Joachim Boya et l’orchestre Black Santiago, Yedenou Adjahoui

The life of a mathematician may not be the most glamorous one, but I do get to travel all over, and I always budget an extra day to hide from my hosts in some little basement full of records. I just returned home after several months of travelling, conferences, even a new theorem or two, time with old and new friends, and a great stack of records that I’m slowly catching up to. There’s so much music I want to share with you all that I don’t even know where to start!

So to start somewhere, I’m going to follow Smokestack’s lead. I loved his Polyrhythmo post, and one of my favorite parts of any Pelanga is when he goes and busts out some incredible Beninese salsa track from the deep end of his crate. Following his lead, I also managed to get a hold of a few great records from Benin over the last month. I might save my favorites for our upcoming Pelanga in a couple of weeks, but of course Joachim Boya + l’orchestre Black Santiago has to be pretty close to favorite:

boya

“Alphabetisation” has a spot reserved in our Educator’s Special mix (years in the making). It’s got that groove, that keyboard, and that killer break towards the end that leaves you with a melody which you’re not about to find on this side of the Atlantic.

Alphabetisation

 

Then in “Rendez-vous a l’etoile” they redefine call-and-response. So nice.

Rendezvous

 

La ñapa:

adjahoui

For those of you who like the traditional sound, here is Yedenou Adjahoui. Eighteen minutes of this is definitely not enough.

Hode Nad mite

Enjoy,

papicultor