West Africa record finds Vol.2: Cotonou
Frank
2,373 Posts
Just finaly got over a nasty respiratory infection (that's what inhaling too much mold can do to you) after returning froma ten day record raid in Cotonou, the capital city of Benin (see old Sierra Leone Thread for details).Here's some of the stuff that I found:my third and fourth copy of this Poly Rythmo Funk Bomb...in various degrees of being eaten away by mold and all sorts of little creatures.Some of the records I've seen had covers that were completely eaten away all the way to the vinyl,leaving round circles of cardboard and inner sleeves.You can probably imagine how the bottom of those boxes (or in one case whicker baskets!) looked like.Top left is also Poly Rythmo and even though it appears to be from the early 80's, there's still a top Afrobeat track on it.The Akeeb Kareem is completely nuts, Afro-Psych-Funk of the highest order!Got especialy lucky with 45s on this trip.One can never have enough copies of this fine record:and some more 45s:I'm doing a radio show for SLBS (Siera Leone Broadcasting Services) in Freetown every now and then.I just started preparing for two one-hour shows using only the stuff I found on the these last two trips.I'm working on figuring out a way to perhaps post them online.
Comments
I'm extra curious about hearing Akeeb Kareem (afro-psych-funk).
Good shit, Frank.
(hearing that mix would be extra excellent)
ditto
any chance for puttin mp3s of that record online?
damn your two threads of this trip are the joint
I just arranged for the two 1-hour long shows to be put online within the next few weeks. It's a lengthy process because I first have to mail CDRs to the US for online posting. Connection speed and constant crashes forbid any mp3 upload from down here...
Here's the link:
Frank's first thread
Great stuff, not just the record pron, but also the allround insight, Frank. Thank yez.
props
Awesome finds, Frank! It's great to see some records on here for a change, and good to see you back.
About time to start rocking those japanese dust-masks.
Yeah there's stalls or stores like that in every city.
Some still do cassettes but mainly CDs (CDRs).
Since there's no real local demand for 70s music anymore, besides Highlife and Traditional stuff most do let go of their LPs by now. Unfortunately, after sitting in a store thats's being flooded during each years rainy season, these records are often in pretty tough condition, at least the covers...
I still had the original tracks of the radio shows so I managed to pull all the spoken bits and move together tracks so there's no dead air. It's exclusively tracks from the records you saw on these two threads. Wouldn't really call it a mix since it's just track after track (I can't mix)... Whatever you want to call it, the CDR will be shipped to NY tomorrow and upon arrival, the two one-hour chunks of music will be posted by Jonny who was nice enough to volunteer doing this.
make sure you wear a mask when you're out there.
respiratory infection from record hunting is no joke- mold, dust, or otherwise.
great stuff! thank you for vicarious enjoyment!
please set aside things that are doubles/triples/quadruples for interested parties.
peace
Thanks Jonny!
Frank i see you are not accepting PM please to PM me in regards to african 45 record collectro aka yours truly