2008 is the 70th anniversay of Franco’s birth, next year is the 20th of his death. Sterns celebrate the first and will honour the second with volumes 1 & 2 of “Francophonic – africa’s greatest – a retrospective”. On the 2CDs of volume one, 28 tracks, carefully selected from hundreds of songs, tell the story of Franco from his earliest years through to his first successes. It’s been a labour of love and a long time coming …but now it’s time to set the record straight!

The Rail Band truly was greater than the sum of its parts… and its parts were the best!

These 2CDs were assembled with the help of collectors the world over and include some of their rarest recordings along with their greatest hits - not least the classic “Sara ‘70”, the independence anthem “Kaïra” or their swansong recordings “Bamba” & “Paulette”. They are a unique and compelling record of a very special time for African music.

The flowing, loping rhythms so particular to Guinea; the harmonic cycles that mesmerise and seduce; the vocals, sometimes sweet, sometimes strident but always full of conviction; is there any other band like ‘Les Amazones’? As the cry at the beginning of this album attests - “Retour en force des Amazones!” (The Amazones - back with a vengeance!) – these women demand to be heard.

However the partnership, indeed the marriage, between Mbilia and Tabu Ley lasted only until 1988, when they parted ways and Tabu Ley introduced his next female discovery, Faya Tess. Mbilia moved to Paris and then on to the States but, as fashions changed, so has her music. She has never quite found the same run of success as on those key recordings from the 80s. These 2CDs contain those tracks and tell that story.

And he was always a favourite with other Congolese artists. Papa Wemba and Mbilia Bel both asked him to sing with them, and last year he joined Kekele for one of the highlights of their album Kinavana and, with Africando, reprised 'Mario' in a stellar cameo.

Although his voice was no longer so high, Madilu was now singing better than ever and recorded La Bonne Humeur in the spring of 2007. Featuring guitarists Syran Mbenza, Caien Madoka, Fofo le Collegien, Dally Kimoko and Papa Noel, the are 8 songs written by Madilu and 2 by old friends Nyboma and Wuta Mayi. La Bonne Humeur has been hailed by The Beat magazine as the best album to date and proof that soukous is alive and wll in the 21st century.

With Senegal on one side and Brazil on the other, the islands of Cape Verde have an astoundingly rich musical culture and new singers are not uncommon. Many are compared to each other, but only one is compared to Cesaria. Sterns Music are proud to release the stunning, debut album Navega from that very person: Ms. Mayra Andrade.

It all flows like one piece of music.

Isabela's repertoire ranges from '50s Congo classic "Lollobrigida" (written by guitarrist Tino Barozo in honour of Italian movie star Gina Lollobrigida), to the album's centrepiece, "Serenata Angolana", a duet with Cape Verdean songstress Maria de Barros.

These 2CDs are a confection of African pop at its very best; melodic, vibrant, beautifully crafted and while well aware of what was going on in the rest of the world - not least the rest of Africa - securely anchored in that mainstream of African music, Congolese rumba. And, above it all, floats the voice of Tabu Ley Rochereau, the voice of lightness...

"Bembeya Jazz National - The Syliphone Years" covers 27 tracks in chronological order, from their first single, "Republique Guinee", a celebration of Guinea's independence, to "Petit Sekou", one of their last recordings for the Syliphone label.

But the Bational Railways Of Mali had their hotel by the railway station in the heart of Bamako city and "a motley crew of businessmen had flooded Bamako: French and Chinese, Lebanese and German, Russians and Arabs... the nightlife was bubbling". Into this nightlife, and for the 'Buffet Hotel', a band was formed. Their first singer was Salif Keita, their second, Mory Kante. How good can it get?!.

Here we have a slice of history - the first recordings of artists and a music that went on to help change the way that African music was perceived outside of Africa. Great languid rolling epics, or short intense bursts of fervour - it's all here in the crucible of the 'Rail Band'.

Various Artists "AUTHENTICITE: THE SYLIPHONE YEARS (1965-80)" When the French colonial administration pulled out of Guinea in 1958, they took everything: all their medicines, blueprints to the electricity grid, furniture, telephones, even the cutlery. It seemed that the passionate cry of soon-to-be president, Sekou Toure - made while addressing a public rally and standing right next to De Gaulle - of "We prefer freedom in poverty to riches in chains" had become more true than perhaps even he had hoped.

Undaunted and with optimism and vigour, the new government set about rebuilding the country. They established a campaign that encouraged artists to create new works, but based on traditional African roots. The policy was called authenticite, music was its focus and Syliphone its record label. Thus Syliphone found itself in the right place at the right time - a special moment in African history when a new nation asserted itself and placed music at the forefront of its identity.

Times like these can't last - and they didn't. But while they did, the party was jumping and the music was glorious.

BA CISSOKO "Electric Griot Land" Two kora players, cousins from an ancient griot family. One, Ba Cissoko himself, plays in the traditional, intricate, acoustic style. The other, Sekou Kouyate, has customised his instrument, electrified it, added effects pedals. He even plays it behind his head, just like Jimi Hendrix. Just like Jimi Hendrix set fire to the blues, modernized them, transgressed them, but still honoured them, Ba Cissoko (the band) set fire to, yet still honour, the Mandingue tradition. To promote Sabolan, their trail-blazing debut album, Ba Cissoko took on a massive European tour 2004, including UK dates at Womad, Africa Oye and Momo's.

Their hard work paid off - they won many new friends and they were nominated as best newcomers in the 2005 BBC World Music Awards.

Electric Griot Land, the storming follow-up album, features special guest appearances from

Various Artists "MIDNIGHT IN MALI" featuring Habib Koite, Keletigui Diabate, Djelimady Tounkara... Malian musicians are renowned for their spontaneity. Anyone who has explored Bamako’s intimate musical settings - street weddings, courtyard jam sessions and evening concerts at open-air "cultural spaces" where anyone might show up - knows this. And yet the jam session is a side of the music rarely heard in the polished studio recordings that have put this West African musical colossus on the map in recent years. This extraordinary concert, recorded at Bamako’s French Cultural Centre on 23rd December 2004, rights the balance, revealing the personalities, humour and improvisational mastery of some of the country’s finest musicians interacting in a once-in-a-lifetime formation.

The line-up is remarkable for the calibre of musician present, the range of styles represented and the ease with which the artists traverse borders to make gorgeous, free-flowing music together.

Midnight in Mali is that rare occasion when musical giants dare to risk the new, rely on their wits, and freely explore their shared heritage: the majestic, matchless variety of Malian music.

Banning Eyre

KEKELE "KINAVANA" Kekele’s third album Kinavana pays tribute to the music of Guillermo Portabales. It comprises 12 songs that Portabales composed or recorded. In place of the original Spanish lyrics, the Kekele singers have written new Lingala lyrics that are decidedly not translations from Spanish. “BaKristo”, for example, is based on the music of “El Carretero”, but instead of telling a wagoner’s tale it denounces the efforts of evangelical churches in Africa to ban all music that is not Christian. The arrangements are also new, devised by Syran Mbenza and Papa Noel (back with Kekele after a hiatus forced by illness) with Nelson Hernandez, the Venezuelan arranger best known for his work with salsa stars like Celia Cruz and Oscar D’Leon.

With charanga flutes and violins on some pieces, sexteto-style trumpets or funky saxophone solos on others, and Congolese guitars throughout, Kekele’s sound is quite different from that of Portabales and his trio or quartet.

The sax soloist on five pieces is the one and only Manu Dibango. His participation in this project brings his wide-ranging career full circle, for Dibango played with Grand Kalle’s Orchestre African Jazz at its peak in the early 60s.

For the music of Kinavana, like the title combining Kinshasa and Havana, is both Congolese and Cuban.

Rumba Cubano or rumba Congo, it’s all rumba.

THIONE SECK "ORIENTATION" Former member of Star Band de Dakar and Orchestra Baobab, Thione Seck has been an important figure on Senegal’s music scene since the 1960s. In the late 70s and early 80s Seck was one of the originators of mbalax, which has been Senegal’s most popular sound since then. His cassettes were huge hits in the local market, and eventually his music reached Europe and North America. With his new album, Thione Seck not only confirms his place among Senegal’s greatest artists but also leads international audiences in new directions. Seck was always a fan of Egyptian superstars such as Abdel Halim Hafez and Oum Kalsoum as well as Bollywood playback singers Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. These singers have influenced his singing style, sometimes subtly, sometimes in a more obvious way.

Recorded between 1999 and 2002, Orientation was produced by Ibrahima Sylla and François Breant, both of whom were on board Salif Keita’s trailblazing Soro. More than 40 Egyptian, Indian, French and Senegalese musicians were involved in the ambitious and unprecedented project that resulted in Orientation.

Thione Seck may not yet be as well known to the world at large as his countrymen, Youssou N’Dour, Baaba Maal or Ismael Lô, but in Senegal he is regarded as the most poetic songwriter and the greatest singer of them all. His new album, recorded in Dakar, Paris, Cairo and Madras, will undoubtedly raise his international profile and compel audiences far and wide to re-orient their notions of Senegalese – and world music.

“a long-awaited and profoundly fabulous album...one of the most ambitious projects to come out of Africa in recent years”
Lucy Duran, SONGLINES

“Orientation is a wide-screen epic of operatic intensity.”
Howard Male, THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

From “Double Double” to “Amba”. Ten of Nyboma’s greatest hits, from 1981 to 1985, on one CD!

From “Double Double” to “Amba,” the recordings that singer and songwriter Nyboma Mwan’dido made with his band Kamale Dynamique in the early 1980s are now classics: the best representation of an exciting historic era when Congolese music became pan-African and went on to win fans around the world. De “Double Double” a “Amba”, tous les albums enregistres par l’auteur/compositeur Nyboma Mwan’dido avec son orchestre Kamale Dynamique au debut des annees 80 sont aujourd’hui consideres comme des classiques. Ils marquent l’epoque historique et exhaltante de la musique congolaise qui est alors devenue panafricaine et qui continua son chemin au-dela du Continent a la conquete d’un public international.

1. Double Double
2. Papy Sodolo (from the LP “Double Double” - 1981)
3. Zatcha
4. Ban Gula-Ban Gula (from the LP “DeDe” – 1982)
5. Madiana
6. Pepe Bougier (from the LP “Pepe” – 1983)
7. Coeur A Coeur
8. Aicha Motema (from the LP “Coeur a Coeur” – 1984)
9. Bandona
10. Amba (from the LP “Bandona” – 1985)

Dieneba Seck was born in Bamako, but her family’s roots are in Kita, a town famous for its music. She is not a griot, though; her father was a nurse and her mother a midwife. She was a shy young girl and at an early age found that acting gave her the opportunity to confront her timidity by joining the artistic and cultural groups of her district. Contrary to the experience of many Malian artists she was positively encouraged by her parents, who doubtless sensed a hidden talent. Very quickly Dieneba revealed herself to be an excellent ‘comedienne’. And in 1984 she bought home the trophy for best soloist and took part in the bi-annual artistic and cultural show of her district. Such was her success that she dropped her studies in favour of an artistic career. In 1986 she met Sekou Kouyate, one of her admirers, and he immediately took her on as a backing vocalist for his band. The combination of his hard work and her beautifully pure voice helped them make their mark on the Malian music scene.

Lita Bembo – the great showman of Congo-Zairean music – was one of the most inspirational musicians of the ‘new generation’ that stormed Kinshasa in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Stukas du Zaire. His unique blend of impassioned Ekonda vocal styles and frenetic guitar patterns turned his compositions into instant hits, while his eccentric stage antics and innovative dance routines endeared him to young and old alike. The music, like the man, remains larger than life. Never afraid to use onstage props for maximum impact, live TV footage from the 1970s shows Lita carrying a 6ft high crucifix to visually emphasise the message in a song. That same performance also shows Lita singing with his hands shackled together with iron chains – looking like a slave about to be transported to the new world. Libekk Lita Bembo – a unique, larger than life character.