Tribo Massahi – Mythical Afro-Brasilian-Psych-Funk LP Officially Reissued…

Via our subscription service Now-Again Deluxe at Drip.fm: an exclusive sampler of the otherworldly Afro-Brasilian psych-funk fusion forthcoming on Goma Gringa’s official reissue of Tribo Massahi!

Preorder NOW at our Goma Gringa’s webstore.

The legendary Tribo Massahi LP is one of our favorite, impossible-to-categorize Brasilian albums, and is about to be officially reissued now by the folks at Goma Gringa.

From a (rough) translation of the liner notes to the original River Records LP, issued in 1971 in minute quantities and currently exchanging hands for upwards of $3000:

“This is a sound made in Brazil. All the members are Brazilians. But the goal is to show young African music, with all his distinctions that come from the features of the Black Continent’s music.”

Got you intrigued, right? The album – a mixture of the Brasilian take on soul and funk music, something resembling psychedelia, and chants and rhythms from West Africa purposefully and deliberately delivered in two, side-long tracks by Embaixador João Negrão – sat in obscurity since its release. Even a cover by Brasilian superstar Seu Jorge – of the “PaI Joao” track, on our Seu Jorge and Almaz album – couldn’t lift the veil.

But now, Goma Gringa – a Brasilian start up with their hearts in the right place – offer the first 100% official reissue of this album. While a CD is in the works, at the moment, it’s only issued in a Brasilian-made, “hard-cardboard paste-on” cover, and packaged with a booklet authored by the journalist Itamar Dantas – responsible for this album’s resurgence – that finally presents the history of Sebastião Rosa de Oliveira – aka the Embaixador – and his band, the Tribo Massáhi.

We’re giving away the first two tracks from side-A’s medley to our subscribers at Now-Again Deluxe: throw yourself into João Negrão’s long silent, now screaming, and still-perplexing musical world.

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