Episode 10: Beasts of Africa

Today we witness some true beasts of Africa... magnificent and regal, like apex predators... lions, eagles, and great white sharks.

These are funk gems from the Motherland. When I say funk today, I mean truly funky; so often when someone offers up "funk music" we get boogie bounce, jazz swing, or disco clap. Not so today... this deep grinding music is overripe with funkiness and makes us mindful of the etymological root linking this particular flavor of music with the concept of strong odors emanating from biological sources. 

Mostly music today from Benin, the African home of the religious traditions that would come to be known as voodoo in the Americas. Music from Benin often demonstrates that quality of musical repetition that induces a trancelike state, especially for dancers... this shows the roots of the music in religious rituals. Here is the ancestral home of funky music.

Into that mix we will add a strong contingent from Nigeria along with a few tracks from Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mali, and The Congo.