Conjunto Africa Negra - Aninha

by ROBERTO LYCKE


LISTEN: (look at Listen Tracks)


This album was originally released in 1981 for the portoguese label C.A.S with the simple wording Conjunto Africa Negra, which today is reedited by the Sons da Africa and is entitled Aninha where the sequence of the songs is slightly different from the original one.

It is simple music. The information contained in the booklet of the CD, where in addition to some touristic photos, we also find some names of the authors of the songs and a sentence “Saudades de Sao Tomè e Principe” which strangely occupies one third of the space normally used for some possible and mostly welcomed information.

The album opens with Aninha, a song with a dry and almost rude sound which immediately explains the energy of this band.

It is a fiery sound which is made rough by some technological resources of the Sao Tomé's studios, and by the rough voice of Joao Seria who is able to transmit the urgency that turns immediately the Africa Negra's music into dance.

Aninha explodes immediately inside a mixture of Congolese guitars full of echoes and flanger, while the sustained rhythms of the maracas, accompanied by un dikanza (reco-reco) weave rhythmic bloody carpets that exhaust you.

It is obsessive and joyful at the same time, those are the songs that would during weekends fill up the Fundoes - a sort of co respective of the Brazilian fundos de quintal where they would meet to dance to music - fishermen, sailors and those who worked and that would arrive Saturday night from the coffee plantations, coming to spend all their money to have some fun in those place that would replace the inexistent clubs in the islands.

This is the music one would here on the national Congolese and Angolan radios which during the night would transmit rumba and morna from Capeverd, musical styles that had been absorbed and reread through the sonar aesthetics common to all portogues talking African countries where we also find always some touch of melancholy typical of the fado.

Original album from C.A.S.

Sao Tomé and Principe is an archipelago whose story and whose destiny seems to merge together to that of Cape Verde which is situated 270 km from the coast of Gabon.

In 1471/72 the islands were occupied by the portogues who declared them totally uninhabited.

They became a fantastic base to reach the coast of Central Africa to trade slaves who were used to cultivate the sugar canes. Sao Tome and Principe became an important business centre in an area where in addition to the sugar production, soon became notorious for the slave trade.

Thanks to the plantations working system shortly the population coming from Africa was definitely higher compared to the Europeans. This moreover did not help avoid the various disorders that exploded with the arrival of competition coming with the products of the American colonies.

Quickly both Cape Vert and Sao Tomé and Principe similar for their destinies drowned into an economic depression that until today only rarely has given hope for improvement to a population that with the joy of playing music has been able to resist to hunger and isolation and to the poverty that seems to be an undeletable sign for the majority of the African countries.

Once "Aninha" is over the record continues with other two songs full of rhythm that make you shake "Vence Vitoria" where the soukous guitar dances on a locally rhythmic pattern accompanied by chorus of Joao Seria who plays the role of master of ceremonies.

With "Instrumental" the discussion occurred in the previous songs are interrupted by the subsequent song "Camarada Neto" where the rhythms become more calm while the melody reminds us that Angola is not far and that the two populations are brothers in their tragic years when the Portuguese colonies were in Africa.

An homage to the president MPLA Aogtinho Neto, the Angolan poet president who together with Amilcar Cabral was one of the best theorist of the independence of the lusofone Africa.

Swinging to the relaxing sound of the Congolese rumba like "So So So" “Gaspar” e “Caixeiro sem cosciencia” we reach the last songs that close the CD “12 de Julho” which is the date of the "Zimbabwe's" independence, it's lyrics are a call for Africa's freedom.

With these two tracks the album explodes with a rough and dry sound which brings us closer to best moments of Kwassa-Kwassa del Pepe Kallè and the emotions of those nights during which Black Africa gave fire with all it's concerts of Mindelo Lisbona and Luanda where lots of young people would come to listen to songs like “Quà na bua ne ga fa”, “Bô Lêgo Caço Modebô” o “Vence Vitoria”.

Today luckily Africa Negra continues to record albums that are very distant from that sound of the first years. The first LPs were much better; sometimes there are also drums and organs which would give joy to lots of mods grown up with the Northern Soul and Beat.


Listen Tracks:
1. Aninha
2. Camarada Neto


Author: Conjunto Africa Negra
Title: Aninha
Year: ?
Label: Sons da Africa


Selected Discography:

Conjunto Africa Negra - Cas LP –101 – 1981 – LP
Carambola – Discos IEFE 043 – 1983 – LP
Angelica – Discos IEFE 046 – 1983 – LP