Bombo Productions

This podcast looks into a polyrhythmic movement, which has taken place in the U.K over the last 30-40 years. Music, politics, immigration and societies hunger for something new brought about a cultural change. At the beginning of the 1900s Britain lay claim to a huge empire, this combined with changing world politics brought about waves of immigrants from across the world making London a truly cosmopolitan capital.

The program focuses on the popularisation of music from Africa and the Afro-Diaspora, and how our relationship to rhythm here in the U.K has been affected. I look at where and how it started, who were the main pioneers and what is its legacy.  Although music from many countries played a significant role in making Britain polyrhythmic, I focus on the rise in popularity of Latin and African music from the late ’70s onwards.

The musical journey starts in 1934,  with one of the first polyrhythmic groups that made an impact in the U.K, the Lecuona Cuban Boys who introduced exotic instruments and what became the Cuban clichéd look of ruffled sleeves and slick back hair. Their first concert was in 1934 and they were famous for introducing a new dance craze ‘the Conga’.

The program follows a timeline with music and interviews from some of the most influential players who contributed to this movement including; Roberto Pla, Snowboy, Bosco de Oliveira and Dele Sosimi.

The program concludes by looking at the legacy of what this movement has created. There are Samba schools in every other town, sometimes more than one. The fact is that although some may be of dubious quality people are coming together all over the country in large groups to play polyrhythmic music.

Trans Atlantic 78s’ is a podcast which looks at the impact of the recording industry on music in West Africa up to the 1960s. Taking you back in time we will delve into the heart of the British Library Sound Archives, and attempt to reveal a sequence of events, which would collectively have a profound and irreversible impact upon the course, and character of music throughout the African continent. You will hear from special guests, historian John Cowley, the late Adesose Wallace, a respected musician who lived and worked in Ghana, Sierra Leon, Liberia and Nigeria until he moved to the U.K in the 70s, and the curator of World & Traditional music at the British museum Janet Topp. The podcast also includes excerpts from Ernest Bourneman, a music critic who wrote for the Melody Maker in the 1950s.