In 1993 The Beat reported the extraordinary story of how, in 1977, Jamaican reggae producer Lee “Scratch” Perry encountered two Congolese musicians stranded in Kingston, and recorded an unprecedented fusion of African and Caribbean music.
Long the stuff of legend, the rumor of a mid-1970s collaboration with some African musicians at his fabled Black Ark studio had been especially tantalizing for fans of the madman/genius Perry, for over 15 years. But the tapes, if they ever existed, had vanished, and another unsolved reggae mystery was born.
Steve Heilig recounts the tale of the two musicians, Zaireans Seke Molenga and Kalo Kwongolo, members of Tabu Ley Rochereau’s soukous band, who traveled to Jamaica under the auspices of a French producer who abandoned them before ever reaching a recording studio. Penniless, they lived on the streets for some time before Perry, the renowned but often eccentric producer, rescued them and concocted a plan to record the two with a very credible lineup of local reggae artists. The result became a sort of Holy Grail of a missing master tape, which at the time of this writing, had somehow reappeared in Belgium and was obtained by Dutch record producer Robert Kuijpers, who was to release it as a CD titled From the Heart of the Congo.
Recorded at a time before reggae had really began to take hold in Africa and before much African music was readily available in the West, this is a missing link not only in Scratch’s musical career but between the music of the Mother Continent and Jamaica as well.
As an interesting sidebar, The Beat received a letter from noted scholar and ethnomusicologist Ken Bilby, commenting on From the Heart of the Congo, published in the subsequent issue and reproduced here.
To update this story, a vinyl album was apparently released in 1979 on Sonafric (France); on vinyl in 1990 by Kuijpers’ RUNNetherlands label and a CD in 1993; and even reissued by Trojan in 2006. The quality on the YouTube playlist below is a bit dodgy but one can clearly hear Perry’s trademark mix and dub effects. The album’s provenance is still unclear: It seems to have been released with various covers by various labels and various track lists over time: More details here.
For a more recent look at Lee Perry and his outrageous shenanigans, read about his 2014 appearance in Brooklyn here.
READ OR DOWNLOAD PDF: beat122scratch/congo
ABOUT BEST OF THE BEAT ON AFROPOP
High-flying jazz-fusion collective Snarky Puppy curated a collaboration with a raft of star vocalists in 2014 under the title Family Dinner. This is the second instalment, with an even glitzier guestlist, caught live in New Orleans during Mardi Gras.
Young singer-songwriter Becca Stevens opens proceedings with some unexpectedly plaintive folk fiddle music, which builds towards the clamorous ‘I Asked’, with its odd-metre bassline and bold harmonies. Peru’s Susana Baca is joined by jazz-funk guitar maverick Charlie Hunter on the heated ‘Molino Montero’, ending up with a melee of percussion polyrhythms and interwoven backing vocals, and a similar explosive finale winds up Salif Keita’s ‘Soro (Afriki)’. Britain’s Laura Mvula and Jacob Collier provide thoughtful soul and…
…jaw-dropping vocal multitasking, with the latter’s ‘Don’t You Know’ the longest and most exploratory track on the set. Legendary rock survivor David Crosby’s ballad ‘Somebody Home’ doesn’t make for the most euphoric curtain-closer, and a jazz feel is mostly consigned to loose handling of the arrangements, but there are some inspired performances on this uninhibitedly diverse set.
Tanya Tagaq
Retribution
(Six Shooter Records, 2016)
more details
Council Estate Electronics
Arktika
(Glacial Movements Records, 2016)
more details
Tracklist:
1. Intro: Wagner’s Lohengrin/point Of Know Return
2. Icarus/borne On Wings Of Steel
3. Paradox
4. Hopelessly Human
5. Cheyenne Anthem
6. Dust In The Wind
7. You Think You Got It Made/the Mask Of The Great Deceiver
8. Miracles Out Of Nowhere/loner
9. Anything For You
10. Don’T Open Your Eyes
11. Got To Rock On/no One Together
12. Hold On
13. Relentless
