So it’s mid to late 70’s Afro funk from the Ivory Coast, the kind of exotic brew that crate diggers go crazy for. There are strong links to James Brown in some of the vocal exclamations, Doumbia’s rapping, spitting, wailing and spoken word over repetitive ultra funky bass grooves and his Afro rhythms and the occasional stabs of sax. I’d hesitate to suggest this is Afro beat per se because it’s very different from Fela Kuti’s approach, though it does share the hypnotic sense of repetition. Moussa Doumbia was born in Mali and moved to Abidjan Ivory coast in 1974. He was known as primarily as a saxophonist and composer arranger and the music he created during the seventies drew heavily on American funk music at the time. For a couple of pieces he is even backed by a ten piece band, a rough, ready lumbering funk that has to be heard to be believed, its raw haphazard nature and aged production quality only adding to its mystique and charm, such as on the 10 minute plus opus title track Keleya. The same track occurs earlier, this time a five minute version with his usual quintet, a much tighter, punchier ensemble. But this is music that worships the groove, the kind of raw mid 70’s funk that unites American grooves and African beats and melodies in one intoxicating exotic brew.
-Bob Baker Fish
