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Franco cut nearly 2,000 songs, so Braun certainly had his work cut out for him. This thoughtful chronological survey, which runs from 1953 to 1980, traces the maestro’s development and assimilation of new ideas. The 48-page booklet Braun wrote explains the conventions of Congolese music, points out which qualities were derived from Cuban music and which from local ethnic traditions, and provides both sociopolitical and musical contexts. Yet even these thorough liner notes can’t hope to be anything more than icing on the cake–the cake being 148 minutes of addictive music. The songs combine an ever shifting rhythmic matrix–the classic “Marie Naboyi,” for example, shimmies through four distinct episodes, each with its own irresistible groove and melody–with gorgeous vocal harmonies, intricate lattices of guitar, and punchy horn charts, and in the sebene section (introduced to Congolese music by Franco’s mentor Henri Bowane) the players take extended solos. It’s an excellent introduction, more than enough to satisfy the needs of the casual listener–though it should be said that it’s pretty hard to stay just a casual listener of Franco.
Last year Sterns also continued its invaluable Authenticité series, named after a state policy in post-independence Guinea that, beginning in 1959, attempted to encourage homegrown culture. The Syliphone Years is a double-CD set from Balla et Ses Balladins, led by Balla Onivogui, a member of the first authenticité band, the Syli Orchestre National, which doubled as a sort of music school, training young players and helping them form other groups to represent each of the country’s 34 regions. Onivogui and bandmate Kélétigui Traoré broke off to start their own sanctioned groups (a double CD by Kélétigui et Ses Tambourinis is coming soon on Sterns), and The Syliphone Years contains a superb selection of the music Onivogui made between 1968-1980. The sound of Cuba is inescapable–in fact the disproportionate influence of such outside cultures was one reason president Sékou Touré launched the program–but the dominant rhythms, melodic ideas, and lyrical themes are indeed indigenous, drawn from Malinké and Fula traditions.
OK, I’m through. On to 2009!
