Various Artists: London Is The Place For Me 4

Honest Jon’s HJRLP 025 (Do LP) - € 29
Fourth compilation of 1950s Calypso and African music in London
This is the fourth volume in our series celebrating the music of black London, staying for now with the first waves of modern immigration from Africa and the West Indies. After devoting a third installment to the accomplishments of the late Nigerian genius Ambrose Campbell, Honest Jon's resumes an open-house policy, suited to musicians whose lives and artistic ambitions carried them all over the world: calypso and kwela are back, and highlife and bebop, with a little rock n roll, a 'mambo indio', a shango hymn, and a cha cha cha for bellydancing jazzbos. A lake in a Johannesburg zoo pops up next to a Chinese on the Harrow Road. Astronauts and prostitutes mingle with landlords and Test cricketers, sex with streetfighting and doing a runner. The music is presented alongside very rare artist photographs by Val Wilmer, and detailed notes.

Tracklisting:

Ginger Folorunso Johnson: Egyptian Bint Al Cha Cha

Young Tiger: African Dream

Dorothy Masuka: Zoo Lake

Lord Kitchener: Rock N Roll Calypso

Cab Kaye: Don’t You Go Away

Shake Keane: Mambo Indio

Lord Kitchener: Alphonso In Town

Eric Hayden: Give Her The No. 1

Enoch & Christy Mensah: Dakuku Dum

Dorothy Masuka: Khauleza

Lord Kitchener: Is Trouble

Victor Coker: Ilu Oyinbo Dara

Young Growler: V For Victory

The African Messengers: Highlife Piccadilly

Cab Kaye: Everything Is Go

Young Tiger: Chicken & Rice

Nat Atkins: Darling Don’t Say No

Lord Kitchener: Piccadilly Folk

Ginger Folorunso Johnson: African Jazz Cha Cha