129. Attention Na SIDA

Le Grand Maître Franco & Orchestre Tout Puissant O.K. Jazz: Attention Na SIDA (African Sun Music, 1987);
composed by François Luambo Makiadi Lokanga La Djo Péné

From the perspective of the western audience for African pop music (Hi, there!), Franco is crudely perceived as being to Zaïre (he did not live to see the name of his country return to “Congo”) what Fela Kuti was to Nigeria. They were both giants by any standard, of course. Franco, a great singer, guitarist, and bandleader, was a prime co-inventor of a transmogrified rumba called soukous, in which multiple interlocking guitar parts spin out over a Cuban-tinged pulse that tended to start a number serenely and then, at an agreed nexus, shift into an intense irresistibly danceable boil. The other unfortunate commonality with Fela is that AIDS took them both away, although Fela – contrarian that he was – denied it all the way to his death in 1997. In contrast, Franco released this public service message about the menace – in French rather than the Lingala he usually sang in – even before his own diagnosis. Uncharacteristically, there is no quieter opening section to this tune – it starts at boil and continues at full intensity for sixteen minutes (on record – live it could have gone on far longer). Apart from the words, it sounds mostly like the greatest party ever. Probably was.

Note: Secular essays about individual songs, each one exactly 200 words long, appearing one per day through Advant and at least semi-regularly until Donald goes away.