aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser
#056: Malako– ‘In The Midnight Hour’ (London Records ’89)
Hello friends,
before you all start jumping up and down in sheer joy just because you think I am for once not presenting another boring old punk song which was already outdated in the Eighties, but something more contemporary instead: calm down, because if you read the headline a bit more closely, you’ll see that it’s not Moloko, the Electronic/House/Trip Hop band of ‘Sing It Back’ and ‘The Time Is Now’ – fame, no, it’s Maloko!
But fear not – Maloko, like Moloko, are neither punk nor indie as well, so perhaps you should continue reading – you might well miss a treat if you would not, believe me.
Now, in the history of recorded music there have been quite a lot of so called “supergroups”, usually people use this term when either a) Phil Collins or b) Eric Clapton or c) the twat with the hat or d) any surviving Beatle is being involved in said group.
One supergroup though which will most surely have stayed under your radar was Les Quatre Étoiles. And this is because Soukous – that’s the music style they performed, originally from Zaire, but made more popular in Paris in the early 80s – has never received the attention it should have received. You see, people always say ‘boy, listen to this guitar, isn’t it just awesome?!’ when they talk about the aforementioned ‘supergroups’. But no-one mentions – or indeed will ever mention – the African guitar heroes of our era, one of them being Syran Mbenza, not only one of the greatest African guitarists, but one of the best worldwide.
It’s him pictured above, mainly because I couldn’t find a picture of Maloko, but also because he is the most important figure within the band, let’s be honest. Andy Kershaw certainly was not entirely wrong when he once said that “Eric Clapton isn’t fit to tune Mbenza’s guitar strings” …
Syran Mbenza was the lead guitarist in Les Quatre Étoiles in Paris together with three other Congolese expats there: Bopol Mansiami (bass + rhtythm guitar) and Wuta Mayi and Nyboma on vocals, all of the four were widely known for their solo outputs and their work in other combos. So, combined, Les Quatre Étoiles were quite successful back then (and rightly so) and consequently they were touring internationally quite a bit. And on a US tour Mbenza met Ibrahim Kanja Bah in Washington, originally Kanja Bah was from Sierra Leone. He ran an African music radio show, a record store, and a record label there in D.C. Now, Kanja Bah took the opportunity and ‘created’ Maloko in 1988. Depending on where you look, the group sometimes is being referred to “Vincent Nguini & Maloko”, because Vincent Nguini, from Cameroon, turned out to be Kanja Bah’s group leader of choice. Other members were Fredo Ndoumbe-Ngando, Komba Bellow and Dasante, to name just a few.
They issued only one album, ‘Soul On Fire’, for which they basically chose a handful of American soul classics and “soukousized” them. The outcome is unbelievable, as today’s single will surely proof:
mp3: Malako – In The Midnight Hour
The definitive reading of the Wilson Pickett classic, I’m sure you agree. And you know what: it’s miles better than anything Moloko ever did, plus it’s more danceable anyway …
So enjoy,
So enjoy,
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 