Crossroads Kenya: East African Benga and Rumba, 1980-1985, by Various Artists

Crossroads Kenya: East African Benga and Rumba, 1980-1985

by Various Artists

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akadoug Fantastic compilation yet again from No Wahala Sound. Each track is as infections as the next. Top quality musicianship throughout this album keeps stopping me in my tracks. This is becoming my soundtrack to my current vacation House sitting in Northern Tenerife, great music for watering the Finca. Not quite Africa but closer than back Home in Scotland. Thank you No Wahala. Great music……..

DJ Tom B. (Avenida Brasil / 22Tracks - Paris) thumbnail

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1.	New Gatanga Boys - 'Wanja Ni Wakwa' 04:33	buy track
2.	Ruwengo Bros Band - 'Arata Rekai Njuge' 04:35	buy track
3.	Les Moto Moto - 'Palipo Na Maneno' 08:46	buy track
4.	Les Victoria 'C' Kings - 'Bella Idhi Kanye' 05:14	buy track
5.	Banana Hill Band - 'Rakeri Mama' 04:49	buy track
6.	Orch. Les Volcano - 'Kwa Wasiojiweza' 08:47	buy track
7.	Orch. Zaituken Band - 'Ima' 09:47	buy track

about

This compilation collects a number of 7” singles produced by Audio Productions Ltd. in Kenya’s capital Nairobi in the first half of the 1980s and released on the Wendo, Lulus, Mlima and APL imprints.

The bands featured on this release are the New Gatanga Boys, Ruwengo Bros Band, Banana Hill Band and Les Victoria 'C' Kings from Kenya, Les Moto Moto and Orch Les Volcano from Tanzania (the latter being led here by Charles Ray Kasembe after the death of the legendary Mbaraka Mwinshehe). The closing track is by Orch Zaituken Band, whose name is a contraction of the countries its members came from: Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. The group is emblematic of the Kenyan capital’s role as a magnet for East African musicians seeking to earn a living by recording and playing live in the 1970s and 1980s.

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released July 30, 2022

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Record label specializing in lost musical gems from Africa, Asia and elsewhere.

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