Africando – Vol. 2 Tierra Tradicional

Released 1994
Stern’s Music

Produced by Ibrahima Sylla


Available at Descarga, Amazon, etc


1. Ken Moussoul Guis Li ("El Carretero") 4:31 (Guillermo Portabales)
2. Tierra Tradicional ("Cienfuegos") 4:09 (Beny More)
3. Yay Boy 3:59 (Ismael Rivera?)
4. Sama Rew 4:17
5. Xale Bile 5:33
6. Sama Thiel ("Moliendo Cafe") 4:35 (Hugo Blanco)
7. Sabador (“La Bamba”) 3:02 (Traditional)
8. Ndiabaane 7:04
9. Tierra Tradicional (Remix) 4:09 (Beny More)

Arrangements and musical direction by Boncana Maiga.

Three Senegalese singers (Pape Seck, Medounne Diallo, Nicolas Menheim) work with New York-based musicians to take Salsa back to its African roots. The songs are supposedly Latin classics (e.g. Moliendo Cafe with well-known version by Cortijo Y Su Combo) sung in mix of Wolof and Spanish with new lyrics by the singers.

It's not a consistently great (remix of title song is rather superfluous), but it does have three high quality songs making salsanewyork.com list including Ken Moussoul Guis Li (El Carretero by Guillermo Portabales - here Medounne Diallo joined by Ronnie Baro in lead vocals and with a great tenor Saxophone accompanyment by Chombo Silva), Yay Boy and Sama Thiel (Moliendo Cafe written by Hugo Blanco supposedly with over 800 recorded versions of the song worldwide).

Musicians:

Felix Farrar / Violin & Violin solo
Patmore Lewis / Violin
Lloyd Carter / Violin
Sergio George / Piano
Jose Garcia / Tres
Johnny Torres / Bass
Papo Penin / Conga
Bobby Allende / Bongos
Pablo “El Chino” Nunez / Timbales
Pete Gomez / Guiro
Eddy Zervignon / Flute
Ite Jerez / Trumpet
Hector “Bomberito” Zarzuela / Trumpet
Leopoldo Pineda / Trombone
Jose “Chombo” Silva / Tenor Sax
Mario Rivera / Tenor & Baritone Sax
Adalberto Santiago, Yayo El Indio / Chorus
Pape Seck / Lead Vocals (3,6)
Medoune Diallo / Lead Vocals (1,4,8)
Nicolas Menheim / Lead Vocals (2,4,7,9)
Ronnie Baro / Chorus, Lead Vocals (1)