🎸🎶🇳🇬🇨🇲🎤 The demo was first rejected by EMI and then by Decca. Finally, in 1976, Prince Nico Mbarga was signed by the Nigerian label Rogers All Stars for his track Sweet Mother. It was a runaway success, and it is not known exactly how many millions of copies of Africa’s most popular song have been sold. More than ten, that’s for sure. Mbarga, Nigerian on his mother’s side and Cameroonian on his father’s, has developed his own style, based on highlife, while incorporating a guitar influenced by Congolese music. The result is a highly infectious groove that is taking Africa by storm. Sweet Mother was the first album by Prince Nico Mbarga, who stayed with Rogers All Stars for several years, producing one or two albums a year but never achieving the success of his debut. Mbarga died prematurely in 1997 in a tragic road accident. Sweet Mother is still one of Mbarga’s best-known songs from that period, and was included in 1989, along with other Mbarga compositions, in the megamix produced by Syllart with Lokassa and Soukous Stars.
Sweet Mother – Prince Nico Mbarga & Rocafil Jazz, 1976
