{"id":5610,"date":"2018-07-06T00:42:50","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T23:42:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wasserbassin.com\/site\/?post_type=product&p=5610"},"modified":"2019-05-05T01:25:15","modified_gmt":"2019-05-05T00:25:15","slug":"v-a-african-scream-contest-vol-2-benin-1963%e2%80%8b-%e2%80%8b1980-2lp","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.wasserbassin.com\/site\/product\/v-a-african-scream-contest-vol-2-benin-1963%e2%80%8b-%e2%80%8b1980-2lp\/","title":{"rendered":"V\/A – African Scream Contest Vol.2 – Benin 1963\u200b-\u200b1980 – 2LP"},"content":{"rendered":"

A great compilation can open the gate to another world. Who knew that some of the most exciting Afro-funk records of all time were actually made in the small West African country of Benin? Once Analog Africa<\/strong> released the first African Scream Contest<\/strong> in 2008, the proof was there for all to hear, gut-busting yelps, lethally welldrilled horn sections and irresistibly insistent rhythms added up to a record that took you into its own space with the same electrifying sureness as any favourite blues or soul or funk or punk sampler you might care to mention.<\/p>\n

Ten years on, intrepid crate-digger Samy Ben Redjeb unveils a new treasuretrove of Vodoun-inspired Afrobeat heavy funk crossover greatness. Right from the laceratingly raw guitar fanfare which kicks off Les Sympathics\u2019 pile-driving opener, it\u2019s clear that “African Scream Contest II<\/strong>” is going to be every bit as joyous a voyage of discovery as its predecessor. And just as you\u2019re trying to get off the canvas after this one-punch knock out, an irresistible Afro-ska romp with a more than subliminal echo of the Batman theme puts you right back there. Ignace De Souza and the Melody Aces\u2019 \u201cAsaw Fofor” would\u2019ve been a killer instrumental but once you\u2019ve factored in the improbably-rich-to-the-point-of-being-Nat-King-Cole-influenced lead vocal, it\u2019s a total revelation.<\/p>\n

The screaming does not stop there, in fact it\u2019s only just beginning. But the strange thing about “African Scream Contest II<\/strong>“\u2019s celebration of unfettered Beninese creativity is that it would not have been possible without the assistance of a musician who had been trained by the Russian secret services to “search and destroy” enemies of the country\u2019s (then) Marxist-Leninist president Mathieu Kerekou.<\/p>\n

Already familiar to fans of the first African Scream Contest<\/strong> as a mainstay of ruthlessly disciplined military band Les Volcans de la Capitale, Lokonon Andr\u00e9 vanished in a cloud of dust at Ben Redjeb\u2019s behest with a list of names and some petrol money, only to return a few days later having miraculously tracked down every single name he\u2019d been given. The source of this Afrobeat bounty-hunter\u2019s impressive people-finding skills – his training with the KGB – highlights the tension between encroaching authoritarian politics and fearless expressions of personal creative freedom which is the back-story of so much great African music of the 60s and 70s. Happily, in this instance, Lokonon was tracking the artists down to offer them licensing deals, rather than to arrest them.<\/p>\n

Where some purveyors of vintage African sounds seem to be strip-mining the continent\u2019s musical heritage with no less rapacious intent than the mining companies and colonial authorities who previously extracted its mineral wealth, Samy Ben Redjeb\u2019s determination to track this amazing music to its human sources pays huge karmic dividends.<\/p>\n

Like every other Analog Africa<\/strong> release, “African Scream Contest II<\/strong>” is illuminated by meticulously researched text and effortlessly fashion-forward photography supplied by the artists themselves. Looming large – alongside Lokonon Andr\u00e9 – in the cast of biopic-worthy characters to emerge from this seductive tropical miasma is visionary space-nerd Bernard Dohounso, who laid the foundations for Benin\u2019s vinyl predominance by importing and assembling the turntables that would play the products of his Bond villain-acronymed pressing plant SATEL, a factory that would revolutionise the music industry in the whole region.<\/p>\n

The scene documented here couldn\u2019t have been born anywhere else but in the Benin Republic , and the prime reason for that is Vodoun. It\u2019s one of the world\u2019s most complex religions, involving the worship of some 250 divinities, where each divinity has its own specific set of rhythms, and the bands introduced on the African Scream Contest series and other compilations from that country were no less diverse than that army of different Gods. At once restless pioneers and masters of the art of modernising their own folklore, the mystic sound of Vodoun was their prime source of inspiration.<\/p>\n

One especially irascible Vodoun-adept was Antoine Dougbe, who styled himself \u201cThe devil\u2019s prime minister\u201d while turning ancestral rhythms into satanically alluring modern beats. As Orchestre Poly-Rythmo songwriter Pynasco has observed sagely, \u201cEvil is not elsewhere, evil extends into the house\u201d. And “African Scream Contest II<\/strong>” is a gloriously cinematic road-trip through an undiscovered realm of music lore whose familiarity is every bit as thrilling as its otherness. <\/span><\/p>\n

Analog Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Analog Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

A great compilation can open the gate to another world. Who knew that some of the most exciting Afro-funk records of all time were actually made in the small West African country of Benin? Once Analog Africa<\/strong> released the first African Scream Contest<\/strong> in 2008, the proof was there for all to hear, gut-busting yelps, lethally welldrilled horn sections and irresistibly insistent rhythms added up to a record that took you into its own space with the same electrifying sureness as any favourite blues or soul or funk or punk sampler you might care to mention. <\/span><\/p>\n

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