Mamadou Doumbia et son ensemble l’orchestre « Conseil de l’Entente » – 1980

🇨🇮🎸🌍💃🎶 In the early 1960s, Mamadou Doumbia, a former roadie turned musician (and he did very well !) founded the multicultural and transnational Orchestre de l’Entente in Côte d’Ivoire, with whom he released his first hits. His first hits were the Afro-Cuban Super-Bébé, released in 1963, and his first records, bathed in rumba and cha-cha-cha, the hype of the day. Doumbia also mixed Mandingo rhythms and opened up to other styles, particularly from the Congo. In 1980, the Eboni Records label took a number of Ivorian artists to Hollywood to record a series of albums that have since become cult favourites. Mamadou Doumbia was on board, as were Lamine Konte, Amadou Doukouré and others. The result is this formidable eponymous album, recorded with l’orchestre Conseil de l’Entente, with its finely-honed groove, balanced but hard to resist, between rumba and traditional rhythms. The Hawaiian guitar played by Doumbia is no stranger to the silky, restful world of this album. And the presence of Fred Wesley on trombone attests to the quality of the ensemble! Dive in and you’ll see that the chorus of Africa Oh is immediately and durably engraved in your head and feet.