{"id":61809,"date":"2020-10-06T17:16:39","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T15:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/?p=61809"},"modified":"2020-10-06T17:17:38","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T15:17:38","slug":"acid-jazz-cotonou-poly-rythmo-orchestra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/acid-jazz-cotonou-poly-rythmo-orchestra\/","title":{"rendered":"Acid Jazz reissues legendary Cotonou Poly-Rythmo Orchestra"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Immerse yourself in the Beninese groove of the 70s with Segla<\/em>, a rare album by the almighty orchestra, originally recorded for the Beninese label Albarika. <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

More than 42 years of existence and more than 500 records in the collection, no less! The band, popular throughout West Africa, first embodied the euphoria of the years of independence, the Revolution, multipartyism and liberalism, before succumbing to the Western hype of vinyl re-editions. Poly-Rythmo<\/a>‘s tracks have been enjoying a revival in recent years with regular re-releases on trendy labels such as Luakabop<\/a>, Soundway<\/a>, Analog Africa,<\/a> and the latest, Acid Jazz. Yet the original orchestra records are rare, untraceable even. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Poly-Rythmo has played with Fela, Manu Dibango and Miriam Makeba, and even hosted morning sessions for Beninese people on the national radio, the band had never left Africa. Indeed, Poly-Rythmo almost perished into oblivion without ever returning to the studios … Until 2007, when a French journalist, \u00c9lodie Maillot, tracked down the musicians in Cotonou for an interview broadcast on France Culture as well as off the air. A subsidiary question lingered: could she help realize their secret dream \u2026 to play outside Africa once in their lives?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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