Good to be here! I don't know that much but I became intersted in African music last year by hearing this man:
Saw this one on Reddit. Anybody know what African album they're talking about? Rare West African album and the album cover had the same face as the one on the cover of King Crimson - In The Court of The Crimson King Stumbled upon this album about a month ago on either Rate Your Music or Discogs that is super rare. I believe it was from West Africa (might be Zambia - Zamrock) and was early 70s prog-rock. I didn't listen to the album but I remember the album art had a drawing that was the same face as the one on the cover of In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson. The face wasn't the full cover however, I remember it being slightly left adjusted and there were other drawings on the cover. If I remember correctly the entire cover looked like white cardstock and the face and other drawings looked as if they were hand drawn on the cover? I remember red outlines for the face I believe. I looked up the album name and saw an article about one of the guys from the label Stones Throw discovering that album when he went to Africa to look for rare vinyl but I cannot find that link now. Any help is greatly appreciated on this. Thank you!
Great to see this thread. I note that my favourites have already been posted: Geoffrey Oryema, Samite of Uganda, and Ayub Ogada. I saw Oryema play live supporting Peter Gabriel, and Ogada performing at a 1990s Real World Festival. It was nice to find out that Ogada had finally released a new album in 2015.
Joburg Hawk My favorite Prog effort from Africa. This holds up to any classic 70s prog album that goes for 100s of dollars, and this is much cheaper. Have a listen if you like the genre.
Saw them in 2018 and they blew me and everyone I got to go see them away. Not to be missed if they come to your town.
Another great live band, Mdou Moctar of Niger: Check out the guitar soloing at around 30 minutes in. At Jazzfest he was just shredding the guitar, here he's a little bit more restrained but still incredibe -all with his fingers, no picks. Also check out around 42 minutes!
Blo - Nigeria 1973, formed by members of Ginger Baker's Salt after Ginger left Nigeria. This record was the rabbit hole for me into African modern
Good start! And yes it might cost you money, now get your wallet ready: 1. visit this site and cry Sterns Music On-line, World Music On-Line, African Music On-Line. Real Audio/MP3 samples 2. buy the entire Fela collection 3. get a couple great compilations of Franco FRANCOPHONIC VOL. 1 1953-1980 / FRANCOPHONIC VOL. 2 1980-1989 4. get African Scream Contest on this wonderful ANALOG AFRICA label Analog Africa 5. buy anything from the early 70's by Bembeya Jazz
