Love's a Real Thing: The Funky Fuzzy Sounds of West Africa

by Various Artists

Love's a Real Thing: The Funky Fuzzy Sounds of West Africa cover art
  • Type: Compilation
  • Released: 8 March 2005
  • Label: Luaka Bop
  • Country: Senegal
  • Length: 1:04:20
  • Community rating: 3.93/5 from 3 ratings

Album Notes & Community Reviews

Released on David Byrne's Luaka Bop imprint, this compilation shines a spotlight on the exceptionally warm, heavily synthesized funk music that swept through West Africa in the 1970s. The tracks highlight a fascinating cultural exchange, where local musicians incorporated imported Moog synthesizers and fuzz pedals to modernize traditional Mbalax and Mandinka polyrhythms. It stands as a joyful, deeply rhythmic curation of the era's most eclectic pan-African club hits.

Genres

Descriptors: rhythmic, melodic

Tracklist

  1. Minsato Le, Mi Dayihome (3:20)
  2. Love's A Real Thing (2:59)
  3. Keleya (6:42)
  4. Ceddo End Title (5:10)
  5. Porry (8:17)
  6. Guajira Van (5:12)
  7. Better Change Your Mind (8:24)
  8. Allah Wakbarr (3:31)
  9. Awon-Ojise-Oluwa (6:24)
  10. Zinabu (3:20)
  11. Ifa (5:00)
  12. Sanjina (6:01)
  13. Minsato Le, Mi Dayihome

Credits

  • Various - primary artist
  • Ken Barber - cover
  • Alessandro Canu - illustration [interior drawings]
  • Eskill Lohento - written-by
  • Badou Jobe - written-by
  • Papa Touray - written-by
  • Moussa Doumbia - written-by
  • Manu Dibango - written-by

More from Various Artists: full discography