Bend Skin Beats

despite being orphaned age 12 and blind age 15, andre marie tala has been at the heart of camerounian music for over 30 years, collaborating with manu dibango and later giving the pan-african star, san fan thomas, his first break in the 1970s. in the 80s tala introduced tchamassi, the infectious urban dance that swept the continent, and in the 90s he created bend skin, a funky-folklore fusion associated with the motorbike taxis that buzz around the dusty streets of cameroun. the album includes one of his earliest hits, 'hot koki', which was copied - and only later acknowledged - by james brown, who reworked it as 'the hustle'. with tracks from 1972 to 1998, this album covers some of the most important phases of his career and helps introduce a key artist of the west african pantheon.