Why do African musicians always sound as if they’re making a happy-go-lucky-soundtrack? It seems, the kind of joy for life that is to be heard in every single track on this Best Of Compilation doesn’t take much to reach. The sum of achievements through the Western progress that still hasn’t found their ways to the “world’s cradle” can be forgotten about instantly. But Tunji Oyelana did not even have the individual freedom to say or do what he likes under the dominant Military-dictatorship, which finally forced him towards London and into exile. After all, it’s probably exactly that, what caused the musician’s happiness. Not to be poor due to a lack of belongings, but rather rich due to needing very little. This whole concept is reflected through his music. There are often minutes without a single change in harmonies and often, like in »Agda Lo De«, a hopelessly overdriven solo is being played on top of the very same chord over and over. For an ear that’s been Europe-schooled over many years, it might come along as plump. But in terms of liveliness, it has much more to offer than most of the records being sold nowadays. Full of lifeblood and with the heart at the right spot, Tunji Oyelana suggests a kind of happiness that can hardly ever be delivered in the form of music.
Various Artists
Roots Rocking Zimbabwe: The Modern Sound Of
Analog Africa