News & Updates — African roots

The King of the Congas, Tata Güines was a shoe-maker and a bassist before he became one of the most prestigious and important percussionists in Cuban music. After some early study with Chano Pozo, his professional career took off in the '50s, playing in Havana with the likes of Arsenio Rodriguez, Bebo Valdés, Chico O'Farrill, Peruchín, Cachao, Frank Emilio Flynn and others. In '52 he toured South America with Jose Fajardo. In 1957 he went to NYC, where he worked with Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Josephine Baker and others. He became a featured soloist on the NYC scene, helping...

Congolese rumba/soukous superstar Papa Wemba (Shungu Wembadio before 1975) was "the King of Rumba Rock". A singer, musician, bandleader (indeed his entourage of hundreds ultimately got him into trouble--look it up for yourself) and fashion icon, he had a long and successful international career. He had several ensembles in his early career that blended Congolese folk sounds with Caribbean and pop music. He blew up worldwide in the early '80s with his afro-pop group Viva La Musica (a named inspired by seeing the Fania All-Stars in Kinshasa), which had young Koffi Olomide as a composer. In '77 he started the Molokai...

Kofi Ghanaba, aka Guy Warren, was the first musician from the African continent to become known with a career and recordings in the USA, fusing American jazz with African folk forms. He was also a teacher, writer, historian and pan-Africanist of renown. A Ghanaian by birth, during WW2 he worked for the US as a spy, after which he became a journalist and a jazz musician. In 1947 he was a founding member of the great African-jazz band The Tempos with ET Mensah. In '51 he became the first African to become a BBC radio producer and also did radio...

One of the rumberos who helped the tradition thrive in NYC, Totico is best known for teaming with Carlos "Patato" Valdes. Born in Havana, he arrived in Boston in '59 and moved to NYC shortly after. He quickly found work as a percussionist, playing with Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln & Eric Dolphy on Roach's incredible Percussion Bittersuite album in '61. He also hooked up with Pupi Legarreta's charanga ensemble (check the Salsa Nova LP) before the absolute classic rumba album Patato & Totico on Verve ('68). The album features Arsenio Rodriguez and Cachao, and I love the killer version of...

Happy birthday to one of the greats of West African highlife music! The composer of one of the biggest African songs ever, "Taxi Driver", the Nigerian entertainer and businessman Bobby Benson was leader of an 11-piece band, comedian, magician and hotel/nightclub owner. His band played calypso, jazz, jive, samba and highlife and he played the guitar and saxophone. From Ikorodu in Lagos State, he started his career in '44 in London, playing with a touring ballet, traveling throughout Europe, before returning to Nigeria where he founded a dance & theater company in '47 with his wife Cassandra. His band became...