The Rough Guide to West African Gold

World Music Network are in a winner-winner situation here. It’s hard to imagine anyone resisting these beats from West Africa’s halcyon days after independence. This has to be one of the best compilations in the label’s uneven series of (geographically) thematic CDs. It reflects the carefree and joyful atmosphere that dominated the region half a century ago. The governments here invested heavily in their countries’ music and the State-run Syliphone label in Guinea encapsulated those relatively spendthrift days. Nos so surprisingly, given this anniversary period, this label has resurrected a plethora of other gems in a just-released double album...

It is certainly harsh to say, however, that little in today’s West African music scene can compare to this golden era. This assertion in the sleevenotes by compiler Martin Sinnock is aimed particularly at the “homogenised copycat American-style rap” on the continent. Such a sweeping generalisation dismisses out-of-hand the highly-original and genuinely popular hip-hop by the likes of Daara-J, Positive Black Soul and Didier Awadi, Tatapound, K-Naan, and so many more. They have resolutely built on the US-born genre by adding their own idioms, rhythms, poetry and instruments. Is it a wonder that Dakar has become the world’s third rap city, with almost 1,000 bands?

Be that as it may one can only salute the quality of most of this album’s 13 tracks. They emerged in the two decades following the countries’ independence, and reflected the wonderful “brassage” (melting-pot) that swept throught West Africa at the time. Jazz, Latin beats, funk, blues and Caribbean rhythms had found their way into the homegrown styles around this period. This fermentation gave rise to genres like mbalax, Afro-beat and highlife, styles that still mark our times. Sinnock has unearthed gems like “Let Them Talk” (Geraldo Pino & The Heartbeats, of Sierra Leone), “Abenaa Na Aden?” (Eric Agyeman from Ghana), “Were Were” (Guinea’s Horoya Band), and the languorous “Mali Cébalenw” (Orchestre Rail Band de Bamako, featuring a certain Salif Keita).

For those who pine for the crackly warm dance tunes of yesteryear they won’t want for choice with further songs like “Manicero” by Dexter Johnson & The International Band, or “Geej” by N°1 de Dakar and their much-lamented singer Doudou Sow. More nostalgia sweeps over the listener on hearing Orchestre Baobab’s version of “Boulmamine”, or the humorous take of “Whiskey Soda” by Bembeya Jazz. I was only disappointed by “The Lord’s Prayer” by E.T. Crentsil and his band Super Sweet Talks, and the rather hollow “Ghana-Guinée-Mali” by the otherwise phenomenal Ghanian composer E.T. Mensah. The former was part of a wave of Christian music that did much to drown home-grown music for the 20 years that followed this golden era (and not just in West Africa –the whole continent was submerged in this proselytising muzzak and has only recently fought to re-assert its own styles).

Sinnock’s choice also gives depth to the emergence of popular modern genres like mbalax and Afro-beat. The songs by Geraldo Pino, for the former, and Dexter Johnson, for the latter, help us contextualise the successes of African giants like Fela Kuti and Youssou N’Dour. The accompanying booklet provides nuggets of interesting information such as the fact Salif Keita was a virtual outcast from his noble family and slept rough or busked before entering the Orchestre Rail Band, a first step towards global notoriety; or how the Horoya Band deserves to step out of the giant shadow of its fellow Guinean group Bembeya Jazz. The result is an album to class alongside those in the Golden Afrique series. This is part of a welcome trend to resurrect the classics that accompanied or even preceded the rush of optimism afforded by independence.

May 2007


Daniel Brown

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