Ivory Coast Soul

Just when you thought 2010 couldn't squeeze out another funky African compilation into the year, the French label Hot Casa has recently released one of the year's best Afro funk records in Ivory Coast Soul. This funky compilation features lost Afro funk grooves from the West African region Abidjan during the seventies and early eighties. The compilation is a result of nearly 3 years of hard diggin' by hardcore record collector Djamel Hammadi, better known as "Afrobrazilero", when he travelled throughout Côte d'Ivoire (where Abidjan is located) twelve different times to come up with this incredible collection of rare finds. With major labels like Decca and EMI focusing on the music that was coming out of other African regions like Nigeria and Ghana during the seventies, most of the tracks that appear on the record were originally released by small labels who were only able to issue their releases in very limited runs. Some of the highlights from the record include the very Fela Kuti-inspired track "Kalabuley Woman" by Pierre Antoine, Nguessan Santa's Afro boogie gem "Mammy Nia", Jimmy Hyacinthe's disco masterpiece "Yatchiminou" and the funky "La ilaha illalahou" cut by Ali Ibrahim. Overall, Hammadi along with the help of the label Hot Casa, have done a great job here putting together a superb Afro funk compilation that in turn pays tribute to some of Abidjan's forgotten music roots. Certainly one of the year's best releases!

You can buy the Ivory Coast Soul compilation by Clicking Here.

Jimmy Hyacinthe - Yatchiminou