Ernie's African Odyssey Part 49 - Tanzania

Its T time on our tour. T for Tanzania to be precise. 

We have had some highs and lows on the odyssey but none to match Tanzania which has the distinction of being the site of Africa's highest and lowest points (the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro and the floor of Lake Tanganyika respectively). And there are lots of good things in between.

Those good things include many groovy tunes. The music of Tanzania has perhaps tended to be a bit overshadowed by that of its neighbours DR Congo, Kenya and Zambia, but it deserves to be heard. So let's crack on!

We will start with the greatest band that never was, or at least the greatest name for a band that never was. Back in 1975 the Vijana Jazz Band were riding high in the charts and were very keen to get their new material on the market, but that enthusiasm was not shared by their record company who wanted to finish milking the current singles first. 

So the band popped over to Nairobi, recorded some tracks and found someone who was able to persuade the record company it was a new band and get the record released that way. The name of that imaginary band? Why, Koka Koka Sex Battalion, of course. You can find the Sex Battalion tracks plus other Vijana Jazz Band releases on this 2011 Sterns compilation.

You will have spotted that the Battalion boys were heavily influenced by the rumba rhythms rolling over the border from DRC. The same is true for many other Tanzanian bands from the 1970s to the present day. One such example is Twanga Pepeta International (sometimes to be seen without the International and sometimes called the African Stars Band, making them almost as confusing as the Sex Battalion). Formed in 1994, the shiny little number is from their 2006 album "Password".

Not everyone was lured by the shimmering guitar sound back then in the 1970s though. Some like Sunburst looked further west and south, taking their inspiration from the funky sounds emanating out of Nigeria etc and the Zambian rock scene. 

They were only around for a few years but made some great music in that time. In 2016 Strut records released their complete recordings on a compilation called "Ave Africa". The track I have chosen was originally a B-side in 1973. Those were the days when they still had proper B-sides.

All the acts featured so far hail from mainland Tanzania, so we should probably pop over to Zanzibar to see what is happening there. Well, Siti Muharam for one, whose 2020 album "Siti Of Unguja" is worth buying for the cover alone. Her great-grandmother, Siti Binti Saad, was the first East African singer to be recorded nearly 100 years ago and was credited with popularising taarab music. Siti Muharam made this album to help to preserve her legacy and does so magnificently.

Sticking with current female performers we follow that with the title track from "Maisha", the debut album from the Zawose Queens released last year. The Queens are sisters Pendo and Leah Zawose and this is their take on the traditional polyrhythms and polyphonic singing of the Gogo people based mainly in the Dodola region of the country. I refuse to bow to demands to refer to them as Gogo girls.

Like Siti Muharam, the Queens have an impressive musical lineage. Their late grandfather was Hukwe Zawose, the most famous exponent of the Gogo musical tradition. I had not originally planned to include him in this post, but when I paid a visit to Flashback Records in Islington last weekend I found a copy of his album "Chibite" in the bargain bin. I took it as a sign.

"Chibite" came out in 1996 on Real World and is pretty much a one man show. Dr Zawose handles vocals, thumb piano, fiddle, flute and ankle bells and is helped out only by Charles Zawose (who I think is his son) on harmonies and all-important second thumb piano.

And so to the MAR slot. This time it goes to dAbo Mtanzania. I am not sure why he chooses to capitalise the A - perhaps he was named after former Manfred Mann singer Mike d'Abo? Whatever the reason, here is is with a track from last year's "Undisputed" album. 

"Ujirani Mwema" - Koka Koka Sex Battalion

"Umasikini" - Twanga Pepeta International

"Black Is Beautiful" - Sunburst

"Alaminadura" - Siti Muharam

"Maisha" - The Zawose Queens

"Chilumi" - Hukwe Zawose

"Uncle Mapepe" - dAbo Mtanzania

We will start off the videos with one of the more obscure Tanzanian performers after which I will try to pander to your more populist tastes. So please all join me in giving a warm 27 Leggies welcome to Farrokh Bulsara from Stone Town in Zanzibar.

The Long And The Short Of It

The tedium of real life work has been draining my creativity of late. So in the absence of any original thought I decided to jump on the Monday's Long Song bandwagon.

To give things a slight twist I have gone to both ends of the spectrum. Here, then, are the longest and shortest songs currently on my iTunes. Combined they clock in an just under half and hour, although the Bonzos only contribute 2% of the total.

"Government Chicken Boy" - Fela Kuti & Egypt 80

"Kama Sutra" - The Bonzo Dog Band

You won't find that Joe Walsh indulging in such extremes.

Created At Casa K

The credit for inspiring today's cornucopia of cool sounds goes to that crazy cat from the Cotswolds, Khayem.

Last Friday being Bandcamp Friday he very thoughtfully provided links to a selection of reggae releases that were available to download for free. I had some of them already but diligently checked out the others.

One of these was "Let's Make Waves", a truly splendid EP by an outfit called Creation Rockers. Originally released in 2012 on the defunct Springline label, it was reissued in 2022 with some extra tracks by the Dubphonic label in Cyprus. I have gone with the title track but could have picked pretty much any one of them.

I have not been able to find anything else by Creation Rockers but some international man of mystery style sleuthing - i.e. reading the blurb - revealed that the leading lights were Brad Τurner from the duo Foshan Roots and Alan Blizzard aka Yabass. So here is something from each of them.

There are several Foshan Roots recordings on Bandcamp. This track comes from their album "Sky Warrior Dub", another Dubphonic reissue and another that is available to download for free. Brad now goes by the name of The Manor and churns out reggae and ska releases on a regular basis from his studio in swinging East London.

As for Yabass, he has now extended his name and has released a couple of records in recent years - "Year Zero Dubb" in 2020 and the 2023 single featured below.

A final shout out to the other members of Creation Rockers, Drummie Dan and Papa D, whoever and wherever they may be.

"Let's Make Waves" - Creation Rockers

"Sifu Dub" - Foshan Roots

"Thanks and Praises" - Yabass Yaba Radics meets T-Jah

Needless to say I couldn't find any videos by Creation Rockers but I did find some by The Creation which I think will more than suffice.

Ernie's African Odyssey Part 48 - Sudan

And we trundle on. We have crossed over the northern border of South Sudan into Sudan. When is was still a single country before the South gained independence in 2011 Sudan was the largest country in Africa. Even now it is third in size behind only Algeria and DR Congo. We are talking BIG.

Like its regional neighbours Ethiopia and Somalia, Sudan had a thriving music scene in the 1960s and 1970s which came to an end when the ruling regime banned fun and targeted musicians. In Sudan itself this process began in the early 1980s but the full effect was not felt until the introduction of Sharia law by President al-Bashir in 1989. 

Things seem to have loosened up in recent years following al-Bashir's overthrow in 2019, but it seems that the only Sudanese music recorded during that thirty year period was in exile, and we will finish off with one such example. Before that we have four tracks from the golden age and two from the groovy new scene.

We will start with a couple of selections from an excellent compilation called "Two Niles To Sing A Melody", released on the Ostinato label in 2018. It is worth having any form but the CD comes with an informative booklet which describes the history of the golden age (and how it came to an end) and includes interviews with some of the featured musicians.

First up is the man considered to be the biggest musical star Sudan ever produced, Mohammed Wardi. Born in small village near the border with Egypt in 1932, he moved to Khartoum in the mid 1950s where he began his recording and performing career. 

Mr Wardi went into exile in 1989 but returned home in 2002 where he remained until his death ten years later. This particular song, the title of which means "The Photo" in English, was recorded in 1970 and clocks in at just over nine minutes.

The other chosen track from "Two Niles To Sing A Melody" also dates from 1970. The title translates as "We Don't Know What To Say", which is appropriate as I don't know what to say about the man who performs it. I have found no information about Taj Makki, who doesn't even get a paragraph in the booklet. But the aural evidence suggests he knew how to knock out a cracking tune.

For our next two treats we move across to the ever reliable Habibi Funk label. And what treats they are. The first comes from Sharhabil Ahmed who according to the title the label has given to their collection of his vintage recordings is "The King of Sudanese Jazz". I am in no position to contradict them. Mr Ahmed was born a couple of years after Mohammed Wardi and their careers have some parallels, although Mr Ahmed never left Sudan and made his living as an illustrator during the prohibition.

Sharhabil Ahmed's wife Zakia Abu Gassim Abu Bakr played in his band and was Sudan's first professional female guitarist. I don't know whether she is any relation to Saif Abu Bakr, the singer with our next act The Scorpions. I could have asked him myself on Saturday just gone when he played up the road in Hackney. Unfortunately the first I knew about it was when I Googled him for this post on Sunday. So I just had to content myself with listening to their great 1980s album "Jazz, Jazz, Jazz".

Forward in time to the present day, but back to the excellent Ostinato label who are responsible for both the featured releases. In 2022 they brought us "Beja Power! Electric Soul & Brass from Sudan's Red Sea Coast" by Noori & His Dorpa Band, and followed it up last year with Jantra's "Synthesized Sudan: Astro​-​Nubian Electronic Jaglara Dance Sounds from the Fashaga Underground". They do like their long titles at Ostinato.

You can read all about Noori, his band and the history and culture of the Beja people here. As for Jantra he apparently "cuts a mysterious figure, a rather unknown quantity even in Sudan, outside of the select few circles which have granted him cult status to perform at their humble gatherings or at street parties far from the gaze of the wider world". But if you happen to find yourself in one of the towns near the Sudan-Ethiopia border keep your eyes peeled for a man with a blue Yamaha keyboard, that might be him.

Finally in the MAR slot we have one of the exiles I mentioned back at the start. Rasha (Rasha Sheikh Eldin to give her her full name) is a musician and actress from Omdurman who emigrated to Spain in the early 1990s. This jaunty little number comes from her album "Let Me Be", released in 2000. 

We also have some recent MAR in the final video. The first three videos hail from the golden age and what they lack in high visual quality they more than make up for in charm.

"Al Sourah" - Mohammed Wardi

"Ma Aarfeen Nagool Shino!" - Taj Makki

 "Argos Farfish" - Sharhabil Ahmed

"Forssa Saeeda" - The Scorpions & Saif Abu Bakr

"Al Amal" - Noori & His Dorpa Band

 "Gedima" - Jantra

"Afta'h Albab" - Rasha

Blues At Bedtime

After Friday's attempt to turn a missing Jimmy Reed CD into the subject of a blues song, comments from esteemed readers C and Rol reminded me that I had never followed up on a promise I made to them last year.

That promise was to dig out a demo of "Bedwetter Blues", a previously unreleased future classic from the early 1980s - one might even call it a sleeper hit. With apologies for the delay, I am pleased finally to be able to honour my promise. C and Rol may be less pleased. Further apologies for the poor sound quality.

You can find out more about A Cuddly Pair and how they narrowly missed stardom in my post from July last year. As for the song itself, the singer (who also wrote the song) has asked me to emphasise that the lyrics are not in any way autobiographical.

It seemed appropriate to team "Bedwetter Blues" with another number from the early 1980s. This one came out on Sugar Hill Records in 1983 and may actually be the more ludicrous of the two.

In the words of Waterbed Kev, I can't hold it back, the paint is flowing over...

"Bedwetter Blues" - A Cuddly Pair

"All Night Long (Waterbed)" - Waterbed Kev

Just A Bit Of The Blues

You can imagine how pleased I was to pick up something billed as "four Jimmy Reed albums on two CDs" as part of one of the regular '3 for £1' offers in our local Buddhist bookshop. But...

[Note to readers: please insert "da da da dum" or other blues riff as appropriate when reading the next bit, and make sure you have your harmonica ready so you can do a solo at the end].

When I woke up this morning/ and I opened up the case/ one CD was missing/ I had tears all down my face. 

Now I only had two albums/ When I was expecting four/ Well I'm happy with what I got/ but I'm still left wanting more.

[Harmonica solo]

Well I took myself down to the river, as you do in these circumstances, and after staring into its murky depths for a while a dawning realisation crept over me that two Jimmy Reed albums for 33p is still a pretty good deal, especially when they contain such much-covered classics as "Big Boss Man" and "Baby What You Want Me To Do".

The albums in question are "Rockin' With Reed" (1959) and "Found Love" (1960), and here is a big boffo tune from both of them.

"Going By The River (Part 1)" - Jimmy Reed

"Wanna Be Loved" - Jimmy Reed

And now, two big boss men.

Botanique Boogie

Last Sunday night found me at La Botanique in Brussels. It also found Les Deuxluxes there. This was not a coincidence.

Les Deuxluxes are a hard-rocking male-female duo that comprises Anna Frances Meyer on vocals, guitar and occasional flute and Etienne Barry on guitars and drums (simultaneously - M. Barry operates the drum kit with his feet, having presumably decided that was easier than trying to play the guitar that way). Between them they put on a cracking show.

To keep things nice and simple I have opted for the title tracks of their two albums to date in the audio section. They were released in 2016 and 2020 respectively and you can find them both on Bandcamp. You might want to pay Les Deuxluxes a visit there on Friday. And if they ever pay your town a visit you should go along.

"Springtime Devil" - Les Deuxluxes

"Lighter Fluid" - Les Deuxluxes