Borrowing elements of traditional Ibgo highlife and Congolese guitar stylings, Prince Nico Mbarga and Rocafil Jazz International created a unique, accessible sound marked by silky vocals, congolese guitar riffs and highlife rhythms. His sound saw wide appeal throughout africa and abroad during the 70s and beyond. Fast forward twenty years and we have the Congolese super-group Soukous stars (who were probably dancing to Mbarga in their youth,) reworking Mbarga’s hits in their unique soukous sound.

On the Stern’s Africa release: Lokassa et Soukous Stars – Megamix Vol. 1 [1993 – Stern’s Africa], Lokasa et Soukous Stars play brilliant renditions of Mbarga’s hits in the nonstop mix titled “Lagos Night.” The mix includes the widely popular Sweet Mother (which sold over 13 million copies), Christiana, Aki Special, Stella, Wellenga, Oh Death and finishes up with Lagos Night by Lokassa. Not only is this track great, but the entire album… I highly recommend it.

Lokassa et Soukous Stars – Lagos Night

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Seeing a live performance is always special for me, but seeing King Sunny Ade perform live (on the San Francisco stop of his 2005 world tour) truly seemed like a one-in-a-lifetime experience.

A sold out crowd of over 1000 packed into The Fillmore, whose stage was beautifully decorated with ceiling to floor swaths of indigo patterned cloth ( – a nice touch that differed from the typical (generic) black backdrop that these concerts typically have.)

The show started promptly with the Obi Osadebe – son of the Nigerian highlife legend Osita Osadebe. Backed by pre-recorded tracks and a small band (rhythm guitar, drums, bass guitar), Obi sang, grooved and danced to many of his fathers classics and several that were new to me. After each song, he only offered a simple “thank you” in response to the applause while staring into the sheet music for the next track. Overall, his performance was good, but more stage charisma would be nice.

After a short interlude that included some “african music” from the house p.a., short speeches and a raffle, the lights dimmed – and the show was about to begin!

The band danced onto the stage one by one, picking up their instruments & starting the groove. The first five were the drummers… 2 talking drums, 1 hand drum, 1 conga, 1 drum set! They were followed by the rest of the band, keyboards, guitars and singers and finally Sunny Ade for a total of 13 strong.

Their show was everything I could have imagined… great sound, musically strong, lively and playful. They played a broad range of tunes both old & new, fast & slow and had the entire place dancing from start to finish.

At one point around 11:00, some aunties (who must just have arrived) made their way towards the front in full traditional gear, complete with 10 gallon headdresses that cleared a path in front & behind them. These headdresses were so big & strong that I practically left the place w/ a face full of scratches even though they were dancing no closer than 2-3 feet away!

Another great point in the show was when the dancers performed… One dancer came out with her back facing the stage. The music died down & Sunny started into some slow, sultry, blues-styled solo guitar. The dancer wound her bottom to the rhythm which slowly increased in pace, faster & faster until it was a full blown makosa-tempo jam! Each of the three dancers did this one at a time much to the delight of the crowd… and finished up with all three of them going at once! That was a great crowd-pleaser that added to the fun-factor of the show.

Any such show (party) wouldnt be complete without some spraying and indeed there was some – these aunties were the first to start it off when they jumped up from the crowd to get it going.

This show was a real treat… everything about it was practically perfect. I cant wait until Sunny Ade tours again, hopefully next year if not sooner!

Check out one of my favorite Sunny Ade tracks – something my father would describe as Sunnys “psycadelic-sounding” Juju – released on the “Syncro System” LP [1983, Island Records]

p.s. Big thanks to to FJ for the great pictures!

King Sunny Ade and his African Beats, April 22, 2005

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King Sunny Ade and his African Beats – Syncro_System

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The curiously (poorly) named, “Third World” Jamaican pop-reggae band takes you back in time to a period when Lagos was a vacation destination on the track “Lagos Jump.” Released on the All the Way Strong (LP, 1983), the track became an instant favorite in their native Jamaica, internationally & especially in Nigeria.

Sitting on the hillside in Jamaica,
I can remember the times we had in Nigeria…
Lagos Jump, Lagos Jumping…
Lagos Jump, Lagos Jamming

It’s unfortunate to say, but I don’t think many foreign-based artists make thier way to Lagos for holiday let alone write a track singing the praises of Lagos. The thought seems almost ludicrous today, yet thirty years ago, this wasnt the case and begs the question – what happened?!

Third World – Lagos Jump

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The chorus of, “Your Kind of Woman” by Tony Tetuila, 2 Face & Paul Play,

“Ogogoro be like woman, if you shack am, you go high o!”

is a very Naija way of putting the age old saying, “women are like a drug… ” We’ve probably all felt intoxicated in this way at one point or another and that is why this song works so well – it’s a situation to which we can easily relate.

Released on the 1998 album “Morning Time,” it was Tetuila’s first solo effort after leaving the group Remedies (Eedris Abdulkareem, Eddie Montana, Tony Tetuila) and one of Paul Play’s first releases on the flegling Playground Recordings. This song reminds me of early boys to men with the R&B/Hip-Hop stylings, but isn’t as tight in the production or lyrically. Since this attempt, Tetuila has definitely progressed (“My Car” for example…) and has placed himself as one of the top Naija Hip Hop artists.
Check out his early work from Morning Time>

Tetuila f. 2 Face, Paul Play – Your Kind of Woman

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Few pop stars reach the coveted height of pop stardom… even fewer maintain it for as many year as Blackky, and to hold that status for twenty years is impressive.

Blackky (Nya Edward Inyang) apparently released his sixth album curiously titled, “Reggae Icon” last month and for me, comes as a bit of a surprise. I haven’t heard new music from Blackky for several years and thought that perhaps his time in the spotlight was waning. The title of the album “Reggae Icon” isn’t something that I would associate with Blackky. When I think about reggae icons, I think about people like Bob Marley and Sir Coxcone Dodd for their breadth of material and the influence on Reggae music. When weighed by that criteria, Blakky hardly even registers on the scale… in Nigeria – definitely, but as a whole – definitely not. Perhaps he should rename his album, “Dat Wan Naija Reggae Bobo.”

Anyway, all joking aside… many people remember Blackky for the music he put out in the late 80s and early 90s with tracks like Rosie, Girlfriend and perhaps the most popular of all Blackky’s Skank. Blackky’s Skank is catchy pop tune in which he basically describes how to do his dance… I’ve never seen the dance, even though he says that Michael Jackson, Bobby Brown, Miriam Makeba & even MC Hammer does the Blackky Skank! Well, I’ll give a crisp 10 Naira bill to the first person to send me a video of them dancing the Blackky Skank or better yet, the music video!

Here goes…

The Blackky Skank is very easy
Say it’s for the young & the elderly
Me beg you
Stretch out your hand like a tv pole
And move up your body like you outa control
Say bend your back
Just like a crab
Start to jump up like
A jumping jack

Check out the track, a definite naija pop classic.

Blackky – Blackky’s Skank

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The “Oriental Brothers” highlife band spawned in eastern Nigeria the years of reconstruction following the Biafran War. The name “Oriental Brothers” does not refers to a single band (and therein lies the confusion,) but rather is the name (or part of the names) of several highlife bands that fragmented from the original “Oriental Brothers International Band” led by Godwin Kabaka Okpara… all sharing musical styling, musicians and names. You may be familiar with Dr. Sir Warrior and the Oriental Brothers International Band, Oriental Brothers, Kabaka International Guitar Band, Prince Ichita & The Great Oriental Brothers International Band, etc. For more on the various bands, check out the full breakdown

Combining Igbo vocals with deft guitar work and a solid rhythm section, the Oriental Brothers created a unique style of Nigerian highlife that for many people is the definitive sound of Nigerian highlife music.

Highlife music has been described as “up-tempo and sophisticated with an easygoing rhythm…” – music created from the merger of traditional dance rhythms, acoustic guitar music and the dance bands/orchestras of the day. Flowing from Ghana as early as the 1940s, Highlife spread throughout much of western and central Africa. In Nigeria, popular early acts were ET Mensah, CK Maan and Rex Lawson & the Ramblers. The Post-Biafran period produced artists including Osita Osadebe, IK Dairo and the Oriental Brothers.

Its ironic that after so much destruction and pain, the most popular music from the war-ravaged area is “Highlife.” I imagine these themes are covered in their work, but I dont speak Igbo so Im at a loss. Any help would be appreciated with a translation.

One of my favorite tunes of the original Oriental Brothers is:
Oriental Brothers International Band – Nwayi Di Ya Bu Eze on the 1975 album Nwa Ada Di Nma [Afrodesia]

Oriental Brothers International Band – Nwayi Di Ya Bu Eze

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