Saturday, March 31, 2007

Mining music...

Louis, master mechanic and friend since 1993, told me about this place in Zanzibar where he used to hang out as a youth. On a wall, someone had scribbled "Sea Never Dry" and that's what they called it. Louis used to build trucks; now he's working in a nickel mine.

It's a good name for this music blog because there is still so much African vinyl to discover. Though some of it is disappearing, like Papa Disco's vinyl stock. The late Papa Disco owned one of the few remaining record stores in Cotonou; recently, Voodoo Funk's Frank in Conakry wrote me that Papa Disco's widow had burned her late husband's record collection, which was stored with the chickens, to make room...

There still is plenty music left to be dug up. One of those vinyl archaeological finds is "Black Power" by The Peace, a band who recorded in Ndola, the capital of the Zambian copperbelt (when it was still flourishing in the 1970s). I found this album in an oily metal chest, owned by the former recording engineer of Kuzwhayo records, who turned to truck engineering after the music scene died.

There's much more music to be shared . Let's start it with The Peace's "I'm a Peaceful Man" and "Black Power."





6 comments:

mattgy said...

Welcome back.

I'm a Peaceful Man is still one of my favourites...

Cheers
Matt, from Benn loxo du taccu

erika garba said...

Like a chicken... geweldig! Helemaal mijn ding!

Dank Pieter om dit werkje te willen verrichten, want in Afrika zijn er al vele bibliotheken in de fik gevlogen.

Zal een linkje op mijn site/blog zetten. Keep me posted.

I'm a peaceful man is ook erg stimulerend zo in de ochtend.

Zal Bouba eens laten horen.

Dikke kussen, eer

jon said...

I very much look forward to your future posts. I love the result of Africa and 'western' influences colliding and mutating. Keep it up
Jon

Pieter said...

Yeah, The Peace keeps me moved as well. It's one of those albums that should be reissued. A wonderful find!

Anonymous said...

I'll second looking forward to future posts. Completely fantastic tracks. Thank you very much!

Anonymous said...

Could we get some more of 'The Peace'?
Please, please, please?
As with Matt, this band is one of my favourites and I can't find the album anywhere!
All the best,
G

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