Afro Cosmic Club – Mixed by DJ Gioumanne

The excellent blog Africanhiphop is a goldmine for those interested in the various electronic traditions of music from the African continent and its diaspora. Through it, Thomas Gesthuizen – aka DJ Gioumanne – has spent years digging for and plugging urban African music the world over. His passion and expertise for the use of electronic instruments all over Africa have led to his working as a consultant and researcher for labels like Strut, Soundway, Rush Hour and Vintage Voudou.

His Afro Cosmic Club series of mixes are now five entries deep, each taking a snapshot of a particular strand of electronic music from Africa and those similarly-inspired on other continents. Their consistent quality has helped Gioumanne make a name for himself as a purveyor of groove-driven tracks and his commitment to providing extensive linear notes has resulted in the reissues of some rare records along the way (Basa Basa’s Homowo, Wally Badarou’s Back to Scales Tonight). A predilection for the more out-there side of synth-playing is the cornerstone of his tastes, and this specialist mix carries the same sense of the weird and the wonderful that the likes of Charlie Bones have made their raison d’etre.

His latest dispatch, mixed especially for Crack, is easy to enjoy, packed with tunes tapped into a feedback loop of disco and boogie from the African continent. Afrobeat is an easy reference point but in truth these tracks are just as indebted to Congolese jazz, rumba, soukous and funk. In Gioumanne’s own words: “most of these tunes can’t easily be categorised as Afrobeat, funk, boogie or traditional music; their sound is heavily influenced by the avant garde sound of the dancefloors and innovations in musical gear of the era.”

At least half of these saw some kind of release outside of the country of their making and it speaks to a worldwide interconnected body of music that existed throughout the 80s and 90s. From one mischievous banger to the next, enjoy a curated trip through experiments in electronic music from all over Africa.

Tracklist
N’gondéléAlabado (Gabon/France)
Zeke Manyika – Call and Response (Zimbabwe/UK)
Freddy Kebano – L’ile du Diable (Congo Brazzaville)
Dindo Yogo & Klay – Pota na Mabanzo (DR Congo)
Mbida Douglas – Sita (Cameroon/France)
Alima Aloa William – Give it All Away (Cameroon/Germany)
Araba and Ekua – Nowhere to Sleep (Ghana/Nigeria)
The Sunshine Sisters of Africa – Stop Crying Mother (Nigeria)
Kilimanjaro – Asante (Tanzania)
Nii Amarh Gomez – Sore Sa Bi (Ghana)
Boukan Ginen – Nat Kongo (Haiti)
Tatuane – Wema (Tanzania)
Andre & Josi – Afrodisco (Nigeria)
Hafusa Abasi – Chozi Iantiko (Kenya)
Gorges Clinton – Messieurs les Frauders (Ivory Coast)
Vic Edimo – Njoh (Cameroon)
A Sambat – Le Transgabonais (Gabon)
Gasper Lawal – Abio’Sun Ni (Nigeria)
Obo Addy – Homesick (Ghana)
Charles Amoah – Jungle Rock (Ghana)
CK Mann – Ghana Beye Yie (Ghana)
Ashiko – Sunrise Shunshine (South Africa)
Emiline Michel – Chaque Fois que tu Reviens (Haiti)
Willy Tjon Ajong – Sunrise (Aruba/Netherlands)
Black Mic Mac 2 – Aida (France)
Mayaguena Man – African Funky (Togo)
Frank Kojo – Arabian Nights (Ghana)
The Continentals – I’m Ready to Get Down (USA)
African Heritage Band – Mwomboko (Kenya)
Olowo Okere – Lagos Rock / Ase Jere (Nigeria)
Dollar Brand – Kalahari pt 1 & pt 2 (South Africa)
African Heritage Band – Serengeti (Kenya)
Generation Band – Mganga (Unreleased)