Rediscover African Pop!

All this cassette digitizing brought me to an aircheck tape I made of my college radio program "Carrefour d'Afrique." It's spinning from analog to digital down on my workbench right now. Meanwile, I've started to hunt for some of my favorite tracks and I FOUND THEM! As recently as a year ago, I could not find this fantastic live album by Tabu Ley Rochereau; I also had a hard time with Papa Wemba's "Bakwetu."

Makin' a mix right now!

Here's a start--the intro is from an actual show I did in 1993! The rest of the tracks are ones I actually played (I introduce the Mahathini track). I digitized the whole aircheck tape, but it's pretty hissy. Listening to the intro, you can tell why I didn't go into radio. My voice still cracks like that from time to time. I think I might be an "uptalker."

1. Carrefour d'Afrique Intro / Steve Robinson on WDBM 89FM
2. Ngizothi Mamakubani / Mahlathini [S. Africa]
3. Bakwetu* / Papa Wemba [Zaire]
4. Indaba / Soul Brothers [S. Africa]
5. Sorrow, Tears & Blood / Fela Kuti [Nigeria]
   
6. Lunch Time / Gabriel Omolo [Kenya]
7. Didi / Cheb Khaled [Algeria]
8. Sweet Mother / Prince Nico Mbarga [Nigeria]
   
9. Sai / Kanda Bongo Man [Zaire]
10. Taaw / Youssou N'Dour [Senegal]
    
11. Kinshasa** / Tabu Ley Rochereau [Zaire]
    

* I absolutely love this song. Papa Wemba was one of my favorite African artists in the early 90s. I saw many of these acts here in Michigan, including Kanda Bongo Man, King Sunny Ade, Loketo, and many others. Most of these shows involved getting called on stage to dance with the band. There's also the great African tradition of "dashing" or laying cash on the performer's body (and no, it's nothing like tipping a stripper).

** I think one of the happiest moments of my life was playing this song on my show one day, cranking the thing just about as loud as it would go. The radio station was on the 3rd floor of the old Auditorium building. There were speakers in the studio and in all the offices. I did my show from 10am - 1pm on Sunday mornings, and I always had the whole station to myself. This was the summer before I got my first teaching job. I danced my bucket off. Listen to the snare drum on this track, particularly at middle section. Soukous is possibly the most joyous musical genre ever. Dancing to a live soukous band is like nothing else in the world.

Going to add tracks by

Fela Kuti [Nigeria]
Youssou N'Dour [Senegal]
Prince Nico Mbarga [Nigeria]