Francis Bebey / AFRICAN ELECTRONIC MUSIC 1975-1982

Cameroonian musician and cultural polymath Francis Bebey is a legend of 20th century African music, art and literature. Here we reveal his little known work with electronic keyboards, organs and drum machines. Across 14 tracks, Francis cooks up a minimal but richly layered and heady concoction of frothy, improvised melodies, body-rippling rhythms and deeply endearing vocals surely ranking as some of Africa’s greatest contributions to the history of electronic music. From the tinkling marimbas and offset bass hits of ‘New Track’ inwards, we’re witnessing a unique musical manifesto in creation, at once reflecting the phased reps of Steve Reich and the burgeoning minimal wave experiments of that era yet with an instinctive freshness and lightness of the rarest, earthly substance.