Nominally, this represents
Martin Denny
's attempt to evoke the ambience of the African continent, after having done the same for the South Pacific via a series of early albums.
Denny
does use marimba, vibes, bongos, congas, and timbales -- not to mention sound effects of a buzzing tsetse fly and the rain forest. But the result is even less genuinely African (to the "nth" degree) than, say,
Paul Simon
's
Graceland
. Not to mention that
the Randy Van Horne Singers
, who contribute backing vocals (as they did for the
Flinstones
and
Jetsons
cartoons), were probably about as authentically African as a Disneyland voodoo doll.
never pretended to offer a genuinely ethnic experience, though. This is, despite any impressions generated by the title, more
exotica
music, pure and simple. There isn't much
on CD, but almost everyone will be content to pick up the
Rhino
best-of (which admittedly only duplicates a few cuts from
Afro-Desia
) and leave it at that. ~ Richie Unterberger