Episode 42: Charme Offensive Africa

Today is a variation on a common Tropicology musical category… this is another installment of the Charme Offensive theme. Normally the charme offensive episodes focus on music from the French West Indies, where the locals absorbed the French troubadour tradition to create their own version of the cafe crooner sound. That’s why I French up “charm” to “charme” in the show title. But that troubadour tradition found its way into French colonies in Africa as well, where it mixed with local styles to create uniquely African versions of cafe music. Today we are going to hear African music with some French influence and some latin influence, but this will all be music that does not stray too far from African roots. Rootsy Frenchy sounds from Africa on today’s episode of Tropicology.