VA - Afrobeat Sessions [2CD Set] (2004)

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VA - Afrobeat Sessions [2CD Set] (2004)

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Afrobeat’s rise to common musical currency has been mercurial during the last 5 years as dance music producers embrace more complex Afro rhythms and original West African pioneers like Fela Kuti and Tony Allen receive their dues. Featuring new hip hop from Ty alongside seminal house beats from Masters At Work and ultra-funky original music from Nigeria and Ghana courtesy of Fela Kuti, highlife God E.T. Mensah and more. 2 CD collection of 29 tracks then hits the groove straight away with Aslhley Beadle’s ‘Afrikans On Marz’ mix of Femi Kuti’s ‘Beng Beng Beng’, next up the classic Dennis Ferrer track ‘Funu’ which then leads us to a nicely different track with Tony Allen’sAfrobeat mix of Gigi’s ‘Gudfella’. So many more I could pick out too including DJ Food ‘Dub Lion’ and Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo De Cotonou Benin’s ‘Houe Towe Houn’. Suffice to say this does the job big time.
Spring 2004, Miami Winter Conference. A packed floor moves to the strains of a 10-minute Fela Kuti classic as New York’s ‘Jump ‘N’ Funk’ party starts to cook with resident DJ Rich Medina. With its core of Afrobeat and African-inspired dance music, this hugely popular night is the culmination of several years of growing popularity as old and new African dancefloor fusions have been welcomed into clubland with open arms. Afrobeat influences now regularly appear in music from across the globe, and the word itself is now used to describe all manner of different Afro / dance styles. DJs as diverse as Gilles Peterson, Laurent Garnier, Danny Krivit and Coldcut regularly feature Afrobeat within their sets and African rhythms are now a regular fixture within hard house records, jazz beat anthems and hip hop jams alike.

A lot of the music on this album has its root in the original Afrobeat sound of Fela Anikulapo Kuti. The key figure in Nigeria’s 1970s post-independence music, Fela had formed his first band, Koola Loobitos, whilst studying in London. But it was his trip with the band to the USA in 1969 that would shape his music and message for the next decade and beyond - the teachings of Malcolm X and the Black Panthers had direct relevance to Africans emerging from colonial rule. Back in Nigeria, with the band re-named Africa 70 and the Afro Shrine club up and running at Lagos’ Empire Hotel, Fela began his journey as the voice of the people, working with kit drummer Tony Allen to develop a more extended, spacious sound to his music, a more specifically African formula complete with Pidgin English lyrics. He would soon begin launching biting attacks on corrupt and ineffective military and civilian governments through a series of memorable records, remaining staunchly resolute in the face of regular military attention and occasional violent attacks on him, his family and his entourage.

With ‘Afrobeat Sessions’, on CD 1, we fix the spotlight on the spectrum of new Afro-inspired dance music. The Fela influence appears regularly through bands like New York’s Antibalas, French production team Les Barons and Fela’s son Femi and Tony Allen’s deserved resurgence bears fruit on collaborations with UK MC Ty and new Ethiopian star Gigi. We take a look at a handful of early dance music / Afro crossovers from the ‘80s and early ‘90s with Hugh Masekela and DJ Food and even dip into house, hip hop and ambient. On CD 2 we take a look back at some of the many excellent musicians that operated before and during Fela’s reign during the ‘70s in West Africa, many of whom were incredibly prolific in the studio and on stage but made precious little in-roads outside of their homeland. We also touch on other pioneering artists from across Africa, creating their own sounds by stirring imported soul, jazz and funk into their traditional music forms. Hopefully a fairly rounded Afro experience that will remain at hand whenever you’re in the mood for a funky taste of the Motherland…

CD 01

FEMI KUTI - BENG BENG BENG (Ashley Beedle's Afrikans On Marz Mix)
As Fela Kuti’s son, Femi was certainly thrust into the deep end during his musical apprenticeship. Playing with his father’s Egypt 80 band, he was famously thrust into the spotlight in 1985 in the USA, stepping in to front the band in front of an ecstatic Hollywood Bowl crowd when his father was unexpectedly arrested in Lagos. Since then, he has forged his own musical direction with his Positive Force band, conjuring a concise, urgent update of his father’s blueprint with plenty of soul and jazz in the mix. This is the big track from his 1998 ‘Shoki Shoki’ album, a celebration of good ol’ rumpy pumpy, remixed in atmospheric style by Xpress 2’s Ashley Beedle.

2. DENNIS FERRER – Funu
As the man behind ‘Funu’, one of the best and most enduring Afro-house records of recent years, Dennis Ferrer is at the forefront of the current wave of New York’s soulful house producers and DJs. Running the excellent Sfere label with long-time friend and mentor Kerri Chandler, he has moved his own productions effortlessly from gospel house grooves and Brazilian beats to jazz-inspired dancefloor gems with soulful outings on Ibadan, 95 North, Chillifunk and more. ‘Funu’ is a real beauty, effortlessly catchy with great guitar work and a memorable vocal from Martino Atangana.

3. GIGI - Gudfella (Tony Allen Afrobeat Mix)
One of several interesting Afrobeat fusions on this collection – here, one of Ethiopia’s finest new vocalists receives the treatment from the originator of the Afrobeat rhythm, Tony Allen. With Bill Laswell producing, Gigi Shibabaw’s acclaimed 2002 debut album showcased her incredible voice, as adept at haunting melodies as full-on soul. It also pushed the boundaries in many new directions stylistically, bringing Ethio-funk, jazz and dark dub into the mix. “And I listen to a lot of West African music, South African music, hip hop, and funk,” Gigi explains, “so you feel all that in the melodies.”

4. TY feat. TONY ALLEN – The Willing
One of the hardest working MCs on the UK hip hop circuit since the ‘80s, Ty has consistently kept the party element firmly in his hip hop and is finally getting all the props he deserves with two superb solo albums and an ever growing live following. Afrobeat has played a big part in his music recently – re-visiting his roots (his parents are Nigerian), he hooked up with Afrobeat originator Tony Allen in 2002, guesting lyrics on Tony’s album ‘Home Cooking’ and touring extensively with his band worldwide. Here, Tony returns the favour with ‘The Willing’, a low slung classic with Mr. Allen on fine form, as ever, behind the kit.

5. ANTIBALAS AFRO BEAT ORCHESTRA feat. MAYRA VEGA – Che Che Cole
Since the new generation embraced Fela Kuti’s music and message, there have been some great new big bands playing inna Fela style. One of the first and arguably the finest, Martin Perna’s Antibalas, are one of today’s great live bands in any genre, a true powerhouse, funky as hell, using their music to preach positivity and battle against apathy and corporate greed. They have also successfully added Latin elements to traditional Afrobeat and ‘Che Che Cole’ is a case in point, a fantastic cover of Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe’s Nu Yorican salsa classic with raw Afro rhythms knitting perfectly behind Mayra Vega’s killer vocals.

6. DJ FOOD – Dub Lion
An early Afro / dance music experiment and still a real classic of off-kilter beat wizardry. Produced in the early days of the Ninja Tune label, the DJ Food name had transformed from an alter ego of label founders Coldcut to a co-production outfit with producer P.C. (Patrick Carpenter) – P.C. and fellow Ninja regular Strictly Kev would later become the mainstays of the project. ‘Dub Lion’ received a busier remix for Ninja’s ‘Funkjazztical Tricknology‘ compilation in ‘95 but we feature the original, still sounding fresh with its traditional African sample, cut & paste off centre rhythms and cheeky wee flute line.

7. RAS – Exit Routine
The German Afrobeat connection. Frankfurt’s RAS laid this one down during a spell living in the UK in ’99: “I was living and working in a tiny room in Brixton packed with music equipment!” Another twist on the traditional Afrobeat sound, ‘Exit Routine’ touches on North African influences with mysterious melodies and percussion fills and has you trapped in its funky filaments from the start. Another one stapled to DJ boxes for months: “It’s the twist between the strong bass parts and housey keys that gives it the tension,” RAS explains. “For me, it’s always interesting to create tracks which sound both introvert and extrovert.”

8. MAW feat. WUNMI – The Time Is Now
One of the best of the Wunmi / Masters At Work collaborations. As the most high profile New York production team to make pure Fela-influenced house back in 1998 with ‘MAW Expensive’, Kenny ‘Dope’ and Louie Vega’s hook up with UK vocalist Wunmi has played a key part in helping to promote awareness of Fela’s legacy within the new dance generation as well as setting the marker for deeper, more intricate Afrobeat house arrangements. MAW and other New Yorkers like Blaze and Jerome Sydenham have been regular Afro advocates since the late ‘90s and ‘The Time Is Now’ is a typical epic, complete with unexpected skankin’ breakdown.

9. FATBOY SLIM – First Down
Yes, it’s the one and the same Fatboy Slim – Brighton’s finest, he of the big, funky breaks, grungey samples and huge beach parties. And even he has doffed his cap to the king of Afrobeat, back on his first album ‘Better Living Through Chemistry’, lifting the horns from Fela’s ‘Roforofo Fight’ to cook up (couldn’t resist it) a chunky Afro hoedown of epic proportions. Another enduring classic that still retains full dancefloor currency.

10. LES BARONS – Lagos Sound System
An interesting new project from three French writer / producers holed up at Livid Studios in East London’s Brick Lane. Les Barons are all about cross-cultural fusion, mixing their experience with dance music and electronica production with a wide variety of styles including gypsy violin (courtesy of Oi Va Voi’s Sophie Solomon), Puerto Rican groove (featuring Ramon from Los Chicharrons) and this nippy Afrobeat gem featuring percussionist Henry Gao-Bi.

11. COMMON – Heat
In recent years, Common has become one of the foremost players in the more thought-provoking, soulful and musically diverse realm of hip hop. Breaking through with his massive ‘Like Water For Chocolate’ album in 2000, he featured a host of guests, including Femi Kuti on a tribute to Fela, and dipped his hip hop toes further into Afrobeat waters on ‘Heat’, trying some loose new lyrical structures over a rough-as-sandpaper Tony Allen loop. Since then, he has kept his Afro links with a cameo on last year’s ‘Red Hot & Riot’ Fela tribute project.

12. JJC & 419 SQUAD – Malemicita
Led by JJC a.k.a. Skillz, founder member of UK pop combo Big Brovaz and producer of a myriad of classy productions for Lemar, Jamelia and more, 419 Squad have injected a fresh, eclectic UK approach to West African hip hop. With lyrics in Yoruba and English, anything goes as far as the beats are concerned, from Afrobeat and Nigerian pop to full-on Afro-Latin fusion, as on our chosen track here, ‘Malemicita’. The big dancefloor track from their acclaimed ‘Atide’ CD, this is an explosive Afro-Salsa mix that works as a guaranteed party-starter.

13. HUGH MASEKELA – Don’t Go Lose It Baby (12”)
Originally recorded at Masekela’s mobile studio in Botswana with Stewart Levine as part of the forward-thinking ‘Techno Bush’ project, ‘Don’t Go Lose It Baby’ was transformed into a mighty, extended Afro / electro anthem in London with Jive’s resident remix guru Bryan ‘Chuck’ New. The ‘wooden’ keyboard riff comes from his late ‘70s track ‘Ashiko’ from ‘The Boys Doin’ It’ album, co-written with Nigerian musician Orlando Julius who also used it in his arrangement for Lamont Dozier’s ‘Goin’ Back To My Roots’. Although already lauded as a jazz great, Masekela gained a new audience from this track and it remains a staple in clubs worldwide.

14. AWA-KLASH – Akoba
The brainchild of Kayode Samuel, owner of EkoStar Records and Tony Allen’s manager, Awa Band was set up as an outlet for African-inspired dance music with the emphasis on pure Nigerian Yoruba musicianship. Scoring two big club hits on Defected Records during 2002 with ‘Timba’ and ‘Tude Lindo’, Samuel laid down the vocals for ‘Akoba’ with Nigerian vocalist Larry Azuka in Lagos before passing the track to KlaSH (Kevin Long and Simon Haggis, the man behind London’s Whistle Bump club nights). Their mix pricked up the ears of Francois K in New York, who promptly snapped it up for his Wave label.

15. BAABA MAAL – Souka Nayo (I Will Follow You) (Fila Brazilia Mix)
A criminally under-rated 1998 single from the Senegalese master and generally recognised as one of the best remixes of an African artist in recent years. Lifted from his ‘Nomad Soul’ set (featuring collaborators as varied as Brian Eno, reggae star Luciano and Irish singers The Screaming Orphans), ‘Souka Nayo’ was transformed into a subtle masterpiece by the ever-imaginative Fila Brazilia team. Soaring through layers of beautiful ambient keys, Baaba Maal’s voice is showcased in all its soulful glory.

CD 02

1. FELA KUTI – Water No Get Enemy
The master steps up. One of Fela’s best-loved pieces was recorded during a particularly turbulent time as his vocal opposition to the powers-that-be in Nigeria became ever louder. Whilst suffering regular police raids on the Kalakuta Republic, his home-turned-compound that he had declared an independent state, he recorded the ‘Expensive Shit’ album which featured ‘Water’, a departure from Fela’s trademark political ranting, reflecting on the simple motion of water compared to the complexities of people’s day to day relationships. Featuring one of the great horn lines anywhere in the Fela catalogue, this is a classic moment in West African music history.

2. PETER KING - Shango
One of Nigeria’s greatest tenor sax players, Peter King cut his teeth in Roy Chicago’s highlife big band in Lagos before studying music in London and the US. Returning to the UK in ’71, he recorded the soundtrack to ‘Black Blast’, a televised theatre piece designed as a forum to debate UK black community issues. With the session payment, King recorded ‘Shango’, a mighty funk / jazz / highlife Gorgon of an album covering topics like freedom for Africa and Shango, Yoruba God of thunder & storms. King enjoyed moderate success with albums on the Orbitone label and the ‘Shango’ album finally surfaced on Strut in 2001.

3. OSCAR SULLEY & THE UHURU DANCE BAND – Bukom Mashie
Another track stuck in the vaults until Soundway Records’ Miles Cleret travelled to Ghana for his ‘Ghana Soundz’ project in 2002. Sulley’s Uhuru Dance Band were one of the main highlife big bands in Ghana during the ‘60s and ‘70s. ‘Bukom Mashie’, a shout-out to the Bukom district of Ghana’s capital Accra, is a monster of a dance record driven by an incredible bendy bassline. Sulley moved to the U.S.A. shortly after this recording, continuing to teach and release music. He is now retired, passing on his knowledge of African drumming to under-privileged kids.

4. E.T. MENSAH & HIS TEMPOS BAND – Save Me
The “father of modern highlife” music, E.T. Mensah is largely credited with pioneering the West African big band style as a reaction against the strict imported ballroom tempos of the post-war years. "We urgently wanted an indigenous rhythm to replace the fading foreign music of waltz, rhumba, etc. We evolved a music type relying on basic African rhythms, a crisscross African cultural sound.” Famously performing with Louis Armstrong during Ghana’s independence celebrations in 1957, he kept a low profile in the early ‘60s before a comeback in ’69, when he recorded this great version of Aretha’s ‘Save Me’, Ghanaian style.

5. MANU DIBANGO – Soul Makossa
The track that broke Manu Dibango to an international audience owes its success almost entirely to a pioneering New York DJ. Back in ’71, DJ David Mancuso’s quest for a spiritual, unifying clubbing experience at his acclaimed Loft nights extended to a finely tuned and highly eclectic ear for ‘the right tune’. Stumbling upon ‘Soul Makossa’, the B-side to a scarce imported 45 from France, the track was soon in massive demand but remained impossible to find for months. Atlantic licensed it a year later and it charted, but not before a host of covers had surfaced.

6. SEGUN BUCKNOR & THE ASSEMBLY – Adanri Sogbasogba
One of Afrobeat’s hidden heroes, Segun Bucknor and his bands the Assembly and the Revolution were hugely respected in Nigeria during the ‘70s, using their music for post-independence social commentary, celebrating African culture and ideas from the US civil rights movement. On stage, they were dynamite and Bucknor was unmistakeable, often sporting an open leather waistcoat, thick-rimmed glasses and a shaven head with a sprig of hair at the back, referencing the ancient Egyptians. His music was subtle, funky and extremely soulful – we feature here ‘Adanri Sogbasogba’, a particularly slinky Bucknor classic.

7. ORCHESTRE POLY-RHYTHMO DE COTONOU BENIN – Houe Towe Houn
By far the most prolific band in Benin, West Africa, with over 50 releases on the Albarika Stores label, Poly-Rhythmo were formed in 1966 and developed a good following for their early Congalese rumba style from their live base at the Canne A Sucre in Cotonou. Composing songs in French, English, Fon and Mina, they became the backing band for visiting artists (including Manu Dibango) and introduced soul into their repertoire before expanding in 1970 with drummer Leopold Yehouessi and guitarist Bernard Zoundegnon as the band’s new tough rhythm section. ‘Houe Towe Houn’ is a cracking dance track from this ‘70s period.

8. ORLANDO JULIUS & HIS AFRO SOUNDERS – Home Sweet Home (Part 1)
One of the most important Nigerian musicians of the 1970s, ‘O.J.’ had schooled himself with I.K. Dairo and Eddy Okonta’s big bands before recording the landmark Afro / R&B; fusion album ‘Super Afro Soul’ in 1966. Setting the pace for progressive post-independence Nigerian music that was as much about promoting Yoruba culture and African identity as embracing Western ‘60s pop and R&B; influences, by ’69 Julius had honed his music into brilliant extended workouts with his larger Afro-Sounders Band. The links with James Brown are evident (Julius met Brown during his 1968 West African tour) on ‘Home Sweet Home’, a homage to his homeland that hinted at the arrangement he would later use for Lamont Dozier’s ‘Goin’ Back To My Roots’.

9. SIR VICTOR UWAIFO & HIS MELODY MAESTROS – Got My Mojo Workin’ (Mojo Mojo Edo)
Another Nigerian legend, former wrestler “Guitar Boy” Victor Uwaifo learnt his skills watching E.T. Mensah’s guitarist, Dizzy Acquaye. Following a stint with Victor Olaiya’s band, he honed his sound during the ‘60s using Pidgin and Edo dialects, palm wine styles and traditional ekassa and gdadagbada, becoming an incredible player and showman in his own right. His hit ‘Joromi’ exploded in 1969, selling over 100,000 copies and Uwaifo recorded prolifically during the ‘70s, releasing over 100 singles with his bands the Melody Maestros and the Titibitis. He has since been a good friend to the West African music industry – over 50 of his former band members have enjoyed careers in their own right. This blasting version of Preston Foster’s ‘Mojo Workin’ is tucked away on a late ‘60s 10” EP.

10. OLATUNJI – Gin-Go-Lo-Ba
If you’re a fan of disco label Salsoul or even wedding discos, you’ll know the bump ‘n’ hustle groove of ‘Jingo’, an enduring classic key to the development of the ‘70s latin rock sound (through Santana’s version) and Afro-disco (thanks to Candido). The original goes way back to 1959, a pure chant ‘n’ percussion workout courtesy of master Nigerian percussionist Babatunde Olatunji. Arguably the first undiluted African recording to come out of the U.S.A., the ‘Drums Of Passion’ album has sold over five million copies in the US and remains a landmark of early Afro-American music fusion.

11. THE FUNKEES – Ole
A debut CD appearance for another Afro funk beauty. Hailing from Aba, Eastern Nigeria, The Funkees started out as an army band, covering R&B; and pop hits as the new sounds of the UK and USA became de rigueur over traditional highlife music. Bringing their native Igbo rhythms into the mix, they recorded some intricate 45s for EMI in their homeland before being invited to the UK, where they cut an ultra-funky debut album in Tooting, South London. ‘Ole’ (which means ‘Thief!’) featured here was later released as a 45.

12. DAKIN DACKINO – Yuda
Hailing from Mabuto, Zaire and a member of the Afro Zaire Orchestra, Dackin Dackino recorded this solo dancefloor bomb in 1974. It was originally intended for a release in Kenya but never made it to vinyl, remaining a forgotten master tape for 25 years until Kona Records’ Duncan Brooker raided the Melodica vaults in 2002. It first appeared on his ‘Afro Rock’ compilation on Kona in 2001 and more than merits another run-out here.
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13. MULATU ASTATKE – Yekatit
A towering figure in Ethiopian music and an ambassador for instrumental music and innovative fusions, Mulatu Astatke went clear from the late ‘60s, when a new generation of musicians broke free from the restrictive regime of military bands and associated formal jazz groups. Having studied music in London and New York, Mulatu had worked with Latin, jazz and Caribbean musicians before returning to Ethiopia. As Mulatu has said, “Jazz was born in America but its roots are in Africa. African musicians aren’t badly placed to play jazz based on their local music.” The incredible ‘Yekatit’ (the equivalent of February in the Ethiopian calendar) recalls February 1974 when the troubles began leading to the downfall of Emperor Haile Selassie.

14. LIJADU SISTERS – Life’s Gone Down Low
Twins Kehinde and Taiwo Lijadu deliver their quirky brand of lo-fi Afro funk with a loping chugger from their ‘Danger’ LP. Blending traditional influences with funk, disco and Afrobeat, they are best known to international audiences for their studio session appearance in the 1981 ‘Konkomba’ arts documentary. One of the few successful female vocal partnerships to come out of 1970s Nigeria, they progressed from session vocal work to regular album releases through to the early ‘80s. They are both now resident in New York.