King Sunny Adé: The Message

King Sunny Adé's 1981 LP Juju Music (Island ILPS 9712) was a revelation for many outside of Nigeria, making him a global superstar, making way for other African musicians and opening the floodgates for the World Music™ craze (or hype, or gimmick) to come.

By the time Juju Music was released, Adé had been recording for fifteen years. His early outings, with the Green Spots Band, were short, punchy compositions meant for the 7" 45 format. As LP records became the medium of choice in Nigeria, and the Green Spots mutated into the African Beats, the music stretched out, becoming languid medleys taking up whole sides of albums.

French producer Martin Meissonnier, in packaging Juju Music for the world market, made the shrewd move of chopping the medleys into individual compositions and adding a few subtle production tricks, but avoiding the "crossover" trap and leaving the sound basically as it had been heard in Nigeria. It's an excellent introduction to King Sunny Adé's sound, and jùjú music in general, and is considered a classic.

Those who have heard Juju Music will find much of The Message (Sunny Alade Records SALPS 25) familiar. Parts of it were the basis for two songs on the former album, "Ma Jaiye Oni" and "365 Is My Number/The Message." It's one of my favorite Sunny Adé records. Enjoy!

King Sunny Adé & his African Beats - Baba Orun A Mbe O / Igbala Ni Mofe

King Sunny Adé & his African Beats - Oro Dugbe Dugbe / Ko S'agbe Mo Loko / Mo Beru Oruko T'aiye Nje

King Sunny Adé & his African Beats - Ma J'aiye Oni

King Sunny Adé & his African Beats - Alhaji Bode Osinusi / Alhaji Rasaq Ogbara

Download The Message as a zipped file here.