David Dalle
Thursday September 9th, 2021 with David Dalle
Analog Africa's latest releases: a fantastic compilation of rare and raw funk from Cameroon (1964-1979) and 1970's psychedelic Cumbia from Peruvian Manzanita y Su Conjunto. Sun Ra "In Some Far Place" part III.

Today we look at Analog Africa's new releases. The first is a compilation of very rare music from Cameroon recorded from 1964-1979 titled "Cameroon Garage Funk". Cameroon's capital Yaounde was an extremely dynamic musical place during that time, with many clubs and live music venues and an enormous range of local bands playing many African styles and homegrown styles fusing traditional music with American influences, particularly Otis Redding and James Brown, but also other African music and Cuban music. This album is extremely funky, but "funk" does not cover all the strains of music found here. African music in the 60's and 70's (and into the 80's) is often thought of as a golden age, and I don't think that's wrong. In Cameroon: " Most of the bands knew how to play in all the popular African and European styles, but after Cameroon's independence they started to introduce the traditional sounds of Makossa and Bikutsi into their repertoire. There was an optimism in the air, a newfound sense of national pride that led many bands to start modernising the traditional beats and melodies that belonged to their own culture and deliver modern renditions with a ferocity not heard before or since". (Volkan Kaya) However, Cameroon lacked recording studios. In Yaounde there were only two possibilities. The Cameroon National Radio had facilities, but was expensive, and there was an Adventist church which had professional recording equipment for missionary purposes. The church engineer had a side business secretly recording bands when the priests were absent. Bands would come in and record a couple of songs in single takes and ended up with a master tape. There was no music infrastructure for pressing or distributing albums. Most musicians had only one option, the French label Sonafric. Most bands would mail their master tapes to Sonafric in Paris, with the hope they would press some 45's. A few were able to bring their master tapes to Paris in person. Sonafric was extremely open to taking on unknown musicians. They would often press a small batch of 45's and distribute them to National radio stations throughout Africa. Sometimes these National radio stations would have extra copies to distribute to regional radio stations. In most cases, the musicians would not know their master tapes had gone anywhere until they heard their songs on the radio! The few musicians who had been able to visit Sonafric in person were more fortunate in actually getting paid and receiving copies of the 45's to bring back with them to Cameroon. The new Analog Africa compilation is entirely comprised of songs from these extremely rare Sonafric 45's, which Analog Africa's Samy Ben Redjeb found in Cameroon, Benin, and Togo. This is a superb release, with 16 superb tracks, and we will hear a large slice of it today. The other new Analog Africa release is from Manzanita y Su Conjunto. Berardo Hernández, known as Manzanita, was a guitarist who led the wave of psychedelic Cumbia in Peru in the early 70's. Psychedelic rock from Cream and Jimi Hendrix were popular in Lima in the late 60's, but they were banned from the airwaves after 1968 in favour of local music. Many bands were formed which fused the psychedelia of British and American rock with Cuban rhythms and Peruvian traditions. As with the Cameroonian funk with its American influences, I find this Peruvian hybrid far more captivating than the influential originals. Analog Africa continues to thrill me by bringing to light music I had no idea existed!