Customer Reviews

Guitar Paradise of East Africa

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I bought this in Berlin and it is super groovy. I wanted all my friends to hear it - and I lent it to my mate who worked behind in an African Bar in Berlin. Unfortunately it got stolen and I've not been able to buy it since - until I ordered it from Amazon.

The groove is lively, melodic and enchanting - you can't sit down or frown when it's on, which makes it the dogs breakfast for summer parties. What's more, guitar players who thought they'd heard it all will be inspired by the terrific melodic style of these stupendous axemen.. Even the great Jimi Hendrix could have learned something - (he'd admit that too, I'm sure)

The songs and the singing are great as well by the way - there's bits in the odd song, where the band converse briefly in Swahili while the rhythm and the melody sparkles away effortlessly in the background. Well cool.

I tell you peeps - it makes the narrow multi-million dollar video junk that we keep hearing in the charts sound like ... well cardboard.

If you want to hear something different, give it a listen - you might be converted!!

Mart

This is indeed a CD of 1970s-80s East African guitar bands, but these guys play with little sustain, and despite the length of some of the cuts, these guys are a lot closer to Joe Pass or Chet Atkins than Jimi Hendrix -- i.e. don't expect rock guitar "heroics." Or histrionics either, for that matter.

Instead, this is benga, a heavily Congolese-influenced style. Typical line-up of a band on this collection is one or more singers, two guitarists, a drummer, a percusionist, and a bass player. Some of the bands have horns. The style often takes the form of the two guitarists playing intricate repeated patterns behind the singer(s) with one of the guitarists stepping out occasionally for a solo. The rhythm sections are typically more subdued than their West African counterparts.