The first-ever compilation of music
from the islands of São Tomé and Principe, released by Bongo Joe Records under the
title Léve Léve, was
an early highlight of 2020, and even on a double album of killer
jams, África Negra stood out. Interlocking guitar lines over a
staggering, strutting rhythm, when they hit their phasers and launch
into the STP-powered equivalent of seben
jam, things take a turn for the truly hypnotic. Even with two
straight África Negra tracks leading off the album, and another at
the midway point, I wanted more. And on April 1, Bongo Joe Records will be
obliging me.
Formed
in 1974, África Negra gained notoriety across their island nation as
it took its independence from Portugal in 1975. Their
sound braided together music from across Africa
and the Lusaphone world—Ghanaian highlife sweetness, slick Congolese
soukous guitar lines, touches
of Cuba, Haiti and Brazil—into
a genre their fans began calling mama djuma. As the group hit
their stride in the ‘80s, they got bigger—adding a horn section
that swelled their ranks to a
dozen members—and began
releasing albums in what can only described as a flurry. Their debut
came in 1981; in 1983 they released three whole albums, four in
1991, running their total to
15 albums with another three
in ‘95 and ‘96 before the group called it
quits—well, they thought it was the end--but a rebooted África
Negra plans to tour Europe in 2022.
There’s
a special yellow double-LP edition available for pre-order on Bandcamp
now, along with a couple of tracks to stoke your appetite.
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