JAMIE BRITTON recommends that we all buy at least two copies of a remarkable book of poems
Latest editorial
Global Routes with Tony Burke: May 20, 2022
Seminal 1970s recordings by Gabon’s Orchestre Massako reissued
Jean-Christian Mboumba Mackaya (aka Mack-Joss) fronted Gabon’s Orchestre Massako from 1971
[Analog Africa]
MARIA DUARTE goes down a bilingual rabbit hole with an impressive Jodie Foster
DAVID HARVIE recommends a selection of Harry Cleaver’s writing that documents working-class activism and offers a method, and a way of understanding and investigating the world
DAVID YEARSLEY is fascinated by the account of four composers who transformed their experiences of the second world war and the Holocaust into deeply moving works of art
PETER MASON thrills to the sound of south London-born Yussef Dayes, and the galaxy of musicians drawn into his orbit
From post-human revolution in Puerto Rico to trans poetics and queer mythmaking, these three books that imagine new ways of being together
JEAN-CHRISTIAN Mboumba Mackaya (aka Mack-Joss) fronted Gabon’s Orchestre Massako from 1971 — when the armed forces formed their own band.
Aged 17, he was well known on Gabon’s nightlife scene having released the pan-African hit record Le Boucher/The Butcher.
Between 1968 and 1970 Mack-Joss and his Negro-Tropical recorded 45s at an open-air studio. In the late 1970s his Studio Mobile Massako was built and he would fly to France, with the master tapes in his hand luggage, press the records and ship them back to African distributors.
Similar stories
TONY BURKE talks to Garth Cartwright author of Princes Amongst Men — Journeys With Romani Gypsy Musicians
TONY BURKE recommends a new podcast about the legenary Nigerian musician and political activist FELA KUTI
TONY BURKE revels in the publication of previously unreleased tracks by the great US folksinger
New releases from Toby Hay, Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Dobson & The Hanging Stars