The First Case of the African Soul Patrol

Listeners, a return trip to a groovy theme:  African Soul.

As I've often noted on this show, it would be a mistake to think that African musicians didn't hear popular sounds from Europe and America in the 60's and 70's. They did... and they copied... and they covered... and eventually they incorporated these popular Western sounds into their own musical vernacular. 

This week's adventure is a showcase for soul sounds from the Motherland. In some cases the songs stay very close to Western soul formulas... in other cases, the songs add a strong element of African rhythms or phrasing.

Songs from all over Western Africa in this set... The Congo, Benin, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria. A few instrumentals here and there, but mostly soulful male vocals.

As we often do, today's set starts with material from the 60's in the first set, and winds up with more current sounds in the second set. If anyone asks you if Africa gots soul, you can say yes brother, I heard it on the Adventures of Encyclopedia Sound.