Labels: Luaka Bop
Review by: Captain Fidanza
The surrounding borders on the website on which I listened to this were almost sufficient to induce an epileptic seizure, so as I waited in silence for the music to begin, it was with not an inconsiderable amount of trepidation.
Once it got going, I quickly recognised the sound of West African bamboo horns and the unmistakeable rhythms of the traditional bubu processions in Sierra Leone and immediately realised I was in the hands of the natural heir to the incomparable Fela.
This is high music to enjoy when the weather in England is flirting with zero and your life is playing out slowly beneath the slate-grey skies of darkest winter. I went to a funeral the other day and even though it was of course a very solemn and sombre affair, when I gave the vicar my Walkman and asked him to plug it into the loud speaker system, soon the entire congregation was smiling and clapping and dancing and everyone quickly forgot why they had been so sad a few moments before.
The bereaved family were not quite so amused by the spontaneous dancing, but they didn’t seem to be a particularly friendly bunch anyway so I wouldn’t pay them no mind.
To give you an impression of just how brilliant this album is, here is a selected tracklisting.
1. Popeneh
2. Bubu Dub
3. Game Ova
4. Stop Jealous
If you have any interest whatsoever in the mid-1970s music of Fela Kuti, you owe it to yourself to acquire this.