Nigeria Special / Nigeria Disco Funk Special

i gave a quick listen with rather postive vibes, but nothing stuck too hard. will listen again and report

^^^ This. I like the Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds volume a lot, but so far no particular song is sticking in my head (a lot of "world music" is that way for me, until I get some quiet time to really absorb it).

I recently downloaded the disc (legally!), but the website has some interesting information and sounds, too.

saw this pop up on emusic. will probably get because i'm a sucker for this stuff

That's where I got it. I'm hoping for the new volumes to appear there, too, but so far nothing.

Heard the first two-disc one a few months back -- wonderful stuff. Just got the newest the other day but thoughts will have to wait on that.

i definitely want both of these ... is there crossover on either of these with the Nigeria 70 compilation?
anyway, the two Ghana Soundz comps on Soundway are stellar, just wall to wall amazing stuff. Anyone heard the Afro Baby comp of theirs? I keep picking it up in the record shop and then not buying it. this stuff isn't exactly bargain-priced, but it is worth it.

This was discussed a bit earlier on other threads, but I guess another one is fine

Tell me stuff about highlife music

Rolling Sublime Whirled Music 2008 (a catch-all thread when you can't find another one that works)

These are great comps, and aren't there 3 volumes out now??

Those covers make me H-O-T

i have the first one in my car right now ("nigeria special") and it hasn't really made a HUGE impression on me.

on a related note i am really really digging soundway's colombia! comp which is a little less ... uh ... familiar than the africa comp.

as far as african disco stuff goes the strut label sort of had the edge, hoping that now that they're back in business they might reprint some of the old catalog

Again, off-topic a bit, but your mentioning Strut reminds me that they've just released an interesting sounding comp: Funky Nassau -- The Compass Point Story. They're so many good reissue labels around these days that it's hard to keep up (tho, for me, The Numero Group is the best of the lot).

That Funky Nassau comp looks (is) awesome, but not sure it's worth getting cuz a lot I already have.

Coincidentally, Strut and Soundway (and Soul Jazz and Jazzman Records, for that matter) are labels that have one or two titles available on eMusic, but it's pretty clear that there's no guarantee that any more are forthcoming (or, if they are, it may be piecemeal and scattershot). V. frustrating, 'cause I want almost all the titles I see from these labels.

fuck a on-topic discussion

i don't like numero group at all! there's a serious vibe of soulstrut forum nerdishness hanging over that label.

LOL. Have you heard The Numero Group's Deep City Label comp? There's a vocal group on it called The Moovers that -- to me -- are special (see, especially, the song Someone To Fulfill My Needs).

I've never picked up any of the label's comps actually. Too much stuff, too little time, plus most of it feels less than essential (as I buys a few dozen more dub albums haha) plus the design aesthetic is so austere. Doesn't exactly leap out and make me want to grab it (esp. since they aren't exactly cheap either.)

Matos's review:

http://www.emusic.com/album/Various-Artists-Nigeria-Special-Modern-Highlife-Afro-sounds-amp-MP3-Download/11178061.html

numero group is great

(esp. since they aren't exactly cheap either.)

True. I'm a Numero Group annual subscriber, but I don't think that reduces the cost much, if at all. Mostly it means I won't forget to buy the label's titles as they're released/convenience of having them delivered upon release.

soundway's panama comp is great

Matos's review:

http://www.emusic.com/album/Various-Artists-Nigeria-Special-Modern-Highlife-Afro-sounds-amp-MP3-Download/11178061.html

-- The guy who just votes in polls, Thursday, April 10, 2008 7:50 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

am i missing the link to the review or is it really just one sentence?

click the "more" button

"juicy" raves matos

There's a single-disc sequel to the awesome (and out-of-print) 3-disc Nigeria 70 comp on the way; it's called Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump - Original Heavyweight Afrobeat, Highlife & Afro-Funk. It's on Strut/K7; street date appears to be May 12 in UK/Europe - don't know about the US.

i love The Funkees track on Nigeria Special ; also let's not forget the awesome Ghana Soundz comps.

nigeria special track 1 disc 1 is KILLER

sorry this is going to sound like something i said on another thread but overall it's just not "exotic" enough for me - more highlife afro sounds, less generic funk please

i don't like numero group at all! there's a serious vibe of soulstrut forum nerdishness hanging over that label.

What does this even mean? You don't like the label because they're too in depth? Are the Numero guys pompous snobs? Their shit seems really honest to me, sort of just "hey, this is what happened along the way" -ish.

Your statement seems like hate for the sake of hate, not knowledge on anything in particular.

I will agree that their stuff is expensive, but have you seen the Recording Tap LP set yet? Three LPs, two booklets, and the CD version all in box? Well worth the $30 I paid.

If Recording Tap is $30 retail, then that annual subscription I got does save me some money ($120 for 6 discs over the course of a year).

hey vg++ your reading comprehension is ex and your screen name is m

ok track 3 on NIGERIA DISCO FUNK SPECIAL is like ... akdhjg;adfhgjkadfhg;kajdfg

Favorites on Nigeria Disco Funk Special: The Sound Of The Underground Lagos Dancefloor 1974-9 (the red Soundway one): Asiko Rock Group, Johnny Haastrup, Jay-U Experience, S-Job Movement.

Favorites on Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump: Original Heavyweight Afrobeat Highlife & Afro-Funk (the Strut one): Ashanti Afrika Jah, Olufemi Ajasa & His New Nigerian Bros, Chief Checker, the Faces, the Immortals. (The latter reminds me of really gritty and wild '60s shout-vocal dance-soul music, with a guitar rhythm weirdly similar to "Let It All Hang Out" by the Hombres.)

Both comps are amazing, but I'm more consistently blown away by the obsessive beats and vocals on the Soundway one. (Haven't heard the blue Soundway one.)

is there crossover on either of these with the Nigeria 70 compilation?

No redundancies (artistwise or songwise) between the two comps I have, but again, I can't speak to the blue Soundway one.

Asiko Rock Group is the one i'm talking about. worthy of the usual cliches about miles davis meets funkadelic.

really really crazy drum production too. it's got these cymbals that come out of nowhere louder than anything else in the mix and disappear just as fast.

there are no overlaps between nigeria 70 and either nigeria special or nigeria disco-funk special

out of ~25 artists there are a few that show up on other comps: don isaac ezekial, the funkees (who can forget "dancing time"!! they need their own comp ...) and tunji oyelana & the benders ("ifa" also featured on "world psychedelic classics 3) ...

but all of the TRACKS are "exclusive", at least in terms of early 2000s afrobeat compilations ....

ps we all know about this, right? but when will the original be repressed? it's going for 112 euros on german amazon!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61A78XMcemL._SS500_.jpg

doubt it will ever be

Chuck, the blue Soundway one is the strongest of the three. highly recommended. Sir Victor Uwaifo & his Melody Maestros appear on both Nigeria 70 and Nigeria Special, but different tunes.

http://likembe.blogspot.com/

Check out April 18 blog posting

http://matsuli.blogspot.com/

April 22

There's now a third Soundway comp, Nigeria Rock Special. I got it in the mail on Monday. It's fantastic. Psychedelic, acid-rock funk grooves, not wildly different from the other volumes but maybe a few extra ultra-distorted guitar solos. Highly recommended.

Whoops; didn't click those blog links before posting.

I should have provided more explanation. Those blogs consistently do a nice job.

o man disco funk special ruling me right now.

It's about to rule me! (Brought it into work.)

seriosuly. both comps are great but the disco-funk one is ... MAN.

so many great comps so little time!
Afro Baby is my current fave of the bunch. anyone heard African Scream Contest?

I haven't heard ASC yet, but I'm hoping to get one in the mail.

Just heard African Scream--awesome. As all three Nigeria Soundways comps. And Nigeria 70. Wow. All I'm listening to lately. It may have been mentioned upthread but how are Green Arrows and Hallelujah Chicken Run Band recordsas good as these other titles?

The Green Arrows record is just okay, but the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band are great. Killer guitar leads and solos.

Anyway, Disco Funk Special is indeed very good, but I think I do like Special itself more. Both excellent, though.

My favorite is Nigeria Rock Special, but yeah, they all kick ass. And I just downloaded the 2004 comp Afro Baby: The Evolution Of The Afro-Sound In Nigeria 1970-79, which also looks pretty awesome.

The Green Arrows record is just okay, but the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band are great. Killer guitar leads and solos.

2nded

the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band are great. Killer guitar leads and solos.

Is this disc a good introduction to them?

Was for me. (that's the only one I've heard. Are there others? I thought they disbanded shortly after recording that, and Mapfumo went off to do his own thing.)

That's the only disc out there by the Hallelujah band, as far as I know. It's the one I have.

FYI: Strut's Nigeria 70 -- Lagos Jump turned up on eMusic today.

I wasn't that impressed with what I heard of Nigeria Special, but Lagos Jump sounds great.

I wasn't that impressed with what I heard of Nigeria Special

u mad, etc.

just picked up the nigeria disco funk special....WOW.

ps we all know about this, right? but when will the original be repressed? it's going for 112 euros on german amazon!

-- moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 15 April 2008 02:19 (1 month ago) Bookmark Link

Available on iTunes - £7.99

(thats Nigeria 70 - Lagos Jump)

nigeria disco funk special unfortunately doesn't seem to be on iTunes although vols 1 and 3 are. Volume 2 looks the best, i think (or most intersting for me)

the one in the itunes canada store is the new one with the different tracks.

this is the original:
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf000/f043/f04311ijwee.jpg

I see, I misread the original post. Just saw the cover vahid posted and recognised it.

i'm going to join in the chorus here and say that nigeria rock special *is* fantastic.

i'm least sold on the disco funk special. maybe because i feel like the territory's been more thoroughly treaded in the past?

once you hear one makossa you've sort of heard them all, i guess

nigeria disco funk special unfortunately doesn't seem to be on iTunes

FYI: Vol. 2 and 3 will appear on eMusic. Don't know when, tho.

R.I.P. Nigerian singer/guitarist Sonny Okosun

He's not on any of these comps (I don't think) but he is a Nigerian who added rock to his sound...

I bought the Disco Funk CD at Aquarius, among other things, as a host gift for a friend who let me stay at her condo in SF while she was out of the country. I hope she loves it cuz I really wanted to keep it, heh.

This stuff is always worth having, in my opinion, even when it doesn't make a particular impression right away. Hopefully s1sk won't let me down.

Slightly off topic: Can anyone recommend any good books about this stuff?

NIGERIA 70 reissued!!!

$13.99 at my local store ... comes out tomorrow. missing the 3rd disc with the interviews and inexplicably missing the koola lobitos "Ololufe Mi" track that started the original set ... perhaps we can look forward to a koola lobitos reissue? thought maybe from the same label that put out "lagos baby"?

http://www.strut-records.com/content/nigeria-70-vol-1

whoooooooooo !!!!

Totally want. I'm hoping it turns up on eMusic (at least some of Strut Records' titles are there).

Bought the Disco Funk CD solely because it was on one of the clerks' top 10 list at Strictly Discs here in Madison, and I liked the cover. Amazing. Had no idea there were other comps from the same label, will now buy.

the series website is pretty cool: http://nigeriaspecial.info/

Got Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Ghanaian Blues 1968-81, another two-disc set, in today's mail. So far, fewer berserk acid-funk rampages than on the earlier Ghana Soundz sets, but it's still plenty sweet.

Coming in February: Nigeria Special Vol. 2 and Nigeria Afrobeat Special. Got promos of both from Forced Exposure; they're as awesome as everything else Soundway's put out so far.

The supply of great re-issue material seems inexhaustable, at least to labels like Soundway, Soul Jazz and The Numero Group.

As much as I love this stuff, there's something weird to me about the fact that virtually no one in the US is following current Nigerian music. Also, are any of the musicians on these comps still active? Is there a Nigerian oldies circuit?

Sir Victor Uwaifo is still alive, though I don't know if he's still making music. If he toured the US I'd go see him in a heartbeat. Nigerians are likely to have difficulty entering the U.S. for awhile, though.

Is there a Nigerian equivalent to that Hiplife Ghanaian comp from 2008 that featured young Ghanaians rapping over music that sometimes drew from old-school Ghanaian highlife?

And I don't mean imitating old Afrobeat records.

As much as I love this stuff, there's something weird to me about the fact that virtually no one in the US is following current Nigerian music.

I've heard people make a similar point about jazz, i.e., that the reissue craze has killed enthusiasm for newer, forward-looking jazz. Not sure if it's true in either case, but it makes an interesting parallel (to me, at least).

I check in on Allaboutjazz.com, and sometimes other sites (well mainly jazzcorner), and it seems to me there is a large community that remains interested and excited about newer jazz. You might be right w/r/t generalist music hipsters rather than jazz fans, or Nigerian music fans, per se.

(Or indie rock/indie pop types who listen to other things on the side.)

I don't think reissues are keeping people from buying new jazz albums. I think the crappiness of so much new jazz is keeping people from buying it. The same couple of dozen titles make up every jazz critic's year-end list, because they're the only good ones in a sea of bland sludge or hyper-intellectual wankery. The jazz scene is small enough that there are no hidden treasures - everybody who's paying attention knows about everybody who's doing anything worthwhile.

Re modern Nigerian music, I've got no clue what's going on. And even when I was editing Global Rhythm, the only African artists whose new albums popped up on my radar were the ones with US distribution - Baaba Maal, Amadou & Miriam, Salif Keita, etc., etc. I went to Victor Uwaifo's website a couple of minutes ago and he's got newish albums (the most recent one is from 2006), and there's a link beside each one that says "If you are a label outside Africa who wants to license this album, contact Victor Uwaifo."

I don't really want to de-rail the thread arguing with unperson about jazz, especially given that he knows more about it than I do and I don't even like that much of it, including the old classic stuff, but--

the fan lists as seen on websites like AAJ include more than a couple dozen titles. Whether they are all sucky hyper-intellectual wankery I don't know. (Sorry, just sitting here fighting the beginning of a sinus infection and need something to do.)

I'm exaggerating, but there really isn't that much going on, and consensus picks emerge pretty easily with little or no argument. For example, I just got an email announcing the winners (not the whole list, just the #1 spots) for the Village Voice jazz critics' poll, and while I didn't vote for it because my tastes are a little free-er and noisier than the majority of my peers, I'm not at all surprised to see that Vijay Iyer's Historicity won.

i literally couldn't find a copy of the vijay iyer album online to review for my twitter project

i tried like six times

Why not buy it from I-tunes, or since you write for the Voice some contact his label and ask them send you a download. Jeez. You whined about about Bassakou Kouyate the same way and I gave you the publicist's website. Really, there's more ways to get music than just from bit torrent sites. You live in NYC.

generally when you ask a strange publicist (ie, one who doesn't service you usually) there's an expectation that you're gonna cover it beyond a tweet.

Generally, yes, but the Twitter reviews were your schtick, so it would have been easy to convince the publicist (particularly the publicist in question) to send you a copy.

I think more artists should have their publicist's contact info on their website. Even if it's a general contact email at a major label.

I'm still having a really hard time believing that Asiko album came out in 72.

n/m, '77. That makes more sense.

Both Haastrup and Ken Okulolo still teach and play music in Oakland, California

I see that the liners have some information on where some of these folks now are.

Generally, yes, but the Twitter reviews were your schtick, so it would have been easy to convince the publicist (particularly the publicist in question) to send you a copy.

I think more artists should have their publicist's contact info on their website. Even if it's a general contact email at a major label.

― neither good nor bad, just a kid like you (unperson), Monday, December 28, 2009 8:14 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha, not to derail this thread, but i've def had some awwwwwkward convos with smaller publicists this year about why exactly i need their record.

Got Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Ghanaian Blues 1968-81, another two-disc set, in today's mail. So far, fewer berserk acid-funk rampages than on the earlier Ghana Soundz sets, but it's still plenty sweet.

― neither good nor bad, just a kid like you (unperson), Monday, September 21, 2009 7:30 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah i just got this too! good stuff!

I love this stuff so much.

"I love this stuff so much" so much, so much.

There are two new comps out. Anyone heard them?

v/a: Nigeria Special volume 2: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-6

v/a: Nigeria Afrobeat Special: The New Explosive Sound in 1970s Nigeria

Both great.

Yeah, I reviewed both of those for The Wire, and they kick ass.

Are there any modern Nigeria compilations out there, apart from the Lagos Stori Plenti one from a couple of years ago? Everything out there seems to focus on the 1970s afrobeat heyday but a lot of the modern stuff I've heard has been tremendous.

Soundway strikes again - The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia in 1970s Nigeria, another 2CD set, will be out July 20 in the US. It's awesome. And btw, there's an excellent article on the dudes who run Soundway and Analog Africa in the new issue of Jazziz.

so anxious to download this (as soon as my brutal PC problems are finally resolved).

yeah i raved a little about the world ends comp on the african psych thread. its really good.

In case you don't know, Nigeria won this year's Pop World Cup!

http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2010/06/pop-world-cup-2010-the-final/

(podcast of the whole thing here - http://freakytrigger.co.uk/popworldcup-podcast/ )

Thank you Mr Hand - I think this is the link with all the tracks in one place, though.

thanks!

Being completely ignorant of the earlier soundwave comps, hearing The World Ends in Rough Trade today was the first time I've been stopped in my tracks by a record in ages. It's absolutely fantastic!

Is digging for certain types of old African music on vinyl throughout the continent, neo-colonialist?

http://africasacountry.com/2010/09/14/collection-cultures/

The reissue train has been slow to recognize larger genres in Africa like Soukous, Highlife, or Benga, unless they find an artist that has an added funk or rock influence. In the past the tendency was to look for “authentic” music that sounded more “traditional.” Are they now shying away from things that sound too … African?

stop bumping old topics, god

It's an interesting topic. I don't know if I entirely buy that -- I mean yes there's this trend of trying to find things that fit the "funk" "psych" or "rock" labels on the one hand, but on the other hand, you have blogs like Awesome Tapes from Africa, labels like Sublime Frequencies, etc.

I mean I thought the old idea of looking for "authenticity" in African music was seen as sort of quasi-colonialist too, although maybe the new trends are just new forms of the same sort of condescension. Ultimately I can't, as an American listener, listen to soukous with Congolese ears, afrobeat with Nigerian ears, etc. I love those genres but there's always going to be an element of "Wow, this is awesome because it sounds so strange and familiar at the same time." And that means I'm inevitably exoticising the music a bit whereas a Congolese person might hear a big soukous hit the way I hear a Prince single, as just a good, familiar song that gets played at parties.

The subject of anthology/compilation as revisionist history is sort of a great one in itself. Harry Smith certainly was guilty of a certain kind of distortion with his anthology, taking a bunch of novelty records and songs of varying degrees of localness/commercialness and shaping them into some supposed "old weird america". I think there's a little of that with the Nigeria Special type comps -- look how funny and weird these guys seem with their pidgin english and outlandish disco outfits playing music that sounds like the bizarro version of our own. But I'm sure the rock and funk and rumba and disco and all that stuff that influenced african pop styles seemed like a strange, far out kick to African urbanites in the 60s and 70s too.

tldr

I'm bumping September 2010 blog posts I just read.

Yes, it's definately a complicated subject. 80 some comments to that blog post.

tldr

― mittens reduxeo, Wednesday, September 22, 2010 10:44 PM Bookmark

sb

too short didnt read

that's because too short has better things to do

If people only want to reissue or listen to certain specific African genres from the '60s or '70s that's obviously their prerogative, but it does seem weird to me that thanks in part to marketing as well, that means that such a finite number of genres (and just old ones at that) are highlighted on Pitchfork or hipster record stores (5 of the top selling 'world' albums at Amoeba in Hollywood in July were reissues). And yes I know that certain modern African club styles get some American/UK/European attention and that Congolese music did in the '80s (but no more).

I also think the post could use a little more context -- granted it's just a blog post. I mean this phenomenon didn't come out of nowhere -- you've had a fela kuti revival running strong for at least a decade, you had the catapulting of people like King Sunny Ade and Manu Dibango to international stardom in the 80s, etc.

If anything I think maybe the "people are afraid of things that sound too African" line is itself kind of condescending, because after all Africans chose to make and listen to all this music that doesn't sound all that "African" to Western ears, according to the post.

I mean even highlife, soukous, etc. -- what is "traditional" about these genres? They're urban dance pop musics that draw on international influences, and they certainly sound "western" compared to the stuff in, say, the Nonesuch Explorer series. Once you're engaging in musical tourism the distinction between "traditional" and "westernized" is meaningless anyway - in either case you don't bear the relationship to the music that its primary intended audience does. There's nothing "authentic" about listening to Yoruba ceremonial music on your subway commute.

Hurting otm, and something I'm constantly reminding my students when we listen to music (esp atm Native American recordings mostly from labels like Folkways). Best case scenario someone stood at a ceremony with their sound equipment setup and you're getting something that was at least once upon a time situated in a ritual/authentic context (but like Hurting said has long been displaced from that context if you're listening to it on a subway, or in a classroom). More likely tho this stuff wasn't even performed in a ritual context but was a performance done for an ethnomusicologist that may or may not have any resemblance to anything contextually appropriate (think that famous Edison video of the Sioux Ghost Dance, or one of my fave albums is a Bukharan Shashmaqom performance done by a Queens band where some of the members were professional Shashmaqom artists but the kind of band setup, recording situation, situation context, etc are totally different from historical performances of Shashmaqom).

To a certain degree that's now a strawman argument, as there are not that many people arguing that Nonesuch 'traditional' recordings should be hyped and marketed instead of Nigerian funk and psychedelic whatever. Also, when King Sunny and Manu were first getting hyped they were still active and touring. The current fave items are mostly just compilations of old performances (and yes the Awesome tapes, VOA, and a few other blogs sometimes reach out to non-'hip' artists). As for 'ignored' styles-The ILX African rap thread rarely gets posts, and other than now-Canadian based Somalian rapper K'naan, few rappers from anywhere in the continent have music released and marketed in the US. Could someone get attention in the US from hiphop and rock audiences from current African rap, if they had the money and sent downloads and cds to the right bloggers, djs, etc?

Konono No. 1 and Staff Benda Bilili have gotten attention thanks in part to their backstories and their 'novelty' approach. Soukous (aka Congolese rumba) has not been marketed in the US since the 80s or 90s. There are a fair amount of Congolese people living in the Washington DC area, so I have seen a few Congolese shows since then (I am usually just 1 of a tiny handful of white folks at such gigs).

I meant Folkways not Nonesuch

props for being in that tiny handful of white folks that gets it

Yeah I think those are good points Mordy although ultimately I don't even think it matters what the original context of the recording was once I'm just putting it on a mix for a friend in between Ghostface and Terry Riley.

Also sometimes I don't even particularly LIKE the original cultural context, e.g. the fact that a lot of JuJu music involves what I understand to be praise-singing of elites. But I don't understand the words and I don't care that much.

Curmudgeon, I guess I'm not sure why Western audiences should feel obligated to listen to other African styles either. I mean I have given some African hip-hop a chance and I have yet to hear anything that really grabs me. Which is not to say I've exhaustively searched, but why should I? If African pop stars want to seek Western audiences, they should hook up with companies that can find ways to market them to Western audiences. I'd guess that the bigger contemporary Soukous stars, for example, are not particularly hurting financially and don't feel any desperate need to do so (and to be clear, some of them ARE marketed in the US, but to African expats). If they did, yes I can imagine they might be encouraged to play on some kind of novelty or exotica approach.

I mean I get what can be insulting about the hipster reissue approach, c.f. the Omar Souleyman craze. There's a good comment on the post you linked -- a quote from a woman who complained that the white audience was looking for the primitive while the African audience preferred the music to be civilized, in response to a complaint of overproduction on a recording. But I also think there's a strain of primitivism in American culture itself that probably doesn't exist in a lot of countries, where Americans themselves actually want to be seen as having an element of the primitive.

And yes I know that certain modern African club styles get some American/UK/European attention and that Congolese music did in the '80s (but no more).

I'll fess up to being totally lost when it comes to modern African (and South American, especially Brazillian) club styles and music. the proliferation of stuff is so overwhelming I don't even know where to begin. when it comes to modern stuff I pick up a smattering of things I see referenced or written about, but it's kind of hit or miss. For example, I like Cibelle and Seu Jorge okay but they seem like big crossover Brazillian artists, and their stuff is fairly easy to grasp - on the other hand I d/led some random baile funk comps and hated all of them (mostly for the abysmal drum/synth sounds)

with reissues it's like someone's already done some of the research and contextualization and it's a bit easier/more straightforward to sort through...? I dunno.

I guess what I'm getting at with all these jumbled posts is that there's a lot of what seems like empty posturing and narcissism of small differences in the various strains of African music fetishism, but it's all basically the same idea -- collect more hip shit to listen to, cultural context be damned. And it's all probably at least a little bit colored by racist and colonialist ideas, but at the same time it seems relatively harmless.

similarly, with something like African rap it seems to me that the only way to bridge a gap like that - between the African rapper and the American audience - is for their to be some real, skilled go-between who understands both. And I don't know who that would be (presumably someone from an immigrant community, either an American in Africa or an African in America, but also one with particularly attuned ears and communication skills who could serve as a conduit between the two. these kinds of people are rare).

xp

And it's all probably at least a little bit colored by racist and colonialist ideas,

this seems kind of unfair, but I dunno maybe not. is it not possible to have an honest and benign curiosity about the cultural expressions of other people? after all, they're just people - they're probably singing and playing about all the same kinds of shit Americans do - love, money, religion, politics.

I don't doubt that there's listeners for whom part or even most of the appeal is exoticness/primitiveness/otherness/etc, but I do think it can simply be a case of being pulled in solely by SOUNDS. New sounds. Funky sounds. Sexy sounds. Tranquilizing sounds. And the cultural context doesn't figure into the equation one iota.

and I think that's why certain African styles/genres are latched onto by Westerners and some aren't. They're music listeners, not socioligists or activists. All this hand wringing and finger pointing is such b.s., but it's been happening for years and will continue to. Well, until that day when magically everyone is enlightened and appreciates all cultures in the proper and good way that the Lord intended.

I know what you all mean. And maybe there are cultural or musical explanations for why certain genres and not others seem to enlist more benign curiosity and get reissued and sold and get mainstream attention. But when I have been at certain Congolese shows over the past decade I have thought-- I love these sounds and I bet, if they heard them--folks who buy some of these reissues would to, but why aren't they here and why isn't someone acting as a gatekeeper and pushing these sounds to them.

I don't recall the url or if it even exists, but I used to read (and only post a few times) a music chatboard made up largely of 30-something and older Congolese expats who lived in Europe/UK and the US. They ocassionally acknowledged reissues of other African styles or American rap and r'n'b, but never with much enthusiasm. They, as a commenter did on the blog post above, complained frequently regarding shady Congolese promoters and record label types the world over. All I'm trying to say is that while no one is obligated to seek out every Congolese rumba release new and old, blogs and newspapers and such (I won't impose on listeners) should at least acknowledge that there is still music coming out in every corner of the continent (and old Nigerian funk stuff is just one small part of that).

even if it still exists

I like to be surprised by things. hearing the culturally familiar (disco rhythms, rock guitars, hip hop, whatever) refracted through an unfamiliar cultural lens is often an experience full of surprises, it gives me something to puzzle over and wrestle with and enjoy without being totally inscrutable. but this goes for Western music too, it's not just something that applies to non-Western music, it's just how I approach a lot of music in general.

xp

I won't impose on listeners

please do!

Congolese rumba sounds interesting!

Do some of you only listen to American rock and rap from 30 years ago? That's your choice if you do, but I hope you wouldn't try to argue that those are the only US sounds worth listening to.

imho American rock peaked in the 70s and rap peaked in the late 80s/early 90s so yeah the bulk of what I listen to from those genres is from over 30 years ago.

but I listen to a lot of stuff

actually lol I take that back most of the rock stuff I like from the 70s is British, America peaked a little earlier

There's something doubly exotic about distant geographic + temporal spaces and yes, sometimes I listen to music from the US in the 1970s (like recently a bunch of like female singer-songwriter acid folk music) and love it at least in part because of its historical distance from me. It sounds like it's coming from somewhere far away and long ago and that's a cool auratic quality. Tho one thing that I think makes these NIgeria Special comps stand out for listeners above + beyond individual contemporary acts is how a) greatly curated they are, you don't have to sift through a lot of trash to get to good stuff. imho it's just good track - good track - good track straight through and b) it's easily available! even in globalized world it's hard to get into music from other countries (and other countries have the same problem with the US -- whenever I travel I notice the lag time between US pop music and what they're playing in other countries). If someone released a really well curated, solid compilation of, idk, Congolese contemporary music, I'd definitely be interested in checking it out. It's not like I was "fetishizing" modern highlife music and then I was like, "omg, this comp is ALL modern highlife -- score!" I had no idea about it and then I got the comp and then I was like, "wow, this is pretty great."

I get where curmudgeon is coming from in that this is something I've wondered about wrt my own music habits. and I think it's probably good to occasionally ask yourself why you like certain things, though being obsessive about it is a bad idea imo. I would hope that people who are into those amazing Nigerian comps at least also check out other 70s African sounds. I think that can evolve into catching up with more recent stuff (that's what happened with me and Jamaican music anyway).

OTOH sometimes you can't win against this argument. Curmudgeon, do you remember the comments to that wayneandwax post about the Ayobaness and Shangaan Electro comps? there are definitely people (you know, strawmen) who will see any western interest in African music as colonizing no matter what, and it's dispiriting to have to defend your own interests like that all the time. As much as I like to stay aware of these issues, my buying a few CDs in Chicago isn't colonizing anyone.

I would hope that people who are into those amazing Nigerian comps at least also check out other 70s African sounds

these "other 70s African sounds" presumably being available on... other well-curated comps! Mordy is totally OTM about the massive obstacles to finding this kind of thing via non-domestically released compilations. Basically if it isn't reissued or compiled on a readily available imprint, it's near impossible to get or even find out about! Between Ethiopiques, World Psychedelic Classics, Nigeria 70, the Fela reissues, Guitar Paradise of East Africa, and maybe a handful of other mega-stars who's stuff has been made available here (King Sunny Ade, for ex) I feel like I have at least a passing knowledge of African pop music from the late 60s through the 80s - is it wrong that I came to this via the only real route available, ie, shady promoters and compilers. I'm not David Byrne, it's not like I can spend my free time shaking down local collectors in Lagos or whatever.

it's not like I can spend my free time shaking down local collectors in Lagos or whatever.

Taking their cultural produce off them for a pittance and ferrying it back to the first world is even MORE colonialist iirc

I think this is something that should be talked about and conceivably does need someone to construct extreme positions and strawmen to facilitate that but... the guy who wrote the blog comes off like a total dick and Frank Gossner schooled him there imo

these "other 70s African sounds" presumably being available on... other well-curated comps

yes! I completely support the curating of comps of basically any and all music from anywhere, from any time for my enjoyment--arguing against that pushes you into an authenticity trap imo. I guess there are two arguments here, one about economic exploitation and one about cultural exploitation. The latter is hard to make, and I don't know what to do about the first one. FWIW the Soundway and Analog Africa dudes seem to be pretty conscientious in their liner notes--or at least they are good at looking like they are--about crediting (and compensating?) this stuff.

My way in to this music is basically "I love soul and funk and I love hearing different takes on this music" so I don't think I latch on to African otherness as a specific selling point. If Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo were a bunch of guys from Canada I'd still love them. This isn't the same thing as listening blind to context - the detailed notes you get from e.g. Analog Africa definitely add to my enjoyment of the music, but in the same way that Numero Group liner notes help me understand just what I'm hearing on their comps.

There are of course political issues that underlie any interaction whatsoever that an affluent white man like me (or the mostly-Western reissue labels) has with non-affluent African musicians, but I think the situation with Analog Africa or Soundway is about as non-nefarious as it can get.

I would hope that people who are into those amazing Nigerian comps at least also check out other 70s African sounds

http://globalgroovers.blogspot.com/

article about what the African diaspora in the UK is listening to--

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/sep/09/african-diaspora-music
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, October 5, 2010 1:34 AM (0 seconds ago) Bookmark

Has anyone been to one of these parties?
http://voodoofunk.blogspot.com/2010/10/friday-november-5th-at-southpaw.html

I guess not. Looks like fun. I wonder if it is advertised at all to the local African emigree population or just to folks who see indie-rock at that club.

think it's the latter. that said, love this quote from that Guardian piece:
"African music should have call-and-response vocals and polyrhythms aplenty," wrote Howard Male at theartsdesk.com. "And at least one vegetable-based percussion instrument."

The next Analog Africa is going to be on Angola: http://analogafrica.blogspot.com/2010/10/blog-post.html. I'm way way behind on their stuff but the Buda Musique comps he mentioned might be my favorite 70s African stuff over all (if I don't think about it for very long), so I am super excited about this.

I just got a 2CD set on Now-Again in today's mail: Dark Sunrise, by Rikki Ililonga and Music-O-Tunya. One album and some singles credited to him and two albums credited to the band, which he led, all from Zambia circa 1973-76. Liner notes include a long-ass interview with him.

i so wish analog africa's full catalog was available digitally, and specifically on emusic.

i imagine the spotty digital catalog has to do with difficult royalty and copyright issues. bummer.

Soundway are offering FLAC's of their back catalogue for a fiver until the end of Feb. Wahoo!

http://www.soundwayrecords.com/catalogue

the 2010 guardian article above seems to take a disparaging view of this phenomenon:

The African music that does well on the world music circuit is usually that perceived by white audiences as more authentic, meaning free from the influence of contemporary western pop: Toumani Diabaté's multitextured kora playing. Oumou Sangaré's jittery wassoulou music with its kamelengoni hunters' harp. The desert blues of the guitar-toting Tuareg band Tinariwen, whose members come dressed in indigo-dyed robes and turbans. Music that feels slightly exotic but vaguely familiar.

but after sampling the "African music the actual African diaspora likes," i agree with what's in the text-box above.

maybe it's that i'm not connecting with that (very possibly non-representative sample of) mainstream pop that's popular among the expat community, much like i often don't connect with mainstream pop that's popular in the u.s.

You haven't listed which of the musicians (rappers, djs, whatever) that the diaspora likes that you do not like. The boxed quote in your post mentions traditional Malian musicians who use non-synth instruments mostly. I like them and the Nigerian reissues that are the subject of this thread more than some African "ghettotech" club sounds (that actually sound like the worst of European pop-trance stuff). But some of the Malian musicians that are mentioned and some Congolese musicians also make music that is danceable and appeals to both fans of old-school sounds and younger African disapora members. In the Rolling African thread and in previous year's Rolling "whirled" thread I have discussed this a bit.

http://bamalovesoul.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Nigeria70small_4.jpg

New Nigeria70 has just come out on Strut. I don't have any of these - presumably the 2cd Nigeria70 Vol.1 is the place to start?

It's a slippery slope, man - hard to know what's best since most of these comps are pretty awesome. Easy to get addicted to this stuff. As for authenticity, I dunno - I buy this stuff 'cause it sounds good to me. I mean I am studying ethnomusicology, so I guess it's vulgar of me to prefer the more Westernized pop stuff. With time that could change, as tastes often do. I just hope the money from these comps is going to the right people, or at least the families and the ones who are still alive - even though I know it probably isn't. Isn't that the more important point here - whether or not Nigerian musicians and their families and communities are actually reaping the benefits of releases like these? I realize that's a pretty farfetched thing to hope for with multi-artist compilations of music that's 30 or 40+ years old and was originally produced under who knows what kind of shady business arrangements, but if we want to get away from the very real possibility that there's some neo-colonialist exploitation going on here, shouldn't we be concerned about how labels like Strut and Soundway conduct their business - and what these releases are doing, if anything, for the communities and the culture in which they were produced?

Do you know or have you read anything specific about their business practices re paying musicians?

I don't, and I'm not trying to make accusations - for all I know these reissue labels could be socially conscious and may be doing a lot of good for the actual lives and welfare of Nigerian musicians. I have no idea either way. My point was that if we're going to talk about colonialism, qualms about taste and listening habits are small potatoes - the more important issue is whether, by purchasing these records, we're complicit in any kind of financial exploitation. If a record, even a compilation, sells tens of thousands of copies and the musicians or their families get nothing, that's exploitation (of course this happens all the time in America too). And if it's a UK or American label that's making money off of African music and not paying its creators, that's when we should really start getting worried about "neo-colonialism." Not that the issue of what we listen to and why isn't important, or even that it's not shaped one way or the other by colonialism and its legacy - I'm just saying there could be bigger issues at stake here.

Everything i've read from / about Soundway and Analog Africa indicate they are very fair and go through lots of trouble to pay the proper people.

I'm just saying there could be bigger issues at stake here.

We've had the discussion re exploitation of musicians on one of the Mississippi label threads and I think on a Sublime Frequencies one as well.

Will check those out. Thanks for the heads up. Posting this made me realize I should really be better informed myself before I make these kinds of purchases.

And I'm glad to hear that labels like Soundway are doing what they can to operate ethically.

these two strut comps are both great, especially as an introduction to some of the music that's been discussed up-thread.

http://www.parisdjs.com/images/strut/Various-Club_Africa_b.jpg

http://www.parisdjs.com/images/strut/Various-Club_Africa_2_b.jpg

the modern highlife comp, always a pleasure

approx how long does it take to tire of ol 'circular' guitar patterns anyway, or am i set from here on out

in my experience you're set

all music should have circular guitars