Name: African Rhythms and Blues
Brand: Mombasa

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

sonoc17

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Discs

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2015-02-07

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Kudos

Tax rate GB

UPC / Barcode

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Mombasa

Genre GB

African

Label GB

Sonorama

This is a classic and sought after afro funk LP. One of the best recordings in the genre: Pulsating african rhythms with funk bass and heavy brass sounds: Essential and ultra hard to find album with tons of true killer afro funk breaks. A sure killer set for collectors and DJs! Some also call it "a stripped down Fela Kuti sound". Original producer H. Manfred Schmitz with his memories from September 2006: I started working as an artist promoter at german Electrola in 1970, responsible for radio/ tv promotion and later as a freelancer at WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk). Rudy Petri has been te boss of Edition Accord, a publishing department of EMI. In Rudy's office, I met Lou Blackburn, a middle aged afro american with an exceptional headgear that I had not seen before. When he held out his hand to welcome me, I was feeling an unknown calmness and sovereignty from this tall man. His eyes were lookingat me through metal-rimmed glasses in a friendly way. They looked so warm and I felt that he was looking at me with his heart. "My band Mombasa and I, we are looking for somebody to produce an album with us. We wanna go on a european tour soon and would like to sell our music after the concerts. We also know what we want to achieve in the studio, everything is well rehearsed and we will not need much time for the recordings. We mainly need support for the logistic aspects and a good connection to a suitable distributor." We already started our common work after 10 days: Edition Accord and my publishing company Many Music shared the cost and work for the production and we decided to record Mombasa in the Cornet Studio/ Cologne, that was equipped with a small but fine 8-track machine. We needed two hours for the preliminaries of the recording process and focussed on the best adjustments for the rhythm group. From the beginning Lou had a very good connection to the sound engineer W. Sorger. While some of the musicians checked their instruments, others were decorating the recording room with african cloths, candles and even added incense cones to the prevailing mood. The band drew up like they did on stage, with the drums in the very back but with a visual contact to every band member. There was no real break within the recording session, only the ones for changing instruments and tuning them again. I got the impression they were giving one of their concerts! We immediately felt a bubbling enthusiam. After the recording - there was only one! - Lou Blackburn came to the control desk and listened to everything that was recorded. We had only worked for three hours then. There was nothing to improve and so we began discussions about the final mix that was done with Lou alone. All in all the whole production only lasted one day. The first approach for a record label was successful too: From the first moment, Peter Springer of Intercord loved the product and wanted to release it on the german Intercord label "Spiegelei" ("Fried Egg"). Lou also confirmed to buy a few thousand records for their european tour so that the contract was signed early. Finally I can tell you that I was never carried away by such a positive energy before. I felt so much happiness with Mombasa, especially with Lou Blackburn, without being able to appreciate it properly. But I owe Lou and his fellows a debt of gratitude until today! I hesitated for a long time before releasing this claim from the geography of my recently discovered soul. But with this re-release of the first Mombasa recordings, we are on a way, that Lou would have gone with us. From original liner notes 1975: In describing the music of Mombasa which is a mixture of rhythm, jazz, folklore, blues, spirituals and worksongs, Lou Blackburn would prefer not to use the word jazz. "Many people ask us", he says, "how one describes our type of music. To this I can only answer that I leave it to the audience because i don't want to give it a label, for me it is simply ours, Mombasa's music

African Rhythms and Blues

Music GB