Gift From A Faraway Deep Archive
T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo’s Segla (1978)
When the Benin-based band known as Orchestre Poly-Rythmo – or, the Tout Poissant All Powerful Orchestre Poly-Rythmo, an earned honorific if there ever was – resumed making records and performing in 2008, the return set in motion something of a global chain reaction.
First labels in Africa and the UK, most significantly the great imprint Analog Africa, began reissuing a few titles, including some recorded at the EMI studio in neighboring Nigeria. Then came smart, thematically arranged compilations of the band’s output dating back to the late 1960s – of these, The Vodoun Effect (2008) and The Skeletal Essences of Afro-Funk (2013) are the most essential.
As these spread, they prompted some Afrobeat enthusiasts in the West to rethink their cosmology. For decades, the narrative about Afrobeat centered around a single figure, the pioneering Nigerian bandleader Fela Kuti. When mentioned at all, Poly-Rythmo – a collective from the coastal city of Cotonou whose 11 core members at one time represented 8 different ethnic groups – was characterized as a regional act, credited with “modernizing” Benin’s music by linking James Brown-influenced funk with the stirring ceremonial melodies of Vodoun rituals.
That diminishes the band’s music and its contribution. The above-mentioned compilations and the most recent release – a mind-meltingly intense record from 1978, Segla – argue that T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo was, in fact, building an entirely new wing of Afrobeat. One with a richness and depth that rivals the Fela catalog. Across some 500 singles and countless albums, the band integrated elements of Afro-Cuban rumba, spiky guitar-framed funk, soukous and jazz (both big band-style call and response and individual improvisation) into music with a deep spiritual foundation. Sometimes the music is unsparingly serious, carrying roots of Benin’s Dahomey tradition; sometimes it’s a marathon dance party propelled by Farfisa organ. Sometimes the band sustains a surging gallop for minutes on end; other pieces, including Segla’s 16-minute opening track “Mi Kple Mi De,” shift between rhythms and moods without fanfare.
Segla was originally issued by the influential Benin label Albarika Store, apparently without any sort of official sleeve or cover art; as a result, it’s been one of those phantoms known mostly to obsessive collectors. The three sonically spotless, deeply engrossing tracks on the Acid Jazz reissue will change that: It’s music that doesn’t merely expand the perception of Afrobeat, it creates a compelling case for more and deeper archival work. Sure enough, when Segla was released in November, the Acid Jazz site described it as the first in a planned series of titles from the Albarika Store catalog.
Please, vault gods, give us everything this band ever did.
Breadcrumbs:
Segla is available on Bandcamp. Please purchase it:
Also on Bandcamp are several of the compilations:
Undated live performance from 1970s:
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