El Rego is a rediscovered legend of West-African music from Benin. Blending afro-beat, afro-funk, soul, psychedelia, crazy wah-wahing guitars and James Brown-esque wails - this isn't one to be missed. El Rego is, like many underground African artists of the 60s and 70s, gaining a new Western following and a collection of his material has been compiled and reissued by Daptone Records this month - available here.
El Rego's also featured on Analog Africa's compilation 'African Scream Contest' (2008). It's amazing - buy it. Here's a track from it:
Vimado Wingnan (I'm going with Daptone's title rather than the youtube vid) is also available on a release from Daptone:
You can grab a two track vinyl rip here. The tunes are more chilled than the videos above, but just beautiful.
If you like this, then you'll love Orchestre Polyrhythmo de Cotenou.
-L
Just picked this up and its spectacular. I highly recommend purchasing the CD as it comes with a good amount of really cool liner notes, including an interview with El Rego.
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