A brief digest of GC's recent favorite Afrobeat finds on the internets. William Onyeabor, Disco Blaze & ‘Les Meilleurs Souvenirs de la 1ére Biennale Artistique et Culturelle de la Jeunesse‘ vols 1-5.
‘Les Meilleurs Souvenirs de la 1ére Biennale Artistique et Culturelle de la Jeunesse‘, Rootblog via Global Groove.) An amazing 5-LP 1970 series of Malian large-ensemble grooves, including Orchestre Régional de Sikasso, Orchestre Régional de Mopti, Orchestre Régional de Kayes, Orchestre Régional de Ségou and L’Orchestre National ‘A’ de la République du Mali (All of these either have-been or will be reissued on LP by Mississippi Records. The latest reissue in this series is L’Orchestre National ‘A’- out in Portland now and elsewhere very very soon.)
*Minor caveat, my rip of the Orchestre Regional de Mopti record is the best on the web. I'd recommend you grab that one from me, and the rest of these albums from Rootblog. Two-stop shopping.
I was just ripping the latest Mississippi Record's reissue LP; Orchestre Régional de Mopti (*MSR-075) (It's great), when I happened upon the fact that Global Groove posted this rad Malian classic back in '08. Nice! Love that blog. I'm a big fan of their recent slowed-down Robert Johnson posts. Anyhow, this album is wonderful. Theirs is a (much appreciated) 128 rip. Now here's mine at 320.