1974-1975

These tracks represent the entire output of Hamad Kalkaba, showcasing a funked-up version of a song style from northern Cameroon known as gandjal. This release is the culmination of at least six years of searching by Analog Africa's founder Samy Ben Redjeb – from Cameroon to Benin – for the original 7″ singles that make up Kalkaba's meagre output. Meagre, of course, in quantity but certainly not quality.
The opening ‘Astadjam Dada Saré’ features needling saxophone, pumping bass, curt organ hits and a twanging, psychedelic guitar solo. ‘Touflé’ has a denser horn array, with a reedier organ and a showcase tenor saxophone solo riding above a clipped drum shuffle. ‘Fouh Sei Allah’ has a warm reverb that's reminiscent of an Ethiopian recording from the same period. The next two cuts centre upon funky guitar riffs, which are light, choppy and attractively distorted, with the winning ‘Lamido’ boasting a spirited shout-out vocal and a heavily stalking bassline. The sound quality is lo-fi, raw and sharp with bass distortion, but this has the advantage of making the sound live and immediate; all very exciting, in a slice-of-time fashion.