Man Recordings Inspiration Series #7 : Burundi Black
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
African music all of a sudden seems to be everywhere. Hollertronix release an entire EP dedicated to Kuduro, Vampire Weekend get inspired by sounds from Botswana and Warp release DJ Mujava´s “Township Funk” to enthusiastic response and everyone looks to Africa as it was 1988 when “Yeke Yeke” by Mori Kanté was ruling Eurolands charts and African inspired pop music was considered the next big thing.
We @ Man Rec have been longtime fans of the kaleidoscope of sounds emerging from various African regions, be it Hi Life, Kwaito, or lately Kuduro. However one of the first African tunes to ever encounter our ears in the early 80s was Burundi Black. The track was recorded in 1967 by Sevac Ekian during a ceremony of the Ingoma Tribe in the East African State of Burundi. Back home Ekian developed the idea to arrange a “musical marriage” (mariage musical). Therefore he asked the producer Mike Steiphenson to create a fitting tune to those absorbing drum recordings and chants he brought from Burundi.
Steiphenson produced a psychedelic harmony consisting of e-guitar and piano and inserted it in Ekian’s recording. In 1971 the track was published under the pseudonym Burundi Black. “Burundi Black” was a huge success in European discotheques throughout the 1970s and is considered one of the anthems of the Cosmic Disco movement. It´s probably also one of the first remixed African tunes ever released.
On Side A of the vinyl release there is “Part 1″, the drum-solo version, on Side B (”Part 2″) the version by Steiphenson. The single went top 40 in the UK. If you´ve heard Quiet Village´s remix of Gorillaz, you may recognize the source of inspiration (oh and Beastie Boys also sampled the drums on their “Pauls Boutique” album).
