Hugh Masekela - 'Techno Bush' [the Manu Dibango thread]

[ryan17]

so i came across this record the other day and though 'oh cool a Masekela record with the word techno on it and weird drawings of keyboards, this has to be good'


once i put it on it made me think of matt and sufi's trip and that someone had shown up in south africa in 82' or something with a bunch of italo-disco records for Masekela to listen to. Albeit, most of the album is not laced with italo riffs, but the stand out song "don't go lose it baby" is. it retains some of Masekela's sound but blends it well with cheesy keyboards (it sounds great).


now for the questions:


1. Can anyone give other examples of say an indigenous sound's interpretation on a different type of music?



2. Matt and Sufi, have you come across anything that may have been directly influenced by your trip to the west coast of africa?

 

[Woebot]

so i came across this record the other day and though 'oh cool a Masekela record with the word techno on it and weird drawings of keyboards, this has to be good'

once i put it on it made me think of matt and sufi's trip and that someone had shown up in south africa in 82' or something with a bunch of italo-disco records for Masekela to listen to. Albeit, most of the album is not laced with italo riffs, but the stand out song "don't go lose it baby" is. it retains some of Masekela's sound but blends it well with cheesy keyboards (it sounds great).

yeah thats a nice record. theres an instrumental quite bubbly bassline track on it thats real nice. wish i hadnt sold my copy! were you at all disappointed by it? i always felt, even if very slightly, hoodwinked by that record.

now for the questions:

1. Can anyone give other examples of say an indigenous sound's interpretation on a different type of music?

oooh! there must be loads, even an infinite amout of suggestions. all music is porous innit.

2. Matt and Sufi, have you come across anything that may have been directly influenced by your trip to the west coast of africa?

Ha, how wonderful, an excuse to talk about my self!

(reclines, gazes into the near distance)

anything that may have been directly influenced by our trip to senegal?................nothing whatsoever! ha ha ha. sufi's taste for a certain kind of lady?!?

 

[ladyboygrimsby]

The best example I've heard of this cross-pollination is Zazou/Bikaye/CY1's Noir et Blanc on Crammed Discs. It's much better than the Masekela which, save for Don't Go Lose It, doesn't really pull off the trick.

When Noir et Blanc came out it was compared to My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts which is another relative, I guess. Noir Et Blanc was a collaboration between Belgian electronic artists and Bony Bikaye. Fred Frith plays on the LP. Sadly, it's very hard to find, though it has been reissued on CD.

 

[jomina]

Pretty much anything by Manu Dibango, my favourite is Afrovision (probably because I picked up a copy dirt cheap and enjoy seeing other people pay far more than I did). This is a deeply funky album, though not that African sounding in the final analysis.
Africans are far more advanced musically than we in the West are, so the question should be what are capable of learning from Africa? We can't handle the speed and complexity of the rhythms, we don't have the precision to manage the subtle polyphony that wraps itself around you like the lightest spider's web. There are still Africans who can make profound music by banging a few stones together or "playing" a hunting harp. We require $$$$$$ worth of equipment to make what, exactly?

 

[Woebot]

Pretty much anything by Manu Dibango, my favourite is Afrovision (probably because I picked up a copy dirt cheap and enjoy seeing other people pay far more than I did). This is a deeply funky album, though not that African sounding in the final analysis.
Africans are far more advanced musically than we in the West are, so the question should be what are capable of learning from Africa? We can't handle the speed and complexity of the rhythms, we don't have the precision to manage the subtle polyphony that wraps itself around you like the lightest spider's web. There are still Africans who can make profound music by banging a few stones together or "playing" a hunting harp. We require $$$$$$ worth of equipment to make what, exactly?

manu dibango died - i just heard

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/mar/24/manu-dibango-dies-coronavirus-cameroon-jazz-funk

interviewed him in 1993. totally cool man. put us whiteboys at total ease.

RIP

 

[blissblogger]

i was just listening to this the other day


Used to listen this comp quite a bit, somewhere still have it

 

[blissblogger]

It's very much got the feeling of people who heard Herbie Hancock "Rockit" and thought "ah!"

Doesn't King Sunny Ade go in for a bit of drum machinery on Synchro System and Aura?

 

[craner]

I like this kind of thing. I listened to Noir et Blanc lots last year without really knowing what it was. I kept meaning to ask about it here.

 

[Woebot]

It's very much got the feeling of people who heard Herbie Hancock "Rockit" and thought "ah!"

yes. "abele dance" is a particularly smashing one.

Doesn't King Sunny Ade go in for a bit of drum machinery on Synchro System and Aura?

yes. i think it was partially the influence of martin meissoner the french producer on sunny ade.

 

[Woebot]

but you can hear it on african-only tracks like his "bobby"

 

[Woebot]

or even more dancefloor friendly things like thomas frempong

 

[Woebot]

or this classic by souzy kasseya

 

[Woebot]

I like this kind of thing. I listened to Noir et Blanc lots last year without really knowing what it was. I kept meaning to ask about it here.

that's a cool one. it was overseen by hector zazou with electronics by CY1 but bony biyake was into stockhausen so not artificially spliced on

 

[Woebot]

the most rarified example of which being ray lema's "techno dream" - the homage to detroit

 

[Woebot]

always thought this must be a sample of dibango [go to 1:36]

 

[Woebot]

my fave dibango tune "mouna pola"... long alap - YOU MUST wait for the sublime break at 3.10... future compass point synth man wally badarou on board

 

[Woebot]

and an early bit of prog psychedelia

 

[Woebot]

and ANOTHER smash "afrovision"

DAMN i have all these records!

 

[Woebot]

manu dibango - under-rated IMHO

eclipsed in the muso's imagination by fela kuti and sunny ade



but on the ground it's all about SOUL MAKOSSA



[just ask the jacksons]