Episode 152: Club Africa Funk

Today we return to what is perhaps the most broadly popular musical theme I regularly cover on the show… I’m talking about African Funk. Africa was the source of musical ideas that would come together in the Americas to give birth to funk music. But when you listen to most funk music from Africa, it’s pretty clear that those musicians are directly working with the musical conventions that started here. In some cases African musicians took inspirations from American musical forms, but went on to create truly original music with those inspirations… much Afro-Latin, for example, is recognizably distinct from latin music produced in the Americas. But African funk is not one of those cases… most African funk sounds pretty much exactly like US funk. What really stands out to me is how well Africans were able to mimic our sounds. In many of these African countries, the local recording industry was barely 10 years old when they started making funk music. And yet here come these polished gems of African funk, sounding every bit as sharp and professional as the JBs or Kool and the Gang. Maybe just one step short of the sophistication found in Earth Wind and Fire albums. I guess what I’m trying to say here is that African funk is extremely accessible to gringo ears, and very enjoyable. Maybe that explains why this is among my most popular musical themes.