The Way I See It
The shipyard painter, political activist and razor-sharp cartoonist Bob Starrett has just written a new book The Way I See It on his eventful life and times. Below we reprint one of his stories and review an essential read
La Boheme
ENO's production of La Boheme is a triumph,
Le Super Borgou de Parakou
The Bariba Sound (Analog Africa)
Sunday 19 February 2012
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Set up by Samy Ben Redjeb to "free" African music from the 1970s, Analog Africa is a label that has helped give prominence to bands previously unheard of outside the continent.
This anthology is the label's 11th release and, remastered to give justice to the energy of Super Borgou's live performances, it seeks to open up a whole new chapter of lost Afro sounds.
Yet in doing so, thankfully, the gritty authenticity of their sound isn't lost.
The band saw the birth of modern African music in Parakou, east Benin, whose sound is steeped in Arabic flavour and fused with everything from soul, rumba and breakbeats to Afro-beat.
The lyrics of multi-instrumentalist Moussa Mama and guitarist Menou Roch are often commentaries on the socio-economic ills and inequalities that surround them, proving that they are adept in more ways than rhythm alone.
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