Review: Orchestra Super Mazembe – Mazembe @45RPM Vol. 1

My knowledge and appreciation of African music has been tremendously enriched over the past few years by comrades in the blogosphere who tirelessly search for elusive treasures that appeared only on 45 rpm singles. Singles were much more affordable for consumers than albums, in Africa as elsewhere, and they also were a way for a band to quickly record and release hot new songs to waiting fans. Some really great music only appeared on 45s, and much of that has disappeared.

As rich and valuable a reservoir for lost, important music as the dispersed internet library is, it is a great pleasure when a passionate music expert collects a bunch of pristine sound and publishes it. Doug Paterson has had a fruitful relationship with Stern's for years, having produced many wonderful albums including one I reviewed on this site nearly three years ago, as well as last year's Vijana Jazz release here. This new Orchestra Super Mazembe release is, in a word, spectacular. Check this first track:



One of the premiere Congolese bands operating in Kenya during the '70s and '80s, Super Mazembe was immensely popular. A dozen years ago Earthworks issued a compilation called Giants of East Africa, which remarkably is still in print and available. Continued access to that recording reflects continuing demand; it's easily explained: There is something quite magical about how Congolese rumba evolved in Kenya, and also in Tanzania, to include new nuances. Guitars influenced by benga and other Kenyan styles, different rhythms: there is a certain lightness to this rumba that makes it extremely infectious.

The nine songs (over 77.5 minutes) collected on this album come from 45s recorded in the late '70s and the early '80s; as the liner notes describe, each song has a four-part structure allowing for revving up the dance rhythms, and for various solos. These tracks, which originally spanned the A and B sides of a 45, are happily spliced together, allowing the majesty of each composition to flow freely. I have no trouble recommending this release wholeheartedly; in fact, I have been playing it frequently since it graced my mailbox.

You can find inferior digital copies available at the usual music download stores, iTunes and Amazon, but actual CDs, with all the important liner notes, are available in Europe or from Europe. Not, to date, in the U$A. I also noticed that there is a Volume 2 on the way. I can't wait!!

Review: Vijana Jazz Band - The Koka Koka Sex Battalion

Whenever there is a rumor of a new East African collection being put together by Doug Paterson for Sterns, I wait in anticipation. I have never been disappointed and usually am completely blown away by the music he uncovers. A while ago I reviewed a killer release of music from Issa Juma and Super Wanyika on another site. Now in my greedy hands I have another choice selection of Tanzanian pop music, this time from the Vijana Jazz Band, one of the country's best bands that is barely known around the world. 

Koka Koka Sex Battalion is the album's title, but it's also an alternate band name the band and its Kenyan producer used to finesse more money from the record label, AIT Records, which did not want to have too many songs from one band circulating. 

Vijana Jazz Band began as a government-sponsored youth band in 1971, becoming very popular throughout Tanzania and Kenya from the mid-1970s through the '80s. Almost all of the fourteen songs on this collection were written by vocalist and band leader, Hemedi Maneti. There is a generous, nearly 80 minute collection of Vijana Jazz songs on this release, mostly from recordings made in 1975-6. 

Most songs, like the wonderful opening "Magdalena," are in the band's koka koka style that points directly to the Swahili rumba style that would dominate Tanzanian pop for decades. A couple of songs are much more folkloric, including "Heka Heka," which begins with horns and sounds like the coastal tarab music, before the guitars and percussion kick into a koka koka dance groove. The sweet instrumental "Koka Koka No. 1" begins with the percussion that defines the style, with conga and what sounds like pounding on a hollow log. One song I like particularly for the looping guitar phrases is "Lela." The sound is great throughout, taken from master tapes and obviously treated with great restorative care. 

Here for your enjoyment is "Koka Koka No. 1", provided by Sterns. You can download it by clicking on the downward-pointing arrow on the right.

VIJANA JAZZ BAND 'THE KOKA KOKA SEX BATTALION' - Koka Koka #1 by Sterns Music

The CD comes with a 24-page booklet that has abundant notes about the band and its music, written by Paterson, along with translations of the Swahili songs into English. These are the things, along with the superior sound quality, that make me dread the impending death of physical music distribution. You can get this wonderful release here now, and it will be available in the US soon (I'll post a link). Inferior digital downloads are available at the usual places, though I notice you get the digital booklet through iTunes. By the way, I found another, excellent, wobbly-in-places and presumably 1980s Vijana Jazz tape here, along with a few other Tanzanian tapes.

Review: Samba Mapangala - Maisha Ni Matamu

Longtime favorite singer Samba Mapangala recently unleashed a killer new album with a fortified Orchestra Virunga. Maisha Ni Matamu (Life is Sweet) covers broad sonic territory, including reggae and other Caribbean influences, but the bedrock Congolese rumbas are, and have been for decades, the band's foundation. Mapangala's Congo roots are enhanced on this release with crucial contributions from guitarists Popolipo, Syran Mbenza, and Huit Kilos, and Komba Bello Mafwala on drums.

The opening title track is straightforward soukous that will fill any dance floor, while the acoustic "Tupendane" is at the other end of the spectrum, a gently swinging, acoustic appeal for harmony among people everywhere. "Tupendane" features John Bashengazi, a musician from the Eastern Congo who plays all of the instruments and sings along with Samba. Other songs range from celebrations to exhortations to care for the environment and each other. "Tupende Miti (Let's Plant Trees)" offers its wisdom in multiple languages, giving a tribute to Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan Nobel Prize winner responsible for widespread reforestation in her country and beyond.

Mapangala has been based in the U.S. for years, but he built his career in Kenya after leaving the Congo. Doug Paterson has a good biography and appreciation here. His many recordings always feature wonderful guitar and his emblematic singing. While this record captures the veteran in good form and the production sounds first-rate, there are no nine-minute rumba classics comparable to those that kept Mapangala at the peak of popularity in East Africa for decades. He is more worldly now, and so is his music, and that is a mixed blessing for this listener.

I was going to post an audio snippet of "Maisha Ni Matamu," but found this fun video that has the whole song, with the gentleman trying to keep up with the young women, on the cold streets of NY. I thought: Enjoy!

P.S. I've decided to start including reviews of new releases on this site, reviving in this format my earlier activity with The Beat magazine. I'll sprinkle them among the sharing posts, looking a bit different; I hope you find them useful. Maisha Ni Matamu (Life is Sweet) can be purchased for download at CDBaby, Amazon and iTunes, if a low bit rate is okay for your ears. Full-bandwidth CDs can be found here or here.

De Paur Chorus - Songs of New Nations (1972)

After many African colonies gained independence in the early 1960s, the new countries received attention from the U.S., which saw opportunities for increased influence and commerce on the vast continent. Aid projects hatched in New York and Washington D.C. offices were sent to the "dark" continent, along with Peace Corps volunteers and CIA agents. American culture also flowed freely, a tsunami that continues to overwhelm decades later. Much of this culture was pushed through commerce, especially music, but some was official state business. The U.S. Information Agency employed cultural ambassadors and sent them abroad.

Leonard de Paur was an ideal ambassador. He grew up studying music, and in World War II formed The De Paur Infantry Chorus, which became a top recording chorus for Columbia Records. The publicity photo to the right derives from that era of his career, and here is an interesting article from 1948 that puts the chorus into context. A brief biography of de Paur can be read at this site. In the early 1960s, the now-civilian De Paur Chorus toured through Africa performing and, with proof now in your hands, learning about African music.

This rare record, from the defunct Roulette Records label, was recorded "live in Africa," sometime in the mid-1960s. The Chorus interprets traditional songs from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Congo, "with Native drums and percussion." These performances are quite powerful; the chorus obviously integrated with the different percussive styles, and the singing throughout is splendid. Detailed song information is on the back sleeve, available in the folder, although no African musician is credited. Shame.

Enjoy!