Afro

We are pleased to welcome you once more aboard Africa Airways. For your third flight your pilot has informed us of some particularly adverse turbulence en-route. Your trip may be multi-coloured, the winds may be swirling and the clouds may be kaleidoscopic. Ladies and Gentlemen, please fasten your seat belts for your mind-expanding journey through the Afro-Psych skies. Opening up proceedings are Afro National from Sierra Leone. Their progressive psyche-highlife foot-stomper setting down a marker for things to come. Next it is Ifang Bondi who serves up a swirling concoction of powering afro rhythms, fuzz guitar, magic flute, fuzz organ, all underpinned with a driving powerful driving bass line. Next stop is Mali where Sory Bamba serves up the highlight from his 1979 album "Kanaga 78". An early use of psychedelic synthesizer paired cleverly with pulsating bass guitar and harsh choppy guitar. We step forward in time a few years for the distorted guitar chords and over-stacked beats of "Nzango" by African Black. Bunzu Soundz from Ghana close side A with their choppy, percussive, "Zinabu". Messi Jacques & Les Dissoumbas De Libreville open up side B with "Onga Ben Ma Na Mene Mebua", prepare for an onslaught of psych organ, crazed drumming and eeechho vocals to the max. Decca West Africa, Nigerian favorites Ofo and The Black Company grind out the psych factor next with their conga driven fuzz fest "Allah Wakbarr". The Damas Swing Orchestra slow proceedings down with their afro left-field swing micro epic "Odylife". We take a brief detour via Indonesia for the AKA and their dance floor mover "Shake Me". It's a track of two halves. Psychedelic throughout but in the second half things swing fast and funky. We close down with the master Manu Dibango. Proving he can turn his hand to just about any genre of music, the Cameroonian legend delivers his pensive, xylo-driven, riff locked, soundtrack epic "Ceddo" to close out our journey. Welcome to your destination. We hope you enjoyed your trip.

Hot Casa Records present Togo Soul 70: Selected Rare Togolese Recordings from 1971 to 1981 .A treasure-trove of rare and unusual recordings mostly recorded in Lomé during the 70’s , a fusion of traditional voodoo chants , raw soul and Afro jazz. Finding these tracks and their rights holders hasn’t become any easier even after few trips all over this west African country bordered by Ghana , Benin & Burkina Faso.We , at Hot Casa Records decided to select thirteen tracks, a snapshot of some hundreds of rare and often forgotten tapes from the most prolific, professional and exciting phase of the country’s recording history included international stars like Bella Bellow ( who even performed to Maracana stadium in Brazil ) to Roger Damawuzan compared as the James Brown from Lomé to forgotten tapes and brilliant songs in Mina, Kabyié and Fon language. Many of the tracks featured here are peppered with innovation and experimentation highlighting how diverse the music scene in Togo was at the time even if the political context influenced their creation.A must have for all music lovers and soundtrack of the documentary Togo Soul 70 directed by Liz Gomis & Dj Julien Lebrun!– Gatefold Vinyl double LP with Two inner sleeves, photos , and biography– Deluxe Cd Digipack with 32 pages linner notes, photos , portraits .

Reissue of the original ethiopian vinyl album / Réedition du vinyle originale éthiopienAfter releasing around fifty 45 rpm singles and his first 33 rpm album (Ethiopian Modern Instrumental Hits AELP 10, re-released by Heavenly Sweetness HL092VL), Amha Esthèté set about compiling his best 45s on a series of now legendary albums (the originals are impossible to find) in 1972.An audacious, funky outlaw, a music lover and an entrepreneur in tune with the baby-boomer generation, young Amha Esthèté (he was only twenty-four when he launched his label) will be remembered as the instigator of a peaceful revolution thick with soul and rock’n’roll.The tracks on this first volume celebrate pioneers of modern Ethiopian groove such as Girma Bèyènè, Seyfu Yohannes, Tèshomè Meteku, Menelik Wèsnatchèw, Mulatu Astatq and Muluken Melesse, alongside tradi-modern singers representing Amhara (Essatu Tèssèmma) and Oromo culture, so rich and so long marginalised (Abbèbè Tèssèmma and Gèmètchu Itana).

Soul Jazz Records' new Nigeria Soul Fever is their first release to explore the vast wealth of Nigerian music recorded in the 1970s. The new album comes with introductory sleeve-notes by Bill Brewster (author of Last Night A DJ Saved My Life).Packed-full with Afro-Funk, Disco and Boogie all from Nigeria, this triple album/double CD set brings together a stunning collection of diverse West African sounds. Whilst a small handful of the artists featured (Joni Haastrup, Tee Mac, Christy Essien) have seen the light of day outside Africa, this is essentially a collection of killer tracks by an array of artists completely unknown outside of Nigeria. Artists such as Don Bruce & The Angels, Akin Richards & The Executives, Angela Starr, Jimmy Sherry & The Music Agents. It's no surprise that these records are extremely rare and expensive to buy individually so this album will save you going broke trying to find them.These recordings were made at a time when Nigeria’s trade restrictions banned imported records. Whilst new musical trends (such as American soul, funk, disco etc) entered and influenced the country, the local music scene remained just that - local. Consequently, these recordings remain practically unknown to anyone outside of the country.This album follows on from Soul Jazz Records' 1960s collection Nigeria Freedom Sounds, released last month, and will be followed by the reissue of the incredibly rare and groovy Nigerian 1980 disco boogie funk album Tee Mac's Night Illusion. Triple-album vinyl + download.

Soul Jazz Records are releasing Tee Mac's 'Night Illusion', a lost classic Nigerian Afro soul meets disco boogie funk album originally released in Nigeria in 1980 as a private-press release of 1000 copies on the enigmatic artists' own label. Impossibly hard to find, the record remains practically unknown outside of Nigeria.Tee Mac Omatshola Iseli is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger and features on Soul Jazz Records' recent collection Nigeria Soul Fever - Afro Funk Disco and Boogie alongside Joni Haastrup, Christy Essien and others, as well as on a recent compilation 'Nepa Oh Nepa' (released on Hot Casa earlier this year). The timelessness of this soulful, ground-breaking funk jazz lost masterpiece 'Night Illusion' leads to comparisons with James Mason's legendary lost classic album Rhythm of Life, with his unique individualism and intensity hinting at the boogie funk of groups such as Mass Production and Slave so loved by artists such as Moodyman and Theo Parrish. While Fela Kuti is now a cultural icon of Nigerian music throughout the world, the recent crossover success of William Onyeabor shows just how much undiscovered Nigerian music remains waiting to be explored outside of the country.Tee Mac was born in Lagos, the son of a Nigerian princess and a Swiss diplomat. He picked up the flute at age 7 and ten years later was studying classical musical in Switzerland under his uncle the composer J.J. Direndirger. Returning to Lagos, Nigeria in 1970 he formed the heavyweight afro rock group Tee Mac and Afro Collection (which included Johnny Haastrup on keyboards and The Lijadu Sisters on vocals). This band was famously joined by the legendary Cream drummer Ginger Baker who came to Nigeria to play with them in 1971 (captured in the film Ginger Baker in Africa).At age 24, Tee Mac moved to Germany where he co-wrote and recorded the European disco group Silver Convention (whose 'Fly Robin Fly' became number one in the USA charts). This enabled him to return to Nigeria where he formed his own label SKJ Records to release his self-financed album Night Illusion, as well as buying two nightclubs and also investing in a number of mineral mining companies!Tee Mac continues to live in Lagos today and travels the world as a composer - one of whose pieces is The City of Mer Kailash (2009), a two-hour ballet featuring over 60 dancers and a 100+ piece orchestra.Strictly limited-edition 1000 copies worldwide exact-replica artwork reproduction LP (+ sleevenotes + free download).

Barcelona based Alma's 3rd hearkens back to the root of Afrobeat, extended, elegant arrangements, socially & politically charged lyrics, & irresistible grooves. B side f/ remixes from DJ Farmo, DJ Quiet, DJ Phader, Los Kalakos, & Ray Lugo.

Gatefold 180 gram vinyl 3xLP + 2xCDOriginal Ghanaian Highlife & Afrobeat Classics 1967-1981 ?Ghanaian highlife master and “The Golden Voice Of Africa”, Pat Thomas,returns with his first full career retrospective on Strut this Autumn, covering his late ‘60s big band highlife recordings through to the “burger highlife” movement of the early ‘80s. Growing up with music around him (“my uncle, King Onyina, was an important highlife musician”), Thomas was inspired to become a singer after hearing vocalist Joss Aikins: “He sang with Broadway Dance Band and Decca in Ghana chose him to sing with any group that came into their studios.” When a new incarnation of Broadway Dance Band was created in ‘67, led by Ebo Taylor, Thomas received his first big break. “Ebo started to write new songs. I added the lyrics and sang them and it worked well.” The partnership with Taylor would become one of the enduring forces in Ghanaian music during the ‘70s, creating a fresh, progressive new highlife sound. They played with the Blue Monks band before, in 1974, forming Sweet Beans with the backing of Ghana’s Cocoa Marketing Board: “The album, ‘False Lover’, was the first under my own name and my first for Gapophone,” Pat reflects. “Reggae was “on” at that time - Jimmy Cliff was the guy - so I tried reggae fusions and brought in some soul.” The album established Thomas across Ghana. Sweet Beans disbanded but the musicians stayed together as Marijata. “The guys initially used Jewel Ackah as their vocalist but they involved me and I re-vocalled the album. This became the ‘Pat Thomas Introduces Marijata’ LP. At that time, I would go to George Prah at Gapophone to ask for money and he would say, ‘if you want me to pay you, go and write a song!’ So, tracks like ‘Coming Home’ came about that way, written on the spot.” A second Marijata album followed before a damaging coup in Ghana in 1979. “Jerry Rawlings’ “house-cleaning” was designed to stop corruption but it seriously damaged our country’s music culture.” Thomas left for Berlin and stayed true to his highlife roots, becoming the first Ghanaian to record highlife there. “In Ghana, people ex-pats living in Germany called themselves ‘burgers’, so the scene became ‘burger highlife’.” Thomas travelled to Togo and London, before settling in Canada: “I ended up there for ten years playing for universities, Ghanaian societies and festivals.”Pat is now back with Kwashibu Area Band and touring worldwide: “Today, highlife has become the world’s music and I am proud to still bring it to so many people.” ‘Coming Home’ is released on 2CD, 3LP and digital and features exclusive photos and a full interview with Pat Thomas.First ever career retrospective of key Ghanaian highlife figureCovers ‘60s highlife to heavy ‘70s Afrobeat and later highlife disco periodfull official release, produced in conjunction with Pat Thomas. Many tracks released internationally for the first timeincludes two previously unreleased tracks: ‘No Money, No Love’ and ‘Sack The Devils’ recorded with Ebo Taylortouring around album globally with Kwashibu Area Band during 2016-7