Tala Samguita – Wao
From Tala Samguita – Qui Saurait Me Dire
Released on Andy’s, 1988, France

But what happened to the great Tala (as some of you may have already guess, Tala Samguita, is no other than Tala André Marie, one of the most famous musicians from Cameroon) ?

He got us used to enjoy his very laid-back and soulful melodies but his 1988 album, Qui saurait me dire (a very typical name for an album from Tala), took us by surprise with its bunch of high energy-ish heavy electronic funk cuts. Of course, it’s no mystery that Tala is a peerless funk composer, and history made it quite clear from the day James Brown plagiated one of Tala‘s song, Hot Koti with his tune The Hustle… and Wao still somehow has that signature laid-back feeling that all Tala’s songs have, but it’s the first time that we hear such a melting pot of electronic, very late eighties (this one was released in 1988) elements concentrated in a single track.

Some of the most striking features are : the ‘mi-mi-mi-mi-mi mi ré do la‘ (literally singing the notes E-D-C-A… the effect on the voice strongly reminds of Street Fighter II’s sound effects), the super heavy slapped bass, the reversed hi-hat and a few other effects…

Definitely the most peak time tune we ever hear from Tala ! A banger as they say…