This is another band with a name that is very sweet in the mouth, especially when you pronounce it with a proper accent:
AWW-taard-OOSS. The proclamation of that single word from the front cover of a record evokes images of some otherworldly, winged behemoth of mythology. Which is apt, I suppose, as the Otarus sound
is fleet and ethereal, and Benjamin Otaru is a
beast on the guitar.
Otaru was born in 1947 in the town of Ewan, in the Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of present-day Edo State, Nigeria. His musical talent first manifested itself while he was a student at St. Paul's Grammar School in Igarra where he played organ in the choir. When he left school, he took a job as a storekeeper at
John Holt, but quit in '67 to play guitar in the Gaiki Messengers Band. By 1968 he had joined The Rivers Men, led by the great Rex Lawson, remaining in the band until Lawson's death in 1971. For the next year, Otaru played with St. Augustine's Rovers Band and then broke off to form his own Otarus Brothers International Band in 1972.
Based on context clues, I am dating this album, his third, to 1974 or 75.
BENJAMIN OTARU AND HIS OTARUS BROTHERS BAND - BENJAMIN OTARU AND HIS OTARUS BROTHERS BAND (EMI RECORDS, NEMI(LP) 0106, c. 1974/75)
SIDE 1
1. Ikpozi Special
2. Owakhowa
3. Onoyohi Roregueda
4. Aiyeroyao
5. Ono Gbe Me No Vbioe
SIDE 2
1. Alhaji Inu-Umoru
2. Gbeyen Ona Eye Ona
3. M.C.K. Obi
4. Mr. Man
5. Col. Sedenu
DOWNLOAD ZIP
(Sorry it sounds slightly rough, especially at the beginning of each side; I don't know... Visually the vinyl is VG+. It's annoying to me, especially since the spare texture of Otaru's music makes the noise a bit more apparent, but a lot of people seem to want to hear this record so I posted it anyway.)
