Bend Skin Beats

Blind singer-guitarist André Marie Tala is a veteran of modern Cameroonian music. Some of his earliest recordings were arranged by Manu Dibango, whose saxophone and marimba (xylophone) can be heard on some tracks on this compilation. Like Dibango he is a musical experimentalist and his early acoustic folk music rapidly became infused with American soul and funk and French pop sensibilities. One of his songs ‘Hot Koki’ (included in this compilation), taken from his debut album in 1973, was plagiarised by James Brown, who had heard the song whilst touring in Africa. Much of Tala’s music has that 70s James Brown disco–funk flavour and some of the tracks on this compilation sound a little dated and tired. Despite this, Tala is a versatile and creative musician who has developed his own distinctively Cameroonian music styles. Tchamassi is an 80s style of dance rhythm, as feisty as makossa and bikutsi, and it proved to be tremendously popular. In the 90s, the tchamassi rhythm developed into Tala’s ‘bend skin’ style, an equally exciting dance music variation.

Of the 13 tracks it’s probably the disco¬funk workouts that will prove to be the most popular. This is the type of retro dance music that many clubbers thrive on. Personally I prefer the more individual and authentically African tracks; the tchamassi and bend skin tracks are well crafted and appealing. Much like Manu Dibango’s music it does not always quite hit the mark ('Soul Tchamassi, for example, is pretty turgid and tedious), but when it does, it makes for an extremely enjoyable listen.