Over an incessantly driving, complex polyrhythmic foundation, an interplay unfolds between Papé Nziengui’s peculiarly soft, high voice and a powerful female choir. The mixture of the complex ritual music of the Thsogo and electric instrumentation didn’t just meet with enthusiasm in the late ‘80s: conservative ears are said to have considered the sometimes bombastic keyboards and the occasionally distorted electric guitars as sacrilege. »Kadi Yombo« was first released in ‘89 in Gabon, the homeland of Papé Nziengui. The energetic musician, who’s played with heavyweights like Papa Wemba and Manu Dibango, landed a nationwide success at the time. Even though »Kadi Yombo« was a big commercial success in the small Central African country at the time, the album is almost impossible to find there these days. 33 years after its first release, the immensely deserving Awesome Tapes From Africa label has now re-released the album and made it available to the world – another lesson in the continent’s musical richness. Even outside its religious context, which uses the hallucinogenic iboga incidentally, this music – centred around the ngombi, an African bowed harp, and Nziengui’s voice – has lost none of its rousing, hypnotic power in its modernised form.
Various Artists
Wagadu Grooves Vol.2: The Hypnotic Sound Of Camara 1991-2014
Hot Mule