August 03, 2009

Talakaka

An artist who should have been doing well in these times of recession and impending poverty, is Remmy Ongala.
As he himself told me in an interview just over twenty years ago:
(loosely translated) "....Me, I sing for the poor, I don't sing for the rich. To the rich I say they shouldn't frustrate the poor, because they are poor. For before you were rich, your father was poor. Or your grandfather too was poor. Maybe there wasn't a school, - because now school has become essential in present-day life. To get a job you must be able to read. To work the land you must be able to read. But before it wasn't like this. It was by strength: if you were strong you could work the land and have food to eat. And nowadays, people see it as a matter of prestige, because (they say) he went to university and he knows how to read and all that. I always try to tell people that the poor are always numerous, and they are the ones that give courage to the rich, they are the ones that always work the land, they are the ones that build all the houses. The rich never do any building. My songs are like that. So when I compose a song I don't always write down the words. I always recount the truth, of what I encounter, of what I see; and in the evening during a concert I sing this..."

The lp I would like to share with you in this post, is one of his earlier releases (see discography). According to Remmy there is no real difference between Super Talakaka and Super Matimila. Furthermore, when I talked to him in 1989 he was not even aware of the existence of this album....

More biographic details can be found here, and more music and bits of interviews in a later post.

POLP 538

PS: the great photo was taken during the interview by the great Ton Verhees.

EDIT November 10, 2012: Renewed the links.

EDIT August 4, 2019: Once more the link to the album has been renewed!

16 comments:

  1. Thank you a million. Remmy Ongala is a great artist. It's very sad that his material is so hard to find. Great picture too.

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  2. Thanks for this Stefan looking forward to hearing it. Did you have an LP cover scan for this one?

    D

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  3. Shukrani. Pia hongera!

    Usisahau, upande wa muziki wa Kiswahili Dakta Remmy Ongala bado ni 'namba wane'.

    Naomba usichelewe kutupa zaidi kutoka kwake Mzee Sura Mbaya.

    Kila la heri.

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  4. thanks a lot!!

    http://patrimoniosdelahumanidad.phpbb3.es/index.php

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  5. Wat he said on the interview is so true.

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  6. Thanks a lot. Remmy is one of my favourit swahili artists along with Mbaraka. Please post more albums of Remmy if you have. I have 3 albums "Nalilia Mwana", "On Stage With Remmy Ongala" & "Songs For The Poor Man"

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  7. Stefan, thank you a lot for posting this album. I was mad trying to find the song ''Nauliza baba aliyenizaa''. Here I am and enjoying the track. Looking forward for another posting. Will this include these songs? 1. Mwanangu Selina, 2. Dunia, 3. Penzi lau, 4. Leo kwa mwenzio kesho kwako (Ngoya), 5. Ujana maji ya moto etc.
    Salaamz,

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  8. whats going on you havent posted music in a long time please start to post more music espcially my nigerian juju,fuji and apala music thank u

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  9. @Anonymous (the last one): Sorry to keep you waiting. Service will be resumed as soon as possible....

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  10. Hope your having a good break & everything is good for you Stefan. Looking forward to your return.

    D

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  11. we miss you stefan - and look forward to when you are able to return

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  12. check those images from Poly Rythmo in 2009 that friends of mine shot and edit

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owr8q9zhR7c

    and thanks for the music !

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  13. good day! thanks for all of your work and shares. this file seems to be missing and I wonder if you could check on it and re-upload if necessary.

    thanks!

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  14. sorry, I tried again and the server found the file.

    cheers,
    robert

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  15. Thanks, Matt, for pointing this out. If you find any more missing links, let me know.

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