Eba Aka Jerome & Sanwi Star - Trahison vol. 1 (Soukous form Ivory Coast, 1978)

(PAPA-DISCO 001).

A great soukous track from Ivory Coast, with interesting lyrics dealing with cheating in a couple (trahison = betrayal). Long track but with incredible guitar break (from 9th minute), those particularly apreciated by colombian picoteros (I found in a colombian uncredited bootleg these 3 minutes "repique" guitar part, which is actually the only part of the track they play on sound systems).

Orchestre Tropicana de Haiti - Doux Tropic (1978)

(Marc Records LP-301).

Rivalry among bands have always been part of Haitian musical history (check the competition between Nemours Jean Baptiste and Webbert Sicot about Compas Direct and Cadence Rampa forks). Orchestre Tropicana, named from the famous club from La Havana, was created in 1963 aiming to compete with the established Orchestre Septentrional, both bands from Cap Haitien. Septentrional being well introduced in the high society, Tropicana gained success initially in the lower class, but their professionalism quickly introduced their Compas allover the country.

Cora Funk (Fred Wesley and Lamine Conte, 1978)

(Eboni ER-00005).

The introduction of cora and djembe in an american disco-funk production is not always easy to achieve coherently, but here the blend of influences works pretty well, with strong african influence, thanks to top class musicians involved:

Bonga / Tiao / Jo Maka - Racines (Angola+Brazil+Guinea, 1978)

(Playa Sound SF202).

A kind of "Black Atlantic" musical mixture is here well represented with this album from Bonga (Angola), Tiao Tocha Perazzo (Brazil) and Jo Maka (Guinea). Slaves from Benin, Angola and Congo were transplanted in brasilian Nordeste. From these african roots, afro-brazilian generations developed both sacred music (candomble) and popular music (samba). This beautiful album is a nice way to meet up again musically. 

Bob Pinodo and Reggae mix