ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO Madjafalao LP

With half a century of existence, Beninese band Poly-Rythmo can easily be considerate as legends of the African music alongside Sela Kuti and Tinariwen. Drawing their name from the extensive mix of influences that forged their sound (American soul and funk, Nigerian afrobeat, French chanson, Congolese rumba, etc.), they are known to be impressively productive as they released from 1969 to 1980 hundreds of EPs and dozens of albums. In 2014, orchestra conductor Florent Mazzoleni visited the band and decided to produce this new album recorded in the legendary African studio Satel. With its warm tone and mastery of rhythm variations, ‘Madjafalao’ (“watch out”) will instantaneously become a classic of afrobeat and Poly-Rythmo will share their warm joie de vivre with thousands of people during their European tour starting in late October.