Rikki Ililonga & Musi-O-Tunya - 2010 - Dark Sunrise

Rikki Ililonga & Musi-O-Tunya

2010

Dark Sunrise

101. Musi-O-Tuny Tsegulani 6:24
102. Musi Mpondolo 7:57
103. Musi-O-Tunya Walk And Fight 7:53
104. Musi-O-Tunya The Sun 5:11
105. Musi-O-Tunya Dark Sunrise 8:26
106. Musi-O-Tunya One Reply 5:41
107. Musi-O-Tunya The Wings Of Africa 7:05
108. Musi-O-Tunya Jekete Yamankowa Part1 2:43
109. Musi-O-Tunya Jekete Yamankowa Part2 2:43
110. Musi-O-Tunya Chalo Chawama 3:45
111. Musi-O-Tunya Ng'ombe Shala 3:47
112. Musi-O-Tunya Mpulula 3:37
113. Musi-O-Tunya Smoke 4:21

201. Rikki Ililonga Sansa Kuwa 4:35
202. Rikki Ililonga Sheebeen Queen 4:53
203. Rikki Ililonga Stop Dreaming Mr. D 3:33
204. Rikki Ililonga The Hole 4:42
205. Rikki Ililonga Hot Fingers 4:09
206. Rikki Ililonga Se Keel Me Queek 4:56
207. Rikki Ililonga The Nature Of Man 3:54
208. Rikki Ililonga Musamuseka 3:01
209. Rikki Ililonga Zambia 3:18
210. Rikki Ililonga The Queen Blues 4:46
211. Rikki Ililonga Love Is The Way 4:15
212. Rikki Ililonga Lovely Woman 4:03
213. Rikki Ililonga Munzi Wa Kangawana 2:36
214. Rikki Ililonga Working On The Wrong Thing 3:45
215. Rikki Ililonga Ulemu 1:50
216. Rikki Ililonga Sunshine Love 3:15
217. Rikki Ililonga Take It Light 4:15
218. Rikki Ililonga Angel Black 3:22

Bass – Peter Giraudo (tracks: 2-11 to 2-18)
Bass Guitar – Ndara "Derreck" Mbao (tracks: 1-1 to 1-13)
Drums – Sparky Behrens (tracks: 2-11 to 2-18)
Instruments [All Instruments] – Rikki Ililonga
Lead Guitar – Riketzo Makuyu "Rikki" Ililonga (tracks: 1-2 to 1-13)
Lead Vocals – Ndara "Derreck" Mbao (tracks: 1-1 to 1-3, 1-6 to 1-13)
Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Bass, Drums – Rikki Ililonga (tracks: 2-11 to 2-18)
Percussion [African Drums], Vocals – Siliya Lungu (tracks: 1-1 to 1-13)
Percussion [Western Drums] – Brian Chengala (tracks: 1-1, 1-8 to 1-13)
Percussion [Western Drums], Vocals – Aliki Kunda (tracks: 1-2 to 1-7)
Rhythm Guitar – John Bobby Otieno (tracks: 1-1 to 1-13)
Soprano Saxophone – Kenny Chernoff (tracks: 1-1 to 1-13)
Trumpet – Charlie Sekano (tracks: 2-1 to 2-10), Brother Njenga racks: 1-1 to 2-10)
Vocals – Rikki Ililonga (tracks: 1-1 to 1-13)

Mui-O-Tunya "Wings Of Africa" album (tracks 1-2 to 1-7), recorded at Sapra Studio, Nairobi, Kenya on January 24th, 1975. Originally released on MOT Records LMOT 1017.

Tracks 1 assumed to be recorded at Sapra Studio, Nairobi, Kenya in 1975. Originally released on MOT Records MOT 101. Other singles (tracks 1-8 to 1-13) assumed to be recorded in Kenya in 1973. originally released on Pathe East Africa.

"Zambia" album (tracks 2-1 to 2-10) recorded at Sapra Studio, Nairobi, Kenya between June 9th and 25th 1975. Originally released on Zambia Music Parlour Records ZMPL 10.

"Sunshine Love" album (tracks 2-11 to 2-18) recorded at Sapra and Phonogram Studios, Nairobi, Kenya 1976. Originally released on Sepiso Records RILP2.

Recording of Zambia and Sunshine Love albums courtesy Richard "Heavyfuzz" Leckie, "Tsegulani" 7" single courtesy Miles Cleret and other Mui-O-Tunya singles courtesy db Applications, Lusaka.

"Musi-o-tunya" means "the smoke that thunders," the original name for Victoria Falls.

Singer-guitarist Rikki Ililonga may have lived in Denmark for 30 years, but he’s also an originator and ongoing steward of Zamrock. In the early 1970s, Zambia enjoyed, if that’s the right word, a set of circumstances finely tuned to instigate a rock and roll subculture. The landlocked central African country had been independent of English rule for about a decade, long enough for the first president to become the first dictator and to pick an economy-throttling fight with major trading partner Rhodesia … but not long enough for the white, English commercial class to pack up and leave. Since they had the money, the foreign-born folk exerted inordinate influence over what records made it into the shops and what got played on the radio. Take a legacy of hope, confront it with impending economic collapse, mix in an influx of international pop sounds in a newly emergent urban metropolis with strongly rooted rural cultural practices, cut off easy transit in and out of the country, then let it all simmer in the hot tropical sun — the result was a small circle of interrelated, mutually supportive psychedelic combos that included Witch, Amanaz, and Ililonga’s Musi-O-Tunya.

Collectively they displayed a penchant for fuzz guitar and heavy beats inspired by Cream and Hendrix, but there are also differences. At least on record, Witch and Amanaz could have been from anywhere where the guitars were loud and the tape decks cheap; Musi-O-Tunya’s singles and one album sound very much like music of Africa. The band’s burning guitar freakouts often took off from a foundation of skipping beats that could have originated in neighboring Congo or further west in Nigeria and Ghana, and even though English is Zambia’s official language, they sang a lot in Benba, Chinyanja, and Silozi. They also used an indigenous name; Musi-O-Tunya is the pre-British name of Victoria Falls and translates as “The Smoke That Thunders,” which isn’t a bad name for a band that aspires toward heaviness. Musi-O-Tunya’s earliest recordings date from a sojourn in Kenya in 1973, and while the drum-chant-whistle workout “Ng’ombe Shala” on one of its early singles displays the band’s roots, the flip side “Mpulala” shows that rock ‘n’ roll was part of the equation from the beginning. The crisp guitar sounds fresh out of the garage, the drumming and the song’s structure owe a lot to Mersey Beat, and the guitar and bass duel in the middle sounds like some kids trying to realize their favorite Yardbirds jam and not quite succeeding.

The recording quality on Wings Of Africa, Musi-O-Tunya’s sole album and the source of most of Dark Sunrise’s first CD, is a huge leap ahead of the one-take murk of the singles, and the music keeps pace. “The Sun” is lithe and lively; Canadian Kenny Chernoff’s soprano saxophone and Ililonga’s tart guitar fills snake in and out of the massed vocals and dynamic percussion. It’d sound just right next to your favorite tracks on the Nigeria Special and Ghana Soundz compilations. But it’s the tunes where Ililonga pushes his rock influences to the front that mark Musi-O-Tunya as a band apart. “Dark Sunrise” totally rocks, with a towering backbeat and big, fat guitar leads that’d bring a tear of jealousy to a nascent pedal-hopper’s eyes. The riff of “One Reply” sounds stunningly similar to Lou Reed’s “Charley’s Girl”; since it was recorded in 1974, two years before Reed debuted his tune on Coney Island Baby, one wonders if he could possibly have heard Musi-O-Tunya’s song first? Probably not, but in any case, the Zambians kick more ass than Lou did in his “playing football for the coach” phase, especially when Ililonga’s guitar tries to muscle to the front of the mix.

Is there any scenario more typical of ’70s rock than the talented guy saying “I don’t need these jerks” and going it alone? That’s just what Ililonga did in 1975, the year he recorded the first of the two LPs that make up Dark Sunrise’s second CD. The set comes packaged in a swanky hardcover book, and most of its pages are given over to Ililonga’s very specific remembrances of Zamrock’s circumstances and personalities. According to his telling, the rest of the band didn’t want to keep learning new songs, so he ditched them; certainly his solo LPs are powered by a hunger to play in a myriad of ways that Musi-O-Tunya did not. “Hot Fingers” is a shameless and aptly named bit of guitar flash; “Stop Dreaming Mr. D” memorializes his old band to the accompaniment of an acoustic guitar and harmonica that could have been played by Richie Havens; “The Nature Of Man” could be early Traffic mixed with a little Buffalo Springfield; “The Hole” is brazenly explicit get-it-on funk; and “Working On The Wrong Thing,” with its sparse groove and rude synth, would fit right in on that Shuggie Otis record. Whether the songs muse on the travails of Zambian urban life or Ililonga’s love life, they articulate a first person singer-songwriter stance that foregrounds the “I” (as opposed to the voice that represents or describes the community) in a way rarely heard beforehand in African pop.

Ililonga’s willingness and inclination to operate as a man apart has served him well. He left Zambia in 1980, around the time that the economy completely tanked but before AIDS wiped out his generation (to this day, 10 percent of the population is infected). He’s sustained his music career around Europe, and also facilitated the dissemination of Witch and Amanaz’s music in recent years alongside his own. One of Dark Sunrise’s chief pleasures is reading his reminiscences about his old mates and the scene they briefly inhabited.

Listening to the first five or so tracks on this, I thought of Funkadelic and Sonny Sharrock. It's a funky dark slab of heavy jams. Fantastic stuff, really phenomenal music. The rest of the tracks are a mix of garage rock, acoustic bluesy stuff and funk. Not every piece is amazing, but as a career body of work this is very impressive and deserves the highest rating.

Rikki Ililonga - 1978 - Soweto

Rikki Ililonga

1978

Soweto

01. Love Is So Strange
02. You Got The Fire
03. My Destiny
04. Soweto
    a) Pray For Soweto
    b) Soweto
    c) Blow Your Mind
    d) Soweto Explosion
05. Shebeen King
06. Fire High
07. Sunshine Queen
08. Afri-Koko

Bass Guitar, Synthesizer [ARP 2600] – Peter Giraudo
Chorus – Tutuga Yeni (tracks: A4a)
Drums – Franco Otieno
Synthesizer [ARP], Organ – Francis Njorege
Vocals, Guitar, Percussion, Engineer

"PS: This record should be played at speaker shattering volume, especially if you're doing the deep shaft horizontal mambo. Have fun !" - Rikki Ililonga

Enjoying massive popularity, Rikki added a third album titled Soweto in 1977. With a full colour cover depicting him behind bars, the album was dedicated to the 1976 Soweto Uprising in South Africa. The title track was divided into four segments; a South African hymn, the song, a chorus and explosions. Rikki was at his poetic best.

My best guess of this album's release date is 1977, based on the evolution of his synthesiser and guitar tones and song style from his first two albums. It's really not a good evolution, as seems to be the case with the majority of every other musicians' evolution towards the 80s. He's softened up considerably with only two zam-rock tracks out of 8 (both of which include the word "Fire" for some reason), and this time the rock tracks are far more funky than the zam-rock of the mid-70s. Which isn't a bad thing at all; it's just that they're the only listenable tracks on the album. The only other track that caught my attention was "Shebeen King". The music is boring, but the lyrics which brag about his sexual prowess are really entertaining: "All the women they call me: The population maker / The men they call me: The marriage breaker / The mothers call me: The statutory raper / The fathers call me: The cherry breaker"

Rikki Ililonga - 1975 - Zambia

Rikki Ililonga

1975

Zambia

01. The Hole
02. Shebeen Queen
03. Zambia
04. Hot Fingers
05. Musamuseke
06. The Nature Of Man
07. Sansa Kuwa
08. Stop Dreaming Mr. D.
09. The Queen Blues
10. Se-Keel-Me-Kweek

The realm of Western-influenced African music is consistently dominated by such powerhouse names as Fela Kuti, Victor Uwaifo and other West African legends whose 60s and 70s recordings have been reissued by companies like Soundway, Strut and Analog Africa. One can't possibly hope even to scratch the surface of the continent, however, without giving mention to Zambia's Zamrock scene which, alongside the music that arose in Ethiopia in the late 60s and early 70s, is leagues deep and largely misunderstood.

In the same vein,the genius of multi-instrumentalist Rikki Ililonga, and the famed Musi-O-Tunya band he helped found, have been afforded little international light. Ililonga's charismatic presence and unparrelled musicality - coupled with his ability to pen deeper lyrics than most in the genre - and Musi-O-Tunya's transcendent ability to deal in difficult traditional Zambian rhythms, deep funk and unrestrained fuzz rock in equal measure, have made for some amazing albums.

Rikki Ililonga started playing the guitar at the age of 18. Has played with almost every band in Zambia. Travelled extesively in Africa and abroad in search of musical knowledge. Founder member of Musi-O-Tunya who are know based in Nairobi – Kenya. In this, his first album, Rikki composed and arranged all the numbers. He switches from electric guitar to acoustic and slide guitars, bass, drums, congas and harmonicas with ease. He played all the instruments and does all the vocals himself. If you want to listen to African sound with a difference, this is the one. The sound of Rikki Ililonga of Zambia.

There’s a little more polish to this stuff (and a lot of acoustic guitar-based singer/songwriter stuff), as opposed to the wildass in-studio jams of the Musi-O-Tunya album, but Ililonga doesn’t restrain himself that much — he takes one of his scorching guitar solos through the entirety of “Sansa Kuwa,” and the funk groove of “The Hole” is unstoppable. Ililonga’s English-language lyrics are frequently dark, dealing with depression and social problems in Zambia, as opposed to the party anthems many other African groups were recording at the time, and his voice is weirdly compelling, more reminiscent of Damo Suzuki than peers like Fela or Sir Victor Uwaifo.

A solo album that is more literally solo than usual in that every instrument and vocal is done by Rikki Ililonga, with the exception of a couple brass riffs (the one type of instrument he apparently couldn't master). The downside is that he's not much of a rhytm section, so you get really basic drum-and-bass backings that are more utilitarian than musical. And he's focusing a lot more on fairly uninteresting singer-songwriter material. Yet there's still enough of the classic acidic zam-rock to keep it from getting boring, which he curiously distributed very evenly so that you never go more than two songs without it.