Orchestre Poly- Rythmo de Cotonou

In the Mid-seventies while western music was enjoying the likes of The Glitter Band and David Cassidy the Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou delivered 'Mi Homlan Dadale' nearly six minutes of unrestrained Voudon influenced Poly rhythmic joy. Incredibly lo-fi (it was recorded on a portable reel-to-reel) but complex, brilliantly conceived and powerful with a thin and reedy organ sound, off-key horns and excited chants as well as some wonderful sub-Santana style guitar, it lifts the heart and sets the bum to moving like nothing else I have heard this year.
And that is only the opening number - There are 13 more.

Benin is home to Vodoun or as we know it in the west, Voodoo which is a complex and deeply rooted religion celebrating over 250 deities and, as is the way with religion, taken to heart by those who believe. This complex and all-enveloping religion created a number of different rhythms and these are the flavours by which the Orchestre is spiced and informed. These rhythms have surfaced all over the world in Jazz, Brasilian Samba, Cuban and even Blues music and you can hear all of these here.

The Music is intense and complex but the heart and the joy is clear in every track.
The instruments are not always the best and some of the playing is rudimentary (the horns are incredibly discordant at times, wonderfully so) but the drumming and the rhythms are continuous and it is just not possible to sit still while the drummers and the shakers are setting up a continuous vodoun rhythmic backdrop to the rest of the music.

Like so much that Analog Africa has released this is important and treated with due reverence in the form of 44 page booklet and some great images but the music at the heart of this is what you should buy the album for and that doesn't need booklets, just your ears.