- When you think about influential music from the West African nation Nigeria, the artist who most obviously comes to mind is the legendary Fela Kuti, whose fusion of local folk and popular music with American-influenced funk and R&B became known as Afrobeat.
Compiled by DJ Duncan Brooker, Nigeria 70: No Wahala – Highlife, Afro-Funk & Juju 1973-1987 looks to more obscure artists than Fela, unearthing a treasure trove of rare cuts that vibrate with celebratory vocals, horns, guitar arpeggios and ultra-danceable polyrhythms. The main genres explored here, apart from the aforementioned Afrobeat (or Afro-funk), include juju music: a percussive sound which first emerged from Nigeria in the 1920s. This compilation is also crammed with highlife music, which uses Western instruments to interpret an originally Ghanaian style which gained enormous popularity in Nigeria.
This melting pot results in some utterly compelling music, including Odeyemi’s Oni Suru which blends its euphoric horn arrangements and intricate guitar fills with rich harmonic vocals and some delightfully strange dabs of synthesiser.
Etubom Rex Williams & His Nigerian Artistes contribute Psychedelic Shoes, a cracking hybrid of psychedelic rock and West African funk. Even better is the synth and bass-heavy workout Black Precious Colour by Felixson Ngasia & The Survivals, with the kind of rhythmic and melodic textures that would prove hugely influential to Talking Heads circa Remain In Light.
Sina Bakare’s Africa is an impassioned call for unity throughout the continent. There’s a more leisurely flavour to Saxon Lee And The Shadows International’s track Special Secret Of Baby, which unfolds its slow, seductive groove with a soulful vocal from Pax Nicholas, who earned stripes of his own performing as a percussionist and singer with Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 collective.
Even more extraordinary is that all of this music was recorded while Nigeria was in the grip of a military dictatorship, which means there is a grit and fire to even the sweetest tracks here. The twelve tracks on this compilation are not only a compelling historical document, they are powerful musical statements in their own right, proof that songs and performance can unify people in even the most oppressive environments.
- Matt Thrower.