On October 1st this year Nigeria will celebrate 50 years since gaining independence from the United Kingdom. It therefore seems fitting that this year of celebration also sees Soundway Records wrap up their superb Nigeria Special series with two new releases. Taken as a whole the series, though only representing a snapshot of those 50 years, gathers some of the most creative, diverse and until now, largely neglected music from anywhere in the world at that time.

The first of the new releases, Nigeria Afrobeat Special: The New Explosive Sound In 1970’s Nigeria focuses on the nation’s most famous musical export – Afrobeat, and appropriately kicks off with the genres most famous exponent, Fela Kuti. Reissued for the first time, the original 45 recording of ‘Who’re You’ is a rougher, funkier take on the later version which was recorded at London’s Abbey Road studio for the Fela’s London Scene album.

All the remaining tracks bar one are also being reissued for the first time outside Nigeria. Familiar names such as Orlando Julius, Bongos Ikwue and Segun Bucknor appear alongside newly unearthed acts from Nigeria’s seemingly endless stable of Afrobeat talent. The musical flavour is the same throughout though – a raw, gritty brew of highlife, Yoruba, jazz and funk. It’s the funk element that is the overriding feature, each track seeped in the sweat of bands giving everything they’ve got to stay locked in the groove.

Soundway’s other new release, Nigeria Special: Volume 2, Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds And Nigerian Blues, 1970-76 continues where Volume 1 left off with tracks covering a range of styles and influences that would gradually be distilled into the more specific afro, rock and dance genres that have been compiled in the other volumes of the Nigeria Special series. Up-tempo highlife numbers sit comfortably alongside Juju and slower native blues, this period of the country’s musical development being a time of feverish creativity that unsurprisingly resulted in altogether new sounds as artists began to add modern Western influences to their traditional native musical lineage.

The Nigeria Special series is testament to Soundway boss Miles Cleret’s 10 year labour of love to bring this music the wider attention it so greatly deserves. The fact this is only a fraction of the music produced in Nigeria at this time is even greater testament to the abundance of talent and inventiveness that burst forth from that one nation.

Nigeria Afrobeat Special is released on February 22nd and Nigeria Special: Volume 2 is released on March 8th. Both are available to buy from the Soundway online shop.

Below is a rare radio interview with Fela Kuti recorded in London, 1970. The track featured in the original interview is ‘Who’re You’ and that is featured on the Nigeria Afrobeat compilation.

Local radio has evolved, and proof of the pudding is in London Fields Radio. Located in the window of a independent coffee shop behind Hackney Empire in East London, LFR is a local station with global appeal, catering for the creative community of the area. If NY can have East Village Radio, it’s only right that London should have LFR.

Here’s a selection of recent shows, including the latest installment of WE ARE… from Mr. Paul Camo?

We Are… Podcast 1

Graphic designer, record collector and all round musical vagabond Paul Camo? delves into his caboodle of music to join the audio dots of time, place and genre.

Click Here to Download

Tune in at www.londonfieldsradio.com
Or visit them at 63 Wilton Way, London E8 1BG

Analog Africa releases the second volume of Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou’s inimitable voodoo-funk. Whereas volume one, “The Vodoun Effect”, gathered the bands rough and raw ‘secret’ recordings from a number of Benin’s obscure labels, “Echos Hynotiques” comprises the recordings for their supposedly exclusive contract with the Albarika Store label.

These tracks were recorded to the highest standards in EMI’s Lagos studios and the level of the sound heard here fully befits the supreme musicianship of the band. What is lost in the grit and sweat of the first volume’s recordings is made up for by hearing a band so on it, recorded with such clarity.

The groups mix of traditional Sato and Sakpata Vodun rhythms combine with funk, Afrobeat and Latin rhythms as well as psychedelic guitars and keyboards to astonishing effect. It’s no surprise they were chosen as backing band for the likes of Manu Dibango, Ernesto Djedje and Bella Bellow when they toured Benin.

The two volumes released so far offer us just 29 of the 500 tracks Analog Africa owner Samy Ben Redjeb has unearthed on his four year excavation of the bands recorded legacy. Let’s just hope that further volumes of Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou’s outstanding music will follow.

RELEASED: October 26th

Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou make their debut UK live appearance at the Barbican on Sunday 27th September. For more info and to book tickets go to the Barbican Website.

Analog Africa blog

‘Secret Agent’ is drummer Tony Allen’s first solo album since 2006’s ‘Lagos No Shaking’. In the 3 year interim he provided the beats for ‘The Good, The Bad and The Queen’ – what could be called a supergroup, featuring Damon Albarn and Paul Simonon. Whilst Allen’s beats provided a suitable underpinning for Albarn’s musings on London life for that project, it’s when playing straight-up Afrobeat that the drum maestro is at his best. On ‘Secret Agent’, his first album for the label World Circuit, he does just that.

In the 40 odd years since Allen and Fela Kuti birthed the Afrobeat sound there has been little need to change the formula and this album is not short of funky horns, recurring guitar licks and call and response vocals. It’s not just Afrobeat-by-numbers though, the inclusion of accordion on a couple of tracks works remarkably well and it’s not surprising to learn Allen’s excellent band hail from Cameroon, Martinique and France.

Perhaps most telling however is that there has been little need for change in the lyrical sentiment since Fela’s searing indictments of social and political wrongdoings in 1970’s Nigeria. ‘Pariwo’ (“shout, protest, make some noise”) criticises government oppression and ‘Elewon Po’ (“too many prisoners”) targets the (in)justice system. ‘Nina Lowo’ (“money is to be spent”) and ‘Atuwaba’ (“no matter if things are bad, they’ll get better”) are based on traditional proverbs and are written and sung by Orobiyi Adunni, one of several Nigerian vocalists on the album. Afrobeat has always been dance music though and ‘Ijo’ (“dance”) and ‘Alutere’ (“the message the drums transmit”) are straightforward party songs. That’s not to say the rest of the album won’t make you move however – this is music to dance to from start to finish.

If there’s one other thing that’s remained constant in the 40 years since he laid the blueprints with Fela, it’s that when it comes to Afrobeat, Tony Allen is the original and the best and ‘Secret Agent’ is certainly proof of this.

World Circuit are holding a competition to remix one of the tracks from ‘Secret Agent’. For more details go to: Tony Allen Remix Contest

You may not yet know his name, but you will almost certainly know his work. Lemi Ghariokwu has designed over 2000 record sleeves, 26 of which adorn some of Fela Kuti’s most famous albums. In a working relationship spanning more than 20 years Lemi created a visual identity not only for Fela but for Afrobeat as a whole. His sleeve designs are the perfect visual expression of the music they house, boldly criticising social and political injustices in Nigerian society. His talent enabled him to become the first Nigerian to make a career from record sleeve design.

This month the Rich Mix gallery in Shoreditch is hosting an exhibition of Lemi’s work. Titled ‘Arts Own Kind’, the exhibition focuses on Lemi’s designs for Fela, but also includes other sleeve designs as well as paintings and illustrations from Lemi’s vast portfolio of work. The exhibition was launched with an Afrobeat extravaganza featuring a DJ set by Rich Medina and a live performance by Dele Sosimi. The band played a mix of their own songs as well as being joined by Fela’s former drummer, the legendary Tony Allen for a selection of his own numbers.

A few days later I met Lemi on board ARC, a boat moored at Hale Wharf, Tottenham that has been converted into an art gallery where Lemi will be exhibiting again later this year.

Shook: So have you always been artistic, or when did you discover your talent?

Lemi Ghariokwu: I have been artistic from my childhood, I remember vividly about when I was 7 years old, I was down by the roadside in Agege, where I was born in Lagos. The roads were very bare and sandy so I was standing by the roadside watching the cars. There used to be these big cars called Chevrolet and they had some kind of melodies in the horns like (sings) “Pah, pah, pah – pah, pah, pah!” So I make a sketch of the car in the road, on the side. I was drawing the Chevrolet in the sand and the Chevrolet was passing by and it was about 6 inches close to me and I was shocked! People around started rebuking me, “Stupid boy, go and find a better past time!” So I’ve been conscious (of my ability) since then and in primary school I did a lot of drawings in class, that was the only kind of art class I took in my life. I remember when I was in secondary school for 2 years I needed to get something from the primary school. I went and as I got into that particular class the teacher saw me and he was happy to see me and he said to the other kids “that’s the kid that did that drawing” and he had a drawing I had done of the Benin mascot. So it was still hanging in that class 2 years after I left primary school. Those are the memories I have of my childhood about art, so I really discovered my talent then.

S: Did your parents encourage you with your artwork?

LG: My mum did, my mum really encouraged me. My dad was a bit, um, disturbed, he particularly wanted me to be a mechanical engineer and I took technical class you know in the hope to becoming an engineer but by the time I finished secondary school the time between your certificate arriving and getting into University or going to get a job, I kept on drawing and I’m still trying to fathom how I got the idea to start going to the television station. It was the only television station then, called NTS – National Television Service. It was just live shows no pre-recorded programmes, I would go and do live drawings of the presenters of programmes like Lagos Scene, Youth Scene, programmes like that. So before I left home I would tell my neighbours to watch me and when I came back I would ask them “Did I do well?!” You know, I never got to see myself! So I became a little bit popular, you know you watch the programme and you see this small boy, artist, coming and do drawings.

S: How old were you then?

LG: I was 17, maybe 18.

S: So how did you get into sleeve design?

LG: I had met a guy who was playing a kind of afro rock, he had a hit with a song called ‘Let’s Try’. So I met him at the television studio, he came to perform and brought his guitar. So I was very happy to meet him and I think he was very happy to meet me so we became good friends and it was actually his album sleeve that was my first album sleeve ever published, I designed his album sleeve. The name of his band was World Affairs and the album was called ‘Let’s Try’. So that was the first album I designed, but I didn’t pay it any mind, I think that was early ’74 when I did that.

S: How did you end up designing sleeves for Fela?

LG: Well later in 1974, two things happened that decided my professional career. The first one was the release of the Bruce Lee film ‘Enter The Dragon’, which was a huge blockbuster. In those days I used to do portraits for people in my neighbourhood, there was a little bar next door to my parents place and the owner called me and said that he wanted me to do a painting of Bruce Lee’s poster for him. So I did that, so he hung it in his drink place. The second thing was Fela released this album called ‘Roforofo Fight’ so I got a copy, I was looking at the record sleeve and I wanted to do a drawing of this as practice. I wanted to illustrate the title, ‘Roforofo’ in Yoruba means ‘mud’ so ‘Roforofo Fight’ means ‘Mud Fight’, so I then drew Fela dancing on mud, not fighting but dancing. Then I put in the graphics, so it was like I did a version of my own cover of ‘Roforofo Fight’. Now there was this journalist called Babatunde Harrison who was working for Sunday Punch in Lagos and he was a regular at that pub. He went to drink and he saw the Bruce Lee poster, so he asked “who did that?” and they said it’s the small boy next door. The journalist said he wanted to see me because he thought the work was really very good. So he came to see me and I showed him my portfolio, he saw the Fela cover so then he said “Ah! Can you do covers?” so I said, err – you know I wasn’t really sure myself! So he said actually 2 days ago he and Fela were discussing the possibility of getting sleeves illustrated, because his music was getting, you know conscious. So when he said that I didn’t believe him, I thought he was drunk! So he said he would bring a Fela photograph for me to do a portrait. The next day he brought the photograph, so I said to myself, ok this man is serious. So I did the Fela portrait in 24 hours, the third day he was coming to drink and I was already waiting for him! My mum had given me 5 Naira to frame it, so I showed him and he said “Ah, I’m not going to drink anymore. Let’s go!” So I said to my mum he wants to take me to Fela’s compound, and that why I always remember my mum supported me throughout, she wasn’t reluctant to let me go, she said ok I should go with him. So when we got to Fela’s place and he saw the portrait he really loved it and he used two words that I’d never heard before until that day and I will never forget them, he said, “Wow! Goddamn!” So he actually offered me money, in those days I used to earn 30 Naira for my portraits, he didn’t know this and he wrote out a cheque for 120 Naira! But I gave it back to him and said no Fela, I give it to you from the bottom of my heart, I don’t want any money. He was really surprised, and so he tore out a sheet of paper and he wrote out a gate pass, he wrote ‘Please admit bearer. Free of charge.’ So that was my pass to Kalakuta (Fela’s compound). A couple of weeks later, Fela’s house was attacked by the police it was headline news on the radio, television everywhere. So I was naturally eager to find out how he was, the journalist came (to the bar) and I said to him how is Fela? Is he ok? He said he is ok, he is in the hospital so he took me to the hospital. When we got there, the room where Fela was had maybe 20 or 30 people and he was talking, so we inched our way closer to the bed so he could see us and then Fela said “the artist!” and those words ‘the artist’ I felt it deep in my spirit. Then he started talking about a song he was going to write to lampoon the police called ‘Alagbon Close’ so that was the first sleeve I designed for him in November 1974.

S: Did Fela have any input into the designs?

LG: His own input was basically the music. My relationship really developed positively with Fela, I was in a privilege position to do those sleeves the way I did. He treated me like a son, like one of his closest friends, though the youngest I was like a confidant and also a comrade in arms because I had in fact my own Pan African ideological thinking before I met Fela, so meeting him helped to ignite it in me. So he actually gave me total freedom (to do the sleeves) and I think these days it would be really hard to find someone to give one that kind of freedom and leeway.

S: So would you be listening to the music while you were designing the sleeves?

LG: Yes I was privileged in some instances to witness the birth of some of the songs, the nucleus of the particular tune and I there and then overstood the message and the concept he was trying to put across in the tune. So I then would translate that message from my own perspective so it takes it onto a broader level, so my art played the role of a supplementary thing. It could stand on its own just the like the music could stand on its own. So that’s why I played that branding role so effectively. It is now that I understand I had to brand him as a revolutionary, as a hero.

S: It was very brave of you to make those political and social statements with your artwork in Nigeria at that time. Did you ever get into any trouble with the police or the authorities?

LG: No, every time it happened I wasn’t around, I would just come later and see the whole thing or hear the whole story. But I remember I did a cartoon, we had this newsletter called YAP News, YAP is an acronym for Young African Pioneers, it was a political movement to ideologise the youth in Nigeria. We had published a newsletter criticising the way soldiers on the road were using horse whips. Any driver could be horse whipped, they would drag him onto the road and whip him. We photographed a soldier horse whipping a driver in the road and put it on the front page, then I added a cartoon showing a soldier horse whipping an old man and I signed my name. But there was no editor’s name or anything except my own. So the military government had their monthly meeting and they presented the newsletter as evidence because the head of police was complaining about Fela’s excessiveness so they used it as evidence and noted my name. And one top brass in the police was a kinsman of mine and he was in the meeting so he covered up for me, he said he’s just a small boy, Fela’s using his name but it’s him doing these things. So he sent word to my mum and he warned me that I should be very careful, so I went a little on that on that ground from then! So that was the closest thing.

S: Your more recent work that I have seen is still very much making social and political comments. Have things changed much in Nigeria since the work you were doing for Fela?

LG: In life they say the more things change the more things remain the same! There have been changes in Nigeria but the changes remain the same and deteriorated worse than in the 70s I call my children in Lagos and sometimes their phone is not working. When Fela was singing and shouting even then the electricity was more constant. So now everything that Fela has talked about is just replaying itself in 3D slow motion! And now there is too much religiosity everyone is going to church and to the mosque and they are not sincere corruption is stinking to the high heavens! The people who are stealing the money are going to church and to the mosque and they get blessed its hypocritical!

S: I know you are a big reggae fan, do you feel reggae relates to the themes of Afrobeat?

LG: I love reggae music a lot because I see it is as exactly what Fela tried to do with Afrobeat. The unfortunate thing about our own profession is we don’t have enough people, enough soldiers on the Afrobeat thing and that’s a big shame because of the effect of colonialism on the African man. Reggae music is Pan African and very spiritual, I love it that a group of people can come up so strong, everywhere reggae is a recognised genre of music and Jamaican patois people can relate to it and identify with it. There is power in commitment to a cause and that is why I love reggae music.

S: Where are you going next with your career?

LG: Right now I am very eager to solidify my foundation my legacy and more than ever I am more committed now because I am very conscious of the role art can play in society, so I want to play that role effectively with my art so I will be constantly relevant. So I have just come up with new work I have done 10 pieces of artwork on plastic using modern technology I print on plastic on and then hand cut some portions of the plastic, it is something I just came up with this year and I have an exhibition in Lagos in July. I want to call my work Afro Folk Art and brand myself to relevant to the new generation of kids in Nigeria and elsewhere. I am also ready to tour the world with my legacy you know my album covers and my art anywhere in the world I am invited, I love to go and share my experience of life.

S: And finally you have designed over 2000 record sleeves is it possible to choose a favourite from those and what would it be?

LG: That’s a tough question and I have a tough answer. It’s not just one, I love ‘Yellow Fever’, ‘Beasts of No Nation’, ‘Monkey Banana’, ‘Zombie’, then ‘Another System’ – that’s an album cover I did for somebody and that one has been acquired by the Museum of Modern Arts in New York. So I have many favourites, they all mean something to me.

Art’s Own Kind – Afrobeat and the Art of Lemi Ghariokwu is showing at Rich Mix from Mon 8 June – Mon 6 July.

Rich Mix website

photo: Evgeniy K

Sun Ra once said “space is the place” and it was as if beamed direct from Saturn that Jimi Tenor took to the Cargo stage with the Kabu Kabu afrobeat band as part of the Pulse Festival’s celebration of European music. Shrouded in a silver glittering cape Sun Ra himself would have been proud of, over a fantastic suit that can only be described as looking like it was tailor-made from his grandmother’s curtains Tenor blew his sax hard as Kabu Kabu laid the groove on opener ‘Aligned Planets’.

And the planets seemed to do just that as the band locked into a sound equal parts Lagos and celestial, Tenor alternating between saxophone, keyboard, flute and an instrument of his own making, the Photophone – a light sensitive synth made from a piece of specially exposed black and white film attached to a rotating fan and controlled by a photocell that slots into a custom made ring worn by Tenor. This was utilised to great effect midway through the set during a musical duel between Tenor on the Photophone and percussionist Akinola Famson who matched each phrase produced by the Photophone on his Talking Drum.

photo: Evgeniy K

Other highlights from the set comprised mainly of songs from the recent album 4th Dimension included the Moomin inspired ‘Global Party’ which culminated in an insane ear melting keyboard solo. Tenor, with the instrument strapped on Keytar style, working the pitch bend much to the audiences appreciation. ‘Floating Orange’ put Kabu Kabu’s talents to the fore, drummer Ekow Alabi-Savage showing why he has previously played with the likes of Fela and Manu Dibango. The night wound down with the woozy ‘Beyond The Stars’, which is presumably where Tenor and the band were then beamed to work on more cosmic afro funk jams.

Before taking intergalactic flight, Jimi took the time to answer a few questions:

Shook: So did you enjoy the gig tonight?

Jimi Tenor: Yes it was great, but we had massive problems coming into the country, you know with visas, now the immigration laws in the UK have changed, but we managed to pull some strings with the Embassy so we made it!

S: Well I’m glad you did, it was a great gig! Your latest album with Kabu Kabu ‘4th Dimension’ was recorded mainly live without many overdubs, so it must be fun to play live?

JT: Yes not so many, normally we would do the vocals separately because it’s kind of hard to do them at the same time, but yes we play without headphones, you know just like an open studio, kinda old shool. It’s easier to play really, maybe you know it’s not so hi-fi but for artistic reasons that can be better.

S: What would you say your main influences are in the sound of the album? The most obvious ones to me are Fela and Sun Ra.

JT: Yeah Sun Ra obviously and also you know just whatever records that, ok Fela is very well recorded but some of the stuff like Sun Ra stuff is sometimes well recorded but sometimes quite brutally recorded, you know like just one stereo mic. We did a couple of tracks on the album that I recorded with a ghetto blaster, I think the guys they didn’t even know I was recording and they just played, so this was good! And The next day we went to the house and I transferred the stuff to the computer and they said “hey what’s this?” and I’m like it’s what we did yesterday and they said “Oh right, right!” and it sounds like a field recording or something like that.

S: I hadn’t realised until you said tonight that the Moomins had been an influence for one of the tracks! Do they still show the cartoon in Finland?

JT: Yeah, yeah sometimes, but the influence comes from the original comic books which are much more out there and kinda like hardcore. The cartoon is Japanese-ised or whatever, you know it has bright colours. The original they take these things LBJ, you know like LSD or something! I don’t know if it’s Lyndon B Johnson or whatever I don’t know?! So they take LBJ and they drink whiskey and blah blah so you know it’s quite different.

S: And what are your plans to do next? Will you be recording with Kabu Kabu again? I know you like to move on and try different things

JT: Yeah, we’ve done an album with Tony Allen.

S: Oh yes, as part of the Information Inspiration series on Strut?

JT: Yeah that’s it.

S: How did that go? How was it recording with Tony?

JT: Yeah it was fun, Tony’s a very easy going guy so I had some demos that I played him and then we had like lots of percussion there in the studio, so when he felt like coming, well when we had the basis ready then he came and we cut it, usually in one take you know!

S: And was that with the guys from the band tonight?

JT: Yes and also one additional guy who plays this funny percussion so it’s very deep. You know a bit like tabla but he plays it with a different technique.

S: I look forward to hearing that! And what about the instrument you were playing tonight with the fan and the light? Is that one of your inventions?

JT: Yeah the Photophone.

S: How did you come up with that?

JT: Originally we wanted to make like a little keyboard for DJ’s, like in the same way as you have an organ we drilled holes in this metal disc and then we had pickups to pick up the magnetic flow kinda like, but it was too tricky to adjust the distance from the metal to the Fender Rhodes pickup so we thought maybe it’s better to do it with a light, because that time I was working with film and optical sounds. The optical sounds seemed to be easier to deal with, so that’s what we did.

S: I thought the battle between the Photophone and the Talking Drum was an honourable draw!

JT: (laughing) Today yes, but you never know!