La Musique Electronique du Niger

by Mamman Sani

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TheSlowMusicMovement It's amazing how evocative a basic keyboard can sound in the right hands and this is an electro masterclass in East meets West Africa sounds.

Ian Mautner Music that takes you on a journey. Healing sounds for your spirit. Favorite track: Salamatu.

Ian Goold Hypnotic, minimal and, quite frankly, not the kind of stuff you'd initially expect to have come out of late 70's West Africa. Think 'Dignity of Labour' period Human League transposed from Sheffield to Niamey. Remarkable. Favorite track: Lamru.

Rudy Carrera Most people (myself included) are woefully ignorant as to how creative and radically innovative African music was during the 1970s. Everyone knows the giants, like Fela or Tony Williams, but this album by Mammane Sani and his organ hold up rather nicely. Favorite track: Lamru.

cca197 Excellent excellent excellent. Favorite track: Lamru.

Keith Birthday I can't tell if he's a genius or a just some guy messing around with a church organ Favorite track: Kobon Lerai.

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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Mamman Sani's debut LP restored and remastered from the original tape material by Jessica Thompson.

Includes unlimited streaming of La Musique Electronique du Niger via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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Purchasable with gift card

$17 USD or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Mamman Sani's debut album available on compact disc for the first time ever.

Includes unlimited streaming of La Musique Electronique du Niger via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 7 days

Purchasable with gift card

$12 USD or more
Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$7 USD or more

	1.	Lamru 08:09
	2.	Salamatu 04:46
	3.	Kobon Lerai 05:12
	4.	Lidda 05:27
	5.	Bodo 04:16
	6.	Tunan 03:15

about

Mamman Sani Abdullaye is a legendary name amongst Niger's avant garde. A pioneer of early West African electronic music, for over 30 years his instrumentals have filled the airwaves. The instrumental background drones of radio broadcasts and instrumental segue ways of TV intermissions borrow heavily from his repertoire. The dreamy organ instrumentals drift by sans comment, yet are known to all.
Mamman first found the organ in 1974.

Mamman's composes in technique that can only be called minimal, relying on the simplicity and space. It is a remarkable manipulation of sound that uses the silence to invoke the emptiness - a metaphoric desert soundscape. Unsurprisingly, his source material is folkloric Nigerien music, and many of the compositions on this record are reproductions of ancient songs brought into the modern age. Interpreting this rich and varied history of Niger's dance and song for the first time in contemporary musics, Mamman electrifies the nomadic drum of the tende, the polyphonic ballads of the Woddaabe, and the pastoral hymns of the Sahelian herders. Accompany this repertoire are a few compositions, such as Salamatu, the deeply personal love letter to an unrequited romance.

His first and only album was recorded in 1978. Mamman stepped into the studio of the National Radio with his organ, where it was transposed and overdubbed in two takes. In coordination with the Minister of Culture, the album was released in a limited series of cassettes showcasing modern Niger music. The cassette project, unfortunately, did not progress as planned, and merely a handful were released. Today his cassettes are rare objects, highly sought by fine art connoisseurs and experimental music collectors in Niamey.

credits

released April 5, 2013

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Mamman Sani Niamey, Niger

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