Sterns Music

23/04/2025

Wednesday tune

Nanso Oben (Skin Cancer) from Kumase Band by Kumase Band feat. Kwabena Oduro Kwarteng

Following on from last weeks post from Hi-Life International’s 1985 album ’Na Wa For You’, we bring things right up to date with Kwabena Oduro Kwarteng’s latest venture, the Kumase Band, and some comments on the use of skin lightening creams in his song “Nanso Eben (Skin Cancer)”.

40 years on and Kwabena is still working hard, still unfraid of controversy. Here’s power to you!

Now added to the playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jssqzzDIFnyPsiFqC0MfY?si=RRPJmN5ERiqcvy83l9YQOQ&pi=JIzohrVZSzqLe

16/04/2025

Wednesday tune

Na Wa For You by Hi-Life International from the album Na Wa For You

While rummaging through the Sterns vaults recently, we realised we had the original analogue masters for the two albums Hi-Life International recorded for Sterns back in the 1980s: 'Music To Wake The Dead' in '83, and 'Na Wa For You' in ’85. Never released on CD, they’d slipped through the net and escaped digital release. However that was soon remedied. A trip to FX Copyroom for some specialised tape baking and transfer, and it was a joy to hear just how fresh and energetic they still sound.

The track that seems to be picking up the plays is “Awo De Me” from ’Na Wa For You’, but here we feature the opening and title track from the same album. Led by Kwabena Oduro-Kwarteng on guitar, more than ably assisted by Herman Asafo-Agyei on bass and with Frank Kenner on sax and Stu Hamer on trumpet, not forgetting the inimitable Kofi Adu on drums, the core group was a formidable performing unit that wowed UK and European audiences between 1983 and 1986.

With distinctive cover art by Ankobra it’s good to have them back, and both albums are now available across all digital services.

Now added to the playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jssqzzDIFnyPsiFqC0MfY?si=SEVIof2DSeuXMzauCTvvRQ&pi=oxSO6T_ISMyJR

09/04/2025

Wednesday tune

Mouhamadou Bamba by Orchestra Baobab featuring Thione Seck on lead vocals from the Sterns compilation Bamba

It was 10 years almost to the day that we committed to posting a track every week to highlight a different group or artist across decades of ground breaking popular musical production throughout the African continent and it's Diaspora, very much the remit of the Sterns Africa imprint.

From Dakar to Addis and Oran to Cape Town, and not simply drawing from the healthy Sterns' archive, we often promote the vast catalogues of labels like Syllart Records, RetroAfric, Earthworks, AI Records (Kenya) and Triple Earth. Plus artist owned archives who we assist in managing the catalogue - Sam Mangwana and Verkys et al.

So, this week let's enjoy again this moody titan of genre bending genius from the most perfectly formed version of Baobab that producer Ibrahima Sylla could have been blessed with in his Dakar studio circa 1980, which was one of the very first tracks we chose to post in 2015.

Now added to the Wednesday Music playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jssqzzDIFnyPsiFqC0MfY

02/04/2025

Wednesday tune

Adidas Kiesse by Papa Wemba & Viva La Musica from the Sterns' compilation Mwana Molokai - The First Twenty Years

This is one of Wemba's many perfect pop moments where he enlists his super power of call and response with a churos (consisting here of Fafa De Molokai, Lidjo Kwempa, Luciana, Reddy Amissi and Stino) as powerful as his response.

Written from the perspective of a woman, Wemba originally released Adidas Kiesse on 1990's Biloko Ya Moto, and now it resides alongside many other glorious tracks, including a standout version of Esclave, on the above Sterns compilation. Those who intend to enjoy the track to the end will be rewarded with a sublime sebene.

Now added to the playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jssqzzDIFnyPsiFqC0MfY

19/03/2025

Wednesday tune

Tala Merci Bapesaka Na Mbwa by Franco and Simaro Massiya Lutumba available on The Very Best Of Poète Simaro Massiya Lutumba Volume 4

Today would have been the 87th birthday of Le Poet, Vice President of TPOK Jazz and for over two decades till the end of Franco's life, one of his chief collaborators and song writers, Simaro Massiya Lutumba.

Today's chosen tune is like a gift to celebrate not only Simaro's genius but here also is Madilu System's luxurious lead vocals, Simaro and Franco's guitars and the full complement of a late career TPOK Jazz with proper horn section still in place.

Simaro of course would out live both Franco and Madilu by many years, passing away the elder statesman of classic rumba in 2019.

Now added to the Wednesday Music playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jssqzzDIFnyPsiFqC0MfY

12/03/2025

Wednesday tune

Nina from Moyibi by Pépé Kallé and Nyboma

From a stylish late 1980s Ibrahima Sylla produced collab between the Kallé who truly deserved to be called 'Grand' (but of course that is reserved for another Congolese rumba giant) and one of the artists that has clocked up and appeared on more Sterns releases than anyone else we can think of, Nyboma Mwan'dido,

If you take into account the output of Kékélé, Les Quatre Étoiles, cameos with Africando and our compilation of his early work, Nyboma & Kamale Dynamique, not to mention his solid and unique tenor gracing many Sterns and associated releases by Syran Mbenza, Wuta Mayi, Mbilia Bel, Mose Fan Fan, Samba Mapangala and Madilu System, and this is just scratching the surface of Nyboma's vast and marvellous career, with today's choice deservedly on over a million listens on Spotify.

Now added to the Wednesday Music playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jssqzzDIFnyPsiFqC0MfY

Laurent Nyboma Mwan Dido

05/03/2025

Wednesday tune

Kara Noreyni from Noreyni by Kiné Lam

As the esteemed ‘Queen of Mbalax’, Kiné Lam’s full-throated vocal takes no prisoners. Voted Senegal's best female vocalist three times, she was the first woman singer to form her own band and the first to sing in the "mbalax" style. This excellent album was recorded in Paris in 1995 with some of the city's then hottest sessioneers augmenting her own formidable group. Special mention to the musical polymath Manu Lima on keyboards, Cheikh Tidiane Tall for his arrangements and backing vocalist 'Chuck Berry Mboup', just because.

Now added to the playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jssqzzDIFnyPsiFqC0MfY?si=R-V5_vYTQuOPYb3eWqdgbA&pi=j6K0VqfiRfee0

26/02/2025

Wednesday tune

Tonton Charles from Oléli Oléli by Youlou Mabiala

The sudden vacuum that arose on the death of Franco in 1989 caused much confusion, and seven years later that confusion was still apparent as various groupings of musicians continued to earn their keep, while at the same time trying to honour their mentor. Of the various units that sought to take on the TPOK mantle, that led by Franco’s son-in-law, Youlou Mabiala, had a very strong claim.

However it’s worth noting that on this 1996 Brazzaville recording - here available digitally for the first time - apart from Youlou himself, none of the musicians had any discernible and direct connection with the mighty TPOK Jazz, or indeed with Franco. But so what? The music and grooves are fabulous and when your 1st guitarist is named “Six Mille Six Cents Volts”, and your 2nd is “Hobiska Rocky”, what’s not to like?

Now added to the playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jssqzzDIFnyPsiFqC0MfY?si=iF2yDTfOmEG28AK2ccA

19/02/2025

Wednesday tune

Souffrance from the album Les 4 Étoiles by Les 4 Étoiles

Stepping up the pace, was there ever a more joyful ’supergroup’ than Les 4 Étoiles? Though indeed sometimes they were 5, 6 or even 7, as various members stepped forward to take the limelight. In this case, it’s Dally Kimoko on lead guitar who gets to shine while Guy Nsange bubbles away on bass.

But essentially Les 4 Étoiles were Nyboma, Bopol, Wuta-Mayi and Syran Mbenza with, on this 1995 release and alongside Dally Kimoko and Guy Nsange as above, Likinga Redo and Carlito adding their voices to those of Nyboma and Wuta-Mayi.

There was always a relaxed confidence to the Étoiles. They were massively popular and at the top of their game, and they must have known it. But if there was ever an ego clash, it never made it into the grooves of their recordings. Just supreme and professional musicianship which propelled their fans onto the dance floor.

Now added to the playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jssqzzDIFnyPsiFqC0MfY?

05/02/2025

Wednesday tune

Jerusalem by Alpha Blondy from Jerusalem

Released by Sterns on vinyl in 1987 under licence from Pathé Marconi, Alpha Blondy’s vision of a Jerusalem where "You can see Christians, Jews and Muslims living together and praying, Amen” was perhaps always naive, and later that same year the First Intifada began. Nevertheless, without hope today there is no tomorrow and naive or otherwise, his three words found at the bottom right of the album’s back cover remain emphatically relevant.

Now added to the playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jssqzzDIFnyPsiFqC0MfY

29/01/2025

Wednesday tune

Demgalam by Baaba Maal and group Daande Lenõl from the album Wango

We've said this before in relation to Baaba Maal's great reinvention, Wango, that prior to Ibrahima Sylla's slick studio production and large band sound on this 1988 album, that Baaba Maal, accompanied by his best friend the late Mansour Seck, had until this point very much secured himself a career as a damn good West African acoustic balladeer.

It was 3 years spent studying in Paris where the massive pop and reggae scenes began to saturate into the young Maal's musical sensibilities convincing him, on returning to Senegal, he would concentrate on incorporating these styles with traditional Senegalese music, creating some great crossover moments like today's reggae tinged joyous tune, Demgalam.

Now added
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jssqzzDIFnyPsiFqC0MfY

22/01/2025

Wednesday Tune

Issin by Amadou Sodia from the album Ça va se savoir

On release fRoots Magazine quickly pronounced Sodia's 2008 debut international release for Sterns 'a genuine classic', it was apt then that we wrote in the liner notes that we considered Sodia to be 'a singer rooted in the past, singing for the present while looking to the future.'

Already well established in Guinea by the time Sterns released his second solo album, the joyous and alluring, Ça va se savoir, Sodia (then using his birth name Amadou Doumbouya) cut his teeth with one of Guinea's most popular groups in the 1970s and '80s, Horoya Band. Not short of talent, he was (and remains) famous for his mastery of the bolon (the four-string instrument pictured on the cover of Ça Va Se Savoir) as well as for his compositions and his voice. He would also go on to sing two songs in guitarist Ousmane Kouyate's landmark album of 1990, Domba.

Still very relevant today in Guinea, Sodia has in the last week dropped a perfect slice of griot crooner pop on Youtube.

Now added to the playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jssqzzDIFnyPsiFqC0MfY

15/01/2025

Wednesday tune

Atewo-Lara Ka Tepa Mo'se from Ojo Je by Segun Adewale

From the beautiful and eccentric mind of Nigeria's Segun Adewale comes the dream 'yo' pop of this stand-out track from his second album with us back in the mid 1980s.

By this time Adewale was already a seasoned and well established musician in Nigeria after having a successful 3 year stint in the late 1970s co-fronting Sir Shina Adewale and the Superstars International with Sir Shina Peters, both having met previously playing for juju pioneer Prince Adekunle.

Whatever happened to the enigmatic frontman, you might ask? He still pops up on social media every now and then. In an interview in the late noughties he claimed he was still working full time as a musician but more of late is found reminiscing on the exciting days when juju was king.

Now added to the playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jssqzzDIFnyPsiFqC0MfY

08/01/2025

Wednesday tune

kizolele by Somo Somo (Mose Fan Fan) from the album Paris

Today's tune comes from one of the most formidable, uncompromising Congolese band leaders, and probably most importantly, one of Congo's most formidable, uncompromising guitarists, Mose 'Fan Fan' Se Sengo. He was one of the longest standing Sterns' label artists, but also of course a friend.

Somo Somo was like a pet project for Mose that he held dear. With as many differing iterations down the years as Franco's own TPOK Jazz. After exiting the aforementioned rumba goliath in 1974 Mose first concerned himself with an attempted coup of TPOK Jazz' popularity, cohorted with Youlou Mabiala, he eventually had to concede to the power and influence Franco commanded in that period. Deciding to take his project across Central and Eastern Africa he would eventually arrive in London and found himself quickly introduced to the nascent Sterns.

Throughout Paris, Mose's second album for Sterns, there's an overwhelming assuredness that he was aware he was making great music, dizzying multi guitar placements hypnotise from start to finish and these recordings pave the way for several excellent records to come in the coming decades.

Now added to the playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jssqzzDIFnyPsiFqC0MfY?si=a9a09mdOQfayqlVFNJQLqg

11/12/2024

Wednesday tune

Li Ngaye Diaye from Kara by Alioune Kassé et le Kassé-Stars

The “Kasse-Stars” were originally "Ibra Kassé and the Star Band”, Ibrahim Kassé being Alioune's father, and it was Ibra, as owner of the Miami Club in Dakar, who founded the group in 1959. Under Ibra’s leadership the Star Band, though not perhaps without some arguments along the way, have an incredibly important position in the story of Senegal’s popular as it was from the Star Band that, among others, Orchestra Baobab arose, and with the Star Band that a young Youssou N’Dour first exploded onto the Dakar scene in 1976.

Alioune took over the group after his father’s death, promptly renaming them the Kassé-Stars, and "Li Ngaye Diay” is from his first recording as leader, the album ‘Kara’ in 1993. With some of Dakar’s best musicians, not least the magnificent percussion section of El Hadj Faye on sabar, Djiby Ndiaye on toumbas and Pape Kassé on kit drums, their designation as ‘stars' is assured, and the photo below shows Alioune in full flight.

Now added to the Wednesday Music playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jssqzzDIFnyPsiFqC0MfY?si=yXUeXa2aR1qWpZUn5yRpUg&pi=e-tW8YZt-iSMmx

04/12/2024

Wednesday tune

Dieu Voit Tout from The Top by Koffi Olomidé

Originally released in 1987, ostensibly as a duet between Koffi Olomidé and Fafa de Molokaï, the grace and delicacy of this recording seems at odds with the bombastic nature of their respective titles: Koffi “Rambo, l’homme de Beretta” Olomidé and Fafa “Le Grand Maestro” de Molokaï.

Olomidé’s career is well-known and while not without controversy, his popularity and relevance is assured. “Maestro" Molokaï’s trajectory was less exaggerated and in the new millennium he gave up music to retrain as a chef in Paris, where he successfully worked for the last two decades prior to his death in 2020. But while his contribution to this particular recording is notable almost by its absence, in the annals of popular Congolese music his name must be recorded.

So here they both are back in '87 in the famed Studio Davout, with the beautifully restrained backing of Rigo Star on bass and guitar, Ringo Moya on drums, Armando Ama on percussion and Apho-Monga on keyboards, and the moment around 6’30” when Rigo’s lyrical guitar gives way to the singer's cry must be peak 80’s Congo.

Now added to the playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jssqzzDIFnyPsiFqC0MfY?

02/12/2024

Obituary for the late legend of Congolese rumba, Papa Noël.

Congolese guitarist and songwriter who toured Europe with TPOK Jazz and gave a celebrated ‘unplugged’ performance at Womad in 2000

27/11/2024

Wednesday tune

Temeles from the album Soba by Aster Aweke

Do we really appreciate just how difficult it is for any musician in any system anywhere in the world, to sustain a front-line career in popular music? My answer is “no”, and I guess that’s how it should be. The mechanism of how an artist remains relevant over decades and reaches out across generations is mysterious and fascinating, but ultimately all that matters is what they do, not how they do it.

This track is from Aster Aweke’s 2023 album ’Soba’. It was funded not by a conventional record company, but by a comparatively new media organisation that itself arose out of an Ethiopian ride-sharing app, and with input from a women orientated bank whose name roughly translates as “mother’. There’s a music video on YouTube which for those of us who don’t speak Amharic, helps tell the story behind the song.

The photo is from when Aster performed to a soldout audience at Ronnie Scott’s on Frith Street, London. It’s identified as 1990, but is possibly from 1991.

Now added to the playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jssqzzDIFnyPsiFqC0MfY?si=xZvCr-GBTca6eaXwmjhenQ&pi=e-t6J5RA4FTSGZ