Orchestra Makassy – Legends Of East Africa (The Original Recordings)
In 1980 a 15-man band from Dar Es Salaam got together in a Nairobi studio with some young Brits who wanted to cash in on the Afropop boom that was sweeping the nation thanks to Nigeria’s King Sunny Ade. Mzee ‘Elder’ Makassy was the leader and principal vocalist of the band named after him; Tshimanga Assosa of Maquis Original contributed singing and songwriting skills. The songs are sung in Shona, Swahili and Lingala.

Mose Se Sengo a.k.a. ‘Fan Fan’ is often mentioned in connection with the band as he had been chef d’orchestra before striking out on his own. The excellent, bustling Kasongo Shinga played bass, there were two drummers, a tumbador, and four horn players, including Twalib Mohamed as trumpet soloist and Akuliake Saleh on alto sax. In short, a classic East African dance-band line-up.

The opening track ‘Mambo Bado’ become a dance-floor hit. It still gets you going from the first note. ‘Mambo Bado’ should have prompted the group to international stardom but Virgin failed to promote them. In 1984, they broke up after the release of a little known album Muzuki Orchestre Makassy. Fortunately, guitarist Mose Fan Fan used some of the bands early recordings on an album called Agwaya.

The CD is a mixture of haunting ballads such as ‘Nakolela Cherie’, about a man whose wife has abandoned him and their kids and ‘Kufisilika Sio Kalema’, a mover and shaker in the Virunga style. Most of the songs contain wry social commentary. ‘Mosese’, a track written by FanFan, is about a man complaining to his fiancée, this is followed by ‘Athumani,’ a song in which a young married woman complains about her husband running around. The bass is high in the mix for the moody ‘Mke Wangu’ another classic track in which the singer tells of a man who lavished material goods on his wife only to have her leave him. It’s as if Fan Fan, Makassy and his many disciples had never been away. ‘The Original Recordings’ is a fresh, retro sound – which will leave you wanting an extra helping.

BBC