VA - The African Guitar Box [5×Vinyl Limited Edition] (2012)

5 LP box set of classic African guitar based music recorded between 1951 & 1970. Mostly solo performances with guitar & vocals. The first disc features classic acoustic guitar music from all over the African disporia, with an emphasis on Congolese & Kenyan artists. The second disc has all electric guitar performances with minimal accompaniment on percussion – nothing remotely funk based. The third disc features a mix of acoustic & electric performances. Disc four presents more challenging compositional music on acoustic guitar than found on the previous 3 discs – not easy listening by any means, but very rewarding. The final disc is the most sublime & peaceful acoustic guitar & vocal performances you could ever imagine! Collectors beware – much of this material has been reissued before, albeit not since the early 1980s in very hard to find compilation LPs. The records are housed in a beautiful heavy duty hand made box with a sliding lid on the side. Each box is unique & rugged in it’s own way. The wood used to manufacture the box is all salvaged from the old Mississippi Record store location. The cover is a 2 color silk screen on high quality textured paper, carefully glued to each box. A real labor of love. One time edition only; pressing of 200 copies!

This set is a sublime introduction to midcentury African guitar, especially "dry" (acoustic) guitar. Mississippi Records took their penchant for reissues to the extreme, but did not sacrifice quality for quantity. These five discs are jammed with masterful, simple, beautiful songs.

If you have a lot of African records already, such as the John Storm Roberts records on the Original Music label, this collection might not offer much. The songs here are sampled from well known (but rare) African compilations and a handful of solo releases. On the other hand, if you, like myself, are just getting into the genre and want to kickstart your African guitar education, this is an album unlike anything else.

"African Guitar Box" was originally sold only to subscribers. A mere 200 exist, and the price for a copy has soared on the secondary market. The construction of the box is a bit crude, but the closure is clever, and the contents are brilliant: a trove of incredible music that will keep you listening for a long time.