In the compilation Nigeria Special Volume 3we find 19 gems published in the 70s and in which, as the subtitle of the disc indicates, electronic innovation meets culture and tradition.
In 1970, Nigeria emerged from the Biafran War and in the process, artists entered cultural modernity. The arrival of new technologies is shaking up the country’s musical landscape. Synthesizers, drum machines and associated styles, pop, disco, soul, rock and funk, collide with local genres. Afrobeat, juju music and highlife are mixed with Western sounds as on the hybrid title “Highlife” in dub version by singer and composer Sonny Okosun.
On this song, he praises Pan-Africanism, this cultural, economic, social and political vision of emancipation of Africans. Musical and political hero, but also anti-apartheid activist, Nelson Mandela even invited him to sing on May 10, 1994 during his inauguration ceremony as president of South Africa. Contrasting with the instrumentation of the time, his music is dominated by a use of electronics which still surprises us today…
And at the time, Nigeria confirmed its status as a major musical breeding ground in West Africa. The former British colony, independent since 1960, saw musical excitement take over after the oil boom a decade later.
Among the famous unknowns in this compilation, we find Blackman Akeeb Kareem. This singer and composer explores this new imported musical aesthetic that is funk, freshly arrived in the nightclubs of West Africa. He enriches Yoruba rhythms with machines, electric guitars and sound effects to renew Nigerian traditions. And his song “Oya A” has the effect of a little bomb
From this profusion of genres was born the compilation Nigeria Special Volume 3 published by the British label Soundway Records.
In the age of digital and infinitely downloaded songs, the English are focusing on old repertoires, in regions fertile in music, but little known for the conservation of their cultural heritage. Experienced in a solid discipline of musical archeology since 2002, they reconnect here with their passion for the groove of English-speaking Africa. And participate in this rediscovery of unpublished treasures which write the history of modern Nigerian music, alongside stars like Fela Kuti…
Far from being all edifying, these titles have the merit of having laid the foundations of Afrobeats, a true musical phenomenon in Nigeria where the biggest star of this urban style is Burna Boy today.
Nigeria Special Volume 3released November 21, 2024
