Rating: *** (3 stars)
Title: Go South
Company: Meadowlark
Catalog:
Year: 1985
Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+
Comments: --
Available: 1
Price: $7.00
Geez, hard to decide how to accurately describe and market this one ... Anyone into Paul Simon's "Graceland" or Johnny Clegg's catalog would probably find this attractive and interesting ... Compiled by Jumbo Vanrenenand and released on the Island affiliated Meadowlark label, 1985's
"Go South" offers up a wonderful collage of various African musical styles, including slices of Juju, Mbagansa and Soukous. Technically speaking, only five of the tracks are from African acts - Onike ("Bushman") is from Trinidad, though he apparently records in Nigeria. To be honest, we'd only heard one of these six acts before - Zimbawe's Thomas Mapfumo and unfortunately "Juanita" isn't a particularly representative or impressive outting from the singer. That said, all six tracks are worth hearing (there's some killer slide guitar on Dele Abiodun's "Olomoko"), if only as an introduction to these genres ... Be forewarned, while the rhythms are infectious, most of this stuff is sung in native African languages, or French (Souzy Kasseya's "Mr. Simon") so if you're into lyrics, this one could pose something of a challenge ...
"Go South" track listing:
1.) Souzy Kasseya - "Mr. Simon"
2.) Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited - "Juanita"
3.) Sankomota - "Vukani"
4.) Onike - "Bushman"
5.) Dele Abiodun - "Olomoko"
6.) Samba Mapangala and Orchestre Virunga - "Ahmed Sabit"