Here's another in Likembe's continuing series of releases by Tanzania's legendary DDC Mlimani Park Orchestra, this one a little-heard LP from 1989, Dua La Kuku (Polydor POLP 589). I can't say too much about this one - contrary to the photos on the album sleeve, it seems to feature a stripped-down lineup for the band, at least their sikinde sound isn't as "beefy" as usual. It's fine music nonetheless. Tucheze sikinde! "Let us dance sikinde!"
Ghana's highlife great Pat Thomas has been experiencing something of a career renaissance lately. 2015 saw the release of Pat Thomas & Kwashibu Area Band (Strut STRUT126CD), his first new recording in many years, and in 2016 a 2-CD retrospective of his recordings from 1964 to 1981, Coming Home (Strut STRUT147CD) hit the scene.
Thomas has been around for many years. He was born into a musical family in 1951 (his uncle was the legendary King Onyina), but got his first big break in 1966 when he made the acquaintance of Ebo Taylor, a musician who had studiend in London with Nigeria's Fela Ransome-Kuti. Thus began a musical partnership that would continue on and off for many years, producing a number of fine recordings and revolutionizing the Ghanaian music scene.Together, with Ebo on guitar and Pat as arranger and vocalist, they played in the Broadway Dance Band and the Stargazers, two of the most important orchestras of the era. Thomas's breakthrough as a highlighted artist came in with the release of 1974's False Lover (Gapophone LP 02), recorded with the Sweet Beans, official band of Ghana's Cocoa Marketing Board. A few tracks from this landmark recording are included in an earlier post here on Likembe.
Ghana's political and economic travails in the early '80s impelled many musicians overseas, to London, Germany and Toronto, which gave rise to new and exciting permutations of the highlife sound. Ghanaian musicians in Germany, where Thomas lived for a time, developed a disco/highlife hybrid called "Burger Highlife," which took Ghana and its diaspora by storm. In the late '80s Thomas made the journey to Toronto, joining a vibrant Ghanaian exile music scene which included at times musicians like A.B. Crentsil, Alex Konadu and Joe Mensah. He would remain in Canada for ten years, returning to Ghana in 1997.
Jùjú music, so popular in the 1970s and '80s, seems to have gone into eclipse in southwestern Nigeria, the land of its birth. Even fújì, which took its place for a time, has mutated into something rather removed from its origins. In their places, in the popular music arena at least, are variations on international hip-hop, heavy on auto-tuned vocals and synth.
Styles may come and go, but King Sunny Adé, the best-known jùjú musician outside of Nigeria, still keeps up a busy worldwide touring schedule. It's hard to believe he just turned 70!
Juju-Apala Live (Fortune Records, 2000) captures the King at the top of his form in front of a live audience in Lagos. Maybe it's just me, but before his fellow Nigerians, Sunny and the African Beats seem a lot more relaxed and uninhibited than they've been in front of US audiences, at least at the concerts I've been to. I suspect this CD is a bootleg recording, as it wasn't released through KSA's usual outlets. Moreover, my copy was an unauthorized rip of the original release - a pirate of a bootleg!
What's really ear-opening in this CD is the extended workout on Track 4, "Juju-Apala," with Musiliu Haruna-Ishola, son of the legendary Haruna Ishola, who perfected modern àpàlà music in the '60s and '70s. Àpàlà, a very traditional form, is one of the foundations of jùjú, fújì andother Yoruba musical styles, and Musiliu is ably carrying on his father's work.
Now, this is an album I've been wanting to post for a long time!
Orchestra Simba Wanyika (Swahili for "Lion of the Jungle") was founded by the brothers Wilson Peter Kinyonga and George Peter Kinyonga of Tanzania, who joined the popular Jamhuri Jazz Band in 1966, where they served four years before leaving in 1971 to form the Arusha Jazz Band. A move to Mombasa, Kenya and a name change and in 1973 Simba Wanyika was born! They were to play a crucial role in the East African music scene for more that twenty years, giving rise, directly and indirectly to a plethora of other groups: Les Wanyika, Wanyika Stars, Orchestra Jobiso and many others. For more information about Simba Wanyika and its offshoots, go to the discography I authored with Doug Paterson and Peter Toll some years ago.
Haleluya (Polydor POLP 552, 1985) marks the high tide of Simba Wanyika's influence and creativity, following a flock of hit songs and right at the moment cassette tape piracy began to cripple the East African music scene. The band would go on to tour in Europe in 1989 and internationally in 1991, when they recorded their only world-wide release, Pepea (Kameleon KMLN 01, 1992). Sadly, George Peter Kinyonga passed away on Christmas Eve 1992 after a brief illness, and Wilson followed him in 1995. Although there was at least one recording made under the "Simba Wanyika" tag without the brothers, the band dissolved shortly after.
Two cassettes from Ivory Coast, both by the outstanding ensemble Système Gazeur, one of the many zouglou groups that emerged in that country in the late 1980s and early '90s. About the band I've been able to find little. I can tell you that zouglou arose on the college campuses partly in response to the crisis afflicting the educational system, and accompanied protests against the situation. In the words of a popular tune at the time by the artist Digbeu:
We're tired of your pretty speeches,
Tired of the unemployment rate,
Tired of all these untouchables,
Tired of your hospitals,
Tired of insecurity,
Tired of all these hold-ups.¹
Système Gazeur, in Ambiance Facile (EMI E06991-4, 1991) reject the electronic affectations of more recent zouglou artists like Magic System, Sur-Choc and Esprit de Yop, opting for a more organic, traditional vocal and percussion sound. It's truly execptional!
Mamie Ton Alloco (EMI E0106292-4, 1992), on the other hand, is well within the zouglou mainstream, with the full complement of drum machines and synth (and apparently a much-reduced lineup). It's nonetheless a great release, an excellent representative of the genre:
Popoko (EMI EO173292-4, 1992) is a lively cassette from Ivory Coast by the group Les Woanthios. All I know about them, and the cassette, is this recommendation from the website NATARI:
Absolutely outstanding in every way. This virtually all girl
group, whose popularity in the Ivory
Coast is second only to 'Woya', are magic through
and through. Which isn't surprising as their rich and varied modern dance music
has retained its ethnic roots with a great beat, some really lovely guitar and
absolutely smashing vocals. Ble Clotilde shines out both on lead guitar and
vocals with a style of music that is very different from what you would
normally expect from this part of Africa. My
favourite tracks are 'Kopka' and 'Damozode' and that was a very difficult
choice to make as dance wise 'Popoko' will leave your socks smouldering!
A few days ago I posted an album by King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal 1, one of the reigning triumvirate of fújì music in the 1980s. The other two were Sikiru Ayinde Barrister and Kollington Ayinla, whom I present today. Kollington is said to have been born as Kolawole Ayinla Ilori in Ibadan in 1953 and started recording when he was in the Nigerian Army in the '70s. By the early '80s he was giving Barrister, fújì's acknowledged king at the time, a run for his money. Until Barrister's death in 2010, the rivalry between the two was fierce and acrimonious, although it's an open question how much of this was real and how much was a marketing ploy. Today Kollington swears his undying love of the late, great maestro.
Kollington Live in America 1997 (Oracle Records AFRO 013. 1997) is truly an odd artifact: Fújì music stripped down to its bare, funky essence - organ, basic percussion and wailing Islamic vocals, uninterrupted for 73 minutes! It's very compelling. Here it is:
Unbelievably, my last post here on Likembe was on April 23, 2013 - more than four years ago! There's no one explanation for the hiatus - I've had other interests, other things going on. Thankfully, there have been no personal crises, no major medical issues (and thanks to the many who've inquired over the years for your thoughtful concerns). But I'm back now, and I'm going to try to post on a more consistent basis - at least once a week from now on.
The African music blogosphere has changed a lot in the last four years, mostly not for the better. Old friends - With Comb & Razor, Oro, World Service and Electric Jive among others, have gone dormant or post infrequently. Others have disappeared altogether. I see Moos over at Global Groove is still hanging in there, and newer outlets like Mangue Music, My Passion for Ethiopian Music and Ndiakass have stepped into the breach. Needless to say, none of us is making any money doing this - it's all for the love. Maybe together we can bring about a revival of the African music scene online!
For Likembe's relaunching I'm posting King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal 1's Consolidation (The Ultimate Music TUMLP 001, 1994) which was pretty ubiquitous in Lagos, Nigeria during my first visit there in '94 - blaring, it seemed, from every other market stall and taxi. To me, the opening bars of "Show Colour" will always epitomize that wild, frustrating and fascinating city. I picked up the cassette back then, but the sound quality left a lot to be desired. What should I find, though, during a visit to Dusty Groove in Chicago a couple of months ago, but an almost-new copy of the LP version. Of course I had to share!
The style of music here is fújì, which had its heyday in the Yoruba areas of Nigeria in the 1980s, when it overtook the better-known (in the West) jùjú music popularized by King Sunny Adé and Ebenezer Obey. Fújì derives from earlier Yoruba Muslim styles like àpàlà and like them eschews most non-percussion instruments (although more recent recordings utilize synthesizers and the like). Think of it this way: jùjú musicians are mainly Christian and the music is often influenced by church hyms, while f'újì is performed mainly by Muslims and hearkens back to the sort of music performed at Yoruba Islamic religious festivals. The vocal styles as much as anything else set the two genres apart. But I don't want to create an unnecessary dichotomy here - fújì and jùjú are popular in both communities!
King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal 1 (b. Wasiu Ayinde Adewale Omogbolahan Anifowsha, 1957) got his start in the Supreme Fuji Commanders of Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, one of the founders of the modern f'újì style in the '70s, and broke out on his own in the early '80s with the confusing moniker Wasiu Ayinde Barrister and a number of smash hit LPs. By the nineties he'd changed his stage name to King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal 1 (later to KWAM I and later still to K1 De Ultimate) and was at the top of his game. He's continued to innovate within the fújì genre, adding new instruments and drawing upon influences like rock and hip-hop. Check out this medley of recent tunes that mostly can barely be described as fújì at all - the percussion section is almost overpowered by saxophone, guitar and synth!
Despite his great popularity back in the day, information about the late, great Igbo bard Show Promoter (Nelson Ejinduaka) is as scarce as hens' teeth. All I've been able to unearth is that he was from the city of Orlu in Imo State, spent most of his career in Ikwerreland (near Port Harcourt) and apparently passed on some time in the late '80s. His album Azu Alala (Onyeoma CY Records CYLP 043, 1987) is such an outstanding example of traditional Igbo musicthat I had to share it!
The title track, "Azu Alala" ("Fish is Scarce & Highly Costly"), concerns an obedient wife and the husband who is oblivious to his family's hardship. A husband gave his wife ten naira to go to the market to buy food for the family. She asked him, "Will ten naira be enough?" but he told her, "Make do with what you have."
She went to the market and spent N5 on gari (cassava meal) and N5 on yam. The money was gone. There was no money for fish, no money to buy oha leaf (greens) or meat.
The wife came home and didn't know what to do. Her children were crying in hunger, "Please give us food." She went to the kitchen to prepare the food. The children ate, and so did she.
In the meantime her husband was down at the restaurant, drinking and living the life of an onye oriri (man about town). He told his friends, "Come home with me. I gave my wife money to prepare food for us." When they arrived home he called out to her to bring out the food she had cooked. The wife began to cry and presented the pitiful repast she had prepared.The man opened the pot to see that there was no fish, no vegetables and no meat. He jumped up and slapped his wife. She cried, "Ego i nyerem ezughi. The money you gave me was not enough to make soup. I managed with what I had to feed our children. Please don't hit me."
The chorus, "Ogiri k'am, jiri shi ofe, azu alala," means "I made the soup with stock.There is no fish."
In "Onye Ma Ihe Echi Gabu (Tomorrow is Pregnant. Who Knows What it will Be?)" Show Promoter sings, "My brother, who knows what tomorrow will bring? My sister, who knows what tomorrow will bring? Everybody pray to God so it will be good for us." He then proceeds to call out various local notables:
Show Promoter & his Group - Onye Ma Ihe Echi Gabu
"Onwu Ashio (The Death of Ashio)" recounts the tragic fate of a man who died in a traffic accident: "Ka mpkuru obi ya nodi nma (May his heart rest in peace). Anyi sikwa ama nnachi, mu na gi bu kwu nwa nne - a go. (We came from one place, you and I, brothers or relatives).Onwu gburu Ashio (The death that killed Ashio). Ashio a hupu la m laa (Ashio left me behind)." Show Promoter & his Group - Onwu Ashio
Many thanks to my wife Priscilla for translating the lyrics of Azu Alala. You may download it as a zipped file here.
Many many thanks to Andreas Wetter for translating the liner notes of 4 ዝናኞች ሲያዳምጡ በልብዎ ላይ ሰላምና ፍቅር ያገኛሉ - When You Listen to the 4 Famous Singers You Will Find Peace and Love in Your Heart, a really nice cassetteissued by Ambassel Music Shop in Ethiopia in 1992.
With the exception of Martha Ashagari, who was featured in a previous post, I've been unable to find out much about these artists, although judging by the number of Youtube videos available online, they're very popular indeed!
ዳርልን (ባሌ) - "Let Your Child Marry Our Child" - (literally: give your child in marriage for someone of our family, presumably a boy because usually the family of the boy takes the initiative and asks for the girl's hand):
አሳታሚና አከፋፋይ (Produceer and Distributor): አምባሰል ሙዚቃና ቪዲዮ መደብር (Ambassel Music and Video Shop)
Download Four Famous Singers as a zipped file here.
Note: I have included the Ge'ez font provided by Andreas for the benefit of anyone using an Ethiopic-language search engine. However, depending on your browser and its settings, this may be visible to you as gibberish, or may cause your computer/smart phone to run slowly or even crash. If you have the latter problem, please let me know in the comments and I will rectify the situation immediately!
