Prince Nico Mbarga & Rocafil Jazz – Sweet Mother

Sweet Mother, from 1976, is one of the best-loved songs in Africa, a tribute to mothers that still fills parties decades later. Prince Nico Mbarga, of Nigerian and Cameroonian parentage, sings in pidgin English over a guitar style borrowed from Congolese rumba, so the lead guitar's bright, repeating figures are as memorable as the vocal hook. Choose it for highlife at its most immediate.