Lest we neglect the under-represented sounds of West African funk, the folks at Afro Strut have put together a magnificent 3-disc compilation that celebrates the movement. Nigeria 70 reminds us of the spirit and diversity of the sounds that emerged around Lagos in the ’70s with nearly 150 minutes of music. At the outset, let’s make it clear where this set stands: at the very pinnacle of African music compilations ever released. The subject certainly offers a rich field to mine, and the producers have done an amazing job bringing the music to life. First, a bit of history.In a whirlwind of influences from West Africa, East Africa, the Caribbean, North America and its rich traditions, Nigeria emerged as a powerful musical force in the mid-20th century.
The rich drumming traditions of Ghana and the New World African diaspora reached Nigeria in the early 1950s through highlife (introduced by E.T. Mensah, who once performed at the request of Louis Armstrong). Highlife combined the rhythms and styles of calypso, Cuban and Caribbean music and other traditions with Ghanaian drumming. Highlife was (and is) music full of social commentary, creative instrumentation and unwavering beats.As the music became more popular, it diversified into forms that increasingly incorporated elements of jazz, guitars, large orchestras, and assertive singing. In addition to palm wine (urban folk music), juju (folk dance music) and fuji (emphasizes lyrical content), highlife is enjoying increasing popularity. Prince Nico Mbarga made “Sweet Mother” the best-selling album in African history (15 million records sold and countless bootlegs).
King Sunny Ade
In the 70s, funk came onto the scene. Two of the biggest stars in Nigerian music, King Sunny Ade and Fela Kuti, have had a huge impact across the continent.Both are represented here: King Sunny with a relaxed band of 20 musicians and Fela with three different groups of 64, 71 and 76. It is difficult to sufficiently include Fela Kuti in a Nigerian retrospective of the 1970s (the title of the set is taken from the names). Fela’s Band.) Fela’s talent lies in his expressive lyrics, his free improvisational style and his unwavering rhythmic energy. He launches into the best song of the set, “Jeun Ko Ku” (Chop ‘n’ Quench), which requires more than just a pop shake. The producers also include many other well-known and lesser-known musicians. Blo, a band that rose from the ashes of Ginger Baker’s Salt, occupies a niche heavily inspired by American psychedelic rock (no surprise there). Bongos Ikwue embodies the spirit of American blues and takes this approach to the extreme on “Woman Made The Devil” (suffice to say the title encapsulates his simple and uncompromising outlook). In “Alo Mi Alo,” Orlando Julius builds a singing voice based on upbeat rhythms punctuated by instrumental solos and supported by a powerful drum pad.
Ofo The Black Company reaches the interface between psych-rock and funk in their anthem “Allah Wakbarr”. Gasper Lawal hits the mark with his big band disco/funk number “Kita Kita”. In addition to the two music CDs, Nigeria 70 also includes a third CD with a five-part documentary. If you want to understand how all the influences of Nigerian funk came together, this album has the material you need. Rather than adopting a stance of didactic intellectualism, he interweaves historical information with a variety of musical examples and testimonies.The internal notes (16 dense pages) also contain a lot of background information as well as detailed information about each artist. The Nigeria 70 3-CD set is a model of how compilations should be put together. A must-read for anyone interested in the interface between funk and West African music. Unfortunately, the American distributors have withdrawn from this British production, which is only available abroad (including).from Amazon UK). Hopefully the higher powers will reconsider this unfortunate decision. This music deserves a wide audience.
