stickersopf.blogg.se - Opika pende

The name Opika was chosen in some sense as a challenge to the reigning and monolithic recording house Ngoma that this new recording company was a force to be reckoned with.

The company was initially called "Kina," but the name was subsequently changed to “Opika” from a phrase in Lingala, “opika pende” meaning “stand firm”. Started by brothers Gabriel Moussa Benetar and Joseph Benetar, from the Greek island of Rhodes, Opika was a prodigious producer of 78 rpm shellac recordings through the late 1950s. The label also recognized the value of ethnographic recordings, which were featured on a number of their releases.

Opika was an early record label in the Congo, which recorded and promoted African pop, guitar, and rumba - not only from the Congo, but from Cameroon and Ghana as well.

“Opika Pende,” is a saying in the Lingala language that means “be strong” or “stand firm.” It can also mean “resist. As a non-African, I offer this set as an example of the riches that lay in waiting when considering the tens of thousands of phenomenal African 78 rpm discs that were issued, played, dispersed, and in large part, forgotten. Within these 100 tracks, traditional music stands side by side with popular music as traditional culture coexists with so-called modernity. Around one musical corner is another corner, and another. While it is not definitive, nor am I attempting to construct or invent a narrative, there are important connections to be made. It is one person’s offering of music that is wholly unavailable except in its original elusive and fragile format. I have created this compilation with one simple goal in mind: to showcase a diverse amount of long-forgotten music from Africa that transports me as a listener. By the mid-1960s, 78s were still a popular if not preferred medium in much of Africa, as a significant amount of the population still used wind-up gramophone players. But that doesn’t mean that 78s weren’t everywhere, even in remote parts of the continent.

No doubt it was the same with many cultures. Complicating things further, entire countries seem to have been skipped over by both commercial 78 rpm record companies and ethnographers during the 78 rpm era. The boundaries of cultures and languages are often far more complex than political boundaries. Further, African geography itself resists boundaries. Popular songs, topical songs, work songs, comic songs, songs of worship, ritual, dance, and praise-the sheer range of musical styles resists any easy categorization. It is truly astonishing to consider the tremendous variety of music that was pressed to shellac discs on the continent of Africa. Opika Pende: Africa at 78 RPM (Recordings from 1909-1960s)ġ12 page book with 4 CDs, dozens of full-color images from the era, the CDs feature 100 never-before-reissued recordings from the 1920s-1960s.