Awesome Tapes reissuing ’80s Ivory Coast folk album on vinyl

An unexpected tape from Africa.

Jess Saw Bi and Peter One’s 1985 LP Our Garden Needs Its Flowers is being reissued for the first time, this August via Awesome Tapes From Africa.

“Country music and folk-rock weren’t very popular with the general public (in the Ivory Coast),” explains ATFA. “But interest was bubbling up within the growing student population, who connected with the protest sentiments expressed by many English and American artists of the era.”

“We expected the album to be a big success, but we could not have imagined how far it would go,” says Peter.

Upon its release, Our Garden Needs Its Flowers went on to reach critical and popular acclaim across much of French-speaking West Africa, and the song ‘African Chant’ was played when Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990.

Our Garden Needs Its Flowers has been remastered from its original tapes for this first ever reissue.

Pre-order a copy of the album here ahead of its 17th August release, listen to first single ‘Aparteid’ and check out the track list below.

Tracklist

1. Clipo Clipo
2. Katin
3. Kango
4. Minmanle?
5. Our Garden Needs Its Flowers
6. Apartheid
7. African Chant
8. Solution