Soul of Angola

Music from Angola has never been easy to get hold of in the UK, and until recently anybody interested in exploring a historical perspective has had virtually nothing to go on. The recent five-volume series from Buda Musique changed that at a stroke, each disc offering generous playing time and a thick descriptive booklet, with photographs, background information, discographical data etc. Now, there’s this fine double CD with 40 tracks by 20 different artists or groups, dating from 1965 to 1975.

The present writer can offer little or nothing in the way of expertise on this music, but I do remember reading somewhere that the Brazilian samba derives directly from the semba of Angola, transported to the new world by slaves. From this you could speculate that Brazilian music was familiar enough to Angolan listeners, when it was brought back to them in the age of recordings, for them to adopt it pretty much wholesale - although this is also true of the way in which Latin and Caribbean music on record was received all across Africa. In any case, the transatlantic influence here is very strong - even to the extent that some tracks seem almost like they’re aiming for a carbon copy effect - Tanga’s “Eme N’Gongo Iami”, with its fine acoustic-guitar, is one. But it might also be that Angolan musicans learnt a more general lesson from listening to Brazilian (and also Cuban) music - how to take a traditional African rhythm and invest it with the polish and the flair to turn it into contemporary dance music, refining the complex rhythmic patterns with subtle blends of percussion sounds and textures.

Latin flavours aren’t the whole story here. As Angola shares a border of several thousand miles with Zaire, it’s hardly surprising that there are strong doses of Congolese-style guitar throughout these recordings. The colonial influence is clearly discernable in places, too, like on “Muxima” by Oz Kiezos, an instrumental that owes much, surely - directly or indirectly - to Portuguese Fado tunes. Other tracks seem to reach deeper into the African continent, sounding not unlike some of the small group sounds coming out of Zambia or Zimbabwe at around this time. And maybe there’s the odd touch of highlife, brought down the West Coast from Ghana or Sierra Leone. All this isn’t to suggest that the music here is some kind of pastiche - on the contrary, the overall impression is of a vibrant popular musical culture that makes the best of various ingredients to create a range of distinctively indigenous sounds.

On virtually every track the guitar is the dominant instrument, and there’s some very fine playing to be heard. The only exception is Minguito’s frenetic accordion-led “N’Gandala Ku Uganhala O Fuma”, a real treat that leaves you wishing they’d included a few more tracks by this fascinating character. But that’s only to look a gift horse in the mouth. For around about the price of an ordinary full-price CD, this outstanding anthology offers a wealth of hugely enjoyable music. In addition, a neat little booklet offers a dozen pages of notes in French and in English, together with some interesting (if rather tiny) illustrations.

R.T.
(01/02)


Various: Soul of Angola - Lusafrica 362392 Music from Angola has never been easy to get hold of in the UK, and until recently anybody interested in exploring a historical perspective has had virtually nothing to go on. The recent five-volume series from Buda Musique changed that at a stroke, each disc offering generous playing time and a thick descriptive booklet, with photographs, background information, discographical data etc. Now, there’s this fine double CD with 40 tracks by 20 different artists or groups, dating from 1965 to 1975. The present writer can offer little or nothing in the way of expertise on this music, but I do remember reading somewhere that the Brazilian samba derives directly from the semba of Angola, transported to the new world by slaves. From this you could speculate that Brazilian music was familiar enough to Angolan listeners, when it was brought back to them in the age of recordings, for them to adopt it pretty much wholesale - although this is also true of the way in which Latin and Caribbean music on record was received all across Africa. In any case, the transatlantic influence here is very strong - even to the extent that some tracks seem almost like they’re aiming for a carbon copy effect - Tanga’s “Eme N’Gongo Iami”, with its fine acoustic-guitar, is one. But it might also be that Angolan musicans learnt a more general lesson from listening to Brazilian (and also Cuban) music - how to take a traditional African rhythm and invest it with the polish and the flair to turn it into contemporary dance music, refining the complex rhythmic patterns with subtle blends of percussion sounds and textures. Latin flavours aren’t the whole story here. As Angola shares a border of several thousand miles with Zaire, it’s hardly surprising that there are strong doses of Congolese-style guitar throughout these recordings. The colonial influence is clearly discernable in places, too, like on “Muxima” by Oz Kiezos, an instrumental that owes much, surely - directly or indirectly - to Portuguese Fado tunes. Other tracks seem to reach deeper into the African continent, sounding not unlike some of the small group sounds coming out of Zambia or Zimbabwe at around this time. And maybe there’s the odd touch of highlife, brought down the West Coast from Ghana or Sierra Leone. All this isn’t to suggest that the music here is some kind of pastiche - on the contrary, the overall impression is of a vibrant popular musical culture that makes the best of various ingredients to create a range of distinctively indigenous sounds. On virtually every track the guitar is the dominant instrument, and there’s some very fine playing to be heard. The only exception is Minguito’s frenetic accordion-led “N’Gandala Ku Uganhala O Fuma”, a real treat that leaves you wishing they’d included a few more tracks by this fascinating character. But that’s only to look a gift horse in the mouth. For around about the price of an ordinary full-price CD, this outstanding anthology offers a wealth of hugely enjoyable music. In addition, a neat little booklet offers a dozen pages of notes in French and in English, together with some interesting (if rather tiny) illustrations. R.T. (01/02)

	Various Soul of Angola Anthologie De La Musique Angolaise 1965/1975 Lusafrica 362392


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