Sankayi - "Il Ne Faut Pas Intervenir (Martin Meissonnier Reconstruction)" [Single from Kinshasa 1978] (Crammed Discs)
Add Date: 10/22/2019
FCC: Clean
Formats: NACC Electronic, NACC World
Artist Information: Back in 1978, Bernard Treton recorded four 'tradi-modern' bands in Kinshasa. These sessions spawned the Zaïre: Musiques Urbaines à Kinshasa album (released in 1986 by the Ocora label), a record which, for the first time, presented to Western audiences the electrifying music which was later to be known as "Congotronics".
This new, twofold album comprises 80 minutes worth of previously-unreleased original recordings made during these 1978 sessions, as well as brand-new reconstructions made by Martin Meissonnier, the highly-respected French producer who worked with the likes of Fela Kuti, Haruomi Hosono & many more, and who has recently resumed his DJ activities.
Sankayi were led by the great Mbuyamba Nyuni, a singer, dancer, story-teller, and player of the giant, sled-like amplified bass likembe. Mbuyamba too went on to be one of the founding members of the Kasai Allstars collective, around the year 2000, and sadly passed away in 2011. On this recording, Sankayi used several likembes, percussion, and a bottle for playing the clave-like pattern which is emblematic of Kasaian music.