^ Very good choice, Zaqarbal, and thanks for the wiki link about Equatorial Guinea, the first line of which said, " Not to be confused with Guinea " - the first thing that I had done, as a matter of fact.
What I like about the songs you posted is that they are very African, but also conform to international notions of pop. To begin with, I thought your third clip, which starts "oo-wey, oo-wey, oo-wey" was fabulous, but by the end of my first listen through, I already found it irritating. If that`s not pop, I don`t know what is.
So far no-one has mentioned two undeniable giants of Afro-pop:
First, "The Lion of Cameroon", Manu Dibango, whose 1972 single is, according to the sleeve notes I`m reading, "the single most influential African record to date" :-
It was one of the first African records to get international recognition, and years later seems to have inspired Michael Jackson to write "Wanna Be Starting Something".
Next up is Franco, "arguably the greatest African musician of the twentieth century". This song from 1962 was a big hit in the Congo, and is sung in a Spanish that even I can understand; " Caramba, yo te quiero !" :-
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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953
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