Kalle & l’African Team -Tango ya ba Wendo Vol. II
african 1970

Hi Moos, I think the source of your confusion in the small print. Your record is manufactured in East Africa and so might possibly be out of sync with official releases on the African label.

Hi Moos, I think the source of your confusion in the small print. Your record is manufactured in East Africa and so might possibly be out of sync with official releases on the African label.

Great music Sir, many thanks. Apurva from Pune, India.

There is a questionable Franco CD with this title from one of those vulturine labels that picked over the carcase of Franco’s oeuvre. Sterns stocked it at one time:

http://www.sternsmusic.com/disk_info.php?id=SAKU008

there is absolutely nothing questionable about the franco cd to which you refer and to the best of my knowledge it was licensed with the permission of Franco’s daughter – mami – in fact it is possibly more reputable than the sterns franco cd series – it also includes the track tango ya ba wendo – which is more than the kenyan bootleg shown here which by all accounts has nothing to do with wendo in any way whatsoever.

take it easy bro, it’s just a name on a cover, I was not referring to anything..and eh..by the way, do you have a name ?

take it easy bro, it’s just a name on a cover, I was not referring to anything..and eh..by the way, do you have a name ?

You are quite right to pull me up on the use of the word “questionable”, Anonymous, as it carries overtones of illegality which I did not mean to convey at all. It was an ill-advised usage and I withdraw it unreservedly. In its place I will substitute the word “shoddy”; indeed two words “very shoddy”. I have in front of me a CD entitled “The Best of Franco: Dix Ans Apres Son Mort” on the Grace Music label and, like the one mentioned above, licensed by Mamy Luambo. I bought this from Sterns for £12.95 (say 15 euros or dollars). The front sleeve is a poorly printed single sheet, blank on the back without a single note of any description; the back sleeve and CD itself contain the following track listing: 1) Mamou II; 2) Decision Echange Maloba; 3) Bolingo Etondi Souvenirs; 4) Nganda Parcelle Bavanda; 5) Mario III; 6) Sept Ans de Mariage; 7) Iran-IraK; 8)Merci Bapesa Na Chien; 9) In Memoriam Lukusa; 10) Layile; 11) Massu. When I bought this I was fairly new to Franco’s wider oeuvre but I recognised such tracks as “Mamou” and “Mario” and, on listening, these were definitely not in the correct place in track order according to the list. A little further investigation and I worked out that Track 1 was in fact Track 8; 2 was 9; 3 was 10; 4 was 11; 5 was 3; 6 was 4; 7 was 5; 8 was 6; 9 was 7; 10 was 2 and 11 was 1. In short the company had achieved the singular accomplishment of mislabling every single track on the CD. Good that the Franco estate is receiving some recompense but I would suggest that the bulk of the profit for this lazy and slipshod product is going into the pockets of the record company and that both the purchaser and more particularly the artist(s) are being shown a disagreeable lack of respect. For all the record company seems to care the release could have been licensed by all 20 of Franco’s offspring and by Ibrahim Sylla and by the late President Mobutu himself. It may be, as you insinuate, that the “Francophonic” releases are of more borderline repute (though I strongly doubt that) but at least with the notes and scholarly effort to identify the musicians, it seems that Sterns Music is attempting to respect the listener and, more importantly, honour the artists.

If anyone’s still looking at this post by the way it’s got to be African 360.087