Customer Reviews

African Classics

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you already own both volumes of Francophonic and are looking for a little more of Franco's work, don't hesitate to buy this album. Very few of the songs appear on either of the Francophonic volumes and the material here is top-notch. In fact, Tres Impoli and the lead-off track Matata Mwasi Na Maboli Esilaka Te are must-have Franco tracks. A different version of Mario is the only overlap with Francophonic Volume 2. There are about five songs which appear on Volume 1 (Rumba OK, Azda, Alimatou, Quatre Boutons, and ...). Sam Mangwana appears on six tracks: the aforementioned Matata Mwasi Na Maboli Esilaka Te, Nabala Ata Mwba, Alimatou, and Ou Est Le Serieux from the 70's, Tres Impoli and Toujours OK from the 80's. I've seen complaints about the lack of a chronological order here. Actually the second disc is more or less chronological with out being a slave to the timeline. It's the first disc which is not chronological and except for the jumps from the 80's back to the 50's, the order works well enough.

The booklet is okay but pales considerably in comparison to the Francophonic booklets which is understandable. Additionally, there are several mind-boggling errors in the song credits, including wrong dates: Tres Impoli from 1974(??!) and Aya La Mode, taken from the CD Merveilles du Passe: 1957-1958-1959 is credited as from 1962 (although this could be the correct year--Sonodisc was useless in documenting things correctly). The biggest error, however is that the song listed as Mamou (Tu Vois!) is not that song at all. It is Massu, a wonderful song from 1986 sung by the female vocalist Jolie Detta who is accompanied by Franco.

Errors aside, there is nothing wrong with the music on the discs themselves, although I'm convinced that you could reach in the OK Jazz "hat" and make a great CD with any of the songs that you pull out.

Produced in the Republic of South Africa this colleciotn by Franco exceeded all my expectations. It contains some vintage hits from the 50s 60s and 70s. All of them bear the mark of the Great Franco of the Congo. This classy collections of songs in both French and local dialects, makes anyone want to dance and remember a trip to Africa, (in my case I had just returned from there when I bought this one). This is a neat combination of brass, and electric quitar,complete with extended "Afro-Okay"guitar cords that are nothing short of hypnotic and mesmerising!!!In this type of music you can see the roots of reagae,rumba, and brazilian and Cuban percussions.Buy this for your next world music party. You will not be disappointed!!!