NTIA (A belated realization)

A few months ago over on Likembe, John B. posted a few selections from Rusted Highlife Vol. 1, a compilation of forgotten highlife classics released by Mossaic Music.

While there's no doubt that Rusted Highlife Vol. 1 is a truly sublime collection of music, its annotations were perhaps a bit questionable. As John noted, the recording "Ima Abasi," attributed on the disc to Calabar musician Kingsley Burstic Bassey, is the exact version of the song from the Ghana classic Hit Sound of the Ramblers Dance Band LP. Similarly, "Abisi Do," which is listed as being by "Demmy Bassey" is identical to "Abasi Do," which appears on Golden Highlife Classics by King Bruce & the Black Beats, with composition credited to "Len Bassey."

Two tracks that really stood out to me, though, were "Solo Hit (Nwaocholonwu)" and "Mme Yedi," credited to B.E. Batta & Eastern Stars Dance Band and featuring a singer identified as "Emmanuel Vita."

B.E. Batta & Eastern Stars Dance Band - Mme Yedi
B.E. Batta & Eastern Stars Dance Band - Solo Hit (Nwaocholonwu)

Both songs rang faint but insistent bells in my head, though I couldn't figure out where I knew them from. The title "Solo Hit" in particular seemed like something I had encountered fairly recently, and not in connection with Orlando Julius Ekemode's 1967 souled-out version of the song:

Orlando Julius & His Modern Aces - "Solo Hit (Instrumental)"

Then, just the other night, it hit me.

Sometime last year, when I was looking for some info on Kingsley Burstic Bassey, I came across this article paying tribute to some of the forgotten highlife legends from Rivers State ("New Calabar") and Cross River State ("Old Calabar"). The unidentified author describes watching a young highlife band playing at a bash presided over by former Cross River State governor Donald Duke and current governor Liyel Imoke:

Somewhere along the imitative repertoire of the band, they broke into an up-tempo highlife tune, which: started with a vivacious and vigorous guitar riff. Quite expectedly, this generated palpable excitement as everyone including Duke and Imoke was nodding and/or swinging to the compelling rhythm of the tune. Even Domenico Gitto, the Italian Managing Director of the contracting firm, swung to the successful beat. As for me, I lost my cool momentarily, sprang to my feet and spun around a couple of times to the enchanted amazement of my colleagues in Gitto and the rest of the audience.

When the event ended and only the lesser mortals were left to tidy up the venue, I approached the lead singer of the band and challenged him to a four-point quiz with each question attracting a prize tag of five hundred Naira. Expectedly, he acquiesced; after all, he had two thousand Naira to gain and absolutely nothing to lose since the gamble was one-sided-it was mine.

Question: What is the title of the song that caused so much excitement?

Answer: Solo Hit

Question: Who sang it?

Answer: Emmanuel Ntia

Question: In what language was it sung?

Answer: Fish language

Question: What is on the flipside?

Answer: Meyedi.

Amazing! Though I lost two thousand Naira, I couldn’t be happier especially given the fact that this young man, was in his early twenties knew such details of a song that was released more than forty years ago. Of the accurate answers, the one that impressed me most was the language of the song, which, for me, is still as much a mystery as it was in the sixties. Fish language?! Whatever that means! But it came out right on the delivery and So Hit was a smash sensation on the highlife scene in the sixties.

Of course... "Emmanuel Vita" is Emmanuel Ntia. When I was a kid, he was regarded as one of the great highlife legends of Cross River State. (He comes from Abak, which is now in Akwa Ibom State.) His song "Ke Nsede Nasiaye Ufien," along with "Solo Hit" and "Mme Yedi" were played all the time wherever two or three older folks were gathered, and I went to school with one of his nephews. Emmanuel Ntia is still alive (see him pictured below with his wife and one of his sons) and still playing that good dance band music.



I'm posting up the Ekpo LP from 1975, which I think is fairly representative of the repertoire of many highlife dance bands in the 1970s, especially in places like Calabar and Ghana: old-style highlife numbers, with an increasing influence of "souls." (I just love saying that, "souls"... I like the way the old highlife guys tend to pronounce it as a plural.)

(Now if I could just find out something more about B.E. Batta...)

NTIA & EASTERN STARS DANCE BAND - EKPO (BEN RECORDS, BLP 0005, 1975)

SIDE 1
1. Ekpo
2. Ke Nsede Nasiaye Ufien
3. Kot Ndito Abasi
4. Iyedara

SIDE 2
1. Nya Ekpo
2. I Need Some One
3. Good Bye
4. By The Same Side

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Fujupop

I went to high school at Federal Government College, Ikot Ekpene, one of the prestigious "unity schools" established from 1970 onwards by the decree of then-head of state Yakubu Gowon. The idea was to install in every region of Nigeria top-quality, federally-funded secondary institutions where the student body and the staff were drawn by quota from every corner of the country, familiarizing Nigeria's youth with one another and facilitating national reunification after the ethnical and religious polarization of the civil war of '67-70. Pro unitate ("towards unity") was the motto.

When I started in the mid-80s, there were two unity schools--a Federal Government Girls' College and a coed Federal Government College--located in each of Nigeria's 19 states. (The hallowed King's College and Queen's College in Lagos were absorbed as honorary members of the Federal Government College system even though their existence pre-dated the unity schools initiative by 61 and 43 years respectively.)

Looking back, I think I really took it for granted: I went to a Federal Government College because I was considered a bright kid, and gaining admission to one of the highly-competitive FGCs was what bright kids were expected to do. Yes, I was quite aware how much hipper than the local "state schools" the federal schools were perceived to be, but I didn't think it was that much of a big deal. But now, when I talk to my peers who went to state schools--many of whom never really had the chance to leave their region of origin or socialize with people from other parts of the country--and I observe how relatively provincial and ethnocentric they are in their worldview, I realize what a blessing the unity school system was and I am tremendously grateful to General Gowon for his vision and statesmanship.

As a young music lover, one advantage of FGCs I recognized even then was the opportunity to be apprised of the sounds rocking in other parts of the country. I lived in the small and "dry" Eastern town of Calabar, which seemed perpetually a few steps behind "bubbling" metropolises like Lagos and Port Harcourt, so whenever we came back from the holidays, my school friends would fill me in on the latest music happening in their sections. Likewise, I would turn them on to the latest tunes from the East that had not yet spread to other parts of the country (if at all they ever did). But more or less, we all listened to the same kind of music even if we heard it at different times.

As the 80s wore on, though, I noticed that the music tastes of my friends from Lagos and other parts of Western Nigeria were changing a bit, moving towards more Yoruba-centric styles. Juju--which had up until this time had been regarded as music for our parents' generation--had started to retool itself to appeal to a younger audience, spearheaded by the likes of Sir Shina Peters and Segun Adewale. And then you had newer Yoruba street styles like fuji fiercely competing with the juju new wave for the imaginations and backsides of the Lagos youth.

This music--with its Yoruba lyrics, cosmopolitan opulence, frantic percussion and vague aroma of Islam--really did not play in Eastern Nigeria at all. The Lagosians would dance and sing these songs to each other, delighting in them like untranslatable Yoruba in-jokes.

Slightly more accessible to non-Lagosians like myself were the other emerging forms of Yoruba pop that built around the familiar structure of R&B, funk, rock and reggae; the most popular of these mutant forms was Adewale Ayuba's "Yo-pop." Another was "fujupop"--which melded fuji and juju with a modern pop sensibility. The style was created by a young singer named Bola Bimbola, who originally dubbed it "danfo beat" (after the danfo bus--the rickety vans that serve as public transportation in the streets of Lagos) when he debuted with a Yoruba-language version of "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough."

At the time, the record was appealing mostly on a novelty level--maybe a step or two above a parody--but listening to it now, I'd say it's quite brilliant in the way it retrofits the song with fuji percussion while maintaining the integrity of the Michael's original. (The sonic excellence of Bimbo's debut LP is unsurprising, considering the fact that it sports the typically baroque credit "Production, Concept and Music Arrangement by Sound Master Odion Iruoje.)



Bola Bimbola (now known as Bola Abimbola) went on to join King Sunny Ade's African Beats for a while and has been based for the past couple of years in Denver, Colorado where he leads his Wazobia band and continues to work with other artists both in the US and in Nigeria.

You'll notice that the Wikipedia page linked above makes no mention of his 1987 debut. His currently offline website, Fujupop dot com did, however... Though for some reason it described his English-language cover of "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" as a duet with Linda Ronstadt!

Oh yeah... That's another thing: The sleeve lists "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" as "Off The Wall," which is of course the title of the Michael Jackson album the song appeared on. It also credits "Silifa Bamijo" as a cover of "Fever Bobijo," which is actually "Viva Bobby Joe" by The Equals.

(Just in case you're wondering, the unity schools are mostly rubbish now. Even back in my day, the government was already complaining that 38 FGCs in 19 states exerted too much of a drain on federal resources and was considering turning over the responsibility for the schools' maintenance to the governments of the respective states they were located in. Twenty-odd years later, Nigeria's 19 states have multiplied hydra-like to 36, with yet more tribally-cartographed states agitating to splinter off. With two FGCs in each one, it looks like the federal government has just stopped caring; the schools have fallen into disrepair structurally and educationally and become as provincial as the state schools they were supposed to be an improvement over. I don't know if they even still hold the cachet of prestige they used to; it seems like regional private schools are the place to be now.

Oh well... 'Twas a noble experiment from which I and many others benefited immeasurably.)

BOLA BIMBOLA - SILIFA BAMIJO (EMI RECORDS, HMV (N) 031, 1987)

SIDE ONE
1. Sumomi Famomi (Off The Wall Yoruba Version)
2. Silifa Bamijo
3. Eleda Mi Gbemi
4. Mama

SIDE TWO
1. Olorun Mi Ye
2. Off The Wall (English Version)
3. Afrika
4. Don't Say No When You Mean To Say Yes

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Naija country mix #2

Found myself hankering for some country sounds, and since we all enjoyed the last Naija Sounds in Country & Western Music mix, I decided to throw together a sequel. Behold the track listing:

1. "Darling" - Felix Lebarty
2. "Angie" - Esbee Family
3. "It's Not Easy" - Emma Ogosi
4. "Bright Eyes" - Jonel Cross
5. "Show a Little Bit of Kindness" - Christy Essien-Igbokwe
6. "Sometime, Someday" - Al Jackson
7. "Be In Your Arms" - Poor Charley Akaa
8. "Dark as a Dungeon" - Gnonnas Pedro

(You'll notice that despite the established theme, I included one non-Nigerian artist; I had to sneak Gnonnas Pedro across the border from République du Bénin because I love his rendition of "Dark as a Dungeon" that damn much.)

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(EDIT: Okay... Let's see if this works now...)

More Bongos

And like the last Bongos LP I posted, it's a bit rough. What can I say? Bongos' music was and is THAT adored in Nigeria--his records are played till the grooves fall off!

(I think I have a better-condition copy of this album somewhere but I really cannot find it right now, so I guess we can all tolerate the Rice Krispies SFX a bit, right?)

This 1980 outing finds Ikwue at the height of his mainstream popularity. Still riding high on the monster wave of goodwill generated by his 1978 Still Searching LP, a supremely confident Bongos tries out a few different musical flavors: a touch of soul, a little funk, calypso, and even old-school, Ray Charles-influenced R&B.

(The album's most memorable hit was "Mariama"--later the subject of scandal when the rumor spread that it was about First Lady Maryam Babangida in the mid-80s.)

Tear Drops would be one of Ikwue's last notable successes, though; the following year he released the classic soundtrack to the TV drama Cock Crow at Dawn and thereafter faded from the limelight. His next album, 1983's Songs I Like to Sing, barely registered on the public radar despite production from Jake Sollo and would be his last release of the 1980s (unless I'm mistaken, that was his last release, period).

Bongos has been on the comeback trail over the past couple of months though, and not surprisingly, he has been re-embraced warmly. Just as I was preparing this entry, I came across this article on Ikwue as a figure of pride and inspiration for the Idoma people. It made me think maybe I should have posted Bongos' album of Idoma-language folk songs, Ihotu, instead. I'm pretty sure I have a NM copy of that one.

Maybe later in the week.

BONGOS IKWUE & THE GROOVIES - TEAR DROPS (EMI RECORDS, NEMI (LP) 0477, 1980)

SIDE ONE
1. Never Say Never Again
2. Tear Drops
3. I've Found A Woman

SIDE TWO
3. Love My Girl
4. Mariama
5. So Far So Good

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What Am I To Do?

After last week's sustained surge of posting, I just had to drop the ball this week, didn't I?

I think I shall give the "every other day" update schedule a shot starting next week; that should be a pace that maintains the interest level around here without me completely blowing my wad.

Just so that this week is not a total waste, though, here's that Odion-produced, eponymous Bongos LP that quite a few people have requested... I warn you: It's a bit rough going. I always feel a bit embarrassed when I post records in this condition, but whaddaya gonna do? This is the business we're in; it's not like we're buying these things at Shoprite or something.

BONGOS IKWUE & THE GROOVIES - BONGOS IKWUE & THE GROOVIES (EMI RECORDS, NEMI LP 0046, 197?)

SIDE 1
1. No More Water in the Well
2. Show Me The Man Who Don't Need a Woman

SIDE 2
1. Baby Let Me Go
2. Sitting On The Beach
3. What Am I To Do

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More Edo rock n' highlife

I don't know if it's a matter of Victor Uwaifo leading and everybody else following, or if it was just something in the air around Benin in those days, because it seems like a disproportionate number of these Edo guys were just coming with that revival-style, rock n' soul-inflected, get-down-and-dirty dance party highlife that Uwaifo had on lock in the 1970s.

This LP was fully composed, arranged, and produced by Douglas Osakwe himself. Wish I knew something about him; the name is familiar to me, but I might just be confusing him with someone I went to school with.

Ah well... Just groove to this, willya?

DOUGLAS OSAKWE AND THE ABOBOKOS - UKHUKHUE (EMI RECORDS, NEMI (LP) 0405, 197?)

SIDE ONE
1. Aganokpe
2. Enyi Jen Enyi Eru-Olo

SIDE TWO
1. Eboigbe
2. Okwunwene

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Who says a highlife band can't play rock?!

Well, not "rock" in the balls-out, yeh! yeh! yeh! sense--you'll find no searing solos here, no raucous drumming, no ecstatic abandon; but with its butter-rich production (courtesy of the late, great Biddy Wright), Johnny Woode's groovy organ lines and Godwin Ironbar's soulful vocal delivery, the album does represent an attempt to bridge the gulf between the old-school highlife orchestras and the youth-driven Western pop music that had enthralled the kids' imaginations in the post-war era.

The always-tasteful Biddy Wright was an apt choice to shepherd a project such as this, having been well familiar with both worlds--he led the beloved Lagos highlife dance band Wura Fadaka in the 1960s and then rocked out with Ronnie Laine of The Faces in the 70s. Ironbar himself is credited as writer, arranger, lead vocalist, guitar soloist and conductor of the fine cadre of musicians on this record. He sounds a bit Victor Uwaifo-inlfuenced to me, but maybe that's just because they both sing in the Edo language and embrace soul music accents in their highlife.

If I recall, several tracks from this record (along with Jackie Mittoo rock steady instrumentals) were frequently used as theme and interstitial music on NTA stations in the 1970s and 80s, especially "Ukpona Mie" and the "Let's Get It On"-citing "Okpenobodi."

(This is another VG+ record that's sounding a bit weird when ripped... I wonder if it's time for me to replace my stylus or something. I'll have to look into that... Let me know if it bugs you any and I might try ripping it again later.)

GODWIN IRONBAR & HIS HIGH-LIFE ROCK EXPONENT - GODWIN IRONBAR (DECCA RECORDS, WAPS 255, 1975)

SIDE 1
1. Ukpona Mie
2. Okpa Do
3. A Ti Se

SIDE 2
1. Okpenobodi
2. Izenegbonta
3. Ovbiogwe

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Otarus again.

As I've said before, I love it when readers chip in around here. Our friend Melvyn was kind enough to share with us the very much in-demand sophomore album from the Otarus Brothers Band! And it sounds great!

So if you dig it, drop a comment and say thanks to Melvyn!

OTARUS - OTARUS (EMI RECORDS, NEMI(LP) 0014, c. 1973)

SIDE 1
1. Eminerume
2. Okuanibo
3. Emanuregbe
4. Ihagbene Iteyowa
5. Agbonita
6. Aigbomo Nomo

SIDE 2
1. Omohupa
2. Afemai Nasoma
3. Pack & Go
4. Amuwa
5. Adenomo

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Wise men bank with UBO

(Title being an eminently lame pun referring to this immortal jingle.)

UMUKEGWU BOYS OPINION with headquarters headquarters [sic] in AKOKWA, IDEATO L.G.A. of IMO STATE is an organisation of budding and enterprising young men formed in 1974 to cater for the general welfare of its members and the community at large: In addition to their concerted efforts to promote development projects, the Boys Opinion launched their UBO JAZZ BAND in 1978 to put people in relaxed moods, while pursuing their set objectives. Though they are no professional musicians, they still found time to make this album you are now holding - a testimony of their creativeness and dynamism.

OHAIGIRI SOCIAL CLUB also with headquarters in AKOKWA, IDEATO, Imo State is a noble organisation promoting the peoples cultural and social aspirations. Membership is countryside and development achievements diverse. Easily one of the most honourable Social Clubs around - hear UBO Jazz Band confirm this.

On the real, I could have told you they were not professional musicians just by listening to them. Not that they don't play well--no, they're more than competent enough; it's just that they don't seem to have a really distinctive voice. It's Igbo guitar band highlife-by-the-numbers and a bit derivative of Osadebe and some other stuff, but it's still a pretty good listen, I think.

UBO JAZZ BAND OF AFRICA - OHAIGIRI SPECIAL (ANODISC RECORDS, ALPS 1068, 1981)

SIDE I
1. Ome Njo Kwusiya
2. K'anyi Bili N'udo

SIDE II
1. Ohaigiri Special

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Suku Suku System

George Iboroma--was one of the most popular proponents of 1970s dance band highlife--well, in Eastern Nigeria, anyway.

I still remember this particular record shaking up the grownups' parties even in the 1980s, when I was coming up. But even if I had forgotten how much play Iboroma's suku suku suku libi libi laba laba sound got, I need only look at my copy of the record, on which the grooves are worn clear through.

Listener beware: Skips and noise aplenty on this one. I regret I had to use the noise removal tool, adding some distortion too. And then the third track--one of the sweetest on the album--was so damaged that I had to leave it off altogether.

I'd usually not share a record in this state, but you can barely find a mention of George Iboroma online let alone any of this music, and I think he should be represented out there.

So until I can find more, this is what we've got.

This album is a two-fer; Side 2 features some Igbo highlife from The Young Timers Dance Band led by Helen WIlliams, one of the few woman highlife bandleaders I can think of.

(We'll hear some more from her later, and in better condition, too!)

GEORGE IBOROMA & HIS REINCARNATIONS - UNBEATABLE GEORGE IBOROMA & HIS REINCARNATIONS (TABANSI RECORDS, TRL 104A, 1975)

1. Philip Leonda
2. Sobra Suapri
3. Ina Bala Na

HELEN WILLIAMS & THE YOUNG TIMERS DANCE BAND - UKO DI (TABANSI RECORDS, TRL 104B, 1975)

1. Di Dim Uko
2. Amachie Uwa George
3. Amam Onye Mmadighi Mma

Nice and scratchy

Emperor Era Jenewari & His Globe Kings Dance Band - "Globe King's Special"

Emperor Era Jenewari & His Globe Kings Dance Band - "Ikeguru Uwa"



I think this record was released around 1970 or 71.

(Sorry about some of the distortion... I used a bit of noise removal on it, which I usually don't do.)

Check out some of Jenewari's later music HERE

This was not the plan

Let's see...

The last two posts dealt with Izon musician Echo Toikumo and guitarist Benjamin Otaru, who eared his chops under Ijaw bandleader Rex Lawson. I'd hoped to continue this informal theme of Rivers State-styled highlife today by throwing up some sound by Ijaw singer George Iboroma, but the record I wanted to post needs a little more restoration than I have the time to perform right now.

So instead I decided to take the easy route and share this album by Benji Igbadumhe instead. That works, doesn't it? Even though King Benji does not originate from the Ijoid clans, he--like highlife cult legend Waziri Oshomah--comes from the Etsakọ group in northern Edo State, so we still have a "highlife from minority groups" thing going ("minority" in Nigerian parlance refers to any ethnic group that is not Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa/Fulani). And to make things better yet, this record is like VG++/NM! I'll have it ripped in a flash!

Alas, this is not how it turned out. For some reason, the record plays funny-style, so there will be a few skips for you, especially on side 2. It doesn't detract significantly from these groovy Okeke sounds, though.

I think the track that fills all of side 1, "Arofu Nemho Okeke" was a "hit" to some extent in 1984. Either that or it was played as the theme music of some TV show or something, because I remember it quite well though I don't think I've ever actually listened to this record before today.

Oh yes, one more thing: His name is misspelled on the cover; it should be "Igbadumhe." (D'OH!)

BENJI IGBADUMHE AND HIS OKEKE SOUNDS INTERNATIONAL - BENJI IGBADUMHE AND HIS OKEKE SOUNDS INTERNATIONAL (SUPREMEDISK, SDP 049, 1984)

SIDE 1
1. Arofu Nemho Okeke

SIDE 2
1. Erelumhe
2. Atab Okeke

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Otarus.

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

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(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.)

Echo of the (Flooded) Savannah

A few months ago, John B. posted a nice series on Likembe spotlighting some of the music from the Ijaw/Okrika/Izon peoples of Nigeria's Delta region.

The Ijaw are considered one of Nigeria's "ethnic minorities" and as such, their rich culture and musical heritage are often overlooked, but the area has nurtured a strong highlife tradition (especially in the live performance arena) and produced luminaries of the genre such as Prince David Bull & the Professional Seagulls* and the immortal Cardinal Rex Jim Lawson. The majority of its highlife stars, though, have never not made much of a mark beyond the immediate region but are local legends: Emperor Erasmus Jenewari, George Iboroma, King Robert Ebizimor and of course Echo Toikumo.

Echo Toikumo's music, like that of most Ijaw dance bands, tends to an urgency and directness that is akin to the jumpy highlife of their their Anioma neighbors.

(A few small press defects in this one, gang... Nothing too distracting, though.)

ECHO TOIKUMO AND THE FISHER BROTHERS - ENI YEI (TRADISCOS RECORDS, TRDLP-09, 1984)

SIDE 1
1. Ebi-Ebi Miyen
2. Eni Yei

SIDE 2
1. Tibi Kari
2. Eko Itonbra

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*My man Deinma (that proud son of Okrika) has been bugging me to put up some David Bull music for a while... I'm working on it, D!

Get Yer Ju-Ju's Out: He is Heavy... He is My Brother

Actually, I don't know for a fact that Bob Aladeniyi is King Sunny Ade's younger brother, but I think he is (anybody in the know, feel free to confirm or repudiate this).

What is certain is that Aladeniyi, with his showy guitaristics, was an integral player in Ade's African Beats. In some quarters, it is believed that he was the true musical voice of the band and that he played most of Ade's licks on record and on stage (Victor Uwaifo in particular has alleged that KSA only "pretends" to play guitar).

I don't know about all that... This LP is very much in the same afrobeat-infused vein as much of KSA's later 1970s work; Aladeniyi apparently even attempts to approximate his boss's feathery tenor at times, but his voice is considerably gruffer. The guitar heroics, however, stay as inventive and heavy as ever.

BOB ALADENIYI AND HIS JUJU ROCK STARS - JUJU ROCK SOUND VOL. 1 (TAKE YOUR CHOICE RECORDS, TYC40-L, 1970s)

SIDE 1
1. Gbedo-Gbedo
2. Itelorun Kosi Feiye Ega
3. Loju Won Lo Pe Si
4. Gegele L'Obi Gegele
5. Ile Ogere A Da
6. Awa Ti Juba Fun Won

SIDE 2
1. Idahun Re L'Anreti
2. A Njuwon
3. Gale Gale Ewe Odan
4. Ijo Shower

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Get Yer Ju-Ju's Out... It's Monday!

We haven't yet taken a look at Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey but we will... at some point.

Today we'll just check out a taste from a musician closely associated with Obey, Monday O. John.

By the early 1970s, Obey had been established for a few years as one of the stand-bearers for a glamorous new era of juju that saw the genre move from gin joints to jamborees, assimilating the cosmopolitan appeal of highlife, the vigorous physicality of rock & roll, the earnest emotionalism of country & western, and the guitar theatrics of Congolese rumba.

In the latter department, Obey found himself mostly outmatched by his chief rival, King Sunny Ade, much feted for his guitar wizardry. Obey's recruitment of John evened out the guitar stakes between his Inter-Reformers band and Ade's African Beats, or at least made it a reasonable enough debate.

This 1983 outing features John leading a band that includes a few musicians more identified with the "rock" genre--conga player Friday Jumbo, guitarist Jimi Lee Adams, keyboard player Goldfinger Papa Doe, Fela's afrobeat co-architect Tony Allen on the drums--and interesting enough, KSA guitar player Kayode Dosunmu.

THE GREAT MONDAY JOHN NEW WAVE MUSICAL GROUP - MONDAY O JOHN (GREAT MONDAY JOHN RECORDS, GMJ1, 1983)

CHAPTER ONE
1. Eyin Terije-Erantiwa-o (Let the richest remember the poor)
2. Awon Tiwon Ti-Gbon-Lomo Olorun (The people with knowledge are the sons of God)
3. Won Be Larawon (They are among--with them)

CHAPTER TWO
1. Emi Nima Sin Iyami To Tomi Dagba (I shall be at Mother's funeral ceremony)
2. Iya Wi Fun Omo Ko Marokun (A mother's warning to her child)
3. Eje Kafarabale Siotito (Let's be patient for the truth)
4. Ojo Nla Ni Ojo Timo Yan (It's a great day that I received from the Lord)

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Some funk off of Youtube

Yes, it's a placeholder... I haven't really had time to make any new entries, so for now just enjoy these 1980s Naija funk cuts pulled from the the always excellent DivaRadioFUNK channel on the 'Tube:





(Look out for a Dizzy K feature coming soon, by the way.)

Whatever happened to Danie Ian?

Singer/guitarist Danie Ian (pronounced "eye-AN") is perhaps one of the most tragically undersung heroes in the annals of Nigerian popular music. A founder of not one but two of the most seminal bands of the rock era, his lack of greater renown is an unfortunate accident of timing: His career peak just happened to have coincided with an epoch that history has simultaneously judged to be a golden age and a lost era.

In 1966, as Nigeria shuffled toward its sixth anniversary as an independent nation, its fragile democracy was displaced by two military coups in rapid succession, simmering ethnic rivalries boiled over into fult-tilt carnage, and Nigeria would greet the next decade as a country at war with itself. It's safe to say the honeymoon was over.

Apparently, 1966 was also the year that Daniel Ian Mbaezue formed his first pop group, The Spades (some accounts give the year as 1968)--which would go on to be one of the most influential bands of in Nigeria's embattled Eastern Region, and eventually one of the most beloved bands in the country as a whole--albeit without him.

Mbaezue was born in the village of Umuezeawala, outside of the town of Ihiala in present-day Anambra State. Daniel showed an early propensity for music, playing flute and drums in his primary school band, leading the school choir at Abbott Boys Secondary School and remaining active in school music activities at Holy Ghost College in Owerri, Imo State, from which he received his Higher Studies Certificate in 1964.

In 1965, he returned to Ihiala to teach at his alma mater Abbott Boys, but his interest in music continued. During those turbulent times, the buoyant optimism and aspirations to elegance represented by dance band highlife had lost a bit of its luster and the new youth generation had turned more towards "beat" music--funk, soul and rock & roll. Where once a youths interested in music sought to learn the trumpet and join a highlife orchestra, they now picket up guitars and formed rock bands like The Blue Knights, The Cyclops, The Strangers, Hykkers International, The Soul Assembly and The Clusters. Mbaezue reports that he bought a guitar with his very first paycheck and shortly thereafter assembled The Spades.

In May 1967, the governor of the Eastern Region, Lt. Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu declared that the region had seceded from the Nigerian federation and would effectively be known as the independent nation of Biafra. Nigeria promptly dedicated all its military resources to crushing Biafra and re-annexing the oil-rich land it stood on. Biafra soon became a blockaded teritory, with Nigeria barring food and medical supplies into the region, leading to an estimated one million Biafran casualties, with a good percentage of those being civilians that succumbed to starvation and disease.

Through all that, though, Biafra managed to maintain a fairly vibrant music scene. Little is remembered about most of the wartime bands, as for obvious reasons they got few opportunities to record. And of the few recordings that were made, few survived the devastation. (One With Comb & Razor reader once described to me driving through the ravaged city of Onitsha shortly after The War and seeing a long stretch of a major road littered with broken 45s.) As such, we know little about bands like The Figures and The Spades that played in Biafra, chiefly entertaining the young soldiers. Perhaps because of this reputation for lifting the spirits of combatants in the war zone, by 1968 The Spades had become known as The Airforce Wings.

When The War ended in 1970, Airforce Wings became simply "The Wings" and soared even higher, their achy-hearted rock and pop serving as a salve for the battered souls of the country's youth. But The Wings' postwar success was achieved not behind charismatic frontman Dan Ian but with new lead singer Emeka Jonathan "Spud Nathan" Udensi; Ian had been lured over to The Strangers in late 1970 and in 1971 moved to Lagos to join Sonny Okosuns' Paperback Limited. Ian's spell with Okosuns was similarly short, and by 1972 he had formed the band with which he is most associated: Wrinkar Experience.

Not much is known about the group (which was active for only six months between 1972 and 1973) and I've never seen a photo so I'm not sure about the composition of its membership. All I can say for certain is that the lineup included Ian on guitar and lead vocals, Cameroonians Edjo'o Jacques Racine and Ginger Forcha (on bass and guitar/organ respectively). Ian seems to have been the primary songwriter, penning the two singles for which the band is best known: "Fuel for Love" and "Money to Burn."

Wrinkar Experience - "Fuel for Love"
Wrinkar Experience - "Money to Burn"

I'm sure we're all familiar with these songs, as well as with "Fuel for Love"'s B-side:

Wrinkar Experience - "Soundway"

(The B-side of "Money to Burn" was "Ballad of a Sad Young Woman." I don't have that, but here's a snippet.)

At the height of Wrinkar's fame, Ian left the band "in protest against exploitation." Wrinkar Experience briefly carried on without him until Forcha and Racine formed a new band, Rock Town Express.

If one were to make an assumption about Danie Ian's temperament based solely on his in-and-out relationships with various bands between 1970 and 1973, one might be tempted to view him as mercurial, territorial, perhaps a tad attention-hogging. After the Wrinkar split, Sunny Okosuns considered re-drafting Ian to sing lead vocals on his breakthrough hit "Help," but feared Ian would attempt "steal" the song by taking credit for its composition. Instead, Ian put together a new band called The Ace of Spades and recorded a handful of singles, including "Love Me Now," "Keep It Top Secret" and "Lady Gay Girl."

Danie Ian - "Lady Gay Girl"

By 1976, Ian had shortened the band's name to The Spades in tribute to his original group and released the album Chapter One: This Unspoken Love, dubbing his sound "Love-Dayrock."

Danie Ian & the Spades - "This Unspoken Love"
Danie Ian & the Spades - "Got To Stay Mine"
Danie Ian & the Spades - "I Need Somebody To Love"

The album was issued by EMI in Nigeria, but was also released on Pathe Marconi in France as simply Danie Ian & The Spades. It does not appear to have made much of an impact in either market.

In 1978, Ian ditched he Spades and teamed up with the Heads Funk rock band of Port Harcourt for Hold On Tight, an album of mostly mellow reggae-style tunes like "She's My Woman."

Dan Ian - "She's My Woman"

Apparently, the album's hit was a song that diverged from Ian's usual romantic pop format. "Uri Oma" evoked Igbo native blues and performed well in regional Igbo markets.

Dan Ian - "Uri Oma"

On the mainstream level, though, Hold On Tight mostly went unnoticed. The audience was changing; the new generation seemed more interested in new genres like disco and boogie and even the re-energized guitar highlife scene. Dan Ian's beat pop seemed to be just as much of a relic as the old school dance band highlife it had supplanted a decade earlier, a souvenir of a dark age they would rather have forgotten and memories they wished would just disappear.

And so Danie Ian did just that. He disappeared.

The former heartthrob went back to his hometown, where he was honored with the title Chief Dan Ian Mbaezue, Ezeloma Apanike of Ihiala. But music was never far from his heart. Citing the success of "Uri Oma" as an influence, he charted a new artistic direction in the world of traditional Igbo music and highlife.

In 1990, a mature and near-unrecognizable Dan Ian returned to the music scene with the LP Jide Ukpuru Oma.

Chief Dan Ian Mbaezue - Edikata Ndidi Obi Agbowasia"
Chief Dan Ian Mbaezue - "Mmiri Si N'Isi Gbaru"

And then, just like that, he was gone again.

Which brings us to the question at the top of this post, one that I have been asked several times since I started writing about Nigerian music on this blog: Whatever happened to Danie Ian?

I regret that at this time, I have no definite answer as to his activities of the last 18 years, but most people seem to be unaware of anything he did after Wrinkars, so I hope I've filled in some of the blanks at least.

As one who was not even born when "Fuel for Love" was released, I can only imagine the tremendous effect it had on the kids that came up in the shadow of The War. I can hardly think of a single song that elicits as passionate a response; you need only hum a few bars of "Fuel for Love" in the presence of any gathering of pentagenarian Biafra babies and and watch them go wild.

(The afrofunk supergroup Ariara--featuring friend of the blog Edward Keazor--recorded a lovely version of the sentimental classic.)

I believe he is alive and well, though; rumor suggests that he works as a palm wine tapper in his village, but as he's probably pushing seventy by now, I hope he's not still climbing those trees!

The last major Dan Ian sighting was in October 2006, when he traveled to Lagos for the "Legends Night" event held by the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria. As audience members requested old favorites by the likes of highlife maestros Dan Maraya Jos, Oliver De Coque and Raphael Amarabem, Dan Ian was summoned to the stage to perform "Fuel for Love."

And so he sang, and they danced like it was 1972. And for one night at least, Danie Ian got the recognition he deserved as a legend of Nigerian music.

Well... Let this be another night for him.

One Big Question...

Who were Sons of Izzu?

Wish I could say I knew. Hell, I wish I could say I knew what year their album Ago Follow You Go was released. But since the record sleeve gives us none of this information, we'll do the best we can to sketch a general portrait using the few context clues we do have.

1. They were an Igbo highlife group. While they do not sing in Igbo, this is obvious due to their bouncy, Ikwokilikwo sound and the subtitle "Anambra/Imo special," a reference to the two main Igbo-speaking states in Nigeria at the time.

2. This LP was recorded some time after 1975, the year Ikenga Superstars of Africa released Ikenga in Africa, which popularized this style of hard-driving, pidgin English highlife. Probably even after Prince Nico Mbarga's 1976 Sweet Mother, whose massive success across Africa and the Caribbean thrust this kind of sound into overdrive.

3. Like Mbarga himself, this LP is a Cameroonian-Nigerian creation. The only credited session musicians are Edjo'o Jacques Racine (bass), Ginger Forcha (guitars) and Feliciano Sango (a.k.a. Felix Nsango, percussion), a trio of Cameroonian rock musicians known as Rock Town Express.

4. The record was produced by Tony Essien, a musician and producer from Akwa Ibom State who often worked with Rock Town Express, and released on Essien's own Supertone label. This record would have been made before Essien assumed the position of chief producer and creative director at Haruna Ishola's Phonodisk label in 1980.

So... Given all that, I'm guessing this record dropped in 1977 or 78 (Something about it sounds very Festac-y to me). Still no clue who Sons of Izzu themselves were, though...

5/6/09: Actually, now that I think about... This LP is TON(LP) 002; the Tony Essien-produced Enim Ini by Cross River Nationale was TON E001... Enim Ini was released in 1976, so...

SONS OF IZZU - AGO FOLLOW YOU GO (SUPERTONE, TON (LP) 002, 1970s)

SIDE ONE
1. Ago Follow You Go
2. Better No Follow

SIDE TWO
3. One Big Question
4. You Never Chop Beleful

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A Fela guest shot

I love it when readers send stuff in... Not just because I'm genuinely interested in other people's insights, experiences and information, but also because it relieves me of the responsibility of having to generate new content for the blog!

So today we have an essay and a mix celebrating the influence of Fela courtesy of Washington DC-based journalist Iwedi Ojinmah... Enjoy!

Baba is Dead…...Long Live Baba

I remember seeing him for the first time just as if it was yesterday. Through the clouds of smoke and altered by the “come hither” glow of red and blue bulbs that ordained the club, he stood with relative ease…. an omnipotent symbol of a bold and angry new Africa.

I was instantly mesmerized and would be for life.


No Teacher Could Teach This Guy Nonsense

He was bare chested and seemed oblivious to the thin film of sweat that defied the cool wind being dispersed by huge ceiling fans above and that covered his sinewy ebony frame. One circle - in what must be some type of traditional Yoruba chalk - encircled one eye making him look more like a winking raccoon than arguably Africa’s most vibrant singer slash activist. He has now evolved into a far cry from the trumpeter of the Cool Cats aka Koola Lobitos that had once played highlife and modeled evening gear for fashion magazines.

His nostrils flare a little and his eyes sparkle with obvious intelligence as he takes one last monster drag of his cannabis cigar and turns to the crowd with his now patented call to arms of “make I yab them”? The emphatic reply is a resounding “Yab them” !!!”

Ladies and Gentlemen... the place is Ikeja. It is the late 1970s and the location is The Shrine, and Fela Anikulakpo Kuti’s famous “Yab them Night” has just kicked off.

I had picked a good night. Well, make that "we." Stowed away from High School thousands of miles away in the East, my friends and I had travelled all the way to Lagos by “Air - Chi Di Ebere” just to see “Baba” live. We, as well as the rest of Nigeria, had just been hypnotized by that first killer LP that featured both “Shakara” and “Lady” and rather than buy another pair of platform shoes, or Brutus jeans had saved our pocket money to make this hajj possible.

For the first hour it was a non stop jam session of some of his greatest work. Looking back now we can only “Thank God” that he had yet to release such great master pieces as “Water No Get Enemy” or “Africa Center of The World” because as we know Fela was not just a great performer, but a shrewd businessman and refused to play any song you could buy for yourself on wax, tape or 8 track. In as much as they were still being worked on then they were already timeless classics even in the pupa stage and “Fela” delivered them with unparalleled showmanship.

In between sets his tongue wagged like a hyperactive “bulala” as he called out everyone from President, to the Pope, flogging even his own Brother Beko who was the then equivalent of the nations Surgeon General with it, as well as a gaggle of other “useless” “Madams and Ogas”. Not in fear of the jack booted thugs in uniform that had repeatedly suffocated arguably Africa’s most vibrant Press in the past, that night Music was his Weapon as we remained in stunned silence - soaking everything in. By nights end most of us had made a conscious decision to remain either part of the disease or become part of a cure. I say this because out of the four of us that witnessed sheer magic that night 2 would end up being journalists and the other 2 lawyers.

Fela would rewrite that art of confrontation using both satire and an in your face type of challenge virtually new to Africa. This would catapult him to instant super status especially in Ghana, his old stomping ground, and in South Africa where Hugh Masekela would virtually change his new band's format and style even dedicating his maiden album entitled The Boy's Doing It to Fela himself. 60 years later his respect has not diminished one iota as we hear in his ode to Fela on the album Sixty which not just brings tears to your eyes but also tugs at your heart.

He would be the first to actually name names in his songs starting with the fabled "I.T.T." in which he questioned not just then-chairman Abiola’s dubious “modus operandi” but actually mentioned then-President Obasanjo by name. As we know this would set into motion a hateful relationship with the Nigerian Army that would not only span decades and play an unfortunate role in his Mother’s death, but also lead to his incarceration in Nigeria’s coldest and dampest prison located in Jos. In as much as his body was already being ravaged by the HIV virus, it was here that he would catch the actual pneumonia that would cause the heart failure which killed him on August the 2nd, 1997. This is made even more unfortunate when we look at the likes of, say, a Magic Johnson today, who has shown us that having AIDS does not necessarily translate into an instant death and that Fela despite being infected then could have easily lived on with today’s new drugs and given us 20 or 30 years more of sheer ecstasy.

Years later while working at The National Public Radio in Washington I would hear a nightingale-like voice emit from one of the studios and carry through the myriad of its hallways. It wasn’t so much that it was beautiful but it was what it was singing that galvanized me into an almost trot – seeking its source. Stunned I peeped in and looked at the bald head of Sinead O’Connor (then arguably the epitome of controversy and female activism) “blowing” Fela’s “Lady” in perfect pidgin. Later on I would learn that she was preparing for the Manu Dibango’s "Wakafrika" tour and all I could do was just shake my head and smile. I mean here was one of the ultimate feminists of her time singing a Fela song that without a doubt if not encourages sexism certainly winks at it, and she didn’t even know. Rather, with eyes closed, she attacked each line with such energy and passion that one despite her pigmentation, could have easily mistaken her for one of the Kalakuta Queens. Fela himself must have been proud and smiling at the fact that not only does his music continue to live on with efforts put forth by his sons, but also in projects like Red Hot + Riot and by bands like The Roots and singers like O’Connor. Bearing this in mind, he can really Rest in Peace knowing that (and I quote the NY Times) "Afro beat offers plenty of room for allies and kindred spirits, without ever surrendering its own stubborn identity."

And to that we can only add an "Amen" and a "Thank God."

Iwedi Ojinmah for the Times of Nigeria and The Village Square

DOWNLOAD THE ADVANCED BABA MIX

1. Gentleman - Fela
2. Water No get Enemy - Fela
3. War is a Crime - Antibalas
4. Nigerian Gangster - Jay-Z/DJ Mike Love
5. Live in Berlin - Seun Kuti
6. No Agreement - Res, Tony Allen, Ray Lema, Baaba Maal, Macy Gray Positive Black Soul & Archie Shepp
7. Blackman Know Yourself - Femi Kuti (The Roots remix)
8. Omelebele - Victor Olaiya and his International Allstars
9. Lagos Sisi - Bola Johnson
10. NEPA - Tony Allen
11. Live in Berlin - Seun Kuti
12. Mr Big Mouth - Antibalas
13. Roforofo Fight - Fela
14. Zombie - Fela

Thanks a lot, Iwedi! And all you old heads out there... I'd love it if you shared your recollections too!