Various — Space Echo (The Mystery Behind The Cosmic Sound Of Cabo Verde Finally Revealed) · Analog Africa · 2LP · $38.99
Here's the story that comes with this record. In 1968, a cargo ship left Baltimore loaded with brand-new synthesizers, bound for an expo in Brazil. It vanished from the radar the same day. Months later it turned up in a field on the island of São Nicolau in Cabo Verde, miles from any coast. Portuguese scientists found traces of "cosmic particles" on board. The locals figured it had fallen from the sky. The Moogs, Farfisas and Rhodes organs inside were shared out to schools and towns across the islands, and the music was never the same.
That's the legend in the liner notes. Whether or not you believe it, the sound is real: funaná, the fast, accordion-driven dance music of Cabo Verde, run through buzzing, wobbling, early synthesizers. Fifteen tracks, and eight of them are backed by Voz de Cabo Verde, the band of arranger Paulino Vieira, a name behind a lot of this sound. It's psychedelic, danceable, a little strange, and very warm.
The label: Analog Africa
Space Echo is Analog Africa Nr. 20, and this label is one of my favorite things in record collecting.
Analog Africa is run by Samy Ben Redjeb out of Frankfurt, Germany. He grew up in Tunisia, spent time in Senegal as a diving instructor, and later worked as a Lufthansa flight attendant on routes across Africa. Everywhere he landed he dug for records. His first spark was in Dakar, where he set up a makeshift club night at a hotel and played forgotten polyrhythmic dance records. That obsession became the label, which began releasing records in 2006 with a Zimbabwean compilation, The Green Arrows.
What sets Analog Africa apart is how much work goes into each release. Samy doesn't just find an old record and reissue it. He tracks down the musicians, often decades later. He interviews them, collects the photos and stories, and puts it all in a thick booklet with the record. The label has dug into Benin and Togo (African Scream Contest), Ghana (Afro-Beat Airways), Burkina Faso (Bambara Mystic Soul), Cabo Verde's once-banned funaná, and across the Atlantic to Colombia. The result is that scenes the rest of the world overlooked get proper credit, with the players, the history and the context.
If you think African music begins and ends with Fela, this label is your next rabbit hole.
Why we're stocking it
Cabo Verde is a tiny country with an enormous musical output, and most people know it only through Cesária Évora's morna. Space Echo shows the other side: the dance floors, the synths, the strange crossover of American psych guitar, funk and funaná. If you like Afrobeat, Ethio-jazz, William Onyeabor, Hailu Mergia, or deep, worldwide-weird grooves, you will love this one. Pick it up and read the booklet while it plays.
Space Echo is on the shelves now at High Rhodes Records, 285 Main Street in Frisco, Summit County, and in our web shop. $38.99. Stop by, ask us to put it on, and we'll tell you the rest of the story.
Various — Space Echo (The Mystery Behind The Cosmic Sound Of Cabo Verde Finally Revealed) on vinyl, brand new and factory sealed.
- Label: Analog Africa — AALP 080
- Year: 2016 (Worldwide)
- Format: 2xLP
- Genre: Latin, Funk / Soul, Folk, World, & Country · Afro-Cuban, African, Funaná
- Condition: Sealed / New
Shipped from High Rhodes Records in Frisco, Colorado.
