Feeling Generous

West African Cosmos : Emeraude
taken from their self-titled album on Marginal / CBS (1976)

Sombory-Jazz : Nananina and
Quintette Guineenne : Douga
taken from the album “Musique Sans Paroles” on Syliphone (1974)

I’m pulling out some of my rare-ish business today. None of these songs have been reissued, compiled or even bootlegged to my knowledge. This is the kinda music that I might normally be a be hesitant to post (even I get a bit protective/possessive sometimes), but lucky for you I’m feeling particularly generous. On Monday, when I arrived at the radio station to host my weekly show, I found two bags with my name on them- FILLED with great records from around the world. African, Brazilian, Arabic, Japanese… All donated by an anonymous music lover! If you’re out there reading this, shoot me an e-mail so I can properly thank you. For the rest of you, enjoy this music that I spent more that a few minutes looking for, and spent more than a few dollars acquiring. And give some of your favorite songs to a friend to keep up the good Karma.

I don’t know much about the Senegalese fronted West African Cosmos, but there’s a bit of personelle info here at the bottom of the page. Another song on this album, “Wuye Wuye”, was compiled on the Strut collection Club Africa 2. Fuzz guitar, rhodes piano, and echoed out vocals work really well together.

I am also short on info about this Musique Sans Paroles (“music without words”, I think) collection. Featuring a wide range of instrumental music, from traditional songs to more cutting edge wah-wah afro-fusion tunes, it sounds like a syliphone library album that may have been marketed towards film/TV/radio producers. There’s really no information on the groups featured here except little credits on the label, so if you know more than me please share the wealth.