Photo by Peter BagshaweIt’s easy to get lost when listening through short-lived Tanzanian quartet Sunburst’s complete recordings. The shuffling rhythms and wah guitars mingle with wailing brass, driving forward insistent, riffing vocal melodies, never quite letting the listener settle. And getting lost feels important, too. It’s immersive music, built to take over a listener’s consciousness for a burst, maybe even control their limbs.The backdrop is an early '70s Tanzania that’s recently outlawed mini skirts and bell-bottoms as part of Operation Vijana and followed it up a year later with a ban on soul music and dancing. It was, according to the government at the time, “the cause of bad manners in the country’s youth.”So on Sunburst’s debut album, Ave Africa, and their first singles for the Moto Moto and TFC labels, there’s an inevitable sense of defiance as they roll through a unique blend of funk, soul and R&B. It’s of it’s time and place, idiosyncratic, off-kilter, thoroughly engrossing.If it weren’t for UK-based Strut Records, Sunburst’s brief career might have been unjustly left as a footnote in African soul. But the label rarely leaves a stone unturned, whether they’re releasing brilliant old Fela Kuti live sets or brand new Canadian fusion.Listen to the full collection below in advance of its full release on June 24. You can pre-order the record right here.
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