****Various ArtistsMONEY NO BE SAND, 1960s AFRO-LYPSO, PIDGIN HIGHLIFE,
AFRO-SOUL, AFRO-ROCK
A collection to make you grin and
laugh and dance. This one can work that magic because it discloses an
often-neglected side of Afropop: the US and Caribbean influence at its most
vulgar. This 23-song collection opens with Professor Y.S. & Jis B.B. Band
doing the crassest imitation -- is it a spoof? -- of
James Brown funk; it
closes with Charlotte Dada singing an Afro-bubblegum cover of the
Beatles'
"Don't Let Me Down." Between these bookend tunes you'll hear other West
Africans mutating Top 40 US and Caribbean radio sounds. The "Surfin' Safari"
harmonies of the
Beach Boys
get turned into a real "safari" sound. Chuck Berry
guitar solos are counterpointed with polyrhythmic
Yoruba drumming. Calypso
music is reshaped into an Africanized mold. This gets my vote for the most
stimulating African release of the past year.
-- Norman Weinstein
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