mastodon 4.7.3This is the official account for the AMF blog.
AMF (African Music Forum) is a #Music blog about musics from #Africa 🌍, since the 50s, all styles.
Already 2100+ 🎵 posts (EN, a few FR) and more to come...
#Africa #Jazz #AfroJazz #Afrobeat #AfricanMusic #AfroFunk #AfroHouse #RSSClub #NoBots #NoTagsPub #MastoFeed #fedi22
Ignace de Souza & The Melody Aces – Asaw Fofor
https://amf.didiermary.fr/ignace-de-souza-the-melody-aces-asaw-fofor/
Born in 1937 in Cotonou, Ignace de Souza got involved in music at a young age, playing during the 1950’s in the country’s first professional dance band, Alfa Jazz. Zeal Onyia, a Nigerian trumpeter, encouraged him to drop the saxophone and play the trumpet instead.
In 1955 he moved to Accra and joined Spike Anyankor’s Rhythm […]
Antoine Dougbé & Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou
https://amf.didiermary.fr/antoine-dougbe-poly-rythmo/
Who was Antoine Dougbé? Even the most dedicated crate-digger might go their whole life without stumbling across any of the three LPs he released in the late 1970s and early ’80s. Yet all the musicians who happened to cross paths with him remember him with a mixture of admiration and fear; for Antoine Dougbé was […]
Legends of Bénin
https://amf.didiermary.fr/legends-benin/
Legends of Benin “Afro Funk, Cavacha, Agbadja, Afro-Beat” is a collection of super rare and highly danceable masterpieces recorded between 1969-1981 by four legendary composers from Benin:
– Gnonnas Pedro et ses Dadjes
– Antoine Dougbé
– El Rego et ses Commandos
– Honoré Avolonto
Each one of [them] with their own distinctive sound...
#80smusic #AfroFunk #Agbadja #Bénin #Compilation #GnonnasPedro #OldAfricanMusic
Les Ballets Africains
https://amf.didiermary.fr/les-ballets-africains/
Old footage of Les Ballets Africains, the national dance company of Guinea.
Founded in Paris in 1952 by Keita Fodeba, it’s composed of dancers and acrobats (athletes!) with a full accompanying traditional band (balafon, percussions, Kora…) and plenty of djembefolas.
They’re still active, although less & less outside Guinea…
The video shows them performing for the […]
It’s not from Africa, it’s about it…
https://amf.didiermary.fr/black-gold-esperanza-spalding/
Black Gold by Esperanza Spalding (special guest: Algebra Blessett), from her album “Radio Music Society,” released for the first day of Black History Month in 2012.
To the press, she wrote “This song is singing to our African American heritage before slavery. Over the decades, so much of the strength in the African American community […]
Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou
https://amf.didiermary.fr/poly-rythmo-minsato-le-mi-dayihome-marionnettes-typiques/
A nice old video with characteristic puppets from the West African region, with Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou in the classic “Minsato Le, Mi Dayihome.”
By the late 60s the earlier synthesis of western popular music and African idioms, purveyed by such luminaries as E.T. Mensah, Bobby Benson, the Star Band and Alfa Jazz was wearing […]
Nimbaya – The Women’s Drum & Dance Company of Guinea
https://amf.didiermary.fr/nimbaya-women-drum-dance-guinea/
A daring response to the taboo of women playing djembe in West Africa, NIMBAYA! is the first all women’s percussion and dance troupe from Guinea, sharing a new interpretation of traditional African drumming and dance.
“Choosing Nimbaya! was intended to be a tribute to women’s beauty, strength, fertility and integrity.”
In the late 1950s and […]
Lucky Dube – I’ve Got You Babe (live)
https://amf.didiermary.fr/lucky-dube-got-you-babe/
“I’ve Got You Babe” by Lucky Dube from his album “Slave” released in 1990.
The song takes a detour from his socially conscious music style to show off a more romantic side. He serenades his lover with sweet words of love and the happiness she’s brought into his life with lines such as “All the […]
Urbano de Castro – Fatimita
https://amf.didiermary.fr/urbano-de-castro-fatimita/
António Urbano de Castro (1941-1977) was an Angolan singer-songwriter, who perished in Sambizanga in the aftermath of the unfortunate protests of May 27th, 1977.
Afro Super-Feelings led by Segun Okeji
https://amf.didiermary.fr/afro-super-feelings-segun-okeji/
Afrobeat Disco/Funk from the vault… A 2-track LP Afro Super-Feelings Led By Segun Okeji released in 1970.
This is an album comprised of two super-rare Afrobeat disco/funk tracks from Lagos by the band Afro Super-Feelings, led by musician Segun Okeji. Segun Okeji was the tenor sax player in Fela Kuti‘s Koola Lobitos band in Nigeria […]
Toto Guillaume – Françoise (1977)
https://amf.didiermary.fr/toto-guillaume-francoise-1977/
Born in August 1955, Toto Guillaume (Guillaume Toto Bessawa Nkaké) is a Cameroonian guitarist, songwriter, arranger, and producer, also known as the “captain of the national Makossa team,” a group of young Cameroonian and Caribbean musicians who played on the majority of Cameroonian songs recorded in France from the late 1970s to the late 1980s. […]
Medjo Me Nsom Jacob et son Ensemble
https://amf.didiermary.fr/medjo-nsom-jacob-ensemble-assiko/
Medjo Me Nsom Jacob (aka Oncle Medjo), born in January 1914 in Afane (center south Cameroon), was probably one of the last traditional Mvet player, but on a guitar, that he learned in 1942. His music style is called Assiko.
He was a prolific, inspired and altruistic artist who died in poverty in 1984 although […]
Mah Damba – Jarabi
https://amf.didiermary.fr/mah-damba-jarabi-diva-mali/
“Jarabi”, sung by Mah Damba with Korafola Djeli Moussa Diawara, appears on the compilation “Divas from Mali,” released in 1997.
Just close your eyes…
Listen to the Diva and the Griot…
Ayam El Disco
https://amf.didiermary.fr/ayam-el-disco/
Ayam El Disco – Egyptian Disco, Boogie & Jeel Cassettes 1978-92
A selection of Egyptian 1980s disco and boogie cassette tracks curated by Egyptian DJ Disco Arabesquo. A journey through the funky sounds of 1980s Egypt, Ayam El Disco (“Disco Days”) features Ammar El Sherei, Al Massrieen, and other underground artists from […]
Chronical Deep, Sun-El Musician – Bring Me More Bass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2adntP8Q4s
N’Guessan Santa – Manny Nia
https://amf.didiermary.fr/santa-nguessan-manny-nia/
N’Guessan Santa (N’Guessan Kouakou Hugues, born in December 1951 in Bouaké and nicknamed the “studio shark”), below in “Manny Nia” from a 7″ vinyl, was a songwriter, arranger, guitarist, bassist, drummer and Afrofunk/Afropop singer. In the 70s, he was part of bands such as Les Fétiches, Les Super Fétiches, and New System Pop. […]
Ivory Coast Soul
https://amf.didiermary.fr/ivory-coast-soul/
“Ivory Coast Soul – Afro Funk From Abidjan from 1972 to 1982” is a compilation released in 2010 on 2 vinyl LPs.
Volume 2 was released in 2012 and covers music produced […]
#70smusic #80smusic #AfroFunk #Compilation #CôteDIvoire #Remixed #OldAfricanMusic
Stixx, Hugh Masekela – Market Place 2.0 Feat. The Bless
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAz9MzukP7s
A revisited version of Hugh Masekela's "In the Market Place," released on the trumpeter's 1974 album "I Am Not Afraid."
Maitre Gazonga – Jaloux Saboteurs
https://amf.didiermary.fr/maitre-gazonga-jaloux-saboteurs/
Jaloux Saboteurs par Maitre Gazonga est un classique…
J’ai (re)découvert que ce titre faisait partie de la bande originale du film “Black Mic-Mac” de Thomas Gillou avec Jacques Villeret et Isaac de Bankole (1986). Je me souviens que cette BOF m’avait marqué et que je l’ai cherchée longtemps… On y retrouve Papa Wemba, Youssou N’dour, […]
Les Go de Kotéba – Bara
https://amf.didiermary.fr/go-de-koteba-bara/
Les Go de Kotéba est un groupe de 3, puis 2 chanteuses et danseuses créé en 1993 à Abidjan. L’album contenant ce titre est sorti en 1997.
Le nom du groupe vient de Go — déformation de “girl” en nouchi — et de l’ensemble Kotéba d’Abidjan, une troupe de théâtre traditionnel mandingue fondée en 1974 par Souleymane […]
Madilu System – Mamou
https://amf.didiermary.fr/madilu-system-mamou-live/
Jean de Dieu Makiese (28 May 1950 – 11 August 2007), popularly known as Madilu System, was a Congolese rumba singer and songwriter.
However, it was not until Madilu teamed up with Franco, joining his TPOK Jazz in April 1980, that he became a Congolese and International star. He was described as the band’s “brightest […]
10LEC6 – Nsotching
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIulerl0doc
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/10lec6
