Songs of the AfricanCoast and Arthur Alberts During the Second World War Arthur Alberts was stationed throughout Africa with the US Office of War Information. During his time in Africa he became fascinated with the music and culture of the region. Arthur returned to Africa in 1948 and, along with is wife Lois, made an extensive journey through territories then controlled by Britain, France and Belgium as well as Liberia. They recorded an extensive amount of music and in 1950 released the landmark 78 rpm set Tribal, Folk and Cafe Music of West Africa. The music on this release included a mix of genres as well as detailed notes by leading academics and ethnomusicologists. The recordings, along with the accompanying commentary, showed the intricate connections between African and American music. This CD includes some of the music from that 1950 release as well as six compositions never previously released. This recording includes some the best known musicians from Liberia at the time including the blind Prof. Howard B. Hayes, Malinda Jackson Parker, and the Greenwood Singers. Not only were these noted artists, but all were well respected professional citizens of Liberia. Also included on this CD are extensive notes on the music |
and six beautiful photos taken by Arthur Alberts of the artists and never before seen by the public. Five songs are included here to give an example of the rich music on this release. The compositions in many cases sounds almost like Calypso, or even early Jazz, and clearly illustrate the ties between American and African music. The 18 tracks on the CD were recorded live and have a warm feeling almost as though the listener is with the musicians as the music is being played. The importance of these recordings has been underscored many times in recent years. Martin Scorsese sited the work of Arthur Alberts in his documentary The Blues. Mickey Hart, of the Grateful Dead, and the Library of Congress released in 1998 a selection of work on a CD entitled The Arthur S. Alberts Collection: More Tribal, Folk and Cafe Music of West Africa. And in the 1960¡¯s both Dave Van Ronk and Joan Baez covered some of the songs on this CD in commercial releases (¡°Chicken Is Nice¡± and ¡°Hold Me Tight¡± respectively). It is my hope that you enjoy this CD as much, if not more, than I do. Guthrie Alberts | |||
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