Funk Generation

The making of Congo Funk!, our long-awaited journey to the musical heart of the African continent, took the Analog Africa Team on two journeys to Kinshasa and one to Brazzaville. Selected meticulously from around 2000 songs and boiled down to 14, this compilation aims to showcase the many facets of the funky, hypnotic and schizophrenic tunes emanating from the two Congolese capitals nestled on the banks of the Congo River.

"Harlem Sessions" sounds like your favorite mix tape you made many years ago; the one that you keep playing over and over because it has all your favorite, desert-island songs. It's a groovilicious compilation of killer soul cuts from the 1970s, with blaxploitation films as the main theme. Of course, you can't realistically include EVERY great soul joint from the 1970s on two CDs, but this compilation does a great job trying. A collection of this nature has some of the usual cast of characters like Curtis Mayfield ("Superfly" and "Little Child Running Wild" from his must-have soundtrack to "Superfly") and Isaac Hayes ("Shaft"), but we also get unexpected nuggets from Cuban jazz legend Mongo Santamaria ("We Got Latin Soul"), Gil Scott-Heron's "The Bottle," Shirley Brown's sassy "Woman to Woman," Bob James' "Night Crawler," and Bootsy Collins' hugely influential and oft-sampled "I'd Rather Be With You." This collection gets it right in so many ways that's impossible to pass this winner up. All that's missing are the bell-bottoms and an Afro wig.

The NGBB stands for "The New Generation Big Band" of the Netherlands that consist's mainly of young enthousiastic musicians who have graduated at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. The NGBB brings a new initiave: Bigbandmusic with nowadays music styles. Funky, groovy beats with great hornsections is the distinguishing mark from the New Generation Big Band. The NGBB has done some great projects like a double bigband concert together with the Jazzorchestra of the Concertgebouw (NL) and a couple of concerts with the very talented young hiphopformation Pete Philly & Perquisite. Also the band played with various guest soloists like Bob & Chuck Findley, David Berkman, Benjamin Herman, Jesse van Ruller, Ack van Rooijen, Peter Beets and many others. With an energetic presentation, funky grooves, overwhelming hornsections and great soloists, the NGBB always stands for a unforgettable experience!