3 - Nina Simone - Feeling Good - Blue for You: Very Best of Nina Simone - USA - Global - GTV RADCD84
2 - Ayub Ogada - Wa Winjigo Ero - En Mana Kuoyo - Kenya - Real World - CDRW42
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3 - The Impressions - People Get Ready - Definitive Impressions - USA - Kent - CDKEND 923
4 - Orchestra Virunga - Malako - Virunga Volcano - Kenya/Congo - Earthworks - CDEWV 16
5 - Neville Brothers - A Change is Gonna Come - Yellow Moon - USA - A&M - CD 5240
6 - Pointer Sisters - Yes We Can - The Gallery - USA - Soul Jazz - SJR CD100
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After a lifetime of being betrayed by politicians and their promises, we should know better than dare to raise our hopes as Barack Obama takes office as President of the United States. As if the task would not be daunting enough, the new President must somehow cope with the worse economic crisis of modern times, mounting concerns about global warming and a spiteful, opportunist and hypocritical bout of attacks on Palestinian children (ethnic cleansing in disguise?) launched by the Israelis in the final days of the previous President’s tenure.
But as so much of modern life is affected by confidence (or the lack of it), we dare to welcome the new President with music of hope, determination and joy.
Nina Simone [photo by Mario Algaze - www.mcpagallery.com]
or:
Nina Simone was a paradoxical figure, alternating optimism and defiance in her songs with despair at the cruelty with which she was treated in her life. So shameful that she was denied the opportunity to follow her chosen career as a classical pianist; it was no consolation to her that she was forced into becoming a unique, uncategorisable and belatedly revered musician.
Ayub Ogada
The Kenyan musician Ayub Ogada (from the same Luo tribe as Obama’s father) was also furious to find himself pigeon-holed when attempting to pursue a career as an actor. After twice being cast as a houseboy in major western productions, Ayub dropped his Western name and pursued a career as a traditional musician, playing the ntiti. I first saw him busking near Dingwalls in Camden, north London, during the mid 1980s before realising what a talent he was when he played onstage at WOMAD St Austell a few months later. His debut album for Real World had several highlights but, despite many attempts and several jobs as a score composer, Ayub never managed to follow it up. Maybe Obama will hear about him and something could finally happen?
The Impressions: Sam Gooden, Curtis Mayfield, Fred Cash
If ever a song could have its moment, surely the time is finally right for ‘People Get Ready’, written by Curtis Mayfield for his Chicago-based group The Impressions. This was a substantial hit in the United States at the time (1965), and the group was a huge influence in Jamaica where countless vocal groups adopted a similar line-up and approach to lyrics (notably the Wailers, but also The Heptones, Paragons and Congos); still slow in catching up with Motown, in the UK Radio One never did understand or champion the Impressions.
Samba Mapangala
I doubt that Barack Obama ever knew anything about Orchestra Virunga, but this was one of the most popular groups in Kenya in the late 1970s and early 80s. The lead singer Samba Mapangala is actually Congolese, but he learned to sing in Swahili and with local Nairobi musicians developed a style that was distinctly East African. More recently Samba has recorded with the cream of Congolese musicians in Paris, but while his sweet voice is always appealing, he needs those East Africans to give it a context.
The Neville Bothers: Cyril, Charles, Aaron, Art
Sam Cooke
However optimistic Sam Cooke felt when he wrote ‘A Change is Gonna Come’, shortly before h died in 1964, he could hardly have envisaged a day when American would elect a black President. Sam’s own recording of the song is probably still the definitive version, and most people might choose Otis Redding’s contemporary cover as the next best. But I like to play the 1989 recording by the Neville Brothers, partly because they are all still with us, still available to play it live should the opportunity arise. Aaron Neville touches places other voices don’t reach.
Allen Toussaint; The Pointer Sisters
Used during the Democratic nomination race as a mantra, the phrase ‘Yes We Can’ occurred even more often than ‘a change is gonna come’, which was surely gratifying to Allen Toussaint, the song-writer/producer who introduced ‘Yes We Can’ in the recording by Lee Dorsey. The Pointer Sisters turned the song into a club hit in the 1970s, but I always felt it lacked a verse or two as the catchy but relentless chorus went round too many times. But it still feels like the appropriate way to end this selection.
Many thanks to Gordon Neill for alerting me to the upcoming date.
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