S/T by ANTOINE DOUGBE & L'ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO DE COTONOU

If there's is one band that is intimately tied to the history of Analog Africa, it's definitely Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou. 13 years after the last release, AA is back with a compilation featuring the mighty Poly-Rythmo ! But this time it comes with a special touch, the touch of the Devil’s Prime Minister - Antoine Dougbé himself ! 

"Antoine Dougbe et L'Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou" comes as a 140g Virgin Vinyl double LP with a Gatefold Cover full of pictures and liner notes. The compilation highlights 12 songs, a whirlwind of circular guitars, synths, mesmerising layers of Afro-Cuban and Cavacha madness featuring the Poly-Rythmo playing at the absolute height of their considerable powers. 

Who was Antoine Dougbé? Even the most dedicated crate-digger might go their whole life without stumbling across any of the three LPs he released in the late 1970s and early ’80s. Yet all the musicians who happened to cross paths with him remember him with a mixture of admiration and fear; for Antoine Dougbé was not merely one of the most inventive songwriters to emerge from the fertile music scene of Cotonou, but also a powerful Vodún initiate whose close connection to the spirit world allowed him to refer to himself as “the Devil’s prime minister".

As a young man he moved from Abomey to Cotonou, a city that had established itself as one of the centres of the West African music scene. There he encountered most of the popular styles of African and Latin music and, like many of his generation, found himself drawn to Cuban son and rumba. Although he was particularly attracted to Congolese rhythms, it was his fascination with the traditional rhythms of Benin—especially those associated with Vodún ceremonies—that allowed Dougbé to take his music in directions far removed from anything happening in the Congo.

Early in his career, Dougbé was known for intimidating and threatening musicians if they didn’t play to his liking, and when the time came to find a band willing to record with him, he struggled. But according to Mélomé Clément, founder of the mighty Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou, Dougbé posed no problem for them, since the band’s drummer, Yehouessi Leopold, and bassist, Bentho Gustave, were themselves initiated into Vodún and Dougbé never dared to challenge them.