Africa Mia

Pre-dating the great Africando by a quarter of a century, Las Maravillas de Mali were one of the early pioneers of the fusion of African and Cuban music. In 1964, ten Malian music students were invited on a scholarship to Cuba where they were inspired to form a band. At a time when musicians in Mali, Senegal, Guinea and the Congo were enthusiastically assimilating the spicy sounds of Latin music, Las Maravillas entered the legendary EGREM studios in 1968 and cut an album of charanga, sonmontuno, boogaloo, bolero, chachachá, danzón and guaracha. They were led by Boncana Maïga, flautist, arranger, and eventually the musical director of Africando.

The album became a classic and launched the hit song ‘Rendez-vous Chez Fatimata’. This splendid new edition includes all 12 original songs, plus their version of ‘Pata Pata’, and eight more recent recordings in which some of the original songs have been re-recorded by sole survivor Maïga while revisiting Cuba. The vocal of the revisited ‘Rendez-vous Chez Fatimata’ has been updated by Mory Kanté, who will be guesting with the band on their European performances.

Sung in a mixture of Spanish, French and Bamana, the original recordings are a delightfully gentle and melodic throwback with twin flutes and a string section of five violins. The reissue of the original album combined with the new tracks is a very welcome release to coincide with their forthcoming performances.