Soul of Angola: Anthologie de la Musique Angolaise, 1965-1975

Angola is a country the history of which is filled with strife, from the colonial domination of the Portuguese for some 500 years to the 27-year civil war which followed independence in 1975 and which ravaged the southwestern African nation of about 28 million (with many killed and displaced in the last forty years).

So, it was with great curiosity that this stellar two-disc recording, released in 2001 by the Lusafrica label, based in Paris, was acquired, because the time period covered was the last decade before independence when political agitation grew among Angolans.  The album's liner notes by Leonard Silva, refer to the idea "the urban Angolan musics of the 1967/70 period were born from a strong desire to oppose a cultural resistance to the colonial Portuguese power."  It was also asserted that it was impossible to separate the independence movement from the "new musical creativity rebirth," which was a form of "soft protest."

What emerges on this impressive anthology are pieces centered on treble-heavy guitar, with often infectious and driving rhythms and nods to British and French pop-rock infleuences and a variety of African and Afro-American percussion styles from the adjacent Congo (a book just finished two days ago detailed to horror of the Belgian dominance of that part of Africa), Brazil (another Portuguese colony) and the Caribbean.  This reflects another fascinating combination of musical sources in a place that stamped these with its own identity.

It was stated in the liners that, when Portuguese authorities took a new tack in 1968 in dealing with Angola, one of these was the creation of a national radio station that gave voice to the new wave of young musicians featured on this recording.  Silva observed that listeners "will be able somehow to recount one of the most important stages in the historic march of the Angolan artists, for the recognition of their musical art and culture."  While some of the musicians featured on this remarkable album died during the civil war years, Soul of Angola is a document of remarkable artistic endeavor in an era of struggle for a country still seeking stability.