Review

Various Artists

Studiolo: The 90’s Afro Cosmic Era

Antinote • 2020

Who remembers the German TV show »Bananas«? In this rare mixture of music and comedy show of the early eighties, in which Frank Zander also took part at the beginning, there was a song of the Swedish band Caramba in the credits. »Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot« is one of those silly numbers, which is firmly established in the ear canals with earworm proof infallibility. It is quite disturbing that you would encounter this song again on a compilation of Afro/Cosmic tracks from the nineties. But true. The Austrian DJ Stefan Egger quoted exactly this song for his African Project in the number »Ethno Beat (Afro Version)«. Which is somehow misleading as a reference. Because Egger got the suggestion during a holiday in Italy. In Rimini he listened to a set by the »Afro Style« pioneer Daniele Baldelli with this typical mixture of Italo Disco, Afrobeat, Reggae and various other influences. From then on Egger wanted to make his own contribution. Like a number of other Austrian and German DJs who otherwise preferred to work with trance, he imported the Italian model without further ado and gave it its own spin. With tracks that they played at speeds decidedly below 120 BPM. »Studiolo« serves as an introduction to this phenomenon which has been overlooked so far. The title alludes to the Italian cabinets of curiosities of the Renaissance, forerunners of today’s museums. And these numbers are curiosities in any case, the border between cosmic and comic is in the vast majority very fluid. See the »Ethno Beat« mentioned at the beginning. Not a single case in this collection.

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