|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10"
|
|
STERNS 3062EP
|
Special limited edition 10" vinyl of Moreno And L'Orch First Moja-One in conjunction with the Stern's reissue of Sister Pili + 2 (STCD 3062CD).
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
STCD 3062CD
|
Moreno Batamba is fondly remembered and sadly missed in Kenya, but like many of the most popular musicians in East Africa, he was actually from Congo-Zaire. He left home when he was 16 and began his career in Uganda. With the Congolese band Bana Ngenge he moved from Kampala, Uganda, to Nairobi, Kenya, in 1974. Four years later, Moreno was in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, singing with the renowned Orchestra Safari Sound. Back in Nairobi, in 1983, Moreno recorded with the great Orchestra Virunga, his husky bass-baritone contrasting affectingly with Samba Mapangala's airy tenor. That same year he and his own Orchestra First Moja-One made their LP Sister Pili, two nine-minute songs on each side. It was Moreno's biggest success to date and was followed by a good run for a few years. A trip back home to Zaire interrupted his career for a while, but his 1993 album returned him to the Kenyan pop charts and headline engagements. Then, suddenly, he was gone -- dead after a brief illness at the age of 38. This CD, the first of Moreno's music to be released outside Africa, includes Orchestra First Moja-One's Sister Pili album in its entirety, supplemented by two extremely rare 1977 recordings of Moreno with Bana Ngenge. These six tracks make it perfectly clear why Congolese musicians were so popular in East Africa in the '70s, '80s, and '90s, and why it's high time Moreno and his bands were heard around the world.
|