|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LP
|
|
VAMPI 285LP
|
First time reissue. By the time Discos Fuentes released the album Wganda Kenya Kammpala Grupo in 1977, Wganda Kenya's discography was expanding with many 45 singles and appearances in various artists collections. The group's 1975 debut record África 5.000 was a full-length LP in the US and a various artists compilation in Colombia, which was followed by the self-titled long player the following year. However, Kammpala Grupo, which shared the album's title and was credited to three songs on the record, had never appeared before, yet was basically the same studio group as Wganda Kenya. The record kicks off with the joyful "El Gallo Africano" which features exquisite interplay between Sepúlveda's highlife style guitar and an authentic-sounding African style saxophone, perhaps played by Carlos Piña. In reality it was "Go Call Police Chief" by prolific Nigerian highlife guitarist Chief Oliver Sunday Akanite, aka Oliver De Coque. Next up is Kammpala Grupo's 'La Yuca Rayá' ('Grated Yuca'), written by Isaac Villanueva in a style he termed son haitiano which sounds much more like Zimbabwe Shona mbira music. Wganda Kenya's 'Caimito' (star apple, a type of tropical fruit), on the other hand, is actually a cover of a relatively well-known Haitian merengue song. Kammpala Grupo then takes us from the French Antilles to the multi-cultural discotheques of Paris, where a cover version of Black Soul's Afro-boogie anthem "Black Soul Music" is retooled and renamed "King Kong", perhaps in a nod to the 1976 remake of the monster flick of the same name. Side two introduces you to the infectious merengue rebita of Angola via "La riphyta" with "Paparí", aka Mariano Sepúlveda, doing the vocals and faithfully replicating the Angolan guitar style. "La Trompeta Loca" (The Crazy Trumpet), probably the nuttiest track on the album, is an ingenious cover of "Ye Gbawa Oo Baba (Tribute To Nigeria)" by Joe Mensah of Ghana. As with all their covers of African tunes, this rendition tightens up the original with some pop sheen. This is followed by one of the most powerfully original songs to come out of the entire Wganda Kenya project, Mike Char's reggae anthem "El Nativo" with Joe Arroyo on vocals. The record ends on a more authentically Caribbean sounding note with the instrumental "El testament", a cheerful islands banger with bright brass, syncopated calypso beats and chunky cuatro guitar (or ukulele). With all this wild and funky sounding Afro-based music in its grooves, Wganda Kenya Kammpala Grupo was ahead of its time. 180 gram vinyl.
|