Monday, January 26, 2009

Ndito Efik isong o!

That's a shout-out to my Calabar peoples.

I was quite delighted when I found this LP--Well, actually I didn't exactly recognize it, but I figured I'd pick it up since already had another Isaiah Dickson album and I dug the very modern cream-colored leisure suit he's sporting on the cover.

When I got it home though, I found that I knew every single song on the album by heart! This whole album got a lot of play on Cross River Radio when I was in primary school.

This is some correct Calabar music, reflecting the area's strong legacy of horn-laden dance band highlife, and reaching even deeper into the culture on the track "Mbre Isong," which takes traditional Ekpe songs of the kind you can see performed here by Cuban Abakua musician Enyenison Enkama





and transmutes them into a mean afrobeat groove.

The album is immaculately produced by the legendary Chris Ajilo and is presented here in its entirety for your listening pleasure.

ISADICO DANCE BAND OF NIGERIA led by ISAIAH DICKSON - EMEM... (FONTANA, FTLP 152, 1982)

SIDE ONE:
1. Emem-Da Yami
2. Ikim Ebot

SIDE TWO:
3. Mbre Isong
4. Yere Akam

14 comments:

zim said...

really nice stuff,

thanks for this, and for the interview link

Comb & Razor said...

You betcha, Zim!

Anonymous said...

Brilliant stuff

Anonymous said...

very nice record !!! thx

Comb & Razor said...

Glad you like it... I have some more Calabar dance music coming up tomorrow...

calumbinho said...

I love it! I'd heard a couple of Isadico tracks before (I believe it was you who posted them) and was crazy about them - this album definitely confirms my first impression. Thanks a lot!

Anonymous said...

I was listening to a song called Nwanyi and I was wondering whether you know anything about Show Promoter?

Comb & Razor said...

Calumbinho -

Oh wait, it was you and not Zim I sent the other Isadico album, right?

Ebere -

Hmm... Din't think I know this Show Promoter... Can you give me some more info?

Anonymous said...

All I know is that the group is called Show Promoter and His Dancing Boys, they are Igbo, and it looks like the song was made in the 60s or early 70s. Here's the video with a picture of him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPniSDIiBWs

Anonymous said...

I've got some Show Promoter albums and I was planning to post some of his music (& others like him) in the future.

Comb & Razor said...

Just checked out the link Ebere put up... Interesting stuff! More Igbo traditional music than highlife or Igbo blues, though. I look forward to John's posts on him!

Bellemskey said...

Thanks for this post.....

Comb & Razor said...

Thanks for stopping by, Bellemskey!

Onel Mulet said...

Thanks for posting the Ekpé/Abakua videos please checkout our podcast of Ekpé and Abakua music at Cuba Calabar Radio.
http://cubacalabarradio.podbean.com/

The CD release of Ekobio Enyenison is happening Saturday Sept 5th at Joes Pub 9:30PM. We are expecting Ekpé brethren from Calabar there.