Francophonic: A Retrospective Vol. 1 1953-1980

Product Description

When this album was released in 2008, it won the fRoots World Music Critics Award both for Best Compilation and for Best Package. Rock critic Robert Christgau, speaking on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, went further, naming it the best album of the year in any musical genre, never mind that the contents had been recorded in Kinshasa, Congo, three, four and five decades earlier. The accolades kept coming. Both Mojo and Blender awarded the album 5 stars, Inside Music graded it A+ and Pitchfork gave it an 8.8. The New York Times reported that ‘Thorough liner notes help Western listeners understand the implications of Franco’s lyrics, while the grooves communicate immediately.’ The Washington Post clarified that point: ‘Two and half hours of irrepressible grooves.’

Review

An essential release, whether you know Franco’s music or not, or even whether you know African music or not. –Pitchfork

An astonishingly good double-CD retrospective of Congolese bandleader and guitarist Franco, whose band Le TPOK Jazz was one of the true juggernauts of African music. –The Chicago Reader

A treasure chest from the Congo … It doesn’t get much better … until Volume 2. –Mojo