May 2011 bring all the best to you and your loved ones.
In the new year Soul Safari continues to bring you a personal selection of great music and all things African. In all colours of the Rainbow Nation and beyond. Books, music, art, culture.
Soul Safari proposes this Congolese gem by Le Trio Africain Los Makueson’s for the launch of the new year.
♦Happy New Year♦♦2011♦♦Bonne Année♦
Le Trio Africain Los Makueson’s -Bonne Année (makossa)
Gérard Akueson made his way to Paris from his home in Togo. He worked on the periphery of the French entertainment industry singing his compositions as a solo performer and together with friends as the Trio Los Makueson’s. As his familiarity with the ways of Paris grew, he began to produce concerts for other African artists, including Ry-Co Jazz and Cameroon’s Francis Bebey. Akueson expanded his activities still further in 1968 with the launch of his own record label, International Disques Akué.
Among the label’s first releases were Akueson’s own works and those of a vocal group from Congo-Brazzaville calles Les Echos Noirs. The next year he recorded a new young singer from his own country named Bella Bellow. *
Rumba on the River: A History of the Popular Music of the Two Congos
*excerpt from a book by Gary Stewart
