Filed under: Central African Republic
As I have mentioned before, the best weapon for hunting records is information. But sometimes all you get conflicting accounts or faulty facts.
According to the person who sold me this record, 4 Black Brothers – or, as they are listed on the back cover, Quatre Black Brothers – were from the Central African Republic. I had been searching for anything from that country for quite some time. The only group that I had heard about from C. A. R. was L’Orchestre Centrafrican Jazz, whose records on the Disques France-Afrique label have eluded me for years. But now that I have this record in my hands, I’m cannot confirm where it may have come from – other than a pressing plant in France.
There is not a lot of information on the record sleeve itself. Other than the sentence “Prise de son: ZOUNDI FELIX DAVID – KAKLABAL”, it does credit the songwriters Augustin Zala Kanda Morin and Charles Malonga – who was the band leader. Apparently, Malonga was originally from Gabon, then moved to Upper Volta – now Burkina Faso. He is also listed as the guitarist for the Ivoirian band Jean Raph & Les Zoulous – who released a single on Société Ivoirienne Du Disque. Also, a discography for the label Sonafric lists 4 Black Brothers as having been from Upper Volta… But – at least to these ears – this doesn’t sound like anything I’ve ever heard from there.
If you have any further information on 4 Black Brothers / Quatre Black Brothers, please contact me or leave a comment.
Catalog number SAF 61003, Sonafric records of Paris, France. Released 1978.
3 Comments so far
Leave a comment
Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe 
This a great post. what a great discovering.
Comment by oro July 10, 2012 @ 8:05 amThese songs are FANTASTIC. Thank you so much for sharing!
Comment by Holly B (@hkbabel) July 28, 2012 @ 5:01 pmThanks for this much appreciated post. It is very nice meandering floaty music. I have long wondered about the origin of the 4 Black Brothers (or the 4 multi-coloured clones judging by the cover). The band name might suggest that the members came from different countries (as is probably the case, considering that Charles Malonga came from Gabon). However, it is near-certain that the music was recorded in Haute Volta and licensed for Sonafric release – like other Burkinabe music of the same period such as Les Imbattables Leopards, Volta Jazz, Echo del Africa National, Mory Auguste OUATTARA, Jerome ZONGO, and perhaps Trio el Nekon Vicomte et Aloys. I say this because the producer name that you mention: Felix David KAKLABAL ZOUNDI produced LPs and singles for the local label: CVD Club Voltaïque du Disque. Some further information is that according to sleeve notes on the CVD 73 & 74 singles of Francis MEDDAH, Felix David KAKLABAL ZOUNDI operated from the Rurale Radio studio (whereas Seydou COMPAORE, for example, recorded artists for CVD at RTV). To my ears aspects of “Muana Moto” sound like Burkinabe pop of the period.
Comment by Geoff Bale August 11, 2012 @ 7:11 pm