versatile'' began his career as a guitarist in a quartet singing group called the ''Orchids'' in 1965. He first began writing and performing Calypso in 1967 for the North East Competition in Sangre Grande where he emerged 1st runner up to the Mighty Poser.

He further went on to be judged the best singing teen at the Teen Talent Competition held at Scarlet Ibis Hotel in 1968 performing Otis Redding’s ''Dreams To Remember''. The prize was a recording session at Telco Records and it was at this company that Dorril released his first record ''Dance With Me''.

In the late sixties he also began travelling as a lead singer with Ed Watson and the Brass Circle, visiting the entire English-speaking Caribbean. He also went to New York, Miami, The U.S. Virgin Islands and Guadeloupe.

In 1970 he decided to get into the Calypso genre and changed his artist name to ''Versatile''. Before getting on the front stage he began doing background vocals for several calypsonians in the Calypso tents during Carnival season. He also began to work as a background vocalist at Max Serrao’s Caribbean Sound Studios, K.H. studios and Semp studios.

After saving some money from working in the entertainment business, Dorril decided to do a self-financed recording in 1974 and recorded ''Country Boy Come To Town'' at K.H. studios in Sea Lots, Port of Spain, a calypso-pop crossover song. The song was a minor success in Trinidad.

In 1975 he went into a partnership with K.H. studios to record his next single ''Let It Out''. The song was a mixture of Calypso, Funk and African influences and served as a good example for the newly evolving musical artform called ''Soca''. However, Dorril was still unable to write down his music and arrangements for the studio musicians. Ellis Chow Lin On (then manager at K.H. studios) introduced Dorril to Pelham Goddard who had just formed his band ''Roots''. Pellham Goddard wrote down the arrangements and Roots recorded the backing track. Among the musicians were names like Clive Bradley and Michael ''Toby'' Tobas. Dorril released the record on his own ''Hector'' label.

Back in the studio in August 1977 he recorded the socio-critical song ''Destruction'', a soulful reggae tune. The backing track was recorded by Colin Lucas and his newly-formed band ''Sound Revolution''. After Carnival the following year the song became a big hit in Trinidad and the wider Caribbean and finally Dorril’s signature song.

Dorril kept recording his own material and is performing live to this day. He is also an active member of T.U.C.O. (the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation).
7'' Single (45 RPM) in picture sleeve. 2 tracks. Total playing time 7 mns.

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The Mauskovic Dance Band

Down In The Basement

War Room / Into The Thick

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Soundway Records presents the debut EP from The Mauskovic Dance Band – a heady, tropical blend of cumbia, Afro-Caribbean rhythms and space disco, resulting in a vibrant hypnotic groove destined for bustling dancefloors.
The Mauskovic Dance Band is the brainchild of the Amsterdam-based producer and musician, Nicola Mauskovic. A seasoned drummer, he finds himself constantly in demand – as part of Turkish psychedelic outfit Altin Gün, a recent tour with the revival of Zambian legends W.I.T.C.H., and a worldwide tour with psych-pop artist Jacco Gardner, with whom he then went on to form the dance-oriented duo Bruxas (released on Dekmantel). Throughout this hectic schedule Nic still found time to begin studio experiments that would eventually lead to several 7” singles, released on Swiss label Bongo Joe Records in 2017 under the name “The Mauskovic Dance Band”.
Following this, he tapped long-time collaborators Donnie Mauskovic (vocals, keys, effects), Em Nix Mauskovic (guitar, synth, percussion), and Mano Mauskovic (bass) to make the jump from record to stage. Soon they caught the ear of fabled underground Cumbia producer Juan Hundred, who left his home on a Caribbean island to join the band on drums.
With each band member of varying heritage, the group draws inspiration from diverse genres: primarily Afro-Colombian styles such as champeta, palenque, cumbia and the picó soundsystem culture, as well as the Afro-Disco and No-Wave scenes in their current base of Amsterdam. The city’s hotbed of underground producers has also brought an electronic edge to the band, with vintage drum machines and synthesisers effortlessly melding with Afro-Latin rhythms and slick guitar riffs to create a contemporary sound rich with cultural influence.
Having toured extensively through Europe in 2017 as a staple of festival stages and clubs, The Mauskovic Dance Band continues to build exciting momentum – with appearances at Eurosonic Noorderslag 2018 and an extensive tour of the Netherlands coinciding with the launch of the EP.

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Black Market Brass

7" | 2018 | US | Original (Colemine)

12" | 2016 | UK | Original (Real World)

Release: 2018 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Hailing from Minneapolis, MN, Black Market Brass is a 10-piece group performing their own brand of originally composed Afrobeat/Afrofunk music, as well as completing authentic renditions of the classic 1970's West African sound. Taking their cues from the godfathers, the band draws on complex polyrhythmic percussion, driving bass lines, dizzying guitar interplay, rolling keyboards, and room-commanding brass. The result? An eclectic blend of cool deep funk and driving Afrobeat grooves that will lure you to the dance floor and never let you leave.

"War Room" and "The Thick" represent the group's continuing evolving sound. Tracked with Leroi Conroy at Colemine Records HQ in Loveland, OH, these tunes simply burn!

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Toto La Momposina

The Garabato Sessions

Release: 2016 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Togo Soul 70: Selected Rare Togolese Recordings From 1971 To 1981

2LP | 2016 | EU | Original (Hot Casa)

29,99 €*

LP | 2016 | EU | Original (Hot Casa)

Release: 2016 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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TOGO SOUL 70 project, is the collaboration between Julien Lebrun, label Manager and Liz Gomis, journalist and director. Two friends that are combining their skills to relate the process of pressing a compilation of rare grooves in Africa

From the original quest, searching for vinyls and right holders in adventurous conditions (sometimes) to the contract final signature, we'll travel throughout Togo to witness the post-colonial story of the country by the prism of its soundtrack

More than a digging session, we'll highlight togolese culture through music. Music that you'll be able to listen in May 2016 on the double vinyl compilation TOGO SOUL 70 (Hot Casa Records gatefold)

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Joni Haastrup

Wake Up Your Mind

Mark Ernestus' Ndagga Rhythm Force

Release: 2016 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Growing up in a royal household in Nigeria, Joni Haastrup began his musical journey performing for his brothers band Sneakers and was quickly snapped up as a vocalist for Orlando Julius Ekemode and his Modern Aces' Super Afro Soul LP, one of Afro-beat's formative LPs. Soon after, Ginger Baker of Cream fame replaced Steve Winwood with Joni on keys for Airforce's UK concerts in '71 and the success of the collaboration led to further shows with Baker as part of the SALT project before he returned to Nigeria to set up MonoMono. Back in London in 1978, Joni recorded his solo gem Wake Up Your Mind for the Afrodesia imprint. Coming in a Deluxe gatefold Replika LP with printed sleeves

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Yermande

LP | 2016 | UK | Original (Ndagga)

Release: 2016 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

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Five years into the project, with two acclaimed albums and dozens of triumphant international performances to its name, “Yermande” announces a thrilling new phase for this Dakar-Berlin collaboration: emphatically a giant step forward.
The group of players is boiled down to twelve for recordings, eight for shows; sessions in Dakar become steeply more focussed. ‘This time around I was better able to specify what I wanted right from the initial recording sessions in Dakar,’ says Ernestus; 'and further in the production process I took more freedom in reducing and editing audio tracks, changing MIDI data, replacing synth sounds and introducing electronic drum samples.’
Right away you hear music-making which has come startlingly into its own. Rather than submitting to the routine, discrete gradations of recording, producing and mixing, the music is tangibly permeated with deadly intent from the off. Lethally it plays a coiled, clipped, percussive venom and thumping bass against the soaring, open-throated spirituality of Mbene Seck’s singing. Plainly expert, drilled and rooted, the drumming is unpredictable, exclamatory, zinging with life. Likewise the production: intuitive and fresh but utterly attentive; limber but hefty; vividly sculpted against a backdrop of cavernous silence.
Six chunks of stunning, next-level mbalax, then, funky as anything.

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2LP | 2016 | UK | Original (Mr Bongo)

Original Sound Of Mali

LP | 2016 | UK | Original (Soundway)

Release: 2016 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The Original Sound of Mali’ compiled by David ‘Mr Bongo’ Buttle, Vik Sohonie (Ostinato Records) and  Florent Mazzoleni.

Malian music is a deep, lyrical form of African music. Those of us deeply entranced by Malian culture, and, in particular, the immense hypnotic beauty of Malian music, have put together a selection of songs from across the country.

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Susso

Keira

From Africa With Fury: Rise 2016 Edition

Release: 2016 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

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Susso, aka bassist / producer Huw Bennett, creates music inspired by, and directly sampling, the magnificent sounds of the Mandinka people, recorded during a recent trip to Gambia. Initially travelling with the aim of gaining perspective as a musician and to discover a new world of music first hand, Huw found himself humbled by such a welcoming community of artists, mostly belonging to the celebrated Suso and Kuyateh griot families. The tracks are composed entirely from original source material, field recordings and Huw’s talents as a multi-instrumentalist; performing tuned percussion from the region including the Mandinka Balafon, Kutiringding drum, aswell drawing on his skill as a professional upright / electric bassist. The music produced has a contemporary electronic sound, whilst still paying homage to a traditional Gambian aesthetic. Keira (meaning peace) guides the listener through Huw’s journey up the River Gambia, being welcomed into remote dusty villages, where your people are the most important thing in life.

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Seun Kuti & Egypt 80

2LP+CD | 2011 | EU | Reissue (Because)

Ayalew Mesfin / Mulatu Astatke

Release: 2011 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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With the mighty new From Africa With Fury: Rise, Seun Anikulapo Kuti picks up the mantle as undisputed champion and true prince of the Afrobeat movement.

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Ghedawou / Asmarina

7" | 2016 | UK | Original (Mr Bongo)

11,99 €*

Ballake Sissoko & Vincent Segal

Release: 2016 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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A. Ayaléw Mèsfin ft. Black Lion Band - Ghedawou
Ethiopian dance floor Funk rarity originally released on Kaifa 7” (KF 31) in
1976. Hand claps, guitar lines and call and response lead vocals punctuate the
driving bass line and understated drum groove.
Mesfin played primarily at the Lumumba Club in Addis Ababa’s red light district
and released many 45’s and cassettes during the mid seventies.
He worked very closely with the Black Lion Band (or Tequr Ambessa Orchestra)
AA. Mulatu Astatke ft. Feqadu Amdé-Mesqel - Asmarina
Laid back, drum-heavy, Ethipian jazz taken from the legendary Ethio Jazz’ LP on
Amha (AELP 90). Typifies the sound of the country and the period, truly classic
stuff.
Mulatu will be touring heavily in 2016, which we are very much looking forward
to.

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Musique De Nuit

LP | 2015 | EU | Original (No Format)

Pat Thomas & Kwashibu Area Band

Release: 2015 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The Malian kora player and French cellist raised dust with 2011’s Chamber Music, which pulled two seemingly incompatible instruments into a startling, neoclassical fusion. Musique de Nuit maintains the momentum. While there is a formal air to pieces such as Prélude and the title track, improvisation is at the heart of the duo’s interplay – Sissoko’s rooftop in Bamako, not the studio, was the venue for half the recording. The lines between cascading kora and stately cello are wonderfully blurred at times, as the pair take turns to supply rhythm and melody, ranging across Malian mbalax on Super Étoile, Brazilian flavours on Samba Tomora and deep tradition on Diabaro, to which Babani Kone contributes wailing griot vocals. Entrancing stuff. - The Guardian.

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2LP+CD | 2015 | EU | Original (Strut)

LP | 2015 | US | Original (Awesome Tapes From Africa)

Release: 2015 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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“I’m an afrobeat drummer but Pat Thomas is highlife. That is what he does so well.” -Tony Allen

Coming in June, we are proud to announce the brand new studio album by one of Ghana’s all-time great vocalists, “The Golden Voice Of Africa”, Pat Thomas, in conjunction with the Kwashibu Area Band led by multi-instumentalist Kwame Yeboah (Cat Stevens, Patrice) and saxophonist Ben Abarbanel-Wolff (Ebo Taylor, Poets of Rhythm).

A regular collaborator with Ebo Taylor, Thomas was mainstay of the ‘70s and ‘80s Ghanaian highlife, afrobeat and afro-pop scenes, hitting big with the Ghana Cocoa Board-sponsored Sweet Beans band. Thomas’ new album marks over 50 years making music and reunites him with old friends: Ebo Taylor provides horn arrangements, Tony Allen contributes drums to several tracks, Osei Tutu (Hedzolleh Sounds) plays a memorable trumpet solo and prolific 1970s bassist Ralph Karikari (The Noble Kings) also features. Younger generation stars appearing include bassist Emmanuel Ofori, percussionist “Sunday” Owusu and Pat Thomas’ daughter Nanaaya, an acclaimed vocalist in her own right.

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Ata Kak

Obaa Sima

Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family

Release: 2015 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

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A 1994 tape by Ghanaian musician Ata Kak called Obaa Sima is being reissued by Awesome Tapes From Africa.

The release is the culmination of a 13-year story for Awesome Tapes From Africa founder Brian Shimkovitz, who bought a cassette copy of Obaa Sima from a roadside stall in Cape Coast, Ghana, in 2002. The tape was the subject of the first post on his Awesome Tapes From Africa blog in 2006—the blog spawned a full record label in 2011.

Shimkovitz began searching for Ata Kat and says "Google and endless phone calls provided no leads." It was eventually discovered the musician, real name Yaw Atta-Owusu, had recorded Obaa Sima in Toronto before moving back to Ghana in 2006.

The restoration of the tape proved challenging. Only about 50 copies of the original tape were produced, and Atta-Owusu's master DAT had disintegrated, so the second-hand copy purchased by Shimkovitz was used as the source for the reissue.

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My Ancestors

LP | 2012 | US | Reissue (Mississippi)

29,99 €*

Release: 2012 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 2013 | UK | Reissue (Voodoo Funk)

Nath & Martin Brothers

Money

15,99 €*

Mark Ernestus presents Jeri-Jeri

Release: 2013 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The Martin Brothers are pioneers of the Nigerian Funk and Afrobeat scene. Besides many releases under their own name, as the Tabansi Studio Band they lit up innumerable recoding sessions — it's them on Pax Nicholas' Na Teef album, for example; and the same team is behind the legendary Saxon Lee & The Shadows International LP.

Money is the Martins at their deepest and heaviest — tearing, wailing, mid-seventies funk, heady with spirituality. Superbad from start to finish with no let-up.

Original copies are amongst the most sought-after of all African and funk records on the international collectors' scene. It seems there is just a tiny handful of copies at large.

The tracks were originally laid down at Ginger Baker's ARC recording studio in Lagos and later mixed down at London's Tin Pan Alley Studios. The audio restoration and remastering for this re-issue was done at Abbey Road.

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Casamance

12" | 2013 | UK | Original (Ndagga)

Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate

Release: 2013 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Berlin versus Kaolack, round three. A traditional Jola rhythm, fast and energetic, with tuned, talking and kit drums swarming across a skeletal downhome guitar — somewhere between blues and disco — and the Mboup brothers' impassioned plea for an end to division and bloodshed in their Casamance homeland.
Then a more deeply dug-in, spaced-out funk, edgily spun from a Serer rhythm, underpinning Mbene's reflective song about parental selflessness. 'Sama Yaye', 'My Mother'. Both with full instrumental versions.

Sound-wise peas in a pod with the intricate, soaring barrage of Ornette's Prime Time in full flight, when it had two of everything in the lineup, and Jamaaladeen Tacuma was on bass, Denardo on electronic drums.

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In The Heart Of The Moon

2LP | 2012 | EU | Original (World Circuit)

Mark Ernestus presents Jeri-Jeri with Mbene Diatta Seck

Release: 2012 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Originally released in 2005, now on vinyl!

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Xale

12" | 2012 | UK | Original (Ndagga)

11,99 €*

Mark Ernestus presents Jeri-Jeri with Mbueguel Dafa Nekh

Release: 2012 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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A sophomore three-tracker: singer Mbene Diatta Seck in sombre consideration of street-kids and parental neglect, buoyed by propulsive drumming and trenchant bass; a second version without vocals, laying bare the poly-rhythmic interplay between marimba and percussion; and a mesmeric six-minute instrumental, with bassist Thierno Sarr grooving out on the top string of his instrument, bringing an elusive Manding flavor to the deep Mbalax mix.

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Mbeuguel Dafa Nekh / Dafa Nekh

12" | 2012 | UK | Original (Ndagga)

Release: 2012 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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La Grande Cantatrice Malienne Volume 3

Nahawa Doumbia

LP | 2011 | US | Reissue (Awesome Tapes From Africa)

Release: 2011 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 2018 | US | Reissue (Now-Again)

Mike Nyoni & Born Free

My Own Thing