Madjafalao

One of the great West African big bands of the 1970s, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo were Benin’s answer to Senegal’s Orchestra Baobab, playing an irresistibly danceable gumbo of Afrobeat, jazz, Congolese rumba and Afro- Cuban styles heavily punctuated with the rhythms of local voodoo ritual. Following the death of their lead guitarist Bernard Papillon and the economic decline of the country as it slid into dictatorship, the band took an indefinite hiatus in the 80s but the reissue of their early material on labels such as Soundway and Analog Africa persuaded three of the original members to reform in 2008. Three years later they released Cotonou Club, which was their first album in more than a quarter of a century, and a Top of the World review in #76.

Since then the band’s leader, Mélomé Clément, has died but lead vocalist Vincent Ahehehinnou, who co-founded the band in 1968, has kept the flame alive and Madjafalao proves it to be a felicitous decision to carry on. From the slinky horn grooves and soukous guitars of ‘Migbe’ and the simmering Afrobeat of ‘Africa Lonlon’ to the Afro-soul of ‘Finlin Ho’, with its joyous Isley Brothersstyle guitar solo, this album is a delight.