Frederic Galliano And The African Divas

In the years before African producers started really showing the world what they were capable of doing with house music, there was a LOT of “Afro house” by American and European musicians and DJs. Some of it was cheap and tacky, some was great, but then there was Frederic Galliano. The producer from Valence in the Southwest of France not only traveled to record (and credit) 40 musicians and 12 vocalists from Mali, Senegal, the Ivory Coast and Guinea — as well as street ambience and found snatches of speech — and not only created natural raw house grooves that perfectly incorporated his recordings…he created an entirely idiosyncratic set of dynamics and production values, allowing the source material to guide the way even if it wandered into extreme distortion or crazed echo chambers. These tracks still sound like nothing else, and can still take listeners and dance floors alike to some wonderful places.