Flute and tenor sax player Yusef Lateef (1920-2013) just passed away, so here's a post dedicated to this real sound explorer (before being a jazzman), who integrated eastern or african influences in many of his recordings. Famous for his deep, free and spiritual music all along the 60's and 70's in the US, he also directly enriched his open-minded approach spending years in Nigeria in the early 80's.
Every year is celebrated a Fela Day (few weeks ago in Paris), proving that Fela Kuti's spirit is still gliding around, despite a very varied comprehension. Good occasion anyway to search in muzzicaltrips archives, and look at how evolves perception of african music along the years. Here's an article about Fela Kuti which reveals part of the perception of a jazz magazine from 1981 (Jazz Hot, first jazz magazine in Europe created in 1935).
This LP from Nigeria is realized by The Natural 7 International but the label credits The Sea Birds International. Anyway, Eddy Dada delivers an hybrid soukous sung in pidgin english and the following track with reggae-dub flavor.
Let's have a deep travel into nigerian roots music with this Apala song: yoruba rooted rhythms with superb talking drums and hypnotic voices. I guess this can lead to transe if played all night long...
Juju music takes his roots in Yoruba secular rhythms, adding electric guitar to the talking drum. It became popular in Nigeria from the 50s and is rather related to nigerian christians (in parelel to Fuji music more in muslim environnement). It was performed live in "ariya" (ceremonies to celebrate weddings, birthdays, funerals...) but also for wealthy audiences in the hotels as modernized style of the time.
Chief Ebenezer Obey is a master of Juju, and in this LP he demonstrates a real "musical wizardry". As often, the cover picture is representative to the music: a stlylish example of tradition and modernity mix (african traditional clothes with brand new electric guitar and big watch).
Three brothers from south-east of Nigeria founded the Oriental Brothers band: Godwin Kabaka Opara (who left in 1977 before this LP), C. Ezebuiro Obinna (surnamed "Warrior") and F. Dansatch Opara. At this time Nigeria was more with Juju and Fuji, but as a major highlife band in the country, Oriental Brothers band remained recording great albums with hypnotic and evolving guitars and percussions.
Oriental Brothers International Band A Origbu Onye Ozo :
Okoi Seka Athanase recorded this wonderfull album in Decca studio (Lagos) with help of Black Santiagos horn section. This goes from deep afro soul to highlife and soukous.
Afrojazz has been produced by late 80s acidjazz crazy activists Gilles Peterson and Eddie Piller. This is the case with this track from the quintet led by Bukky Leo, a nigerian sax player based in UK. I am not aware of any other release of this tune than in this Totally Wired acid jazz compilation (JAZ ID 13LP).
Bukky Leo released more recently a kind of "new afrobeat from london" album (Mr bongo 2006), nice but not to be compared to this junglejazz trip...
Roy Chicago (John Akintola Ademuwagun, x - 1989) plays highlife in a nigerian style, based of various nigerian floklores elements. What is particularly interesting is the introduction of talking drum, like in "Sere Fun Mi Baby", track from early sixties.
Roy Chicago and his Abalabi Rhythm dandies - Sere Fun Mi Baby:
(is the solo sax player Peter King? who was supposed to have played with Roy Chicago's band in early 60s before leaving to London...)
Last sunday at La Bellevilloise, Femi Kuti hold a private concert to launch his next album. Although I prefer the father than the son, his orginal approach and positive vibration made the atmosphere pretty hot...
This is good opportunity to introduce here a remix realised in 2009 by Babaliah (Palmwine Records) from a Femi Kuti song. One step forward in afrobeat inspired sounds...
Muzzicaltrips will present many exemples of mutual influences between Africa and Latin America.
Here's "Shacalao", played by Colombian Lisandro Mesa, cumbia master, known as "Accordion World Champion", joined by his conjunto.
It consists of a roots afro-colombian version of nigerian king of afrobeat Fela Kuti song "Skakara".
Amazing mixed influences version, atlantic ocean seems to have evaporated...
Lisandro Meza - Shakalao:
Accordeon is so spread in Colombia that I remember talking a guy who could not imagine nor concieve that this instrument was brought from abroad... As I could not convince him, let's have Lisandro Meza's clarification on story of 1st Accordeon in Colombia (A. Wolfe - 2003):
"The first accordion arrived in Colombia via Coveñas, brought by a man named Pisarro, Joaquín Pisarro. He came from Germany and arrived at the ports carrying grappa, wire, hammers, hachets, and machetes, and he traded thesae things for tabacco as he traveled. Once he brought an accordion and he sold it to the Villa Milian Oveja family for two bales of tobacco. The three brothers in the family all learned to play on that accordion.
Later they sold the accordion to Francisco El Hombre, whose real name was Francisco Moscote. They gave him the name "Francisco El Hombre" because he lived in Machovallo, and most of the men from that region were away working in the banana plantations when a plague came and killed many of the children. But there were no men to bury the children. Francisco said, "I am the man who will bury the children", so they called him "Francisco El Hombre" (Francisco the Man). The legend is that he was the first great accordionist from Colombia."
