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- Date Released: March 8, 2005
- Genre: International
- Style: Africa, World Fusion
- Label: Luaka Bop
A compendium of rock-inflected West African music.
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We Say...
Near the end of the ’70s, the Africa-wide authenticité movement found local governments pumping native African culture and downplaying foreign influence. The earlier part of the decade was a different story. Love’s a Real Thing is a compendium of the rock-inflected West African music (plus the ringer “Guajira Van” by No. 1 de Dakar — misidentified by the album’s compilers as No. 1 de No. 1 — a Senegalese mbalax scorcher) that makes an arresting case for cultural miscegenation: just imagine if the harder, groovier rock bands of the period had gotten their hands on cuts like the Super Eagles’ title track and manipulated them some more.
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They Say...
Love's a Real Thing is an excellent introduction into the wild sound world of West Africa in the '70s. As Ronnie Graham points out in his superb liner notes, the '60s were a time of assimilation for much of the popular music of Africa. Many bands were playing a hybrid of Latin and African music typified by the Congolese rhumba of Franco & OK Jazz. The '70s were a different bag, though, with the heavy electric sounds of Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Cream, and others seeping into the consciousness of a new generation of Africans who were also contending with their own emerging sense of identity. The results are raucous, exuberant melting pots of funky soul, psychedelic rock, and honey-sweet Latin horns mixed through the sensibilities of extremely talented African bands on the cusp of developing styles like soukous, mbalax, and Afro-beat. Senegal's Star Band Number One (aka Etoile de Dakar and confusingly billed here as No. 1 de No. 1), were already seasoned veterans by the dawn of the 1970s, and the sound of their "Guajira Van" with its sinewy fuzz guitar solo and talking drum stabs is glorious proto-mbalax. Elsewhere, there are songs more directly inspired by rock and soul. "Allah Wakbarr" by Ofo & the Black Company has a heavy acid rock guitar lead competing with a conga drum for the top of the mix. The title cut, "Love's a Real Thing" by Gambia's Super Eagles, is a gritty organ and electric guitar-driven soul number that could have come out of Memphis' Stax Records. One of the later period numbers, William Onyeabor's "Better Change Your Mind" from 1978, is sophisticated Afro-soul riding on an alien keyboard line. "Keleya" from Mali's Moussa Doumbia is the funkiest of the Afro-beat songs on Love's a Real Thing; its chunky organ solo and James Brown grunts beat out the more laid-back "Ifa" from Tunji Oyelana & the Blenders and "Awon-Ojise-Oluwa" from Nigerian studio veteran Gasper Lawal. There have been other series that have explored Africa in this vibrant and historic period -- the fantastic Ethiopiques, Dakar Sound, and Discotheque discs document Ethiopia, Senegal, and Guinea, respectively -- but what Love's a Real Thing lacks in depth it makes up for in breadth, and the fact that it surveys the whole region rather than a single area makes it a great entry point for them all.
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| 01. |  |
Minsato Le, Mi Dayihome
|
3:19 |
|
| 02. | |
Love's a Real Thing
|
2:59 |
|
| 03. | |
Keleya
|
6:42 |
|
| 04. | |
Ceddo End Title
|
5:09 |
|
| 05. | |
Porry
|
8:17 |
|
| 06. | |
Guajira Van
|
5:12 |
|
| 07. | |
Better Change Your Mind
|
8:23 |
|
| 08. | |
Allah Wakbarr
|
3:30 |
|
| 09. | |
Awon-Ojise-Oluwa
|
6:23 |
|
| 10. | |
Zinabu
|
3:20 |
|
| 11. | |
Ifa
|
4:59 |
|
| 12. | |
Sanjina
|
6:00 |
|
12 Total Tracks, 64:13 Total Length
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Credits
- David Byrne - Executive Producer // David Byrne - Executive Producer // Yale Evelev - Executive Producer // Gaspar Lawal - Producer // Dave Bennett - Producer // Ken Barber - Artwork // William Onyeabor - Producer // Odion Iruoje - Producer // Alessandro Canu - Drawing // Faisal Helwani - Producer // Ronnie Graham - Liner Notes // Albert Loudes - Producer // Catherine Loudes - Producer // Sembene Ousmane - Producer // E.K. Royce - Producer // Malick Sidibe - Photography // Songhoi - Producer
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