Ernie's African Odyssey Pt 17 - Equatorial Guinea

We are just shy of one-third of the way through our tour of Africa - so much done, so much more still to do - and we have arrived in Equatorial Guinea. Not one of the best known African countries, but one with some distinctive features.

For example, it is the only country in mainland Africa where the main European language is Spanish. It is also the only country predominantly on the mainland with a capital offshore. The mainland province (known as Rio Muni) contains 90% of the surface area and 70% of the population, but the capital Malabo is on the island of Bioko.

It also 'enjoys' the distinction of currently having the longest-serving president in Africa. Teodoro Obiang has been running the place since 1979 when he deposed and killed his uncle in a coup. He himself was the subject of an attempted coup in 2004 which was allegedly backed by Mark Thatcher - probably the last time that Equatorial Guinea made the news here in the UK.

Before the series started I only had two records by local artists, but I thought I only had one because the members of Hijas Del Sol are based in Spain and I was under the impression that was where they originated from. In fact they are an aunt and niece duo who had been performing together back home but only started recording after moving to Spain in the mid-1990s. Today's selection is from their 1999 album "Kchaba".

The band I was sure about is the Malabo Strit Band (there is a clue in the name). There is not a lot of information available about them but it seems from the Nubanegra Records website that the band was created at the instigation of the label in order to ruthlessly exploit them provide local musicians with a platform and a greater profile. It worked for me. This track is from their debut album "M.S.B" which came out in 2003.

With those two in the bag I then turned to the not exactly extensive Wikipedia entry for 'Music of Equatorial Guinea'. The section on popular music starts, encouragingly, "There is little popular music coming out of Equatorial Guinea". However, it then elaborates that "Pan-African styles like soukous and makossa are popular, as are reggae and rock and roll. Acoustic guitar bands based on a Spanish model are the country's best-known indigenous popular tradition". 

We will try to cover as many of those bases as we can in the remainder of the post starting with the act considered leading exponents of the Spanish influenced style, the brothers Desmali and Dambo de la Costa. They hail from the island of Annabon, the most distant and smallest province of Equatorial Guinea with a population of just over 5000. This is the title track of their 2008 album "Luga De Ambo".

Bringing you the soukous we have Mr Titoy Bolabote with the groovy title track of his 2016 album "Botaka". Once again I have been able to find out next to nothing about him. His complete entry on the normally excellent Afrisson website reads ""Originally from Baney, Titoy Bolabote is a songwriter marked by Congolese rumba, soukouss and bubi culture [no idea what 'bubi culture' is]. In 2013, he was nominated for the Kora Awards in the Best Central African Artist category". 

Unfortunately I could not find anything suitable to fill the Mandatory African Reggae slot but we have the next best thing - some Mandatory African Soca courtesy of Baron Ya Búk-lu. The Baron is known to his fans as "the king of rhythm", for reasons that will become clear when you turn on the track. 

The Baron hails from Micomeseng on the mainland near the border with Cameroon, which may explain the makossa influences that you will be able to detect alongside the Caribbean ones. He has been releasing records since the mid 1990s and today's selection comes from his 2006 album "Fanglosofia".

The Baron has a brand new five track EP called "Eyangá" available on Bandcamp - the only record by any of our featured artists that you will find there. To these inexpert ears it sounds like he has made a conscious effort to scale back the shiny sounds and reconnect with his roots. 

"M-30" - Hijas Del Sol

"Mobulu" - Malabo Strit Band

"Luga Da Ambo" - Desmali y Dambo de la Costa

"Botaka" - Titoy Bolabote

"Olé Olelé" - Baron Ya Búk-Lú