Friday, February 1, 2019

New collection explores Star Band de Dakar's Cuban inspiration

Ostinato Records is releasing a 6-track Star Band comp focusing on the influential Senegalese crew's Afro-Cuban jams. 

STAR BAND DE DAKAR: Psicodelia Afro-Cubana de Senegal

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, when the Cuban way won hearts, minds, and ears across Africa. This album is the soundtrack to a time when Cuban music was the future for 1970s Senegal. Led by some of Senegal’s most famous singers, like Youssou N’Dour and Laba Sosseh, the legendary Star Band achieved the perfect gumbo of Cuban and Senegalese sounds. Changüí, Guajira, Salsa, and Son flirt with cosmic Mbalax guitars, Sabar rhythms, Afro-Latin horns, and Spanish vocals spiced with a Senegalese twang.

With just two microphones and a four-track Revox tape recorder, Ibrahim Kassé, Star Band’s founder and owner of Le Miami, recorded their entire catalog in his nightclub. Each album contained one stand-out Afro-Cuban tune, often covers of Cuban classics or original compositions using the deep, layered sound that had evolved over centuries from the roundtrip journey across the Atlantic. Six of Star Band's most psychedelic Afro-Cuban tracks, an ode to their finest hour, were selected for this new compilation, remastered in the original mono on 180-gram heavyweight vinyl in a gatefold sleeve accompanied by a 12 page booklet filled with photos from lead guitarist Yakhya Fall’s personal collection. Listen to "Guajira Ven" and "Misterioso" followed by "Andado" and "Mariama" below. Pre-order a copy right here.




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