Vol 3: The Skeletal Essences of Afro Funk 1969-1980

Analog Africa here return to the rich canon of Benin’s finest, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou, with The Skeletal Essences of Afro Funk. Despite the wealth of great music that has already surfaced on the label’s reissues, there’s no let-up here. However this particular release is also tinged with sadness, serving as an epitaph to bandleader Melome Clement, who passed away from a heart attack at the end of last year. Whilst the musical elements the group draw from might be categorised as funk, Latin or African in origin, they seem to be tapping into something far deeper. On the opening track, ‘Ne Rien Voir, Dire, Entendre’, a nagging guitar riff counts out the offbeat, as a cowbell bashes out its message, like the sound of a particularly funky typing pool. All the while a menacing bassline rumbles under the groove as an organ snakes eerily around the whole.

It would be clichéd to trot out the references to voodoo, death and spookery that the album’s title implies. These grooves do seem, however, to come from somewhere inside the earth, as if they’d always existed and the band had managed to capture them for a brief moment. ‘Karateka’ has an almost baroque intro, as a cycle of notes spell out the bare bones of a bluesy motif. The 6/8 rhythm propels everything forward to an almost hypnotic state. The sparse ‘A O O Ida’ is similarly impressive. Indeed, The Skeletal Essences of Afro Funk proves to be a highly impressive listen from start to finish.