Soundway Rec

Soundway presents Ferdinand ‘Maréchal’ Papillon’s underground club classic Moulongo - recorded in Paris in 1995 and highlighting the Zouk/dancehall/Makossa crossover sound that was then coming out of the city’s studios. The session features a Pan-African line-up including legendary Cameroonian bassist Aladji Touré, Congolese guitar great Nene Tchakou (Langa Langa Stars) and digital Makossa impresario Toto Guillaume. Features a new remix from Canadian producer Poirier for a 2024 bassline zouk mover, cut loud and proud on 12” vinyl.

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On Bahir, Los Angeles multi-instrumentalit Dexter Story melds his world into the one he fell in love with so strongly while travelling through the Horn o Africa. One way in which he's done so is by incorporating musicians from both sides of this coin. LA luminaries are featured throughout, as are African contemporaries he encountered throughout his travels. Sudan Archives gives a show-stealing vocal performance on "Gold", while the Ethiopian producer Endeguena Mulu adds impenetrable and psychedelic texture to the album's title track. So Bahir finds the polymath musician not stuck between two worlds, but as a member of both. We get Ethiopian jazz tonalities, Tuareg grooves, ekista dance rhythms, Afro-funk, Somalian soul and forays into more contemporary jazz rhythms, too. Angelenos like Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Josef Leimberg give the record its backbone, while African artists like the Ethiopian singer Hamelmal Abate give Bahir its glimmer and shine.