Thursday May 17th I'm heading out to LA to play a Nigerian Disco set at Jeremy Sole's legendary Afro Funke party at Santa Monica's Zanzibar. I'm staying in LA for the weekend to spin some super heavy Afro Funk 45s at Miles' long running Funky Sole night at the Echo on Saturday the 19th.
Back in Brooklyn, I'm going to unleash one last Lagos Disco Inferno on Friday May 25th and then I'm going offline and off the grid to embark on a 4 year record digging trip to Central America. Zebulon is located on 258 Wythe Avenue just a few steps North of Metropolitan Avenue. Go here for directions.
The heaviest Deep Funk 45 ever to come out of West Africa. Only two original copies are known to exist. Now everybody can buy one. (before they're sold out...)
Both sides are equally devastating and pressed extra loud for maximum impact!
This is a new Afrobeat and Afro Funk mix I put together. The opening track is from a insanely rare 45 by Nigerian group The Clusters, followed by an unreleased track by Benin's Orchestre Poly Rythmo. This version of "ou c'est lui ou c'est moi" is from the first recording session for their ALS005 album with Vincent Ahehehinnou. The label owner rejected this first effort and had the band go back into the studio and re-record the whole thing. The album which eventually got released is already amongst the rarest releases of the vast Poly Rythmo catalog but only two acetates of the first recording session were ever found. One copy remains with a legendary Toronto based collector and the other one sits right here at Voodoo Funk headquarters.
The rest of the mix offers you some deep, Nigerian funkiness and two rare tracks from Mali courtesy of Rail Band and Orchestre Le Bida De La Capitale.
Click on the image to listen:
00:00 The Clusters -cool mood 04:00 Orch. Poly Rythmo -ou c'est lui ou c'est moi" (unreleased version) 14:36 Evelyn Dance Band led by Orlando Julius -erora miliki 21:37 Uhuru Sounds -ariwo yaa 26:58 Jake Sollo -deiyo deiyo 31:26 Bonds Funk Band -sitting at the court hall 35:01 Pyramid's 7 -shokolokobangoshay 41:17 Big John Oaikhena -agbon nu ghegbeji 46:13 Rail Band de Mali -djiguiya 56:01 St. Augustine -kpalanuma 63:20 Orch. le Bida de la Capitale -kenuma
Lately I've been seriously getting into Highlife tunes from Benin City (no relations to Benin the country). Benin City is the capital of Edo state in Southern Nigeria and birthplace of Sir Victor Uwaifo. I hope you will enjoy this music as much as I do. All these songs are really long, I only managed to fit seven of them into this mix that runs well over 1 hour... I don't like to cut tracks short. To me the length of these tracks matches the trance inducing nature of the music.
Click on the image and let yourself go!
00:00 Solo Hit -ododo 05:18 Ugbo & his Philosophers -efe 14:25 Collins Oke -iguo 22:18 Aigbe Lebarty -green revolution 30:22 Victor Uwaifo -ohue 38:38 Akaba Man -ighie vibie 45:27 Talents of Benin -ovbiokhokho
This is a Nigerian Disco mix I put together to promote the last Lagos Disco Inferno Party. Click on the image for a direct link to the mp3 and get sweaty!
Both sides are absolutely incredible, yet very different in style: These lo-res mp3s are not fully re-mastered. Both tracks sound MUCH, MUCH BETTER on 45! Buy it here!
This was the first recording by Stoneface Iwuagwu with his band the Life Everlasting, first released in 1973.
This 45 marks the beginning of a series of 45s to be brought to you by Voodoo Funk & Academy Lps. Only 1.000 copies will be pressed of each release so be quick!
My friend Uchenna Ikunne from Comb & Razor, without whom we would not have been able to put this record out, provides us with a bit of background information on Stoneface and his band:
"Innocent Iwuagwu received the name "Stoneface" during his tenure as a singer in the Tall Men, a mid-1960s Enugu-based pop group. While with the Tallmen, he also taught himself to play the drums. In 1967, shortly after the Eastern region of the country declared its sovereignty as the Republic of Biafra, Stoneface was invited to play drums for the top pop band in the region, The Postmen, by the group's guitarist Goddy Oku.
The Postmen didn't last long after that as their popular lead singer, Sonny Okosuns, had been deported from Biafra. In 1968 Stoneface joined the In Crowd, led by Lasbrey Ojukwu and stayed with the group until the end of the war in 1970. After the war, he joined The Soulmen, an army group based in Ogoja. The Soulmen soon relocated to Enugu, where Stoneface left and joined his old friend Goddy Oku's new group The Hygrades in 1971.
He left The Hygrades (probably around '72) and played for a little bit in Ify Jerry Krusade, led by another old mate from The Postmen, Ify Jerry.
Around 1973, he decided to form his own band and he rounded up a bunch of teenage musicians--singer Kingsley "Dallas" Anyanwu (from the high school band Dee-Mites), lead guitarist Maurice "Jackie Moore" Anyaorah (from Salt & Pepper Organisation), rhythm guitarist Roy Obika and bassist Jimi Henshaw--and formed Life Everlasting.
Unlike many of the Eastern groups of the post-war era, Life Everlasting was sponsored not by the army but by Stoneface's elder brother. But the amount of financing provided couldn't buy them state-of-the-art gear, so they used mostly instruments constructed by local carpenters and amps and pedals built by electronics wiz Goddy Oku.
They were signed by EMI and recorded their first single, "Love is Free" b/w "Agawalam Mba" at the EMI studio in Apapa, Lagos. The session featured a studio musician playing polyphonic organ that ended up not making the final mix.
The record was a hit and they followed it up with "Everyday" b/w "Love Him" (Stone says he thinks they *might* have recorded a third single but he cant' remember what it might have been called..."
We're also very soon going to knock out the second Marijata LP and Gyedu Blay Ambolley's Simigwa LP.
My main man in Ghana, Dankyi-Appah Safo Kennedy aka Ken has lately been spending some time exploring Northern Nigeria. After I got to talk to Albert Jones from the Freedom Family and Geraldo Pino's Heartbeats about the scene in Kano and Kaduna back in the 1970s, I was certain that there had to be records up there. This turned out to be true as Ken just express-mailed me an amazing box of 45s. Of course I couldn't resist but throw together a quick mix using some of these gems... a few boxes with LPs should arrive in a few weeks from now and once they get here, I'm sure another mix will follow shortly.
I'm not listing all tracks. Sorry for being so squirelly but I'm in the process of sourcing some of these tunes for possible re-issue and I don't want people chopping up my mixes and re-posting these tracks individually on YouTube or on one of those lame torrent sites... Click on the image to listen:
Click on the image below and get your groove on! 00:00 Artist Unknown
03:03 Stoneface & Life Everlasting -Agawalam Mba
05:55 Segun Bucknor -Baby Get Your Thing
09:17 Artist Unknown
12:17 Artist Unknown
15:12 The Funkees -Onye Mmyaa
21:05 Geraldo Pino & The Heartbeats -Shake Hands (45 Version)
Ken has spent another month digging up records in various cities in Northern Nigeria. During his last visit a few months back, Ken got friendly with the fine people at Kano's Freedom FM station and this time they even invited him to go on the air and play a few tunes.
Just hours before I left home to play some records over at Zebulon last Saturday, I received an email from my friend and Nigerian record kingpin Damian Iwuagwu who some of you might know from the Lagos Disco Inferno compilation. Without Damian's tireless work, my Nigerian record collection would not be anywhere near where it is today.
My dear brother, in the early hours of today 16th July 2011 at about 6am Nigerian time, a gang of about 7 armed robber attacked the hotel where i was staying and robbed everybody. They took money and my mobile telephone but they did not beat or give me any injury as they did to others. They did not see my ATM card so i will continue my journey tomorrow but in short time to be in Lagos on Tuesday or Wednesday. Yours,
Damian
A stark reminder of the risks that Damian has to take every day in order to do his work, to get food on his table, to be able to send his kids to school and to send new packages with fresh grooves across the Atlantic to Voodoo Funk headquarters.
Edit:
I sent Damian a link to this post so he could see the comments people have left for him and this was his response:
"I can say that my journey was not smooth like before but i thank God that all is well both in health and in Strength. We nearly ran into another robbery as we were coming back. We spent over 4 hours on the hold up at a place called Ore, just like when i was going. We had to pass the night in a village before I reached Lagos at about 7 pm yesterday. What i saw on your blog, how people are responding to what happened to me in Benin City, has given me a every big joy. So what I am doing here is not for myself alone but for the world. I am happy, thank you.
The rawest and the heaviest of all African funk records. Brought to you by Voodoo Funk, released on Academy LPs with its original artwork plus lyric sheet and a rare band photograph. Please note that the sound file for this video was recorded at low resolution from an original vintage copy of this record and not from the remastered new release which of course sounds amazing and was made to be played at full volume!
Marijata's second release "Pat Thomas Introduces Marijata" is already in the pipeline. The CD edition will be released later this year and it will contain both albums.
Orlando Julius has been a well known name on the West African music scene all through the 1960s and 70s. His early work was recorded in the Philips studios under the strict supervision of their house producers who were putting an emphasis on a pleasant and swinging sound that was jugging along in a pleasant way, bridging big band highlife music with American soul.
In 1972 and 1973, Orlando Julius and his band The Afrosounders visited the legendary ARC Lagos studio of Ginger Baker and what OJ and the gang put to tape there was an entirely different beast: They recorded and album packed with unadulterated, funky Afrobeat of the heaviest caliber.
The soundtrack to the video above is a shortened version of "Aseni", recorded directly from my original vintage vinyl copy. Only a short edit of one out of six long and epic killer tunes which are all included on this record
For the first time, Orlando and the his band were able to really let loose and showcase their full power with an unfiltered impact. They laid down six epic tracks that from a Funk or Afrobeat perspective definitely count as Orlando's strongest work but it seemed that Philips were not too happy with this result. They completely botched the distribution of this record and while Orlando's earlier and later work has all been re-issued over the past years, sometimes multiple times and from various international labels, this, his best record has remained under the radar and virtually unknown to the worldwide community of African music lovers. This was until I was sitting in my friend Damian Iwuagwu's house in Lagos back in January of 2010, drinking a cold Star beer and enjoying the evening when he casually handed me this LP and asked "what about this one, I got this the other day and I don't think I've ever seen it before".
Now this record is re-released with its original artwork and extensive liner notes written by Orlando Julius himself, including loads of great vintage photographs.
This is a fresh mix I made with records I brought back home after spending last month in Ghana and it includes quite a few new discoveries. Click on the image to listen.
00:00 Uppers Chapter Two - Samari Bolga 02:53 The Walking Shadows - If You Do Me - I Do You 06:10 Joe Mensah - Right On Bosue 09:48 Nyame Bekyere - Broken Heart 22:22 Uppers International - Aja Wondo 26:16 The Walking Shadows - Kun Adele 29:37 Rev. Jerry Boifraind (The Handsome Rebel) - Apartheid 38:10 Kelenkye Band - Jungle Music 43:48 Foundars 15 - Finger Fun 48:08 The Future Hope International - Onye Ma Echi 53:23 Sir Victor Uwaifo - Ohue 61:39 Jimi Solanke - Owo Orisa
Th. May 17th Santa Monica LAZanzibar Sa. May 19th Los AngelesThe Echo Fr. May 25th BrooklynZebulon
Visits since June 2011:
Introduction:
Here on the front page, you can read about my current activities while the archive below chronicles my 3-year long stay in West Africa from 2005-2008 and some more recent follow up visits. There's plenty to read, over 30 hours of music and loads of pictures to look at.
I decided to go all corporate and make it easy for you guys to show the rest of the world what great taste in music you have...
There are multiple color combinations to explore for each design and everything's available in all the men's or women's sizes you could want.
Am I on Facebook?
No, I prefer to socialize in the real world rather than wasting time on any sort of online networking platform. I'm one of those old fucks who only uses his cellphone to make phone calls... and I don't even like making phone calls.If you want to get in touch, please send me an Email!
Thursday May 17th I'm heading out to LA to play a Nigerian Disco set at Jeremy Sole's legendary Afro Funke party at Santa Monica's Zanzibar. I'm staying in LA for the weekend to spin some super heavy Afro Funk 45s at Miles' long running Funky Sole night at the Echo on Saturday the 19th.
Back in Brooklyn, I'm going to unleash one last Lagos Disco Inferno on Friday May 25th and then I'm going offline and off the grid to embark on a 4 year record digging trip to Central America.
Zebulon is located on 258 Wythe Avenue just a few steps North of Metropolitan Avenue. Go here for directions.
