Benedito Nunes is from Bahia, but he moved to Rio de Janeiro
to record his music. Probably that’s why his forró has a bit of
a samba sound. I kinda like those chorus parts and guitar walks.
Unfortunately the needle jumps one time during track #1, but I
think it’s still worth a spin.

tracks;

1 Ouritimbó
2 Pra fazer bilú-bilú
3 Quando esse cabra morrer
4 Ou casa ou morre
5 Namoro escondido
6 Ai, Tertulina
7 Pensao da Rua Auróra
8 Que felicidade
9 Cabra mentiroso
10 Caititu enjoado
11 Vou fazer sucesso
12 Adeus gereré

Rumba is pure Afro-Cuban music for only voices and percussion.
It began with harber workers singing and dancing in their spare
time in the docks of Havana and Matanzas, playing rhythms on
cargo boxes. It comes in three styles, Guaguancó, Yambú and
Columbia. Carlos Embale is one of the main performers of the
guaguancó style, enjoy this rare LP.

tracks;

1 Timbalaye
2 Mañana te espero, niña
3 Donde estabas anoche
4 El mulato rumbero
5 Oh! Humanidad
6 Llora como llore
7 Tonache
8 Chambeleque
9 Genial compositor
10 Gongorongon

It took a while, but here’s another Théo Blaise. After hearing
him again with Sam Mangwana this week, I thought it was his time.
Chef d’orchestre and solo guitar by Master Mwana Congo, all songs
written, arranged and mixed by Théo Blaise himself.
What can I say ? Just listen.

tracks;

1 Nadia Soleil
2 Viva O.U.A.
3 Mileni
4 Dovi na ngaï

Puerto Rican singer Ismael Rivera used to work with Latin
percussionist Rafael Cortijo for many years. On this solo
project, Rafael joins him again as an invited guest.
Rivera had a great voice, they called him ‘el Sonero Mayor’.
Beautiful 70’s piece of latin, a must have.

tracks;

1 Soy feliz
2 Son son sonero
3 Tonto del amor
4 Yo no quiero que te enamores
5 Las tumbas
6 No soy para ti
7 Parece que le gusta
8 Boriqueneando
9 Si yo pudiera
10 Los apuros de Miguel

From today we’ll have us a brand new American president.
Barack Obama has his roots in Kenya so I thought it would
be appropriate to post some Kenyan music today.
Abana Ba Nasery was a succesful trio from Bunyore, they
made their sweet but primitive sound, using only two
acoustic guitars and a Fanta bottle. The rhythm was created
by scraping the ribs of the bottle with a metal rod. When this
LP was made the recordings were already 30 years old.
I wonder if Obama speaks some Swahili too, in any case
this is great music. Listen to the Roots of Obama.

tracks;

1 Atisa wangu
2 Khwatsia ebunangwe
3 Servanus andai
4 Nilimwacha muke risavu
5 Mapenzi kama karata
6 Noah Libuko
7 Omukhana meri
8 Abasiratsi muhulire
9 Ndakhomela
10 Ebijana bie bubayi
11 Mushalo ebutula|
12 Rosey wangu

We saw quite some of Martinho da Vila’s albums on this page, but
this one was still missing, untill now. Maybe because it gets a
little too sweet for me at the end. It starts out with a couple
of fantastic samba hits though. Topnotch musicians, beautifully
played. For all the fans of Martinho da Vila.

tracks;

1 Canta canta, minha gente
2 Disritmia
3 Dente por dente
4 Tribo dos carajas
5 Malandrinha
6 Renascer das cinzas
7 Patrao, prenda seu gado
8 Nego, vem cantar
9 Calango vascaindo
10 Visgo de jaca
11 Viajando
12 Festa de umbanda

Two of my favourite Congolese singers on one great album,
that’s what we got here. Théo Blaise Kounkou and Sam Mangwana
in a sweet colaboration. As a guest star we also hear Mavos Mavungu
on the title song, ‘Les Champions’. Label and year are vague but the music
is absolutely not, don’t miss this one !

tracks;

1 Ata bassali nakozonga
2 Makengo
3 Les champions
4 La fete au village

WARNING !

Do you know that phenomena, you buy an LP, you check it properly
for being in a good condition. This one looks perfect, but when
I was recording it and came to the second side, it appeared
to be pressed almost 1 centimeter out of the center.
So, the first 6 tracks are just fine but tracks 7 to 12
sound a bit FALSE I’m affraid. The music is so nice however,
I didn’t want to withhold it from you.

Rafael Cortijo was one of Puerto Rico’s heroes of the 50’s
and 60’s. His plena’s and bomba’s were and are still among
the most respected in the world. This is his first stereo
recording from 1960. Volare is a well known song of which
he made his own version. If you are familiar wirh the music
of Brazil’s singer Dorival Caymmi, you will recognize the last
song on this album. It used to be called ‘Maracangalha’.
Cortijo’s versions are great, they sound natural as if
they were his own. Like lots of Cortijo’s albums, this one
is also with the great singer ‘Ismael Rivera’ with whom
he worked for many years.

tracks;

1 Oriza
2 Si te mueres no me lleves
3 Volare
4 Que le paso
5 La hija de la vecina
6 Madame Calalu
7 Y Pedro Flores
8 Mofongo pelao
9 Solavaya
10 Los chismosos
11 Dona Chana
12 Me voy a Marancagaya

It is getting closer now, carnaval is on our doorstep. I took
this picture in Rio, 2 years ago, time sure flies. This is Global
Sampler vol. 20 already, it samples the LP’s posted
between december 13 and december 28. There’s plenty
variety on this one again, enjoy it.

tracks;

1 Young Tiger – Tiger in your tank
2 Ebenezer Obey & his International Brothers – Ijesha
3 Le Nimba de N’zerekore – Ziko
4 Los Guaracheros de Oriente – La fiesta de los feos
5 22 Band – Venez voir
6 Doble R Super Special Stars – Auto biew
7 Original Shleu Shleu – Toujou juré
8 Joseito Mateo – Quisqueya
9 Riachao – Pitada de tabaco
10 Israel Vibration – Why you so craven
11 Anibal Velásquez – Coqueto de agua
12 African System Orchestra – African system no 1
13 Sam Mangwana – Georgette Eckins
14 Ruts D.C. – Push yourself/Make it work
15 Miguel Aceves Mejia – Siete leguas
16 Pedro Laza y su Banda – La champeta
17 Martinho da Vila – Plim-plim
18 Syli Authentic – Aye na
19 Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited – Ndanzwa ngoma kurira

This is the second edition in the series ‘Nova História da MPB’
about Martinho da Vila. The first was from 1970 when ( if I’m
correct ) it was still called História da MPB. It is a 10″
album with only 8 songs, 4 by Martinho and 4 of his songs
by other artists. Samba lovers should not miss it. Se gosta de
de sambar como eu, nao deixe este albun pasar. Vamos embora,
vamos a sambar.

tracks;

1 Martinho da Vila – Menina moça
2 Isaura Garcia – O pequeno Burgués
3 Roberto Silva – Tom Maior
4 Martinho da Vila – Quatro séculos de modas e costumes
5 MPB 4 – Iaiá do cais dourado
6 Martinho da Vila – Folia de reis
7 Martinho da Vila – Linha do ao
8 Cármen Costa – Amor, pra que nasceu ?