Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-76

Nigerian music had a brief renaissance in the first half of the 70s, when the country was temporarily between wars and dictatorships. The scene seems to have exploded with experimentation inspired by sounds from the West, mixed with new interpretations of the perennially popular Highlife. I have no idea if this anthology is a representative sample of the scene, or if the best or most important songs and artists have been collected. But I do know that the anthology is uniformly fascinating and will be a real treat for anyone interested in a deeper exploration of modern West African music. While the collection's subtitle indicates "Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds and Nigerian Blues," that will hardly prepare the listener for the musical variety herein.

Collectors and experts might be able to fit most of the tracks here into the long-term development of Highlife, but adventurous listeners will be astounded by the experimentation found in the anthology's most offbeat tracks. For example, Celestine Ukwu & His Philosophers National, The Don Isaac Ezekiel Combination, and Mono Mono deliver what could be considered dark underground alternatives to Highlife. Tracks by Collins Oke Elaiho & His Odoligie Nobles Dance Band and Leo Fadaka & The Heroes sound like late-period Bob Marley half a decade before schedule. The selection from The Semi Colon illustrates the distant connections between Afro-Cuban and West African sounds, with some rock mixed in. Bola Johnson & His Easy Life Top Beats deliver a strange acid jazz take on authentic regional sounds, and the selection from George Akaeze & His Augmented Hits is heavily inspired by Bo Diddley.

In addition to those enthralling tracks, I for one am also hearing funk all over this anthology. The musicians of the early 70s Nigerian renaissance were clearly hip to James Brown and Sly Stone, and maybe even Funkadelic (who at the time were still fairly obscure even in America). Lowdown maggot-brained funk can be heard here in tracks by The Funkees (who looked like Funkadelic too), The Tony Benson Sextet, The Nigerian Police Force Band (apparently the world's funkiest actual cops), Dan Satch & His Atomic 8 Dance Band of Aba, and The Hykkers (whose lead guitarist was really breaking in one of Africa's newest wah-wah pedals).

For fans of West African music, especially those with a historian/collector mindset or who are simply hungry for new sounds, this is a consistently fascinating collection. Kudos to anthologist Miles Cleret for bringing these crucial sounds to the modern market. [~doomsdayer520~]

A wonderful and intelligently compiled collection of Nigerian electric highlife and Afro-rock from the early 1970's. With a four panel digipack case, a well written and informative booklet and 2 discs of impossibly rare music, excellently mastered for CD reissue, this is an absolute bargain.

Unlike many of the recent reissue collections of Nigerian music this one bypasses the more well known Afrobeat selections and concentrates on some of the more obscure sounds created in the nation's most fertile period. There is irresistably infectious highlife, there's embryonic Afrobeat style workouts and there are a few straight ahead rock sounds, although with a definite African influence.

The compilers deserve a big pat on the back for releasing such a varied, but consistently excellent album. Hopefully they have plans to extend this series and uncover further selections of some of the most joyous music on the planet.

If you're a fan of Fela, Femi, Franco, Nigerian, Ghanaian or Congolese music there is very little chance you'll be disappointed by this set. And at just over 24 dollars it's an absolute steal