Jump for joy, this is blazin Senoufo balafon music from Mali at the hands of a mallet maestro to the extreme. Rock to these husky vocals as well, mes potes. Lamissa Bengali (or Bengaly) is joined by a coterie of Bengali brothers (Djakaride Bengali, Mamoutou Bengali, Seydou Bengali, Sidi Bengali). This man knew how to carry the torch of his regional traditional sounds, stuff the whole family can enjoy, circa 2001.
BTW—check out this music video of Bola (forthcoming release on Awesome Tapes From Africa) doing his thing.
Catch me DJing those phenomenal (and sometimes fickle) tapes in Hamburg at the Golden Pudel on March 28 or Berlin (supporting Konono no.1) at Gretchen on March 29.
Face A
Jema Yiri
Pousse-Pousse
Tie Pi
Face B
Son
Janjo
Ce Boda Muso
8 Comments
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Hi Brian
is this the father or the son Lamissa Bengaly?
2002 suggests the son, aka Lamissa Bengaly II, but the photo on the cover shows a older face, aka Lamissa Bengaly I.
A.
How have I not explored this site before? It’s endless and I’m loving your obscure picks.
A virtual hi-5 to Afropop.org for putting your link on their sidebar.
All champions of African musical rarities be praised!
uncut crack, thanks
thank you for always sharing the music and sounds with short but insightful writings.
any shows in japan on ur shcedule at all?
would love to hear ur selection (okayafrica podcast was ace)!
much respect from nagoya, japan!
thanks! no japan shows so far… if you know somewhere i should play there, please let me know….
Stunning, fabulous, loved every minute!
Anonymous – this must be Lamissa Bengaly No. 2. When I was in Koutiala in 2004 and saw him play in support of a local FM radio station, I was told about his father (No. 1) but was made to understand that he was no longer playing. I seem to recall also being told that Lamissa No. 2 was not the actual son of No. 1, but took his name as a tribute to the older musician.
[…] Bengali was from Burkina Faso, only to find out much later that he was actually from Mali. The blog Awesome Tapes From Africa posted this full cassette back in 2012 and Brian, who runs that site, does his research much better than me. In retrospect, I should have […]