Each Wednesday, The World Africa presents three new musical releases from or inspired by the continent. This week, make way for reissues with an Egyptian classic and lesser-known treasures by South African and Nigerian artists.
Hebina Hebina, from Farid El Atrache
It’s a bit like the male equivalent of Oum Kalthoum, that is to say a legend of Egyptian music. Nicknamed “the king of the oud”, the author, composer and performer Farid El Atrache (1910-1974), in addition to his hundreds of songs, also played in around thirty films, including nagham Fi Hayati, released the year of his death and of which he signed the soundtrack, composed of four long pieces. This is what the French label Wewantsounds chose to reissue on vinyl at the beginning of February, continuing its work of remastering Egyptian treasures, including recently records by Abdel Halim Hafez, Omar Khorshid and Warda.
“Faceless People”, by Norman Zulu & Jive Connection
In London, the Strut label has done a real job of exhumation by pulling out of the dust a 2002 recording “lost” in the archives of producer Torsten Larsson. It is Face to Face, a set of fourteen pieces born from the meeting between the Swedish group Jive Connection, the South African singer and guitarist Vusi Mahlasela and his compatriot Norman Zulu. This album between folk and jazz, available since the end of January on digital, vinyl and CD, testifies to the privileged relations between the Rainbow nation and the Scandinavian country, engaged since the 1960s in the denunciation of apartheid.
« Onughara », de The Good Samaritans
Finally, head to Nigeria and more specifically Benin City, where the German label Analog Africa took an interest in an edo-funk nugget dating from 1982 and signed by the Good Samaritans. Behind this group hides a certain Philosopher Okundaye, who was the composer of a good part of the hits recorded in the State of Edo (south) during the 1980s. Oscillating between funk and highlife, the album No Food Without Taste if by Hunger was pressed in small quantities at the time and, according to the label, is now “very difficult to find”. At the beginning of March, it will be available again on vinyl (2,000 copies) and digitally.
Find all the musical favorites of the editorial staff in the YouTube playlist of the World Africa.