Dilon Djindji - Timing is everything

From the sound of the sitars we journey back across the Indian Ocean to the south coast of Africa. Here we find the musical neighbour to Madagascar, a style called Marrabenta which has its roots in the capital city of Maputo, and its heritage in one man's shoes, Dilon Djindji.

He is to Marrabenta what James Brown became to funk, and his first album, simply entitled Dilon, comes at the tender age of 75. He began his road to musicianship at the age of 12 when he made himself a three-stringed guitar out of an oilcan, soon to be upgraded to a six-string version. Through a lifetime which includes pastoral work, time spent in the mines of South-Africa and a final return to his home district of Marracuene, he has notched up a reputation of being 'a man of a thousand stories'.

This album features songs that were performed over a fifteen year period from 1950 onwards and shows that more than half a century ago the people of Mozambique were quietly enjoying a musical revolution all of their own.

The track featured here, Maria Teresa, tells the story of one man torn between two women.

Dilon Djindji - Maria Teresa