Post by skitter on Jan 25, 2006 17:23:02 GMT
For their 3rd album Kekele retrace their musical path back to the classic Cuban songs that were the source and inspiration of Congolese rumba.
KEKELE - Kinavana - STCD1101
Kekele’s third album Kinavana pays tribute to the music of Guillermo Portabales. It comprises 12 songs that Portabales composed or recorded. In place of the original Spanish lyrics, the Kekele singers have written new Lingala lyrics that are decidedly not translations from Spanish.
“BaKristo”, for example, is based on the music of “El Carretero”, but instead of telling a wagoner’s tale it denounces the efforts of evangelical churches in Africa to ban all music that is not Christian.
The arrangements are also new, devised by Syran Mbenza and Papa Noel (back with Kekele after a hiatus forced by illness) with Nelson Hernandez, the Venezuelan arranger best known for his work with salsa stars like Celia Cruz and Oscar D’Leon.
With charanga flutes and violins on some pieces, sexteto-style trumpets or funky saxophone solos on others, and Congolese guitars throughout, Kekele’s sound is quite different from that of Portabales and his trio or quartet.
The sax soloist on five pieces is the one and only Manu Dibango. His participation in this project brings his wide-ranging career full circle, for Dibango played with Grand Kalle’s Orchestre African Jazz at its peak in the early 60s.
For the music of Kinavana, like the title combining Kinshasa and Havana, is both Congolese and Cuban.
Skitter
KEKELE - Kinavana - STCD1101
Kekele’s third album Kinavana pays tribute to the music of Guillermo Portabales. It comprises 12 songs that Portabales composed or recorded. In place of the original Spanish lyrics, the Kekele singers have written new Lingala lyrics that are decidedly not translations from Spanish.
“BaKristo”, for example, is based on the music of “El Carretero”, but instead of telling a wagoner’s tale it denounces the efforts of evangelical churches in Africa to ban all music that is not Christian.
The arrangements are also new, devised by Syran Mbenza and Papa Noel (back with Kekele after a hiatus forced by illness) with Nelson Hernandez, the Venezuelan arranger best known for his work with salsa stars like Celia Cruz and Oscar D’Leon.
With charanga flutes and violins on some pieces, sexteto-style trumpets or funky saxophone solos on others, and Congolese guitars throughout, Kekele’s sound is quite different from that of Portabales and his trio or quartet.
The sax soloist on five pieces is the one and only Manu Dibango. His participation in this project brings his wide-ranging career full circle, for Dibango played with Grand Kalle’s Orchestre African Jazz at its peak in the early 60s.
For the music of Kinavana, like the title combining Kinshasa and Havana, is both Congolese and Cuban.
Skitter
