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Prince Nico Mbarga’s biggest hit outsold any of The Beatles’ (2017)
- Geekette 2y agoNon-paywalled copy: https://archive.ph/Rw054 https://archive.ph/Rw054
- ano-ther 2y agoPrince Nico Mbarga “Sweet Mother”: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3mecNrIaWOA https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3mecNrIaWOA
- recursive 2y agoI guess it must be intentional, but to my ear, the tuning sounds way off between the guitar and bass. Maybe this is part of the tradition or something, but I find it to be so far off, it's hard to listen to.
- naijaboiler 2y agoi would argue that discordance you hear is a taste thing. Not different from someone accustomed to western diet may find Indian cuisine too spicy.
- recursive 2y agoThat's a pretty good analogy.
- incognition 2y agoThis time for Africa
- ChrisRR 2y ago[flagged]
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- bdcravens 2y agoWhich makes it even more impressive: he sold more based off of popularity in one continent, versus a band that was presumably popular worldwide.
- ChrisRR 2y agoI think it's more that Africa is more populated than people realise and the Beatles weren't as "worldwide" as people realise
- kelnos 2y agoPlease don't post shallow dismissals like this. I'm still reading the article, but it's a fascinating, human-oriented look into a man's life, a man who is probably little known outside Africa. Answering the (implied) question in the headline is only a tiny part of the draw of the article.
- itsoktocry 2y ago>“His only weakness was temptation,” says Rogers. For alongside Esame, his wife, and Lucy, his first love, he had numerous other lovers. Funny this is cancel-worthy sometimes, and in other times it's treated as a quaint personality trait. Also, the Beatles aren't famous because I Want to Hold Your Hand sold 12 million copies. The Beatles have 50 multi-million selling singles.
- Cthulhu_ 2y agoOr a sign of pride or virility, reserved for (or a prerequisite to become) the rich, powerful, famous, and leaders.
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- dfxm12 2y agoI don't know who gets cancelled for having multiple lovers, even extramarital lovers. Maybe it should be cancel-worthy (depending on your definition of cancel) for people who build their careers on "family values", but it's practically a plus for a rock star.
- PaulHoule 2y agoIt depends not how many lovers you have but how you have them.
- bryanrasmussen 2y agoI think the "at times" refers to periods of times, have multiple lovers at end of the 1800s and find yourself described as absolutely irredeemable.
- PrismCrystal 2y agoDepends where at the end of the 1800s. Belle Époque France saw adultery on the part of men almost normalized among the middle and upper classes, and everyone made use of prostitutes.
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- deafpolygon 2y agoBecause his hit was sold across Africa, not Europe or North America.
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- macspoofing 2y agoI imagine there are countless of individuals that are very famous within some region, but little known outside of it. It's not easy to have global recognition.
- readyplayernull 2y agoAlthough slavery is a society illness, the mixture of African and American (Caribean, South America, North America) cultures generated a huge musical heritage. Could this be the largest branch of music in history?
- II2II 2y agoYes, and it is also something that we are coming to terms with now that we have a more global community. The hit in question, the one that outsold any individual Beatles single was from 1976. That was a time when most people received news from around the globe in print, with most of those print publications being regional and a handful being national. Something similar could be said for radio, though some people could hear stories from afar on the shortwave bands. That was more the exception than the rule though, typically of greatest interest to those who wanted to hear voices from their homeland or those keenly interested in learning about the world. (Even then, language was typically a barrier. When it wasn't a barrier, most of the stations were propaganda machines.) Even though your claim undoubtedly remains true, at least we live in a world where those stories can leak out.
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- Hilift 2y agoRihanna sold more records in the UK than the Beatles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_music_artists_in_the_United_Kingdom_in_singles_sales https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_music_art...
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- nathancahill 2y agoIf you're interested in unheard music from Africa, this is an incredible project: https://analogafrica.bandcamp.com https://analogafrica.bandcamp.com Linking to the Bandcamp but they are on Youtube as well. They have new vinyl releases of some fantastic funk and soul spanning the last 5-6 decades in Africa.
- draw_down 2y agoI would also recommend the "Radiooooo" website/app. You pick a country and a decade, and it plays songs. Great way to discover new old music.
- wholinator2 2y agoWhat an awesome app! It even uses the correct names for countries across the decades
- spondylosaurus 2y agoPro tip to anyone looking for a place to start: a lot of disco tracks that came out of Nigeria in the 70s/80s are fantastic.
- draw_down 2y agoHell yeah!! Dizzy K and William Onyeabor are big favorites of mine.
- mberg 2y agoIf you like it checkout this epic soukous song called Nairobi Nights by Loketo Soukous Starts that includes Sweet Mother. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L93pse3-23A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L93pse3-23A
- taraparo 2y agoVery different rent but this reminds me of the story of the US musician Sixto Rodríguez. Who became very popular in South African without him knowing. I recommend watching the documentary "Searching for Sugar Man" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searching_for_Sugar_Man https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searching_for_Sugar_Man
- takinola 2y agoPrince Nico Mbarga was not someone I expected to see on HN. What a throwback to the past. Sweet Mother was practically required on the playlist at any event where your mother was going to be recognized in some form or the other (which is pretty much every important event)
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- Cheer2171 2y agoClickbait headline. It outsold any of The Beatles singles *in Africa*: > “Sweet Mother,” his 1976 one-hit wonder, had sold at least thirteen million copies across the African continent – more than The Beatles’ bestseller “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
- rdlw 2y agoWhat's the clickbait? "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sold 12 million. Is the clickbait that it's downplaying the achievement, since "Sweet Mother" only sold well in Africa?
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- Cpoll 2y agoIt's a bit ambiguous in your quote, but "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sold 12MM *globally* (source: the song's wiki page).
- yowzadave 2y agoIncorrect, it outsold “I Want to Hold Your Hand” worldwide—it just happens that most of those sales were in Africa. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_singles https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_singles
- major505 2y agoI was waching the other day a documentary a bout a rock moviment called Zanrock, very common in Zambia in the 70s. They would perform for great crowds and press discs in South Africa. Unfourtunaly civil wars, the conflit in Rodhesia, and the lifestyle of Sex drugs and rock and roll in a country ravaged by AIDS, killed a lot of musicians destroyed the movement. A guy started colleccting old records and released on spotify. of the bands, theres a great one called Witch that reminds me a lot of bands like Steppenwolf and Black Sabath. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1kcs8gftls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1kcs8gftls
- pvg 2y agoDo you remember the name of the docu? I ended up in a small Zamrock clickhole when Ted Lasso used this track in an episode outro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjUOYLJ8IYI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjUOYLJ8IYI but didn't get much further than wikipedia and a couple of google results.
- major505 2y agoIts been some years now. I think I arrived at the youtube video through a link here in Hacker news. I did not found the original documentary, but found this playlist in youtube with a mini doc anda few Zanrock albuns. https://youtu.be/czrPRJehmdA?si=OKbqUQZw1cjCeG6E https://youtu.be/czrPRJehmdA?si=OKbqUQZw1cjCeG6E
- pvg 2y agoThanks, it looks like some other people found perhaps a different one in the sibling comments. It's interesting it seems to be transmitted among the unfamiliar via youtube serendipity and existing Zamrock enjoyers sneaking it into TV shows.
- aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA 2y agoMaybe https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5666750/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5666750/
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- nbbaier 2y agoFunnily enough, this is man is namesake!
- jonasenordin 2y agoVery nice. Made me think of Paul Simon, made me relisten to Graceland, the song. Always a great listen, great sound. Thought it was just about him paying tribute to musical roots, 'Mississippi delta' and all that. But wait what? 'after the failure of his marriage.'... 'Actress and author Carrie Fisher'. Well internet, Today I Learned. Huge aside aside, aren't these songs a little similar?
- Intermernet 2y agoPaul Simon was "inspired" greatly by African "highlife" music on Graceland. Some people dismiss it as plagiarism, but I actually think Paul was actually influenced greatly by a sound he hadn't heard before, and legitimately tried to recreate it and introduce it to a western audience. Having watched a few interviews with him, he meant Graceland to be, as you say, a "tribute to musical roots". I personally don't care if it was plagiarism or not, as it introduced me to a bunch of artists I otherwise wouldn't have known, such as Prince Nico Mbarga and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
- kessepat 2y ago@Geekette, if you read this comment. I am making an african music startup. And I would love to get in touch !