With some honourable exceptions, most musicians’ complaints are built on pretty meagre stuff. Cold cuts not fitting neatly between pieces of bread, offensive M & M’s not removed from the bowl, insufficient number of puppies present when the star steps in the room…you know the score.

Compare this with the harsh situation Angolan musicians faced once the south-central African country slid into an extended, brutal civil war in the mid 70’s. Far from ignorant about music’s power as a universal communicator, the warring parties could put a terrifying squeeze on musicians whose support for their cause they considered insufficient. The chaos that’s the constant companion to a messy conflict also wreaked havoc on Angolan lives.

Covering an era ranging from post-independence optimism to the horror of the opening stages of what was to be a near-30 year civil war in the former Portuguese colony, this ninth release from the justifiably celebrated Analog Africa is a testament to music’s ability to inject a celebratory spark into the grimmest of surroundings. A seamless blend of swaying Latin grooves, hard-driving rhythms of traditional carnival bands, smooth Caribbean flavours, a drop of Fela Kuti-patented Afrobeat and, to the fore, psychedelically stinging guitar gymnastic imported from neighbouring Congo (where they’d landed courtesy of ‘Western’ psych-rock pioneers), the tracks on ‘Angola Soundtrack’ are a hypnotic revelation.

Whether faced with a fretboard-racing instrumental or a croonsome vocal cut (although the crooning here’s always presented in a context that can only, in search of a better word, be described as funky), the cuts hit a melodic, dancefloor-friendly bull’s eye without fail. A special mention has to be made of Os Bongos, whose raw energy-infused rhumba workouts prove every bit as brilliant as the band’s name, suggesting that with access to studios limited, groups were determined to give it at least 200% when in the vicinity of recording equipment.

In the liner notes, Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb speaks of the many and varied difficulties he faced in pulling this compilation together. It was well worth it. ‘Angola Soundtrack’ is genuinely essential listening, lifting capital Luanda from relative obscurity into the first rank of African music cities alongside Kinshasa, Lagos and Addis Adeba, and proving once again that behind the simplistic media portrayal of Africa as a continent of war, misery and poverty lies much richer, vibrant and multi-faceted reality.