January 12, 2010

Insult

To tell you the truth, I am not quite sure when or where I recorded these three records. And if I remember correctly I didn't find out the titles and the performing artists until some years later.
The records were probably released in LĂ©opoldville, Congo, on the Esengo label, and presumably in the late 1950s. Clues for this can be found in the repertoire, which clearly contain elements of other popular groups from that glorious era.

Apart from this I know very little about the Affront Jazz or its members De Bockout, Monteiro and Baguette.

Nevertheless these six songs are firmly rooted in my musical memory and bits of these tracks surface at the most awkward moments. Especially the Rock-a-Mambo like beginning of "Soriano Me Voy" has a tendency to pop up in my mind in boring meetings, or queues in the supermarket.

The first two of these tracks have been blatantly inspired by Franco and his O.K. Jazz. I mean, how blatant can you get, with a title like "Marie Pauline" (a mix between Franco's first girl friend Marie José and his first wife Pauline), the Franco-Essous inspired guitar-clarinet runs and the Rossignol-like vocal.

For the other four songs Affront Jazz have listened carefully to the groups from what was probably their own label: Rock-a-Mambo and African Jazz. I wouldn't even be surprised if it turned out that members of these orchestras were playing in these songs.
"La Gayophona" on the other hand was also performed on the Loningisa label (early 1958), where Pholidor claimed to have written it. I have, however, been assured that African Jazz also performed the song.

I hope someone can enlighten us with more information about these delightful songs.

Affront Jazz on Esengo

3 comments:

  1. Insult? According to Tchebwa (p.351), the band's name was Afron Jazz. De Bockout must be Debouckout who was with Raymond Brainck in Haraykebou. See my comment @
    http://wrldsrv.blogspot.com/2009/11/bukasa-kalombo-brainck.html

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  2. As I mentioned in the post, I found out what the titles and performing artists are years after someone had given me a copy of this music. The source of this information is usually very reliable and I certainly had no reason to doubt it.

    I suppose you are referring to Antoine Manda Tchebwa and his book "Terre de la chanson musique zairoise", which I have been looking for since it appeared in 2003 (or was it 2002)?

    Do you have any information about label, date/year of release or participating musicians (apart from the ones I mentioned)?

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  3. Afron Jazz (Montenero) is only listed in Tchebwa's index of Congolese bands. No info about the recordings. Sorry but I can't help with that.

    Tchebwa's book Terre de la chanson (published in 1996) is still available from Amazon.fr.

    Thanks for the music. Great blog!

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