« Digger, me ? I don’t like that term at all. » On the eve of the publication of Wild Peru and of Moyobamba Green Sound, two compilations focused on the soundtrack of the 1970s-1980s of the Peruvian jungle, Samy Ben Redjeb straightaway sets things straight. Joined in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, where he is currently working on a future compilation project, the Tunisian-German fifties, creator in 2005, in Frankfurt, of the record label Analog Africa, does not recognize himself among these record collectors rummaging feverishly in the bins of discounters, in search of rare pearls.
His thing is to go there, to Africa and to places where it has left its mark on music, especially in Latin America, to find “the” sound that speaks to him. Essentially that of the 1970s-1980s – while admitting a few favorites in the following decade.
“A true sound, which does not caress the Western ear in the direction of the hair”, he said. What he seeks is to highlight unknown rhythms and genres by publishing albums – around fifty to date -, mostly compilations and a few reissues, accompanied by booklets documented from interviews with musicians. or those who rubbed shoulders with them, to tell their life and the context in which they created their music.
psychedelic cumbia
This passionate sound hunter was a diving instructor in Senegal, before becoming a steward on the Lufthansa for “to be able to travel cheap and pick up records”. He created Analog Africa with the idea of showing that music is often very different, where it is created, from the idea that people have of it in the West. What fascinates him are the soundss “coming from lost places, located at the end of nowhere”. Like the Peruvian jungle. Wild Peru brings together eighteen titles from some of the most outstanding names in Amazonian cumbia, electric music, most often instrumental, with rascal percussion, vintage guitars and keyboards, punctuated with interjections to galvanize the dancers.
Samy Ben Redjeb, founder of Analog Africa: “A true sound, which does not caress the Western ear in the direction of the hair”
Parallel to this release, Analog Africa publishes a compilation of Sonido verde de Moyobamba, made from five albums of this formation, recorded in the 1980s on the Discos Universal label. “Peru’s music industry has long focused on Lima, the capital, explains Samy Ben Redjeb. Meanwhile, in the north of the country, people were listening, thanks to the radio, to what was coming out of Lima, including the psychedelic cumbia group Los Destellos, very popular at the time, but also music from Ecuador, Colombia…”
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