''Gombo Salsa'' is an album by the African-Latin-American

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: A ...

group

Africando Africando is a musical project formed in 1992 to unite New York-based salsa musicians with Senegalese vocalists. Musicians from other African countries were later included under the name Africando All Stars. Salsa has been a hugely popular style in ...

. It was released in 1996. The group supported the album by playing

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

's "Expressiones Latinas" concert series.

Production

The album was produced by

Ibrahima Sylla Ibrahima Sylla (2 April 1956 – 30 December 2013) was a Senegalese record producer born in Ivory Coast and founder of the African music label Syllart Records. He was an internationally acclaimed musician whose production and music direction defi ...

. It was the group's first release to include

Gnonnas Pedro Gnonnan Sossou Pierre Kouassivi, known by the stage name Gnonnas Pedro was a singer and musician from Lokossa, Benin. He is perhaps best known as the lead singer of Africando between 1995 and his death in 2004, but had been well known in his home ...

. The songs were arranged by Boncana Maiga. Africando covered

Tabu Ley Rochereau Pascal-Emmanuel Sinamoyi Tabu (13 November 1940 – 30 November 2013), better known as Tabu Ley Rochereau, was a leading African rumba singer-songwriter from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was the leader of ''Orchestre Afrisa Internation ...

's "Paquita"; Rochereau sang on the cover. Roger Marie Eugene and José Fajardo also contributed to the album.

Critical reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote: "Two songs with lead vocals by Sekouba Diabate, a jali from Guinea, use the unexpected leaps and modal scales of jali songs, but most of the album resembles classic salsa, discreet yet propulsive. The wild cards are the singers, who mostly follow Cuban and Puerto Rican models but also reveal the gentle, pleading tones of African lead tenors." ''

The Gazette The Gazette (stylized as the GazettE), formerly known as , is a Japanese visual kei Rock music, rock band, formed in Kanagawa Prefecture, Kanagawa in early 2002.''Shoxx'' Vol 106 June 2007 pg 40-45 The band is currently signed to Sony Music Recor ...

'' deemed it the third best "worldbeat" album of 1996, writing that the "tropical-dance-floor release ... has more salsa energy than your feet will ever need." The ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the M ...

'' concluded that "while salsa in North America remains stuck in place, the music by Malian flutist and arranger Boncana Maiga echos tradition but nudges it forward ... The best salsa of the '90s is African." ''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to ''The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of wh ...

'' lamented that "the band is so high-powered, the drumming and instrumental solos so hot, that the group, singing in the laid-back African style without the intensely rhythmic attack of Latin singers like Celia Cruz or Ruben Blades, are often overshadowed."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

called the album "an instant classic," writing that "the band continues to polish its radiant mixture of classic mambos, sones, boleros, and cha-chas."

Track listing

References

{{reflist 1996 albums Salsa albums