Who can school me on William Onyeabor?

you don't even need to YSI, just a heads up on what/where it is. Don't tell me this guy only did two scorcher funk singles and then dropped off the face of the earth..

William Onyeabor - Better Change Your Mind 8.13

Taken from the Wilfilms Records LP Atomic Bomb (WRLP 1002). Composed and Arranged by William Onyeabor. Publishing: Copyright Control 1978 Wilfilms Records Ltd. Licensed courtesy of William Onyeabor. Personnel unknown.

William Onyeabor studied cinematography in Russia for many years, returning to Nigeria in the mid-70s to start his own Wilfilms music label and to set up a music and film production studio. He recorded a number of hit songs in Nigeria during the 70s, the biggest of which was "Atomic Bomb" in 1978. "Better Change Your Mind" is taken from the same album, and, as well as slating the power-crazed nations of the world, the second half settles into a unique slice of stripped down spacey, lo-fi funk which is unlike any other Nigerian music being made at the time. William has now been crowned a High Chief in Enugu, where he lives today as a successful businessman working on government contracts and running his own flour mill.

ace cover art, he looks almost like a one man band:

http://popsike.com/pics/psychedelicafroshop/20050225/4705013967.jpg

http://cgi.ebay.com/WILLIAM-ONYEABOR-BOOGIE-FUNK-AFRO-FUNK-SOUNDCLIPS_W0QQitemZ4847179581QQcategoryZ306QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

that is not a cheesy dj remix! it's by the scientist and it rocks!

lol @ myself two years ago. actually atomic bomb surfaces quite a bit, but at o_O prices.

this record is even more insane, check out the sound samples before the guy pulls them:

http://cgi.ebay.com/William-Onyeabor-Anything-RARE-80s-Nigerian-funk_W0QQitemZ160192380709QQcmdZViewItemQQssPageNameZRSS:B:SRCH:US:101

for posterity's sake:

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/4062/21a01xu9.jpg

William Onyeabor - Anything you sow
Stupid rare mid 80s Nigerian proto detroit techno funk... private pressing!
Label: Wilfilms WLP033
Year: 1985/1986?

Detroit techno / electro recorded in Nigeria in the mid 1980's on analog synths? Sounding like it comes straight off the latest M.I.A. record? Yes that's what this is all about... add in some sweet female singer choruses and the moralistic lyrics of mr Onyeabor, and you got an essential record that is waiting to be rediscovered and compiled! This album NEVER shows up so here is your one chance to own it.

You may know William Onyeabor from his tracks on afro funk compilations such as the great jam 'Better change your mind' which appeared on Nigeria 70 and on 'World Psychedelic Classics 3: Love's a Real Thing'. The original album 'Atomic bomb' is a popular and expensive item on Ebay. His lp's are hard to find as he released them on his own record label, Wilfilms. Another of his records that shows up sometimes is 'Tomorrow'. Both albums are heavy afro disco boogie bombs.

William Onyeabor has released at least one more record though, and it's so obscure that I haven't found any references in google or previous Ebay sales. 'Atomic bomb' was already an experimental album on which Onyeabor plays around with his collection of synths. But on 'Anything you sow' he really goes all-out to create a musical landscape that proved to be far ahead of its time.

The album cover (which looks more like mid 70s) shows Onyeabor behind a huge collection of synths and other hardware, including the Moog which was an expensive gear at the time. On this album, the music is all produced with analog synths, even percussion.

The effect is mind blowing... 20 years down the line its clear that Onyeabor was way ahead of his time, the sounds he created here are unlike anything else I have heard coming from Africa. It's more closely related to Detroit techno or electro but in reality he may just have been influenced by Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra and the like. The slight 'out of this world' sound of the fragile synth (Moog, Elka etc) melodies are accentuated by the sweet chants of William and his background singers. This piece of vinyl is just waiting to be sampled or re-edited, it would fit nicely on a Moodymann or Theo Parrish re-edit 12 inch. Three out of four tracks are in this style, the fourth is a ballad which is less interesting. Just check out the audio samples above.

Tracklist
A1. When the going is smooth & good
A2. This kind of world
B1. Anything you sow
B2. Everyday

wow. i would have bid on that. maybe not 124 dollars, though.

it would fit nicely on a Moodymann or Theo Parrish re-edit 12 inch

yeah, judging from those samples this is true.

wow. i would have bid on that. maybe not 124 dollars, though.

-- elan, Thursday, 3 January 2008 23:17 (4 months ago) Link

lol that shit finished at like $300 actually. and the audio samples were beardo as fuck.

this thread is like a time capsule for me

this went for $100

ace cover art, he looks almost like a one man band:

-- brokeback titty sanskrit (sanskrit), Sunday, January 22, 2006 6:55 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Link

LOL am i pretend britishes?

ok, another has surfaced, this time with music samples:

http://cgi.ebay.com/WILLIAM-ONYEABOR-BOOGIE-FUNK-AFRO-FUNK-SOUNDCLIPS_W0QQitemZ4847179581QQcategoryZ306QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

-- gritty sanskrit (sanskrit), Sunday, March 12, 2006 3:51 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Link

so a month ago i got a clean Atomic Bomb off a french dude on eBay. wasn't cheap but wasn't painful. the weird thing is i have listened to Better Change Your Mind so many times over the years that it was not that big a deal. Beautiful Baby is totally different than on an iPod. what was once overly long turned into a lilting ballad that is far too short.

btw i am not a breakhead

btw this revive is courtesy of a Body and Soul Scientist remix that i missed on dmr's blog. like 2 years later it appears in my open slsk window.

I just downloaded the Atomic Bomb LP. You can find it easily if you look. Sound quality not very good though

that's what hipped me to onyeabor

btw, does anything you sow ever pop up on slsk?

youtube clip from "when the going is smooth and good": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HleCMcs_ybg

this deserves wider exposure

wow. i would have bid on that. maybe not 124 dollars, though.

-- elan, Thursday, 3 January 2008 23:17 (4 months ago) Link

lol that shit finished at like $300 actually. and the audio samples were beardo as fuck.

-- sanskrit, Wednesday, May 7, 2008 9:05 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

oh damn dude that is the very audio clip from the auction. or the buyer shared it (yeah right). smart move someone moved it to a youtube for momentary posterity.

it sold for like $17 on dutch ebay in march

judging by all the youtube and forum comments about "when the going is smooth & good", it seems to have been a nigerian radio hit. the album is apparently available from street vendors (on cassette, i guess). so why can i not find it anywhere?

are you sure it didn't go for 17 euros? because that is about $300 american.

oh, you're right. 16.75 euro. that's still only $25.79 at today's exchange rate.

http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/William-Onyeabor-Afro-proto-techno-Nigeria-LP-LISTEN_W0QQitemZ160220584129QQihZ006QQcategoryZ1582QQcmdZViewItem

if i knew dutch i might make the winner an offer....

i don't know about grading record sleeves, so if that cover isn't actually G-, i could see the price dropping. but a G- record grade would sound like that cover looks, so maybe the seller knows what's up.

he posted it for me! i didn't see it for one (1) month!

http://combandrazor.blogspot.com/2008/05/for-leo.html

the hi-hats do something amazing in the sixth minute. this is the bomb.

this is sick: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140278397762

my rss hasn't seen that title in four years
sick sound clip, and my snipe won't even register now / won't meet reserve anyway

every couple months i'll trawl through the blogs in hopes that more of his stuff has surfaced (beyond the Atomic Bomb lp and two or three other scratchy tracks), but still no luck. and the copies that do show up on ebay seem to go way outside my budget. i'm led to believe some of his records were hits in Nigeria, so how hard can it be to get/hear more of his stuff? guh.

well, this is at least something http://dailyleftover.blogspot.com/2009/12/tribute-to-william-onyeabor.html

really enjoying this, thanks. so far i'd only been able to find the atomic bomb LP.

it seems he released at least 8 LPs (Discogs plus Crashes in Love), meaning we (I) have heard roughly 14 of 32 total tracks. which is not too bad for some Nigerian private press stuff. only 1982's Hypertension seems to be completely unrepresented.

it would be very nice to have this on vinyl in all its artifact-y goodness, but yeah those prices are crazy.

Here is a link to this William Onyeabor's "Atomic Bomb" CD.Check it Out!

http://www.myafricanbargains.com/index.cfm/fa/items.main/parentcat/23717/subcatid/0/id/464161

Just got this email:

Question: do you guys still sell many 12"? The reason I am asking is because Luaka Bop will be releasing a CD by William Onyeabor in the early part of next year. But here's the dilemma - the songs are like 12 minutes long each. We are thinking about releasing them on a group of 12" singles one release after another (collect 'em all!) and then compiling everything on a CD for a slightly later release.

in light of Daphni/ Caribou sampling Onyeabor's "When the Going..." i was wondering if factcheckr ever heard any more about these 12"s form Luaka Bop?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1Kg-iBeDyg&NR=1

this is one of the sickest tunes i've ever heard.. someone reissue this fucker on vinyl!

this guy featured on 69's all hits radio show iirc, some slinky jams

B-D urc!

this is what I was just told re: luaka bop: "it is supposed to happen" but no date yet

Oh weird, randomly I just started getting into this. this month. "Fantastic Man" is my favorite tho

The B-side to Good Name is like the best song I've heard all year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp_eps4BlTQ

someone reissue this fucker on vinyl!

yeah just waiting for whatever it is that'll presumably soon come out to represent this guy. you would think only a matter of time

Um: http://flashstrap.blogspot.com/2011/10/fantastic-man-william-onyeabor-atomic.html

2CD compilation out in October on Luaka Bop

http://luakabop.com/bloggo/trust-the-situation/

oh awesome! 3xlp! & a (llliimmmiiittteedddd) good name reish!

ty

Pre-orders now up... http://luakabop.com/onyeabor/

The new comp is fantastic. Shame he retired when he did because When the Going is Smooth and Good from his last album (the one that Daphni sampled) is blowing my mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOf8YJLgpew

This is fantastic

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/17/five-year-quest-reissue-william-onyeabor

"atomic bomb" blows my mind. i'm kinda obsessed

Now you have me fixated on that number too. The catchy vocal melody, the groove, the almost dub regggae like feel...It's slightly more traditional than some of the other cuts

Fucking awesome.

So good.

I wonder if Rickey did have a chance to hear any more. He would have loved this.

The only bad part about this comp is when the groove ends after ~10 minutes.

So great to have When the Going… on vinyl finally, but some other fantastic stuff on there. This one sounds even better at about -5 http://ex.fm/song/k2bry

"good name" is a banger

yeah "good name" is probably my fave, the whole cd is amazing though

almost certain to be a top ten of the year disc for me

um yeah, this is pretty amazing. kind of got overwhelmed with the seemingly neverending stream of african reissues from the past few years, but this one, holy smokes.

weird...this didn't hit me on first listen like it is for everyone else

but i dunno, i p much like all african stuff i hear so hopefully it'll grow on me

i bought a copy of this one http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/48179113/William+Onyeabor.jpg in a dollar bin and gave it to a friend for christmas 2 years ago D:

could it be worth mad cash now?

signs point to yes

fhuuuuuck

dogg yeah...

http://www.discogs.com/William-Onyeabor-Good-Name/master/605907

none for sale on discogs, one of his others has a few, but most don't have any for sale which is rare, the one that has some is a luaka bop reissue and that starts at $100

nah it was this one http://www.discogs.com/sell/list?q=william+onyeabor+anything+you+sow

seems weird that the bootleg version would end up in a dollar bin, in that only heads/collectors would be likely to buy it? things slip through the net tho

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/arts/music/an-elusive-mystery-man-of-music.html

Over the phone from Nigeria, responding to prepared questions, he stressed that all he wanted people to know about him was that “I was a sinner who repented and gave himself 100 percent to Christ.” Describing himself as a born-again Christian, Mr. Onyeabor refused to discuss his education (he reportedly studied film production in the Soviet Union and has a law degree) or his musical career.

“I am only proud of my music because of the creative aspect of it,” he said. “I didn’t use it strictly to praise God. That is why I have decided now that henceforth all my revealings will be to praise God and preach the word of God.”

"When the Going is Smooth and Good" is one of the best things I've heard in a long time. This is definitely one of my year-end favorites.

This whole comp pretty much blows my mind. Where should I go from here? (w/r/t other artists I mean)

didja hear the comp of francis bebey's synth stuff

This comp is absolutely wonderful. Any idea where I might have heard "Good Name" before? It sounded instantly familiar, but I can't imagine where I might have heard it. I see it was kinda a promo push for the comp, but it would've been a few years ago when I first heard it. Was it on some previous comp or covered somewhere else?

i bought my dad this for christmas.

great. let the "dad rock" backlash begin! ;)

I'm not sure there is anywhere to go from here. Onyeabor was such an oddball and he didn't have any traction outside his hometown - Luaka Bop said that even the music buffs they spoke to in Lagos hadn't heard of him - so he seems to exist in a world of his own.

not got the heavy groove of onyeabor but i will second francis bebey as being well worth your time if you aren't already familiar

thx folks I will check him out

kept hearing 'good name' enough to take a plunge on the comp - serious business.

The documentary on him is available free online. He is far far from Sugar Man.

pretty hard panning here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R11ZAWY5A9VA3A/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00E3FMHOU

His only review!

lol maybe it's the writer of the transcribed songlines review

Okay I just listened to this last weekend. It's FANTASTIC!

It's classic outsider art. Part of the appeal is the strangeness of the whole thing. I think that brutal reviewer was expecting Fela Kuti or something. There's plenty of room for both.

His only review!

He's got dozens of reviews, mostly raves.

don't think I've ever read Songlines but is that srsly a review they printed in a newsstand publication? reads like something the work experience kid wrote

mind numbing!

Going to see Byrne & Co. perform this at the Warfield tomorrow night. Anyone here check out the NYC shows?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/05/arts/music/the-songs-of-william-onyeabor-at-the-brooklyn-academy-of-music.html

Ben Ratliff on the NYC tribute gig

Here's part of it:

It’s a big production, running on shaggy, sweet-hearted enthusiasm, and organized by the young Sudanese-American musician Ahmed Gallab, who records as Sinkane. The show included David Byrne; the keyboardist Money Mark, best known for his work with the Beastie Boys; Devonté Hynes of Blood Orange; Pat Mahoney, formerly the drummer in LCD Soundsystem; the saxophonist Joshua Redman; the indie-pop singers Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip and Luke Jenner, once of the Rapture; and the Lijadu Sisters, also from Nigeria, ....

The concert worked as music, not just as outsider-artist myth, for a couple of reasons. One was the rhythm section, with two trap-set drummers (Mr. Mahoney and Jay Tram), the percussionist Lekan Babalola, the talking-drum player Kofo the Wonderman and the bassist Ish Montgomery. (The audience immediately got the point: At least half the crowd stayed up and danced through the entire show.) And another was the energy of Money Mark and of the guitarist Jonny Lam, who burrowed into the music’s tight, needling lines, and Mr. Redman, who built fluid, expansive solos on top of them.
But the concert also appeared to be an act of creative defiance, and maybe even a little antagonism, toward a musician who will not agree to be understood as record collectors want to understand him. It used his silence to construct what sometimes looked like a revue of eccentricity or marginality. It opened with a New York street preacher, Rufus Cannon, pulling a battery-operated amplifier down the central aisle and testifying on the glory of God — an action that would seem to be inspired by Mr. Onyeabor’s faith but might not have the intended effect at a convergence of Brooklyn music nerds — and closed with expert demonstrations in the ancient arts of disco roller-skating and break dancing. All of which was spirited and extravagant. But not uncomplicated.

Luke Jenner, once of the Rapture;

lol at this

anyone else going to the show at the Greek tonight?

so those who have this collection? how does it _sound_ compared to the many downloads that brought this guy to american attention? it's all mastered from vinyl sources i would assume.

i mean i love this guy's stuff but i don't want to plunk down hard-earned dollars for stuff i already have unless it sounds notably better.

btw i don't think this warrants the term "outsider art" (a term i'm not terribly comfortable with to begin with)

it sounds pretty great to me

this remix album is pretty wack

FUCKING HELL THAT WAS A GREAT SHOW. if I wasn't in the middle of the music-seeing-est run of my life right now it would be the best thing I've seen in 2014 by a comfortable clip. Kele Okereke was the big guest vocalist for this date and he was fucking GREAT; also holy shit I forgot how great Alexis Taylor is at singing. highlight was "When The Going Is Smooth And Good", although Byrne was stupefyingly awesome on "Fantastic Man."

speaking of "When The Going," if you're on the fence about buying a physical copy of the comp, that song's not on the Spotify version and it's arguably Onyeabor's best song so yeah.

well, unlicensed downloads of all his individual albums (save, i think, for one very rare one) were and probably are widely available. so i have all of the songs on the comp in MP3 format. of course, chances are that a professionally-mastered, physical-media copy will sound better, but with needle-drops like this one can never really know.

http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/21006/1/ever-wondered-why-william-onyeabor-wont-play-live

Weird. Previous articles said he wouldn't play his secular stuff anymore because he found religion. No mention of the man from Milan.

could be onyeabor is fucking with people there.

given em the ole Keyser Söze

uh

9 cds?

uh

http://williamonyeabor.com/giftshop

Just met a guy who is a painter and a deejay, parent of my kids' friend, and Onyeabor was his brand new jam that he was playing at his kid's birthday party.

uh

awesome news but i'm hoping they make the individual LPs available at some point because the box is like a million dollars

(20 seconds later)

ok, there are LP boxes available, and they both include 4-5 full lengths, a 45 and other good stuff for $75-$85. so not that bad. xmas is around the corner...

I've been needing a new denim hat, too.

the CD box set is not terribly expensive.

will these be remastered i.e. did they actually locate the tapes or are these just going to be fancy needledrops?

that comp must have sold pretty damn well, btw, if they're going all-out like this.

Xpost I hope they're sourced from the original tapes because the mp3s that I've been able to find are needledrops from really scratchy records

xp i think the touring show is doing well

my interest in onyeabor is well piqued thanks to the comp but i think 9 cds is a bit excessive as a next step

it's me, I'm the guy who pre-ordered both of the vinyl box sets. (Who Is William Onyeabor? was a transcendent record for me and the live show absolutely blew me away, so it was an easy buy.)

the comp sounded great, so I can't imagine that they're going to put out a bunch of scratchy-ass needledrops. at least I sure hope not.

but i think 9 cds is a bit excessive as a next step

I'm in the same position but 9 CDs seems like a GREAT next step because that comp rules.

Yeeeeep

I've got all of the "albums". Most of them have only 4 or 5 songs on them and come in around the half hour mark (apart from Atomic Bomb where nearly all the tracks are 7 or 8 minutes long (or longer) so 9 CDs is not that excessive.

There's also 2 versions of the same album (Crashes In Love) which he released a couple of years apart.

live show absolutely blew me away

Agreed that the BAM show was very special. Unabashedly joyful. I was on the fence about the lp boxsets but will probably take the plunge.

i don't really see how it is "excessive" given that it's most of his discography and i assume people are interested in the whole discography... i also assume that the albums will be "unbundled" and released separately at some point, as these things always are.

still curious to know if these are going to be very professionally done needledrops or what. the versions out there in the blogosphere are pretty scratchy, but i've almost grown fond of that aspect of them.

you don't get why i wouldn't want to spend $15 rather than $50?

huh?

there's already a best-of comp. that came out last year.

?

ok. i bought the best of. i liked it. i would like to explore some more william onyeabor because i liked the best of. but i don't want to buy his entire discography for the princely sum of $50. guess i am just a big old weirdo!

$chooled

#brokeboi

there's only like two great songs on the Who Is comp, anyhow. if the albums have more stuff like "good name", i'm in. But if it's just more rote amateurish afrobeat ehhhh i'll pass.

sorry, i meant rote amateurish afrobeat with ~zany synths~

This is probably one of his best tracks that didn't make the comp (apart from the vinyl version):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Yb7NAEft8

there's only like two great songs on the Who Is comp, anyhow. if the albums have more stuff like "good name", i'm in. But if it's just more rote amateurish afrobeat ehhhh i'll pass.

what's the other great song (besides good name) in your opinion? i happen to love them all but i also don't think of him as someone who was trying to make afrobeat music

it's gotta be atomic bomb right? that's my fave.

"Body and soul" is the other one I like. Don't like "Atomic Bomb" at all.

Hot Chip's cover of atomic bomb is the best thing from this compilation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59aXNmdUIPw

Been a big fan of his music since listening to him on the Nigeria 70 compilation. If I were a producer I would keep sampling his music, has anyone famous done it? It shouldn't be long. 'Better change your mind' and "body and soul" are very sample-worthy.

I don't love the original 'atomic bomb' but Hot Chip's version changed my mind.

I'm vice versa: love the original and the hot chip version made me question what it was about the song that moved me in the first place. then i relistened to onyeabor's version and remembered.

Weren't they going to do a "Deluxe" 2CD version of the comp with the vinyl only tracks included, or was that idea dropped? Also it is a slightly odd release strategy to go from just that to pushing out all his albums as large box sets.

Anyway - 'Something You Will Never Forget' is one of the more "afrobeat" of the tracks on the comp and it's bloody brilliant, amauterish or not.

How can you not like 'Atomic Bomb'?!?! What?!

(By which I mean the original. The very words "Hot Chip version" make me cringe.)

"When the going is smooth..." track posted above is amazing. thanks for posting it.

good name > when the going is smooth&good > everything else

and so on and so forth

Hahaha emily, I didn't say I didn't like it I said I didn't love it. I do like it, but I prefer other songs by him.

I'd like to clear that I am not a Hot Chip fan and I do not endorse any of their albums.

are you now or have you ever been a fan of Hot Chip?

i LIKE hot chip! just don't like that version of the song.

Atomic bomb: Out of tune, weak hook, just generally weak and boring

I like Atomic Bomb, but I feel like it's sequenced weirdly on the comp. Like it should come in later, after you've had a couple more tunes of uptempo funkiness.

are you now or have you ever been a fan of Hot Chip?

― I dunno. (amateurist), viernes 10 de octubre de 2014 21:10 (YesterdaY)

I've never been a fan but I do like some of their early singles like crap kraft dinner and playboy and a few of the warning.

as someone who has all his records, i'd like to say 1) his music is NOT afrobeat, 2) there are so many gems in the back catalogue that it's almost ridiculous and 3) if anyone has a problem with anything he does being out of tune (which it often is!), then really, give up now as you are completely and utterly missing the point.

The out of tune and crap production is part of his charm!

oh gosh, the point is it sounds zany, i get it. it's mainly atomic bomb that's just so egregiously out of tune to the point where i can't ignore it/focus on the sound/vibe or whatever.

lo fi production is fine.

and i thought afrobeat was funky music from nigeria with unison horns and chanting and stuff, which a lot of this is??

i think of afrobeat as a more funk-based music which onyeabor is not

Yeah I described him as afro-space-disco-soul to someone which is not accurate really but I couldn't think of a better description.

wtf original 'Atomic Bomb' is best track on the comp

chacun a sonyeabor

Holy smokes!! A box set!
http://luakabop.com/news/william-onyeabor-lpcd-box-set-out-1118-2/

Who can school me on William Onyeabor?

Schooled.

i can't figure out if they actually had access to master tapes or if these are just slick needledrops.

Are you listening to the CDs? Maybe the guy in Milan had the tapes.

Just bought both of the box sets for my christmas present. Asked my wife to wrap them up for me but I may either need to torrent the files or open them early, the Spotify version of Who Is is too short.

http://instagram.com/p/wJgPRqzN2N/

http://photos-e.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xaf1/10843909_336389243231284_2074568457_n.jpg

...but when does it end?!

The spines of the CDs in the box set say "remastered in NYC," for what it's worth.

Vinyl says the same.

http://vimeo.com/116194279

Luaka Poop? What a vicious attack that really showed somebody somewhere something. Burning my boxset now.

tbf "luaka poop" is pretty funny

Luaka Plop

Pooaka Bop

Cloaca Bop

what was that vimeo link?

i kinda neglected to fully check this guy out but "love me now" off the new one they're reissuing is one of my favourite songs at the moment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8Osr2RL6U0

RIP.

:(

RIP

RIP :(

I know I should always be wary of the artist-focused thread revives, but I honestly thought this would be "more rare stuff reissued" or something. :(

Oh man, RIP.

RIP

rip :(

RIP

putting on atomic bomb in memory

RIP, dude was a genius.

RIP, so many great echo-dub dancefloor memories.

i was listening to the box set last night and thinking that it was really fortunate that he lived to see his music get a revival and get acknowledged as a musical genius. a few years earlier and he could've missed all of this & never known that he was going to be appreciated by a whole new audience of fans which would've been tragic bc he truly was an incredible talent + genius and deserved to know how much his work was loved.

His relationship with his music seemed conflicted at best though, he actively avoided talking about it and I got the sense it was a source of embarrassment or shame to him in his later life.

for sure tho i thought at some pt he said he was working on new music? maybe in that bbc interview

Wow, I remember first hearing his music through ILM back in the day.

I've felt so much joy in sharing it with my friends since then.

Now I'm inspired to share his tunes with new friends.

i guess his children or his church is getting that Feist 1,2,3,4 iTunes ad placement money.

I can't school you on William Onyeabor, but I can advise you to listen to Itadi - Watch Your Life (Togo, 1977)

Why late at night does ILM get all William Onyeabored
Or mooged out

The production is all 2D and flat but precise and perfect, and more than that it feels intentional and does not feel like a limitation, it gives all the feeling, and like a man doing all the instruments, it's genius really. Mammane Sani and Francis Bebey probably, both of which have a connection with Ghana, and mixing it with afro-funk / dance.

From the doc:
He's a nice guy... but
A boy sang for him and the boy claimed he wasn't paying him royalties when due, and accordingly.
He went to William and claimed that William drove him off with a pistol
So he went to the police. When he came back, the police sought for the pistol. They didn't find the pistol and the guy was charged with giving false information to the police. And sentenced.

Tough !