🎸👨🦯🎵🇨🇲🌍🎶 André-Marie Tala is a living legend of music made in Cameroon. The guitarist, blind since the age of 15, is often compared to Stevie Wonder, and while his music is first and foremost steeped in the Bamiléké tradition, it is largely coloured by funk, rock, reggae and other influences. In 1981, this Tala ’81, released on the artist’s own label, was no exception to the rule. Tala had been internationally famous since the success of Hot koki in 1978 – and the setbacks it caused with James Brown’s attempted recovery. The guitarist has surrounded himself with an almost entirely West Indian orchestra, from Jean-Claude Naimro to Michel Alibo, Claude Vamur and Jacky Arconte. The album starts in Bandjoun, in Tala’s native West Cameroon, with the scorching Afro-funk of Get Up Tchamassi, then moves on to Jamaica, then back to makossa before finishing with the bikutsi apotheosis of Mete Nè Msè.
Tala 81 – André-Marie Tala, 1981
