Franco: S/D

And Omono Wapi, his duet album with Rochereau, is about the most lovely thing ever recorded.

http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/franco-01.php is an amazing Christgau piece on Franco. the description of the live show is enough to make me regret never seeing him, though he only played the U.S. a couple times, I guess.

I've been listening to a comp of Franco with Sam Mangwana. Really great stuff. Toyeba Yo sounds like a Cuban record played backwards.

This newish Stern's comp, Francophonic Vol. 1: 1953-1980, is just crushing all other music around it like a grape.

The fact that almost all the Franco I hear comes in the form of non-redundant comps gives me the impression that he must have an absolutely enormous discography.

It's on eMusic (http://www.emusic.com/album/Franco-Francophonic-Vol-1-1953-1980-MP3-Download/11302334.html) and I finally found a physical copy after searching for months (Virgin Megastore in NYC). I'd thought the music was great--the liner notes are fantastic, give you loads of context that, incredibly, makes the music even better. I didn't think it was possible. Run don't walk to hear "Lisolo ya Adamo na Nzambe," a.k.a. the next-to-last track on the set (or disc two). It's beautiful before it's anything else, but the way the vocals punch around the horns and the guitar jumps between everything else--I've listened to it dozens of times in the past two weeks and the long section when Franco is shouting his verses and the group-sung chorus answers him, it's like being trapped in a maze you never want to get out of, and I'm certain I'd feel that way even if I understood Lingala (or maybe French) or they were singing in English. When that guitar steps out at 7:40, I would follow it anywhere.

YJGH: It's humongous. The amount of stuff that's easily available or in print is too much to assimilate for any normal person, and I'm pretty sure most of it isn't easily available or in print.

And you're absolutely right about non-redundancy. I think between the Manteca one mentioned above, the Rough Guide, this Stern's one, and Sheer Sound's African Classics (also last year, also highly recommended--the chronology is totally fucked but the music's so good you won't care), I found only 14 songs that were on more than one, I think out of 62. I checked because I was writing a review.

Speaking of which, Christgau in Blender on the Stern's comp said that the time frame (1953-80) yielded some 500 songs.

The Sheer comp is also eMusicable: http://www.emusic.com/album/Franco-Classic-Titles-Very-Best-Of-MP3-Download/11040491.html. The one that kills me most is track 2, "Fifi Nazali Innocent."

My two favorite Franco tracks are probably Cooperation, which I have on Best of Franco and Sam Mangwana, and Ok Aswanaka Tempo Na, which is on a Cantos comp called From Dakar to Cuba: Swinging to the Rumba

I posted this stuff on my blog last year but the hell with it:

"Cooperation" is total classic. The Cantos comp is also on eMusic so I'm d/l'ing that track right now.

OK, wow, you're right on. This is great.

Discovering African artists like Franco in my late 20s is kind of like discovering another Saudi oil reserves in the midst of peak oil.

Do you have the Tabu Ley Rochereau 2CD on Stern's, from '07? The Voice of Lightness: Congo Classics 1961-1977. I'm sure I've played it 50 times from beginning to end already.

That one's on my e-music list. I always hesitate on the double discs because it's like "there goes half my downloads"

You can't hear it soon enough.

Or too many times.

Are you into Guinean stuff like Bembeya and 22 Band? I feel like it's akin enough to Franco that you probably already are or would be into it.

Both of these Stern's twofers are indeed monumental (and it was nice to finally see what Ken Braun looks like in that NYT piece). But I still prefer the Manteca one-disc Franco. The liners might not as well exist. But it's a much more manageable collection and hence the one I still grab for my Franco fix.

The Manteca's long out of print, though. I love it too but I can't exactly recommend it to someone who isn't willing to dig around online and/or pay through the nose.

I love Bembeya Jazz, yes. 22 Band I don't know, probably should.

Oh man, I thought I got the 22 band record from emusic, but I think it was from one of the blogs. So good.

Sometimes they're listed as the 22 Novembre Band

Tabu Ley Rochereau 2CD on Stern = stunning.

I thought "22 Novembre" Band sounded familiar. Their "Kouma" is on the amazing Authenticité: Syliphone Years 1965-1980.

The stuff on those comps is not as good as the record though - search it out. it's called venez voir

http://globalgroovers.blogspot.com/2008/12/22-band-venez-voir-editions-syliphone.html

Will do. Meantime--have you heard Zaiko Langa Langa? Their Zaire-Ghana, from 1976, is totally amazing, especially the opening track, "Zaiko Wa Wa," which will stay in your head forever off one listen.

adding to emusic list

I like 2 Zaiko cds from the '90s, Surchoc and Enema, although their membership had changed some by that point. I second or third the recommendations for the Authenticite comp and the Tabu ley Rochereau one. I like Sam Mangwana alot as well.

Please don't forget this thread:
Rolling Global Sublime Whirled Music 2009 (With an emphasis on African likely)

Oh yes, I blindly bought the Rochereau 3 hours ago, didn't know it was any good. Now reading this.. good times ahead.

I saw Bembeya Jazz live last year, so great. The Balla & Ses Balladins comp on Stern's comes also recommended if you like the Bembeya stuff.

Francophonic Vol. 2 out Oct. 13. Covers 1980-89.

just picked this up and am now playing. i don't think X'gau has ~ever~ steered me wrong as far as the dark continent goes; and this is sounding as COMPLETELY SUBLIME as any of the other Francos mentioned in this thread

It's f'ing great--and it doesn't even include "Limbisa Ngai" (from the mid-'80s), my favorite-ever Franco track.

How did you first hear "Limbisa Ngai" Matos, i.e. what album/comp/mix/etc.?

http://wrldsrv.blogspot.com/2010/01/les-merveilles-du-passe.html -- roundup of crisp B&W YouTubes c. '60s, maybe early '70s. Another goldmine--I love the horn players' loose choreography.

How did you first hear "Limbisa Ngai" Matos, i.e. what album/comp/mix/etc.?
― Kevin John Bozelka, Saturday, November 14, 2009 8:52 AM (2 months ago)

haha didn't see this till now. I heard it via Mike Daddino on his 1984 megamix. It's on Mamou (Tu Vois?) 1984/1985/1986: http://www.sternsmusic.com/disk_info/CDF102

OK, just the first one was crisp. Got excited, deservedly.

I don't even remember why I asked you that now but thanks! :) And thanks for the vidz!

francophonic vol 2 is pretty much bottomless. does anyone know who does the lead vocal on "Pesa Position Na Yo"? (I don't have the booklet.) It's incredible.

booklet say: Joski, Dalienst and Madilu traded lines of verse and sang choruses together, electronically duplicating themselves into a vocal sextet

My copy of this cannot arrive fast enough: http://www.sternsmusic.com/disk_info.php?id=3218462. 18 CDs, y'all.

thank you!

yeah i posted about that box on the african music thread, looks pretty incredible.

wonder how it can be so damn inexpensive. looks awesome but the price has me skeptical

holy cow! just ordered...79 euros.

(hoping to see a matos write up on this in future.)

just got it! it is REAL!

yowza. just ordered.

sorry if this has been posted before:
http://francorestored.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html

also, just picked up Roots of OK Jazz - Congo Classics 1955-1956 (2010, Crammed Discs); and it's sounding completely sublime and quite different (more sort of Cuban-sounding?) than any later Franco i've heard.

I've been thinking of getting that Roots of OK Jazz one. Yep, I guess back then in 55 they would sound more Cuban

Um I soooo did not know about this site!! Don't send out a search party for me; I'm not coming back.

yeahhh, i've never seen that site either. crazy! thx for the tip.

Never knew what 'KINSHASA MBOKA YA MAKAMBO' was about but it sounded he was singing about some real shit...

Kinshasa ,city full of problems
Everyone wants me arrested
City full of problem
Kinshasa , city full of liars
They want me to flee kin
But if i flee , their lies will be seen as true .
So i won’t go anywhere.
I will fight them to the end .
You want hurt a person without even where his ombilical cord was buried in sonabata.
City full of problems .
Everyone wants me arrested.
I was jailed once but that wasn’t enough for them.

Kinshasa , city full of liars
They are saying i killed people in Europe
They are saying i sold Cannabis in Europe .
Kinshasa , city full of liars
Why do you want to hurt a person who grew up in front of you eyes , succeded in front of eyes ?
Why do you want me to get arrested ?
why?
The same friends i used to work with want hurt me because they’ve lost their medals .
Kids , pass me the guitar so i can express myself.
city full of problems
Sell beer , stop selling people.

They are saying i sold Cannabis in Europe
But i never took any cannabis to Europe
If I get upset,i might even attack you (joke)
Why do you want to hurt a person who grew up in front of you eyes , succeded in front of eyes ?
You made me a success, i even got this big belly in front yours eyes ,so why do you want me to get arrested , what will u gain form it , why did i do to you,Let me work and i fail , i will laugh at myself .
If it wasn’t for the censorship i would cursed .

Sell beer , stop selling people.

damn

sadly, that Franco Restored site looks to have stopped production, at least for now: http://francorestored.blogspot.com

Kids , pass me the guitar so i can express myself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecdUDfUgSK4&feature=related

^one of my favorites. that fucking bassline!

Absolute classic - love the chorus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ypTXO7dSs-w#t=147s

Just discovered this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNKT4piTrMQ#

Whole record is great, Loboko is a beautiful track, gets so incredible @ 40:48

bump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsNEJAxXhCw
Only discovered him a few days ago, but I was pretty amazed by this first track "Massu" which is only included on one album and one compilation
https://www.discogs.com/Le-Grand-Maitre-Franco-Et-Son-Tout-Puissant-OK-Jazz-et-Jolie-Detta-Le-Grand-Maitre-Franco-Et-Jolie-D/release/3370875
https://www.discogs.com/Franco-Tous-Les-Classiques-De-LOK-Jazz-Les-Plus-Connus-Du-Public/release/6474094

The video in the link says "Legendary compilation" but I can't find any disc releases of it. Legendary on the internet?

I tend to avoid Best Ofs like the plague but I think I'll give in for this guy.

If you ever see Omona Wapi by Franco & Rochereau just get it. There probably won't be any crossover with any other Franco you acquire, and franky it's stunning.
dunno if this helps or hurts, but x'gau:
Omona Wapi [Shanachie, 1985]
Individually, they're the great rivals and grand old men of Zairean "rumba" and all that's followed--very roughly (and I mean very), think of them as James Brown and Frank Sinatra. Frankly fat Franco is a guitar-wielding rhythm-master with a sweet, high voice. Rochereau (a/k/a Tabu Ley) a supernal tenor who favors cummerbunds. They've released well over two hundred LPs between them, but fine as the eight or ten I've managed to hear are, not one comes close to this Paris-recorded collaboration (their third, or sixth, or some such number)--one of the few African records in which the singing outshines the rhythms, and the rhythms are gorgeous. Its effortless propulsion and shameless beauty are so unmistakable that two acquaintances, neither a professional, have asked the title after hearing it over the telephone. That's O-M-O-N-A W-A-P-I. A+

There's like 100 best of comps. "Best of 1972-73-74" etc etc. Anything up thru early 80s is gonna be worth hearing p much.

Nice that Omona Wapi is easy to find on disc. Thanks.

Most of the stuff I've enjoyed so far has been mid 80s I think.

I read that Jolie Detta stopped early because she couldn't handle her fame from "Massu".

i like his music. i don't have anything else to say.

Needed a Franco fix so found his record with Sam Mangwana Odongo on Spotify. It's incredible obviously (the horns!) but the upload has *loads* of scratches. I have no idea how the recording arrives with Spotify but idly wondering how/why the digitised version would be presented in this way.

Anyway, an incredible record.

nice! too bad it sounds a bit subpar though. think i've only heard the title track from that but it's indeed killer.