VA - Golden Afrique Vol.2 [2CD Set] (2005)

This 2CD set follows swiftly in the wake of the equally captivating first volume. Here, the time period covered goes back even further, spanning 1956 to 1982. The first volume concentrated on eight West African countries, but this second selection is an entirely Congolese mixture of rumba roots and early soukous.

The compilation's positive intentions are immediately apparent, with the opening twelve minute "Co-operation" between Franco and Sam Mangwana: an odyssey of shimmering guitars, sweet vocal interplay and joyous horn stabs, topped off by a juicy saxophone solo. Nyboma provides the second song, weaving his own web of gleaming interaction. Tiny details, like the tightly-strummed rhythm guitar part, rise to the surface as the listener dances.

The whole Zairean area was rife with feedback from Cuba, setting up an Afro-Caribbean dialogue that had been bouncing backwards and forwards over the decades. The singer Jospeh Kabasele founded his African Jazz band three years before Franco's O.K. Jazz became the other giant dynasty of Zairean music. Tracks 3 and 4 are by Kabasele, maintaining the scintillating vibrations, before Franco's duet with the accordionist Camille Feruzi diverts the path completely.

There will be several such dalliances before the compilation's over, as Docteur Nico floats off on pedal steel guitar, Le Likembe Geant pluck their electrified thumb pianos and Feruzi returns for a couple of his own accordion pieces. Franco and (visiting Cameroonian) Manu Dibango are caught at the very start of their careers, and the second disc delves back even further into quaint recording history. Tabu Ley Rochereau's warm vocal proximity pulls in the listener on "Aon-Aon", and the now London-based Mose Fan Fan's "Pele Odija" offers a rare opportunity to hear what this guitarist was doing thirty years ago. --Martin Longley