Friday, July 02, 2010

A couple of 1980s videos for the weekend

I've been slacking on the blog lately partly because I've been busy working on Now Again Records' upcoming Nigerian fuzz funk compilation and partly because I've been having trouble with my FTP since I've been back. The latter is also the reason my sparse updates have relied upon YouTube links, and I hope to resolve the issue soon and start getting some mp3s back up here. In the meantime, though, here are some more videos.

While the blog was on hiatus during my sojourn in Nigeria, I received a number of emails from a particularly insistent reader who wanted to me post the music videos of the 1980s kiddie-pop star, Yvonne Maha. Now as I've mentioned a few times in the past, it is nigh impossible to find pre-1990 music videos in Nigeria because at most television stations, if the humongous U-matic and Quad tapes on which they were stored that were not dubbed over with new content, they were thrown out wholesale to make room for new hardware. So I made no promises to find these videos, but I pledged to do my best.

As it turns out, the best I could do was to unearth this clip of Yvonne Maha appearing on The Bala Miller Show in 1983. I'd like to think that this also will at least partially please my girl Kelechi who requested some Bala Miller. (Don't worry, Kay; I'll be putting up some more Miller stuff a little later.)



Also, here is a 1981 promo (that's what we called music videos way back in the day) for Harry "Mr. Funkees" Mosco's Sugar Cane Baby, during his London period. The color's a bit messed up but that's because whoever digitized it didn't adjust the hue. It's still fun to watch, especially for its evocation of that innocent era when the music video was such a new invention and most performers had no inkling of how to comport their bodies or their faces in them. I mean, look at Harry's awkward shuffling, the band's hammy pretend-playing and the unabashed scenery chewing by the light-skinneded singer gal! I swear, she did that in all the videos Harry shot for this album (I remember there being three or four of them), even the ballad!

14 comments:

MsMak said...

Wow, you just out-do yourself with every post, huh? I guess you are trying to make up for your long absence :o)

Now all that's left is to put up some clips of the famous Sunshine Sisters dancing and we all (esp the brothers) can die happy!

P.S... I'm still searching for Tyna Onwudiwe and Esse Agesse :o)

Comb & Razor said...

Well, MsMak... All I'll say is: prepare to die happy.

(And I got both the Tyna and the Esse stuff. I'll try to get them up soon as I resolve my server issues)

Anonymous said...

OMG!! I am plenty pleased! I saw this episode of the show when it first aired way back when.

Comb & Razor said...

More to come...

MsMak said...

Aaaaaagh! I can hardly wait! :o)

kay said...

Your Blog is Amazing!! please post more...I love early naija music..and i learn a lot from your post. keep up the good work.

Comb & Razor said...

Thanks, kay... I'm glad you're enjoying the blog (now go tell all your friends!).

MsMak said...

"All we are saying, give us more posts!" (Please...) :o)

Sam Telford said...

Will there be any more details of your Now Again comp forthcoming anytine soon?

The Soundway "World Ends" comp is pretty damn great & I'm looking forwqard to more of the same!... The Semi Colon track is gonna rip it up at the night I'm starting here in Brighton!!

Comb & Razor said...

Sam -

Yes, there will be more details coming soon re: the Now Again comp... and a lot more too!

Stay tuned!

U.

Sam Telford said...

What a tease!

Ambi nwokeabia said...

Awesome, how you take me back memory lane. I love it.

20 Cent said...

Hi Uche,
It's been a while amigo... hope life treats you well.

Just wanted to shout a quick line and congratulate you for the project with Now Again; I'm really glad for you that you finally found a way to make all your knowledge about African music transforming into a beautiful reissue ;) Will dig it fo sure!!!

Top regards,

Vinz

Comb & Razor said...

Thanks a lot for the kind wishes, Vinz... I was just thinking the other day about how we haven't chatted in a while; we need to catch up!