I have referred to the subject before, but it's a pity that some of the great artists of Africa only generate 'global' interest -and sometimes even recognition- after they have performed with a western ensemble or have had a record produced by a western producer. One of these great artists (and maybe he is even a Great Artist) is Gnonnas Pedro, of Africando fame - until he died in 2004.You can read more about him in this interesting post on the "With Comb and Razor" blog. And while you're at it, don't forget to download the last track (or all of the tracks) of the album posted there.
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Here is an lp from (I suspect) 1980. The A-side of the album features tracks which have at some point been released on CD (the two Ledoux compilations).Side B features just one track, "Kalapchap".
As a bonus I add this wonderful single, with an earlier version of "Dark As A Dungeon" (than the one you just downloaded from Comb & Razor), by Gnonnas and his Panchos de Cotonou.
Funny, I was just listening to Pedro Gnonnas after a while, when an email from Google Alerts for a search I saved on his name popped up, with a link to your post.
ReplyDeletePedro is really one of the great African singers/musicians. Thanks for your post, and the link to Kalapchap which might be of better quality than the version I have.
by the way, there's some more gnonnas here:
ReplyDeletehttp://combandrazor.blogspot.com/search?q=gnonnas