FRANCIS BEBEY - Psychedelic Sanza 1982 - 1984
Out of stock

FRANCIS BEBEY
1984
vinyl 2LP

£25.00
Condition: NM / NM
Label: Born Bad Records
Catalogue No: BB064
Celebrating the uniquely affective timbre of the sanza, or African thumb piano, this compilation shifts focus from pop-wise anthems such as 'New Track' or 'Coffee Cola', onto the Cameroonian polymath's more stripped, rhythm-driven, and atmospheric workouts. And it's every bit as hypnotic, transcendent as that last sentence implies. Bebey's vocals are still key, but this time they're mostly used as rhythmelodic texture in chant and spectral vibings, moving further from Western styles and scales to a looser, more spacious mixture of African tradition and Western musical conventions resonating with John Hassell and Brian Eno's 4th world explorations. That clash and exchange of ideas is exemplified in the chiming, twilit dialogue of opening cut, 'Sanza Nocturne', and the strange fusion of Baroque pipes and kicking groove to 'Africa Sanza', or to strangest degrees in the freakishly noisy, yet utterly compelling 'Tumu Pakara', while we find the more mellifluous Bebey crooning away in the Pygmy Polyphonics of 'Bissau' or the deeply spiritual 'Forest Nativity'. To be fair, it's uneccesary to draw any lines betweent he material - it's all the work of a singular genius - but for those more familiar with the last compilation, this set really steps it up and out a notch or three to spellbinding new zones.
  • A1 Sanza Nocturne
  • A2 Bissau
  • A3 Sanza Tristesse
  • B1 African Sanza
  • B2 Forest Nativity
  • B3 Sunny Crypt
  • C1 Binta Madiallo
  • C2 Tumu Pakara
  • C3 Di Saegi
  • D1 Ngoma Likembe
  • D2 Guinée