Category Archives: African

Orchestra Baobab – Utru Horas

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Orchestra Baobab – “Utru Horas” from the album “Pirates Choice”

Orchestra Baobab

They formed in 1970 to play at the inauguration of Dakar’s Baobab Club with a majority of the musicians being recruited from the mother of Senegalese bands – The Star Band.

The Star Band had formed in 1960 to celebrate the independence of Senegal and had been encouraged to develop their own ideas and the distinctive Baobab was achieved by pooling their various musical strengths.

Pirates Choice

Disc 1
1) Utru Horas; 2) Coumba; 3) Ledi Ndieme M’bodj; 4) Werente Serigne; 5) Ray M’Bele; 6) Soldadi
Disc 2
1) Ngalam; 2) Toumaranke; 3) Foire Internationale; 4) La Rebellion; 5) Ndiaga Niaw; 6) Balla Daffe

Orchestra Baobab - Pirates Choice

Medoune Diallo – Vocals
Ndiouga Dieng – Vocals
Rudolphe Gomis – Vocals
Mapenda Seck – Vocals
Balla Sidibe – Vocals, Timbales
Barthelemy Attisso – Guitar
Papa Ba – Guitar
Adama Sarr – Guitar
Issa Cissoko – Tenor Saxophone
Charlie N’Diaye – Bass
Mountaga Kouyate – Percussion, Tumba

William Onyeabor – Atomic Bomb

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or the full 8.31 version!

William Onyeabor – “Atomic Bomb” from the album “Who is William Onyeabor?”

Little is known about William Onyeabor! According to the Luaka Bop record label, Onyeabor “self-released 8 albums between 1978 and 1985 and then became a born-again Christian, refusing ever to speak about himself or his music again….By attempting to speak with Onyeabor himself, and by talking to people who seem to have first hand knowledge, Luaka Bop has been trying to construct an accurate biography of him for the past 18 months…without success.”

“Atomic Bomb” played on fears that were very real at the time. Temitope Kogbe, a Nigerian DJ says, “Though the Cold War…had petered off in the West, Africa was the new theatre for this confrontation – in Angola, Mozambique, and most tragically in the Congo, where in 1961, the U.S.- backed Mobutu to kill Patrice Lumumba, who was feared to be a communist. So the Cold War and its threat of Atomic Bomb was still very much in the spirit of the times when the record was released in 1978.”

William Onyeabor - Who is William Onyeabor?

“Who is William Onyeabor?”

1) Body and Soul; 2) Atomic Bomb; 3) Good Name; 4) Something You Will Never Forget; 5) Why Go to War; 6) Love Is Blind; 7) Heaven and Hell; 8) Let’s Fall in Love; 9) Fantastic Man