"Africa addio" (also known as "Africa Blood and Guts" in the United States and "Farewell Africa" in the UK) is a 1966 film directed by Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi, winner of the David di Donatello prize for best production in the same year; the same directors, four years earlier, with the seminal "Mondo Cane", practically invented the 'Mondo movie' movie genre, transforming the classic documentary format into something shocking, making use of low-budget amateurish shots showing a raw, crude reality that, compared to the one in which the films were distributed and projected, was very distant, geographically and ideologically.
In 1963 "Mondo cane" was followed by "La donna nel mondo", ("Women of the world"), and in both cases their soundtrack had been entrusted to Riz Ortolani, who eventually came back to work with Jacopetti / Prosperi in '66 with "Africa addio", a film that already at the time raised a discreet fuss among critics and experts. Ortolani's music is mainly classical / symphonic, played by a wisely directed orchestra, perfect both during the most relaxed moments, where the use of stringed instruments prevails, and in dramatic ones, in which the presence of the wind instruments amplifies the tragic events documented in the film.
"Africa addio" is an exclusive release for the Record Store Day 2019, reissued today almost forty years after its previous edition. Limited edition on clear orange vinyl! Not to be missed!!!