Feb 27, 2012

Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - An interview



Ever since Ry Cooder gathered together a forgotten generation of semi-ancient Cubans to record the seminal "Buena Vista Social Club" album, the search has been incessant in all corners of the world to find other "scenes" that might be similarly turned into a worldwide phenomenon. Whilst a recently released cinema film, the excellent "Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae", is following the Buena Vista blueprint almost step by step in order to document the pre-Reggae music of Jamaica, a number of African artists who made their name in the 1970s have also profited from this interest in history. After The Super Rail Band (Mali), Orchestra Baobab (Senegal), Mulatu Astatke (Ethiopia) and Bembeya Jazz (Guinea), amongst others, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo from Benin are the latest to receive a new lease of life.

A veritable "Big Band" with plenty of brass, Poly-Rythmo were formed in the late 1960s, swiftly becoming hugely popular throughout West Africa. Their music was a joyous, groove-driven blend of local styles, Fela-like Afrobeat, Congolese Rumba, Jazz and Funk. In 1972, however, a military coup brought a regime to power whose attempt to create an African form of Marxist-Leninist government strangled the country's music scene by introducing a weekday live-music-curfew an hour before midnight. By the mid-80s, when this curfew was ended, Benin was poverty-stricken. Nevertheless, Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo soldiered on. They remained largely undetected elsewhere until a few years ago a handful of compilation albums of their 70s evergreens started to come out on European labels. Now, they have recorded their first new album for 25 years. Sublime met their singer Vincent Ahehehinnou and the band's French re-discoverer, Elodie Maillot, in London.

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What were the circumstances how this album came to be?

Vincent Ahehehinnou: Everything started when a journalist from Radio France by the name of Elodie Maillot came to see us for a show for the Independence Day in Abomey. She really loved our music. After the interview one of us said to her: "Please, Madame, can you do something for us to be recognised outside Africa? We never had a chance to play outside Africa." She said: "I can't, I 'm just a journalist but I'll try to see what I can do". And she did. We ended up touring in 2009 with 9 shows in Europe, and she was our tour manager. We had a little spare time to start do the recording, and here's the album!

Since Elodie Maillot is sitting here with us, acting as the interpreter, perhaps she could tell us herself what attracted her so strongly to this music that she gave up her job with Radio France and sank all her savings into the recording of this album?

Elodie Maillot: I was always big fan of African music and Funk also, and I never found another band with such rhythmic and stylistic diversity. I discovered them whilst looking through the record library at Radio France. It was an album called "0 + 0 = 0", and I thought, oh, we have the same love of mathematics, maybe we can get along! All the record sleeves were great, too. So I went to Benin to find them and do my interview. It really touched me when they said: "OK, you recorded us talking and you will broadcast our interview ? but will anything be different for us afterwards?" People in Jamaica, Haiti, Congo ? everywhere people always expect so much from you and your microphone. But as a journalist, there's not much you can do to help in practical terms.

But this time things turned out differently - why?

Elodie Maillot: I really was a very big fan of theirs, and I was beginning to feel that maybe here was an opportunity after all these years on the radio and all the artists I had met, to try and do something. Show some commitment. Then I met the band Franz Ferdinand. Somehow we ended up talking about Poly-Rhythmo. Alex Kapranos was a big fan, too, and he told me it was their dream one day to meet them. I said to myself: If Franz Ferdinand love Poly-Rythmo, maybe we can really do something.

The songs on the album, are they new songs, or new versions of old songs?

Vincent Ahehehinnou: We decided to have some old songs because we wanted people to recognise us and be happy, but mix these with new songs. The next album will only be new songs.

The diversity of your music, especially the rhythms, is truly striking. Where does this diversity stem from?

Vincent Ahehehinnou: Wein Poly-Rhytmo are a real symbol of cultural diversity. In Benin you have 55 ethnicities. Our members come from all sorts of different ethnicities. The diversity of our music is an expression of the diversity of our members' roots.

What kind of music did you listen to when you were 13?

Vincent Ahehehinnou: The only thing I could listen to was the radio. But the radio belonged to my father. He said: if I hear the radio that means you're not studying. Later on at college I listened to the radio a lot. Mostly it was the French singers, Francoise Hardy, Mireille Mathieu, Nana Mouskouri, mostly women but also Richard Anthony and Michel Polnareff. Once Polnareff came out with a new album and the poster showed his naked bum. That was a big shock in Africa. We also listened to American music. We didn't understand the lyrics, so when we tried to learn them we had to learn them phonetically.

55 different peoples - does that mean 55 different languages as well?

Vincent Ahehehinnou No - it means 105 languages! The first language is Fon, most others are just spoken languages. But nowadays the government supports and promotes the diversity of different languages, and in order to keep them alive there are attempts to support them as written languages.

Does the government support music in similar ways?

Vincent Ahehehinnou: Until now we never had the chance to have a president who had a cultural vision or an interest in culture.

Surely it was worse during the so-called Marxist-Leninst days in the 1970s?

Vincent Ahehehinnou: Then it was just about the same. Yes, the regime banned music at night time. What was good, however, was that they were supporting children's education, and it was part of the official program to learn about music, theatre and various cultural activities. This is not the case now. All those school programs back then enabled my generation to become artists.

So now there's a thriving music scene?

Vincent Ahehehinnou: Until today, 50 years after independence, my country hasn't got a real hall or a proper venue for bigger shows. There are cinemas, that's all. But nowadays those don't show movies any more, they're rented by evangelists and cults.

How do you explain this indifference? Why don?t the people demand films, demand music?

Vincent Ahehehinnou: I'm the vice-president of the National Federation of Artists, and we've been asking for meetings with the president to discuss this. But he refuses to meet us. I am also the president of the National Commission against Piracy. Our budget per year to fight piracy - which is very bad in Benin ? was 45'000 Euro and has this year been reduced to 30'000 Euro. So I wonder if those people really want to defend culture in our country. For instance, the Orchestre Poly-Rythmo is a national monument. The only thing the government does to support us is that occasionally they wish us to receive some medal. If you're a functionary and you receive a medal, you get two years of promotion. An artist, however, receives nothing. In fact, he has to pay for the medal - and he has to pay for the buffet and the party to go with it. So I have always refused to accept one.

I spoke to Femi Kuti not long ago and he said piracy and downloading wasn't such a problem for Nigerian musicians because there were lots of places to play live and earn a living that way.

Vincent Ahehehinnou: Our country is quite different to Nigeria. We're only 7 million inhabitants in Benin, and of the 7 million, 3 million are foreigners from all over Africa. In Nigeria, if you make a good record, you can stop working for the rest of your life because it's a huge country. You can sell 3 million records. Of the 4 million Beniniens, on the other hand, only maybe 100'000 people have the means to buy a CD. But of these 100'000, 95% would buy pirated material. Poverty doesn't allow them to buy an official CD that costs about 2 Euro, so they buy the bootlegs for 50 cents. If you manage to sell 5000 CDs legally in Benin it's a lot.

How did the band financially support themselves during the lean years?

Vincent Ahehehinnou: When you make music you have to believe. Never give up. We always fight to live from this. So we keep on playing, playing, playing.

Do your lyrics deal with problems like these?

Vincent Ahehehinnou: No. It would be useless. It could even make matters worse. It would also be bad for the young people. If even a band like us has these troubles - it would break their hopes. So we try to manage day to day life on our own. Some of us have other small bands. Others buy and sell small things. One of us does some soldering, one is a priest.

I thought politically Benin was more open and democratic these days. I'm wrong, it seems?


Vincent Ahehehinnou: We're one of the most democratic countries in Africa. But they don't have any interest in culture.

What kind of audiences do you get in Benin ? the teenagers as well or mostly people who remember you from the 70s?

Vincent Ahehehinnou: Our audience goes from children to old people. Ten year olds come on stage to dance with us.

Is the radio supportive?

Vincent Ahehehinnou: Now that we're touring, everyone's looking for our records, the old ones too. So the radio plays them all day long. It's a real renaissance for us. It was a big emotion, being back in the studio, recording. Even in our dreams we never thought one day we would end up recording in France and our records being distributed all around the world. Last year we played in Liverpool. The town of the Beatles! I was crying when I got out of the bus. Me in Liverpool!

Interview originally published and written by hanspeterkuenzler

Feb 16, 2012

From Nigeria: Adamosa Osagiede And His International Band - Ukpakon



Highlife from Nigeria!

Some information and songs are provided by amazing LIKEMBE:

Willy Adamosa Osagiede got in touch with me many years ago, and even sent me a CD of his recent recordings. Like all of the musicians here, he was most popular in the '70s and '80s. He's presently based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and you can access his MySpace page here. Here are some tracks from his 1976 LP Ukpakon (Afrodisia DWAPS 70):

Adamosa Osagiede & his International Band - Amayamwen Nue

Adamosa Osagiede & his International Band - Igho Nogie

Adamosa Osagiede & his International Band - Wa Gha Hio




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Tracklist

A1. Ukpakon
A2. Egbenoma Adede
A3. Ameghi Ka Vbukhuere
A4. Ibude
B1. Amayamwen Nue
B2. Igho Nogie
B3. Wa Gha Hio
B4. Do Sumwen Ehi

Feb 14, 2012

Ray Stephen Oche - No Discrimination

Killer afro funk jazz album recorded in France by Nigerian Ray Stephen Oche and His Matumbo.

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From the liner notes:

"...After the memorable "Festival De Montparanasse", in 1970, Ray Stephen Oche joined "Alan Silva and his Celestial Communications Orchestra" for several concerts and festivals. In 1971 Ray collaborated with "Noah Howard Quartet" and played for the Copenhague Radio and television, at the university of the town and at the "Montmartre Jazz Club" . After having worked extenseively in Germany and Holland. Ray comes back to Paris where he founded his "Freedom Suite Orchestra"..."

Found here!



Tracklist

01. ada ode
02. trumpet calls the people of nigeria
03. peace upon kenemaland
04. at the jazz fountain
05. ayipe assa
06. benue meditations
07. owoicho oche
08. down beat special
09. kano city sky
10. death scattered assa village

Feb 13, 2012

From Spain: Mampön Afrobeat



MAMPÖN Afrobeat are ​​born in March 2010 in Barcelona. They start a search of sounds and rhythms with a strong contemporary look to the past and afrobeat. The songs of this band are one hundred percent-wrenching instrumental-sticky and always with a touch of punch and speed that characterize them.

From the beginning there is a wide acceptance by the public to the music of Afrobeat Mampön doing fantastic musical explosions in bars, festivals and / or any other place where present. Mampön is training with many different musical influences and this is reflected in its strong music, try the tip and let go .... sure you'll love.

Mampön

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Mampön Afrobeat von julita653

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Check out there songs at

soundcloud.com or

myspace.com

Feb 9, 2012

Beyond Benin: Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou Interviewed in 2011



As they release their first studio album for decades and prepare to play the London Scala, Luke Turner talks to Benin's Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou about their religious differences, James Brown, playing with Fela Kuti, and their remarkable return.

It's almost a miracle that, tomorrow night, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou will play the London Scala, and that just weeks ago they released their first album proper in decades, Cotonou Club. And, as we'll discover in an interview with founder member and vocalist Vincent Ahehehinnou, there's no doubt great debate within the ranks of Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou as to who is to thank for their remarkable return and ever-increasing success in the west.

Founded way back in 1966, the Orchestre's heyday saw them release over 50 albums that partnered thousands of performances in the clubs and bars of Benin, where they occasionally shared a stage with Fela Kuti. A Marxist-Leninist government and the deaths of two key members in the early 80s spelled the end. But such a remarkable and prolific group was unlikely to remain undiscovered for too long, and soon their work came to the attention of the Analog Africa label, who released a series of compilations (and this month reissue their 1973 debut LP).

Then, Elodie Maillot, a French journalist and radio presenter (and now band manager and producer) went to Benin to find out what had happened to the group. As it happens, she's translator for the Quietus' interview with Vincent Ahehehinnou, and takes up the story: "I had all the vinyl, and I wondered if they were still alive. I went over to find them, and it was a difficult time because the President had shut down all the mobile phones. They asked me if I could make one dream they had come true. They were having a hard time, with no money and instruments, only playing for weddings or Independence Day. It's very rare to see Orchestres playing in Cotonou nowadays because most of the clubs are closed and it's expensive to pay so many musicians. They said 'We see you really love the Orchestre.'

"I helped them to tour, but I said you have no record to prove that you are still good, the reissues yes, but there is nothing from now. I found people happy to produce it, but it was a big risk. I wanted to fulfil the promises I had made to them, but in today's world to prove you still can play and are still good you need a record. Then the equivalent of the Barbican in Paris wanted to book them for a festival. There was a gap between shows and we made the record. I never thought in my life I would produce a record!"

That record is Cotonou Club, the title a tribute to the clubs that closed and orchestres who can no longer play. Released last month via Strut, it is an album that proves that the surviving members of the Orchestre have lost none of their ability to create mesmerising smooth and intricate West African funk.


THE INTERVIEW


Did the Orchestra think they would ever, or even want to come to the UK?

I never thought we'd come here, we never even considered it. When we started making music we didn't want to travel, we just wanted to make music. If we had wanted to do that we would have adapted our music to be saleable to export, but we didn't want to do that, we never wanted to do something to please a European audience.

Going back to the early days, I wanted to ask about the influence of the voodoo tradition...

We were born in the voodoo music, and our children are born in the voodoo music, you can't be divided from it. The constitution of Benin has voodoo. When the President of Benin is elected, he has to be faithful to the ancestors. In 1996, when we elected the President the second time, he was very Christianised, and he didn't swear on the voodoo part of the constitution, he didn't want to be involved in voodoo any more. But he had to come back to swear properly on the voodoo constitution. You have been to Africa? You hear of Africa in the news? Benin is one of the places where there hasn't been a civil war. There has been no blood. And that is because of voodoo, it brings justice and peace.

In the days when you had a Marxist-Leninist government, were you able to perform your music, or was it suppressed?

VA: In '75 the country was officially Marxist. At that time if a club or a bar did not turn the radio on at 8 and 11 o'clock for the official news so the whole place could hear it, then the bar or the club would be closed. TV came in 1978, so at that time the President would insist on talking for two hours, and the music people were sick and tired of listening to him, so they wanted to change the station. They wanted to listen to James Brown rather than the radio, and so they were closed down. There was also a curfew at 11 o'clock, and Saturday at 3 o'clock. We were never arrested, but they would arrest the audience. Everything closed down in Cotonou, and Cotonou started to sleep at night. The only way to not get your bar closed was if you knew somebody and could bribe them.

It was impossible for them to affect the voodoo, though. In Benin there are a lot of different Christian churches, and the regime tried to suppress them, the protestant churches, and the mosques. But they never tried to touch the voodoo places, the equivalents of shrines. Christianity has come through colonialism too, but our faith is stronger because it was in the country before. Even though I am not a voodoo priest, if I wanted for bees to come and invade a church so there would be so many bees in the church that people couldn't come inside, I could do it.

Is voodoo important for all the group?

No, the bandleader is an evangelical Christian. There are many different views, and we never agree. The chief was high in the voodoo faith, but he turned to evangelism. We said OK, but you cannot force us to follow you. The difference between the God of the church and the voodoo is that the voodoo moves more efficiently and quickly, you do not have to wait to pray.

How do these divisions affect the group?

Everyone has his own inspiration, we bring our own ideas and we practice together. When we were young, we composed more selfishly, there was more ego.

When did you personally start listening to and making music, and then join the group?

I listened to music from America, from England, and from Africa too. I used to listen to my father's radio, and there was a show for young people. It was very difficult to afford to buy a radio, but today I can buy records and I listen to a lot of jazz, which is a great source of inspiration for me.

I think you can hear more jazz influence on the new record.

It has always inspired our composition, mixed with voodoo. All the voodoo traditional instruments we use we have just modernised with everything you would find in jazz.

There's that connection with New Orleans jazz too.

So many of our ancestors couldn't express their suffering, so to express their sorrow they had to use music and songs. I really want to go to New Orleans – I dream of New Orleans. I went to New York, and visited Harlem, to see the theatre where Apollo Theatre where James Brown performed. I had dreamed that once in my life I would see that, to see where black people had been able to make something from their suffering.

Can you tell us a little about playing with Fela Kuti?

He was a living legend. There is something very spiritual in his music, there is something higher than music. He had his musical success, and his political success, and he was an African! In Nigeria, there were the political men and the rich men, and he made fun of them, all his songs were politically motivated. It was a time when it was hard for us to speak politically, so he has to be a model for African musicians. We did about Afrobeat tracks and covers. When he knew we were recording in Lagos he came to the studio, and gave comments. When he came to Cotonou we played with him, and he was the first African artist I saw smoking the cannabis sativa. He was a great man, and a great man for African music.

How did you use to release music in Benin? There were so many albums you put out.

We used to have bars where we'd play, and clubs. And people would come to Cotonou to pick up our records. People loved Johnny Hallyday and Orchestre Poly-Rythmo, and they'd buy them without listening because they knew they were good. If people heard a good song in a club they would think it was Orchestre Poly-Rythmo even if it wasn't.

Now people are able to operate more freely in Benin. How have the Orchestre been affected?

Now people would rather take a record and play it in a bar than book the Orchestre to come and play. We try to speak to the government to get the land and the authorisation to build our own bar, but you still have to know the right people, there is a lot of bureaucracy and it's hard to be an entrepreneur.

There's a track on the album recorded with Franz Ferdinand. How did that work for you?

They really proved that they are great musicians. We came with the rhythm, and he [Paul Thomson] is a very good drummer. We've listened to their records, and we've played some of their songs together. We played 'Take Me Out'.

Members have left the Orchestre, and others have died, but what is the core spirit of the group?

It is the team spirit. We argue sometimes, and really shout, but we cannot hate each other. The bandleader is neutral, he never takes one side or the other. We have had bad times together, but we stick together, we are getting along. We would really love the people we lost to be with us and sharing the great joys we now have. It is too bad that they're not here.

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The interview was originally published at thequietus.com on May 4th, 2011

Written by Luke Turner

Feb 8, 2012

Edzayawa - Projection One



This extraordinary, dark, moody and experimental offering from teenage Ghanaian afro rock outfit Edzayawa (Pronounced Ed – Zye – Ow – Ahh) is one of the more obscure and unique releases that Soundway have brought back to life over the past ten years. Arriving in Lagos from Togo in the spring of 1973 the band were taken under the wing of Fela Kuti. After a run of appearances on the bill at his Shrine club they were signed by EMI Nigeria’s visionary in-house producer Odion Iruoje. Over two days in May 1973 they recorded Projection One, which was their one and only release before disbanding two years later.

The majority of their songs were based around a 6/8 rhythm influenced by the music of the Ewe people from the South East of Ghana and Western Togo. With themes that draw heavily on traditional folklore and deep philosophy the album has a heavy feel that sets itself well apart from the much of the lighter happier highlife of the previous decade. Alongside Fela’s first few albums, Blo’s Chapter One and Mono Mono’s Give The Beggar A Chance this was one of the very earliest Afro – Rock LPs released in West Africa and has remained out of print for nearly forty years. Projection One never got a release in the band’s home country of Ghana and apparently sailed way over most peoples heads at the time. Very much like the debut Hedzoleh Soundz album that Soundway re-issued in 2010 (another Ghanaian band that were recorded in Lagos, produced by Iruoje on the recommendation of Fela Kuti) the only copies that made it back to Ghana were the few that the band took back themselves.

Soundway will release Projection One here in it’s full original format on gatefold vinyl as well as on CD for the first time: remastered and accompanied by liner notes that contain the reminiscences of band leader Nana Danso (who subsequently founded and now runs the Accra-based Pan African Orchestra).

soundwayrecords.com





Tracklist

1. Darkness
2. Gondzin
3. Edzayawa
4. Naa Korle
5. Amanehun
6. Abonsan
7. Obuebee
8. Adesa

Feb 7, 2012

Eric (Show Boy) Akaeze - Keep Your Promise

Rare later album from the king of Ikoto Rock with 2 killer dancefloor afro-beat / Ikoto rock tracks. Hard to find afrobeat/ funk from 1979 on "Editions Namaco records", Nigeria [Catalogue No. DNLPS 008].



Tracklist

A1. Bar Beach Show
A2. Keep Your Promise
B1. God Made A Man
B2. Banga Rock


Here are some other songs of him from the amazing "Money No Be Sand - 1960's Afro-Lypso, Pidgin Highlife, Afro-Soul, Afro-Rock" - sampler:


Feb 3, 2012

Amouzou Hefoume - T'aimer

Unfortunately, I almost cannot find any information of him.

Afro pop recorded by this Togolese singer with Ghanaian band. Some folk soul tunes, the stand out being two laid back afro psych soul tracks.



Label: Sonafric
Pressage: France
Year: 1977

Feb 2, 2012

Fela Kuti - Lagos Baby



ela Kuti (1938-1997) was the first and brightest African super star, and a music genious of colossal dimensions, considered by many the unrivalled king of African music for more than 30 years. What Vampisoul has the inmense pleasure to offer, as part of our ongoingg African sonic exploration (Tony Allen, Orlando Julius, Highlife collection and more to come), is the musical birth of a MYTH and GIANT of world's music.

In 1970 Kuti changed his name from Fela Ransome Kuti to Fela Anikulapo Kuti ("Anikulapo" being a yoruba name meaning "he who carries death in his pouch"), and radicalized his music (inventing Afro-Beat!) and his vision of the world, joining forces with the Black Panther Party, forming the Kalakuta Republic (a commune which he declared independent from the Nigerian state), creating his own revolutionary political party "Movement Of The People", and rebelling against the military regime of Nigeria.

What we're focusing here into, though, is what Kuti did in the 60's, between 1963 and 1969, years before naming his band Africa 70 and becoming the first african music rebel. After staying in London between 1958 and 1961, where he studied at the Trinity College of Music, and prior to his first visit to the States, when he knew about the black power movement, Fela was back in his Nigeria home with his band The Koola Lobitos serenading nightclubbers with jaunty highlife jazz and afro soul music. What you can hear in this compilation is Fela Ransome Kuti (not Anikulapo) and His Koola Lobitos, doing an irresistible, torrid and infectious rhythmic mix of West Africa's Highlife music, jazz, soul and funk.

Licensed from The Fela Kuti Estate and Premier Records, this deluxe Vampisoul package, available both on double CD set and triple vinyl LP, features extensive notes by African specialist Max Reinhardt and artwork by artist Victor Aparicio. The vinyl version consist on two 12" LPs, and one special 10" LP, exact reproduction of Kuti's legendary 1966' "Afro Beat On Stage, recorded Live At the Afro Spot (PLP001)", with all the same songs, in its own jacket with original artwork, and liner notes!

Vampisoul

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There must be something in the air at the moment, because the zeitgeist certainly seems to be preoccupied with the musical output of Nigeria, and of course there are no greater stars of Nigerian music than Fela Kuti. This double CD volume accounts for Kuti's career between 1963 and 1969, drawing a line before we get to his Africa 70 days. Consequently, the compilation might be viewed as taking a less politicised approach to Kuti's career and deliberately sidestepping the music that coincided with his activism against the Nigerian military dictatorship during the '70s. the benefit of this is that it gives an insight into the man's purely musical innovations - this is afterall the musician behind what we now term as Afrobeat, and it was during this period in the sixties that his signature musical style developed from its roots in highlife, jazz and soul. This transition is compartmentalised and divided by the two discs: the first focussing on Kuti's early roots while the second unveils the definitive Afrobeat sound he was to ecome best known for. Awesome.

boomkat.com

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This double CD set covers the six years befure he changed his name from Fela-Ransome to Fela-Anikulapo (in Yoruba, “Anikulapo” means “he who carries death in his pouch”) - no wonder the Nigerian authorities felt so scared of him.

The tracks on this album are influenced by the time he spent in London (1958-1961) where he was studying music at Trinity College and before his first visit to the U.S.A. This is a time of a young trumpet player and band leader finding his musical feet. This is Fela Ransome Kuti and the Koola Lobitos in the nightclubs of Lagos in at a time when Nigeria had just become independent from colonial rule (1962) and expectations were high. Some of the tracks give us the impression he knew where he would be in a few years time (‘Ako’ recorded around the time his Afro-Spot at the Kakadu club), some show the influence of the American jazz scene (‘Amaechi’s Blues’), some are more calypso, some a little ska, some R&B (‘VC7’) but most of these tracks belong on the dancefloor of the nightclub; and boy, would you have loved to be in a club where Fela was playing in the sixties? That would be living the Highlife!

Forty years before co-creator of Afrobeat Tony Allen released Lagos No Shaking, the music of Lagos Baby ruled the niteclubs and it still sounds great.

Extensive and in depth sleeve notes from Max Reinhardt (The Shrine, Notting Hill branch) who is also in the process to writing a new biography In Search of Fela Anikulapo Kuti (with Rita Ray) is coming out next year. That’s one to definitely look forward to but in the meantime it’s Highlife Time with Fela-Ransome Kuti - it’s got the (pre-Afro)beat.

flyglobalmusic.com




Tracklist CD 1

01. Signature Tune
02. Highlife Time
03. Lagos Baby
04. Omuti
05. Olulufe
06. Araba's Delight
07. Wa Dele
08. Lai Se
09. Mi O Mo
10. Obinrin Le
11. Omo Ejo
12. Bonfu
13. Fere
14. Onifere No 2
15. Oyejo
16. Oluruka
17. Awo
18. Yese
19. Egbin
20. Orise
21. Eke

Tracklist CD 2

01. Great Kids
02. Amaechi's Blues
03. VC7
04. I Know Your Feeling
05. Onidodo
06. Alagbara
07. Ajo
08. Abiara
09. Se E Tun De
10. Waka Waka
11. My Baby Don Love Me
12. Home Cooking
13. Everyday I Got My Blues
14. Moti Gbrokan
15. Waka Waka
16. Ako
17. Ororuka
18. Lai Se