los camaroes: resurrection los vol 1

A reissue of the electrifying final album from Cameroon's legendary Los Camaroes, available on LP for the first time since 1979. Recorded live to two-track at the Mango Bar in Yaoundé, Resurrection Los Vol. 1 was the last collaboration between bandleader Jean Gabari and groundbreaking guitarist Messi Martin. Los Camaroes emerged at the end of the 1960s from the town of Maroua, Cameroon. In the span of only a few years they changed Cameroon's music scene. The band had been led from the beginning by Jean Gabari. But it was Gabari's alchemical collaborations with guitarist Messi Martin that drove the band. Martin, deemed the "King of Bikutsi", had been lured away from the band before by the promise of success and when Los Camaroes were at the peak of their power in 1975, he left them once again. Gabari tried to keep the band going, but his battles with ill health eventually forced him to return to his hometown. By 1978, Los Camaroes were a rapidly fading memory. From out of nowhere, a businessman named Atangana Joseph appeared in northern Cameroon. He tracked down the original members of Los Camaroes and got them back together. Producer Nicolas Mongué and engineer Emmanuel Guyssot were called in from Douala to record what was being billed as a comeback album. Los Camaroes decided to record an album live to two-track in the legendary Mango Bar in the capital city of Yaoundé. The six tracks on the album were performed by a mixture of new recruits and veterans from the original Camaroes lineup including Mpouli "Dodo" Emmanuel and Boloko Michel on guitars, Eyango Claude on organ, the percussion duo of Ndi Bellui and Enama Leon, and vocal contributions from Sala Bekono Joseph and Ngoebang Jean Marie. The album, Resurrection Los Vol. 1, was completed in only a few days. The music that emerged during the Mango Bar sessions was the culmination of a fifteen year musical bond between Gabari and Martin, and what was supposed to be a comeback album ended up being a last testament --- Gabari would die only a few years later and Martin, without his foil, would never find the same level of musical success. 180 gram vinyl; Housed in a gatefold sleeve featuring liner notes with pictures, a story of the band as told by original keyboardist Mbambo "Johnny Cosmos" Simon, and new interviews; Includes a poster.