Wonderful Youtube of one of the early standard bearers of Congolese pop, the late great Joseph Kabasele Tshamala AKA Le Grand Kalle. Please enjoy this and the LP which Chris recovered from his recent trip to Kinshasa.
Tracklisting:
Miango
Anita Belle
Coco Scho
Ba Ndumba Ya Leo
Buntsana
Geo Geolie
Mpuli Mua Moni
Safari Muzuri
Independance Economique
TRY
11 comments:
I was very pleased to see "Anita Belle" on this track list! Mose Fan Fan does a bang-up cover (uncredited) of this song on his Bayekeleye album (2005), so I'm happy to finally know the source of this song. The "Germaine" video is excellent as well. Do you know of any album/CD/ studio version of this song?
Holy mackeral! you may have also turned up the source of Joe Arroyo's "Yamulema" the origin of which was apparently shrouded in mystery but was acknowledged to have been from some African song (unless Kalle got it from the same place Joe did). "Mpuli Mua Moni" -- is there a credit on the album for authorship?
Many thanks for this and other hard to find stuff.
wuod K
Mpuli Mua Moni: The credit on the LP is to "Willy le Paepe"
Anita Belle is written by Kalle himself. The LP is a French pressing (1977)but under Kalle's own Surboum label - I suspect however that the songs are much older than 1977. Can anyone clarify? Kalle moved to Paris in 1969 when feeling threatened by political developments under Mobutu. Though the LP does not credit the musicians, the band is most likely to include Manu Dibango, Jean-Serge Essous and Don Gonzalo. the song "Buntsana" is credited to Essous.
I do not know of any studio version of the "Germaine" song on the youtube clip. As far as I can tell the uploaded LP has not been released on CD. It is surprising and sad to see how little of Grand Kalle's great music has been re-released on CD!
Chris A - Durban
A couple of the songs from this album are included on Sonodisc CD36543 (1994/95): "Safari Muzuri" and "Miango". Grand Kalle & l'African Team, oddly titled 1667-1968-1970. I suppose that dates the songs to late 60s/70, from either the 20th or the 17th century. There are 8 songs credited to Surboum African Jazz. "Safari" written by Kabassele, "Miango" ascribed to Jeannot.
The track "Germaine" is actually called "Lily - Germaine" and was composed by the brilliant guitarist Tino Baroza. It was released on the Esengo label (Es.4) in 1957 and originally performed by orchestre Rock-a-Mambo with Kallé singing.
Ah, Matt, thank you. That is the missing piece of the puzzle. I don't have the Rockamambo track, but I do have an LP by Essous where he remade "Lily Germaine" (album's title track) to great effect, probably late '80s. Knowing Ms Germaine's first name helped me locate it! If you could post the original Kalle version I would be forever grateful. I love tracking down the originals of covers.
Nice find this album!
The clip comes from this video:
http://i44.tinypic.com/xqjdi1.jpg
It is a 52 minute affair, in between some of the songs he is interviewed in French, all the songs save the last two are playbacked (very badly).
CC: Joe Arroyo's source for "Yamulema" was "Diamoule Mawo," by Laba Sosseh, a great Senegalese singer, later with Africando. HE must have got it from Kalle.
AJ / Muzikifan
Ahaaa! Thanks AJ! I should have asked you first. Is that track available on an album do you know? (of course you do!) I'd love to hear it...
the Joe Arroyo cut is on "30 PEGADITAS DE ORO", track 4, the Laba Sosseh, i was surprised to find, is available as a download for 89 cents from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Laba-Sosseh/dp/B00005YCYT/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1240717271&sr=1-1
AJ
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