Rock a Mambo – African Retro vol.5Pathé Marconi / EMI 1977

One of the heroes of this album, Dieudonne Nino Malapet died on January 29, 2012.
David.

didn’t know that, may he rest in peace..

I didn’t know that either.

I’ve wanted this album for years – thanks Moos.

yes, where are nauma and owl; please know you are missed! and thanks moos for hanging in there.

yes, where are nauma and owl; please know you are missed! and thanks moos for hanging in there.

Hey Moos,
good to see you back with loads of energy – keep your time to restore your archive! …and many thanks for the new uploads! Best wishes from Berlin
Bernd

Dear Moos (& other bloggers)

Waddabout archive.org ?

Super to see Moos holding the fort!!

Moos, why don’t you stream? Why only downloads?

..because that’s what we do Mr. Scott, streaming is a completely different discipline and no option. I stick to spreading the music physically, catch my drift ? It’s all about sharing the collection, nothing else. You can listen at home or in your car, where ever you like..

Yes Mr. Moos (… and your real name is?), I do understand that is what you do. But that’s not answering my question is it?

Rock A Mambo was a dynamic Rumba band and it made some great songs in Congolese Rumba Music. It was unique music to my eyes. This work proves how important this band was. I wish it lasted longer than it actually did.

thanks Moos, great job, great name and please Mr Johnson, stream-off to your heart’s content somewhere else. Nick

Just a thought> Do you have a backup of all these files you have on Mediafire? Just asking ‘cos when they deleted your files, you wrote you had to recreate them. With a backup just have to change the link. You are doing some great work and simply hate for you to recreate stuff after ‘the gods’ decided to silence you. By the way, you never did post any Letta Mbulu stuff. Do you have any from her?
To @Iain Scott, how else to you want it explained to you. Streaming requires a software to record the stream. One step to many for some of us. We can download and listen to it at home or anywhere. We want to enjoy the music away from the computer.

@ Iain Scott:

When I want streamed music, I don’t come to Moos’ blog. I switch on my Pure Sensia Internet Radio or use one of many streaming applications online (Radio Sure is particularly good). Soukouss Radio is one stream I listen to for most of the night, when I’m not using my pc. You can get it here: http://soukousradio.com/listen.asx
Moos simply shares some very rare vinyl rips from records he finds on the flea market or in some unique auctions. Let him do just that (what he does best), and no more!

@ Iain Scott:

When I want streamed music, I don’t come to Moos’ blog. I switch on my Pure Sensia Internet Radio or use one of many streaming applications online (Radio Sure is particularly good). Soukouss Radio is one stream I listen to for most of the night, when I’m not using my pc. You can get it here: http://soukousradio.com/listen.asx
Moos simply shares some very rare vinyl rips from records he finds on the flea market or in some unique auctions. Let him do just that (what he does best), and no more!

I told you I started at the very beginning of the blog and I did. It was Victor Olaiya in the Sixties where it started. I found that blogger makes it difficult to get there. year 2008, month may, the 6th.
Nothing was deleted,…phiew…

If it was about the “sharing” you would stream. This is about the taking.

I know that on the Comments section of a long-standing Blogger, I’m unlikely to have a sympathetic audience and credit to ‘Moos’ (though I still ask who are you?) for, so far, allowing my comments to stand unedited. I am well aware that I am gate-crashing your party.

But it does strike me that streaming would be a very small compromise to make, both on your part and for your followers, which could then defuse the whole situation. We’re not talking about internet radio here, we’re talking about streaming on demand.

OK, so you couldn’t listen to it in your (at least not now) but instant gratification for the listener is not always possible if you’re going to be fair to all parties.

Dear Mr. Scott, you can blabber as much as you like, make a blog of your own I’d say. Here at the GG, nothing is going to change….

This is so awesome, Moos, that you haven’t given up! Thank you!

This comment has been removed by the author.

@ Iain Scott. Please go away and let the blogger do his job. You can start your own blog and stream your records. Let us enjoy what we have.

Iain Scott is right though … as you give these things away – yes – you make some people happy, But reading about Malapet’s death – I think its sad that he probably – like Essous -died very poor and financially unrecogniswd for his services. YES I appreciate that this and some of the other works you post are not available, but by doing what you do, don’t you think you are cheating the musicians families – think about Franco whose family own the back catalogue – really, its the Madonna’s who US government fight for and not the small musicians. Also the music you upload here as you say are mostly out of print – but, if they were to be reissued – are likely to come out on small labels and not through big corporations – so again you hurt the little one and not the big ones. These companies are dying Moos and YOU help to kill them. When you talk about giving this stuff away, apart from possessing the physical copy, what do you own or any of these things? You don’t. and then You write to mediafire to ask that they allow you from giving away things that are not yours to give away. How can that be correct? I am sorry if you find my post offensive but I find your argument very weak. For example, in saying that if a person is the owner of a recording and they ask you to remove it, then does that mean you want Essous or Malapet to contact you? Streaming is a better option. Then you cheat or hurt nobody.

Here we go again, this might become an endless discussion. My aim is to get the world to listen to music it would otherwise not be able to listen to. The whole idea is to make the people know artists they would not be able to get to know if I would not do this ! Of course, everybody knows Franco or even Nino Malapet and Jean Essous. But tell me, did you know Master Bob Akwaboah or Starlight 78 before I introduced them to you ? Just some of you may but I’m sure most didn’t. It is to my opinion a huge waste to keep these records on the shelf and play them myself without sharing. I consider everybody in the world who wishes to listen to this rare music my personal friend ! And I do not feel guilty to those who made the music. It is my right to share my rare lp’s with my friends. Did you know sometimes I get reactions from the artists them selves ? The guys of Medium Medium of who I posted their lp ‘the Glitterhouse’ on my shadowblog ‘Ramdog’s Roughsite’ sent me a personal mail to thank me for the extra attention the post generated. Take a look at Rachid King’s album, posted here 2010, he personally thanks me and offered more of his music, how about that ? I am absolutely not aiming to destroy any company, big or small and I am convinced that the attention generated through my posts ONLY causes people to BUY MORE cd’s offered by the official channels. I myself own some 8.000 cd’s and 20.000 lp’s. I bought them all with my own earned money. And you know something, lots of the music I bought I got to know through blogs like my own. Loads of artists I would otherwise NOT have known now find a place and a way to the people. You are right if you say, the music is not mine to give away, no the music belongs to everybody, all of us. It is the recordbusiness who is responsible for destroying arists lifes. Earning the big bucks over their poor backs. I do not make a penny doing what I do. I spend money buying recordable cd’s, buying lp’s at auctions and fairs, buying equipment to be able to spread the music I believe MUST be heard by all of us. It is my mission in life to SHARE my collection and I shall fight for my right to do so ! Damn, I really needed to get that of my back..go and listen to music and be f****ing happy !

Thanks for your last post, Mr. Moos. You reveal yourself perhaps more than you know.

However you do not address the central point: the potential to reconcile two different viewpoints that streaming represents.

If you streamed you would still share the music, and you would still get the kudos for doing so.

But you would also leave the way open for legitimate companies, those who make an effort to correctly account either directly to the artist or to the original rights owner (and in this area, Mr. Moos, that is now the majority) to release the music that we all love.

I appreciate that, at the present, streaming is not as convenient as downloading but, Mr. Moos, we are all adults. We know that we can’t always have exactly what we want when we want it.

..if I posted an lp, still available through the official channels, tell me. I shall remove it straight away !

Perhaps it would be more honest if you revealed yourself Iain.

http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/iain-scott/a/135/17

As Moos said above, he doesn’t make any money from this. He isn’t harming your sales, he may even be helping your sales!!!

I can’t afford to buy all the CDs I’d like to. However that doesn’t stop me from having several thousand of the things, many bought from Sterns. And downloading complements this by expanding my knowledge and pointing me towards CDs that I do actually buy.

I rest my case..

Hey, Anonymous! How you doing? Yes, that’s me on the link you gave and Mr. Moos posted.

Perhaps you or Mr. Moos could do the same? Maybe then, we could talk about honesty.

But to get back to the point, Anonymous. There is enough evidence now to prove that free downloads DO harm sales. It’s a bit of a no-brainer isn’t it. If you can get something for free then why pay for it?

But if the music was streamed you would still have access to it and Mr. Moos would still have the satisfaction (?) of being the person who introduced you to it.

And myself, the musicians and all the people who have worked so hard to bring you what you profess to love, would get to feed our kids.

“But to get back to the point, Anonymous. There is enough evidence now to prove that free downloads DO harm sales. It’s a bit of a no-brainer isn’t it. If you can get something for free then why pay for it?”

Because 99% of this lovely music can’t be bought Iain? You find me some downloads on this site which are available in the shops – I’m damned if I can! Maybe, just maybe one or two at the most?

With the greatest respect, you are obsessing about blogsites like this – blaming them for difficulties in the music business – when in reality the situation is much more complicated than you might want to admit. I work in what you might term a parallel trade, and piracy affects me – potentially far more seriously than it does you.

I suggest you look at greedy landlords, greedy local authorities, greedy online operations like Zoverstocks, even greedy corporations like Amazon. All these people take your money and mine – not bloggers like Moos. Im sorry but you really do need to be more philosophical about things. All media retail has been in decline for about 15 years – we could have an entire blog about the various economic and cultural reasons why this is so. There are hardly any record shops left, hardly any bookshops left – I find this very sad indeed, but as far as interesting ones go, I doubt if it’s really much to do with downloading.

Moos isn’t doing any harm. He isn’t posting Triple Earth CDs, or Sterns CDs – in fact he is doing a very valuable job in enabling people to properly explore world music. That is very probably good for you – think about it.

Take a look at the blogsite “Listentoyourears”. Just like GlobalGrooves, this is also about fabulous music which can’t be bought any longer – and about music which is in serious danger of being fogotten.

Listening to a squeaky little stream doesn’t do the trick I’m afraid, folks need to hear the music properly. Sorry!

Tell me Iain, do you fret about people buying cheap secondhand CDs? Ebay, boot sales, Amazon marketplace…

now i want to add to the iain scott debate. when i cannot download because it is only streaming, i record the streaming track. so streaming will not stop me. when i, myself, find the album that i downloaded than i will buy it if i like that music.
moos you have opened my eyes and ears to so much music, if this mr scott wants to talk about honesty he would stick to the facts. the way he talks sounds like a hidden agenda to me

greetings richard

can we close this quarrel before we fight?

As far as I am concerned, I bought a few CDs from Stern’s (and Soundway, Strut, Analog Africa, Secret Stash etc etc) AFTER getting to know the musicians here and similar websites! I truly believe people buy more, not less, being exposed to the music in places like GG.
And another thing: does anyone believe that most Africans or Latin Americans can afford to buy CDs (not to mention vinyl), so to “feed children” in European countries? Don’t they have the right to know music native to their own countries?
How about setting record companies in under-developed countries, employing local people?

TO MISTER IAN SCOTT:
It’s cleat that you don’t know at all what you are claiming. I personally would buy every one of these rare african records if I only could find them somewhere. But most of them are impossible to find anywhere. But I still own 15 CD:s only from Franco and about 200 different african CD:s which were ordered to me From Stern’s catalog by my request and by the local world music shop Digelius Music in Helsinki. All together I have some 500 albums of african music which I have bought direct with my own money – so I have bought all interesting african records I just could find here in Helsinki. And nobody has lost any money becouse of some loadings from this excellent, or perhaps the best music blog in the whole world. Some records I would’t have bought at all, if I hawen’t known the artist or the band previously only because of this great blog.

Jukka from Helsinki

(Great job Moos, try to keep this blog going and my best wishes)

just another thought: if a site is closed (for whatever reason) that only had streams no one can listen to the streamed music anymore. but with downloads the music is still there (on the pc’s of the audience).
that’s my main reason why i prefer downloads.

thank you moos!!

its interesting that i replied to ian scotts post defending him and you censored it because it didnt suit you. it wasnt rude or insulting to you in any way it was factual. that says the truth about you and your reasons for posting music. i wish your readers knew the truth about you. as someone who believes in freedom, you choose censorship to truth. sometimes the truth hurts. but so the music you post hurts the artist and their families. i have no problems with you hurting the record industry, but i will defend the arts you post here – many of whom were never ever properly paid for their recordings – and their families. Its funny isnt it? you claim to be mr freedom but in your censorship – might be likened to hitler and his nazis, freedom is about accepting critique whether you like it or not.

Well, Anonymous,
I really don’t know what you are talking about here. I never censored your comment did I ? I do bloque the comments of Mr. Scott and he knows exactly why. A real nice comparison you make, I am like Hitler and his Nazi’s, …..wow…..
I bet you are a relative of Iain Scott or something or maybe you are him, hiding behind Anonymous. So, I do except your critique but I don’t except your comparison.
You must be plain idiot to say something like that, absolutely ridiculous. This time I let you pass because I want my readers to know just how dumb you are, next time you comment with words like this, I will block you comment, insane in the brain, that’s what you are !!!
..and tell us your name, coward..

Moos,

Why dont you ignore Scott and his ilk and do what you do best. Post and share. Some of the Ghanaian artistes whose music you have posted like Akwaboah, Atakora Manu and F.Kenya, even though were very popular in their days here in Ghana their music are very hard to find because most of them did not keep catalogues and the recording companies they recorded with are also out of business. Both Akwaboah and F.Kenya sons are also musicians now and they dont even have their parents music simply because they didnt keep any. It is from collectors like you who bought and kept the records in good shape that their music can now be heard and appreciated. Dont get worked up over this. You ae much appreciated

Kweku

Yes, way out of order and proportion some of the comments. Guess you can please all at the same time. Such is life.

We appreciate the work you do Moos. The internet needs more people like you who care about sharing and community.

Good day gentlemen: Interesting discussion of a complex issue. Let me throw in my 5 cents please. I am not anonymous: I am CC Smith, journalist and radio DJ devoted to disseminating African music and information about African music for 30 years, now manager for Samba Mapangala and in a position of seeing both points of view. 1) I happily avail myself of downloads from GG if the record is rare/out of print/unlikely to ever be available or reissued. 2) what does hurt the artist is when the LP may be out of print but the music is still very much available for digital download. Exactly one year ago Moos offered Samba’s Malako album, which has been for sale for several years on iTunes, CD Baby etc. and for which Samba does receive proceeds. I complained at the time but the album continued to reside on GG. I do request that it be exempted from the re-upload project here and that fans avail themselves of legitimate purchases if they desire to own this music. If you love Virunga’s music as so many profess to do, please do not deny him the paltry percentage of the 99 cents he will get from digital sales! 3) you guys are missing the elephant in the room: the real villain is YouTube, where you can find pretty much everything you want (streaming, thanks very much) on demand for free and posted without so much of a by-your-leave to the artist. Is that legal piracy or a public service?

Dear Minister of Information,
Thank you very much for sharing your feelings on the subject.
Your opinion, being journalist, radio-dj and manager of such
a great band, is very valuable and much appreciated. I am
sorry I didn’t remove the album of Samba Mapangala at the
time. You may consider it done now and I won’t re-upload it
again. If there is any other lp here you consider wrong to
re-up, I ask you to tell me and it will be removed as well.
I am going to do this right now, sorry I had to learn the
hard way. I should have done it the first time.
Anyway, thank you for your support
and wish Samba all the best
from Moos at the
Global Groove.
Thnx.

Once upon a time, if the story is to be believed, there was a great flood and water covered the earth. Noah built an ark and saved humanity and the animals. After the fall of Rome, when the barbarians destroyed what was then western civilization, monks saved some of human knowledge by creating illuminated manuscripts. In our time, when a virtual digital holocaust has destroyed the established music and publishing industries, Moos and people like him are protecting and preserving a portion of history that would otherwise be swept away and forgotten….. Some of us still have our lifejackets, however, so throw us a lifeline when you see us floating by, and thanks for supporting independent music!

Minister of information. Doest your post in itself prove a point? If an out of print album is available for download for free, then what would be the point in any small label taking the time effort etc and financing its reissuing ? Its like you are suggesting each time a label is considering an artists work, – that the onus must be on them to search and check if they can release the work – source bloggers, contact them, and ask them to remove it – and also any label seeking to undertake a release would have presumably been contacted by the artist or family or whoever legally claims ownership of the recordings – this seems somehow wrong, that the musician must seek validity to release his own recordings? Again, just like MrMoos disclaimer, the artist or financier is expected to check that something isnt already available for free before making it available? its a bit of a contradiction. Of course, larger 1st world artists have an industry behind them to comb the internet looking for sites offering such works, but here with african and other less popular forms, we are not dealing with such in this way. And just as an aside, I notice that on MrMoos other site he is offering the first SoftMachine album for download, I wonder if Robert Wyatt and others know about and have authorized this? This is not a nasty dig but a valid reference to prove a point. I hope you understand.

Absolutely right. As I said it is a complex issue, with moral and legal implications. Any label, big or small, is supposed to obtain clearances from the owners of the masters to license and release music for sale. What is not supposed to happen is a label or individual takes the music without permission, claiming to own it, and sells it for profit. Then there is a concept under Copyright Law called “fair use”: an individual can make a copy for his own personal use, but is not supposed to duplicate it and pass it around; in practice this is difficult to enforce. This is the point where it becomes a moral issue.

That said, the answer to your point has to do less with legal and moral considerations, and more with commercial issues. Quite right, a any label could well decide not to release a retrospective album if their source material is easily available for free. We are facing that issue now, contemplating a compilation of Samba’s early Les Kinois recordings, many of which are out there on the internet already. We sense there is some demand for them anyway, but would such an album sell even enough to recoup the cost of manufacturing? And as soon as sold all the tracks will be up on YouTube? But sometimes it is not just about money.

One answer, Minister of Information, is to re-release music in superior sound, and with a welter of sleeve notes and booklets etc. This is what Sterns have been doing with their Syliphone issues, and they are very nice things to own and enjoy. I just wish they’d dig deeper and re-release classic Syliphone LPS – maybe as 2fers.

Meanwhile Moos does an excellent job of letting us at least know of this music and enjoy it. All Sterns have to do is re-release some of these albums – and I for one would buy them.

When folks buy a CD it isn’t just about having the tracks. I’ve bought CDs of R’n’B and Blues recently which are in disgracefully bad sound, scrappy sleevenotes, patchy discographical info etc, etc – NOT worth the price of the CD package. Naming no label names! And did anybody receive any royalties? Well… I wonder.

To re-release music in superior sound, and with a welter of sleeve notes and booklets etc…. this is indeed NOT the answer – in case you do not know, Sterns are very close to bankruptcy – ask CC what happened to his own magazine and also ask yourself how long – for all his good intentions – he (CC) can support projects for all his love that do not cover costs – when you talk of booklets, information, restored sound – all this has costs, yet you seem to think it can magically appear – it does not.

‘I for one would buy them’. you, you are one and we can count cc and moos too, that makes three. And for every three buyers, how many downloaders are happy to survive on downloads alone? Ask yourself, for every thank you that mrmoos receives, how many people download and do not thank him? The best services MrMoos can do, possessing his wealth of music, is as his most recent post, to compile his own CDs of good songs, not to upload complete works or albums of artists, that is what Sterns themseelves also do. With the Syllaphone, they do not release the whole catalogue, or even a single enture LP. AND also what they choose to compile and release may not be – for you – or for i – be the best we consider, but it allows people to discover them, and they can then look for more – the entire LP – it also gives small labels the chance to reissue them, but if you have a blog offering the entire syllaphone catalogue for download for free, it is dead before it begins. Another thing, is also if mr moos makes his own compilations, it allows him to use his skills on this blog, to talk about why he made the selection, what he thinks about comparing tracks from different artists and periods, this kind of thing. That to me is offering a real service and not just giving stuff away wholesale.

When folks buy a CD it isn’t just about having the tracks. – did you consider – perhaps the label didnt have the finances to clean or source better copy recordings? perhaps they had no funding to pay writers, although i am sure like mrmoos and cc would consider it a labour of love, and do it for free if asked? And whatever you may say, its not worth the price, you still bought it. did you consider to revisit the shop and ask for a refund? Regarding royalties, these type of cd here do not sell thousands and thousands of copies – that is the point of exactly why such blogs harm them – of course we can only surmise as to whether the artist got paid or not, but the chances are that if an artist did not get paid, then that money was used to finance the next labels release – it keep it going in times of extreme difficulty. Now dont get me wrong, an artist should always be paid or rewarded for their work, but i hardly think the label owner makes enough money to go for a caribbean holiday or buy a yacht. It is not as simple as you suggest.

I agree with both Anon #1 and Anon #2, and of course it’s not simple at all. A deluxe box set, with all the bells and whistles, is a beautiful thing, and it looks like the value-added trend is gaining support. I think Sterns did OK with the Voice of Lightness Tabu Ley sets, but have no idea about the financial returns. I doubt they were enough to recoup costs and save the imperiled label at the same time. It can’t have been cheap to produce. I have been wondering if a Kickstarter-type campaign would work: would you pledge a certain amount in advance to assist in the production of a limited edition collectors’ item of a lovely compilation of a worthy artist/band?
Point 2: I think many people would be surprised to discover that many of the presumed monolithic labels in African and world music are actually the brainchild and labor of love of one person, or a very small bunch of devotees, trying to produce and circulate music they are passionate about, and to help the artists find a wider audience: Mr Iain Scott a case in point. Anyone who enters this field solely for commercial gain will abandon it very quickly.

I’m very sad to hear that Sterns might be in such trouble. I knew they’d shut the shop, I wonder why they relocated within central London though?

I’ll come clean – I work in the book trade, and it’s a trade which has also been devastated in recent years. But downloading has only recently become a factor in that decline. As I said in an earlier post, there are many many changes going on out there which are destroying retail businesses across the board. Downloading must affect CD sales I agree, but in the case of African music I’m not sure at all that is the case – I still can’t think that Moos’s LP uploads harm CD sales for firms like Sterns. In fact I think one of the problems might be that World Music in general has slipped down the media menu in recent years – and personally I think some… ahem, more modern… World music muddys the waters by not actually being so great. (sorry!) Moos reminds us how much magnificent music remains unissued on CD.

so glad you are back moos!

@Iain Scott:

Streaming and ownership are not mutually exlusive. Experienced pc users can record anything they hear over the net in (almsot) perfect CD quality using simple and free sound editors.

@The Minister of Information:
(1) I wouldn’t worry too much about Youtube. The vast majority of channel owners can’t even post audio in stereo, let alone high quality. In the field of African music, I only know one channel owner who posts perfect vinyl rips from his own lps (If you’re into Franco, you know the channel!)
(2) I’d be afraid of professional hackers who can tap into digital music databases (Amazon, Sterns, whatever), steal the tracks and start offering access to them at throw-away prices. Torrent websites are particulary notorious (my firewall, service provider and anti-virus software happily keep me away from those!)
(3) You always sign yourself as “CC Smith” without revealing whether you’re a dude or a woman in a tough male-dominated music industry (One Google search gives a faint clue). I guess that remains a puzzle for us to solve, but to me you’ll always be “The Minister of Information”. Thanks for sharing your views on copyright.
@Moos: Your generosity in sharing your wonderful and rare music has made some people envious. Don’t let that drag you down. Keep up the good work. I’d even advice music producers to respect the GG audience because we represent a significant segment of the music market and you – Moos, are probably customer number one! Business people should remember that the customer is always right!

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