West African Funk Band Mounts Stunning Comeback
They were huge in the early 1970s, playing alongside some of the greatest names in African music, then faded into obscurity after a communist revolution destroyed nightlife in their homeland.
Via AFP:
They were huge in the early 1970s, playing alongside some of the greatest names in African music, then faded into obscurity after a communist revolution destroyed nightlife in their homeland.
Many in the tiny west African country of Benin even thought most of the members had died but the Orchestre Polyrythmo de Cotonou is enjoying a remarkable comeback.
The band's renaissance has been compared to the Buena Vista Social Club, the veteran Cuban musicians rediscovered in the 1990s who were the subject of a hit documentary film and successful album.
Since their revival -- helped by a you...