Afrobeat 534 Items

Mogadisco - Dancing In Mogadishu (Somalia '72-91)

2LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Analog Africa)

LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Sounds Of Subterrania)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

After being blown away by a few tunes – probably just as you will be after listening to this – Samy Ben Redjeb travelled to the infamous capital city of Somalia in November of 2016, making Analog Africa the frst music label to set foot in Mogadishu. On his arrival in Somalia Samy questioned the need for a vehicle full of armed chaperones casually toting Kalashnikovs, deemed necessary to accompany him to the radio station archive every morning, but then began ri?ing through piles of cassettes and listening to reel-to-reel tapes in the dusty archives of Radio Mogadishu, looking for music that ‘swam against the current’. The stars were aligned: an uncovered and unmarked pile of discarded recordings was discovered in a cluttered corner of the building. Colonel Abshir - the senior employee and protector of Radio Mogadishu’s archives - clarifed that the pile consisted mostly of music nobody had manage to identify, or music he described as being ‘mainly instrumental and strange music’. At the words ‘strange music’ Samy was hooked, the return ?ight to Tunisia was cancelled. The pile turned out to be a cornucopia of different sounds: radio jingles, background music and interludes for radio programmes, television shows and theatre plays. There were also a good number of disco tunes, some had been stripped of their lyrics, the interesting parts had been recorded multiple times then cut, taped together and spliced into a long groovy instrumental loop. Over the next three weeks, often in watermelon-, grapefruit-juice and shisha-fuelled night-time sessions behind the fortifed walls of Radio Mogadishu, Samy and the archive staff put together Mogadisco: Dancing Mogadishu - Somalia 1972–1991. Like everywhere in Africa during the 1970s, both men and women sported huge afros, bell-bottom trousers and platform shoes. James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and The Temptations’ funk were the talk of the town.In 1977, Iftin Band were invited to perform at the Festac festival in Lagos where they represented Somalia at the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture. Not only did they come back with an award, but they also returned with Afrobeat. While Fela Kuti’s ‘Shakara’ had taken over the continent and was spreading like wildfre throughout Latin America, it was the track ‘Lady’ that would become the hit in Mogadishu. At the same time Bob Marley was busy kick-starting reggae-mania in Somalia, which became such a phenomenon that even the police and military bands began playing it. Some say that it was adopted so quickly because of the strong similarities with the traditional beat from the western region of Somalia, called Dhaanto. But then suddenly the trousers got tighter as the disco tsunami hit the country. Michael Jackson appeared with a new sound that would revolutionise Somalia’s live music scene. You couldn’t walk the streets of Mogadishu without seeing kids trying to moonwalk. ‘Somalia had several nightclubs and although most use DJs to play records, some hotels like Jubba, Al-Uruba and Al Jazeera showcased live bands such as Iftin and Shareero’ – so ran a quote from a 1981 article about the explosion of Mogadishu’s live music scene. The venues mentioned in that article were the luxury hotels that had been built to cover the growing demands of the tourist industry. The state-of-the-art hotel Al-Uruba, with its oriental ornaments and white plastered walls, was a wonder of modern architecture. All of Mogadishu’s top bands performed there at some point or another, and many of the songs presented in this compilation were created in such venues. Mogadisco was not Analog Africa’s easiest project. Tracking down the musicians – often in exile in the diaspora – to interview them and gather anecdotes of golden-era Mogadishu has been an undertaking that took three years. Tales of Dur-Dur Band’s kidnapping, movie soundtracks recorded in the basements of hotels, musicians getting electrocuted on stage, others jumping from one band to another under dramatic circumstances, and soul singers competing against each other, are all stories included in the massive booklet that accompanies the compilation - adorned with no less then 50 pictures from the `70s and ‚80s. As Colonel Abshir Hashi Ali, chief don at the Radio Mogadishu archive – someone who once wrestled a bomber wielding an unpinned hand-grenade to the ?oor – put it: ‘I have dedicated my life to this place. I’m doing this so it can get to the next generation; so that the culture, the heritage and the songs of Somalia don’t disappear.’

Go to Item

Bibi Ahmed

Adghah

12" | 2019 | EU | Original (Favorite)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Bibi Ahmed, Kopf und Bandleader von Group Inerane, stammt aus Agadez (Niger), eine der unbändigsten, unbeständigsten und gefährlichsten Gegenden dieser Erde. Früh wurde Bibi mit der Unterdrückung und Ausgrenzung der Tuareg durch die nationalen Regierungen von Mali und Niger konfrontiert. Ebenso früh erwachte seine Liebe zur Musik. Als Kind brachte sich Bibi Ahmed das Gitarre spielen selbst bei, bevor er seine Ausbildung von dem großen Meister und Vater des Tuareg-Blues, Abdallah Ag Oumbadougou, erhielt. Geprägt durch die Erlebnisse in den lybischen Flüchlingscamps während des Tuareg Aufstandes, verlieh Bibi Ahmed, während viele andere Künstler das Land in Richtung Amerika und Europa verließen, mit seiner Band Group Inerane der Rebellion eine eigene, musikalische Stimme und öffnete gleichzeitig die reiche Tradition der Tamachek-Gitarrensänge einer neue Generation Zuhörern. In Zusammenarbeit mit Sounds of Subterrania und den Lotte Lindenberg Studio entstand Februar 2019 sein erstes Soloalbum, bei welchem er alle Instrumente selbst einspielte. Diese Reduktion eröffnen einen völlig neuen Blick auf diesen sehr spezielle Mix aus Tuareg Blues, elektrifizierte Tamachek Folk und Psychedelic Sahara-Rock. Man spürt förmlich das Flirren der Hitze und begibt man sich auf den Pfad des Hörens , verschwimmen die Unterschiede zwischen spirituellen Trance und hypnotischem Psychedelic-Blues. Für Fans von Mdou Moctar, Tinawiren, Imarhan LP mit DLC in wertiger Aufmachung, CD als Digipack. Bibi Ahmed, head and bandleader of Group Inerane, is from Agadez, Niger, which is one of the most volatile, unbridled and dangerous parts of the world. Bibi was soon confronted with the oppression and marginalization of the Tuareg by the national governments of Mali and Niger. Just as early awakened his love for music. As a child, Bibi Ahmed taught himself to play the guitar before receiving his education from the great master and father of the Tuareg blues, Abdallah ag Oumbadougou. Marked by the experiences in the Libyan refugee camps during the Tuareg uprising, Bibi Ahmed and his band Group Inerane gave the rebellion its own musical voice, while at the same time making the rich tradition of Tamachek guitar singing accessible to a new generation of listeners. In February 2019 and in collaboration with Sounds of Subterrania and Lotte Lindenberg Studio, Bibi recorded his first solo album on which he played all of the instruments himself. This reduction opened up a whole new view on this quite extraordinary mix of Tuareg blues, electrified Tamachek folk and psychedelic Sahara rock. The listener literally feels the shimmer of the heat and, once one embarks on the path of listening, the differences between spiritual trance and hypnotic psychedelic blues become indistinct. For fans of Mdou Moctar, Tinawiren, Imarhan Vinyl in hi-end sleeve with dlc, CD as digipack!

Go to Item

Esnard Boisdur

Mizik Bel

15,99 €*

Kings Left Behind Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

“You don’t need to be a fan of Gwoka or even Antillean music in general to fall in love with the deep, expressive voices of the singers of the genre. Artists like COSACK, ANZALA and ESNARD BOISDUR have fascinated music lovers around the globe for decades. It’s not only the drumming style accompanied by their beautiful melodic intonation, but also the revolutionary spirit of these songs that make them a unique and powerful document of the culture and the history of the Antilles and the Caribbean.
I remember the first time I listened to this type of drumming and signing, live at the re-enactment of the slave riots, and being completely emotionally overwhelmed by it. Some of my record collector/DJ colleagues and friends – first and foremost Hugo Mendez and Émile Omar – shared the same fascination for the genre and kept inspiring me, and countless others, by their DJ sets at Tropical Discoteq in Paris, where I have had the pleasure to be one of the residents for five years and counting. At one of those nights, I met my friend Pascal Rioux from Favorite Recordings and told him about an amazing unreleased track I received months before, on a home-burned CD, from ESNARD BOISDUR. Among other beautiful songs, it contained one outstanding track, a mix of modern Gwoka and Zouk called “MIZIK BEL”.
When I started playing that track out, there were fierce reactions on both ends. The crowds loved it and after a while you could hear people cheer when they heard the first notes. Many DJs and labels wanted it, demanded it, and would even go as far as to block or unfriend me if I refused to comply. It became clear to me that the track had to be released on vinyl for the first time and made accessible to people who wanted to play it, while giving the original artist full credit. At the same time, I knew a remix version of the track that would pay respect to the original could only be created by getting the original stems, and not by editing the main track and pressing it into an “electronic dance corset.” Pascal agreed to the idea and started the licensing work and the search for the stems, which resulted in an ongoing three-year quest that was crowned by the finding of the ADAT containing the original tracks.
As AFRICAINE 808, Dirk Leyers and I spent considerable time trying to re-create the composition of the original, respectfully slicing and re-arranging it, adding new instrumentation, and recording additional percussion and talking drum with our percussionist ERIC OWUSU (Pat Thomas/Ebo Taylor). We stretched it, adding a krauty synth part without losing the focus of Esnard’s beautiful voice and lyrics, describing Caribbean music in all its diversity and beauty.
With this in mind, I hope you can now enjoy the beauty of “MIZIK BEL” as much as we have so far.” – (DJ NOMAD, June 2019).

Go to Item

Ikebe Shakedown

LP | 2019 | US | Original (Colemine)

K.O.G. & The Zongo Brigade

Release: 2019 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Ten years ago, Ikebe Shakedown began pushing the boundaries of instrumental music. Each new track and live set has sent them deeper into combining the primal elements of ’70s soul, raw psychedelic style, and cinematic Western soundtracks with powerful grooves and soaring melodies. Now, with their new release, Kings Left Behind (Colemine Records), the band is giving listeners more mystery and majesty than ever before. The album features the entire group collaborating to produce tracks that deliver punches right to the gut, even as dreamy guitars and lush horn melodies and string arrangements capture the imagination.

The album was recorded by Ikebe's bassist, Vince Chiarito, at Hive Mind Recording. Opened with Ikebe's saxophonist, Mike Buckley, and another collaborator in 2017, Hive Mind has become a home base for the band, leading to more experimentation with the textures and sounds of a genre they define as Instrumental Soul.

Go to Item

Wahala Wahala

2LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Pura Vida Sounds)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

12" | 2019 | EU | Original (La Casa Tropical)

Patience Africa

Wozani

16,99 €*

12" | 2018 | EU | Original (Soundway)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

The career of Patience Africa Spanned over 40 years. After almost a decade of success on a major label with her Zulu Disco sound, and a few years in the early 80s experimenting with a more soulful sound, the funky synths of the 80's would force her to stay relevant in the quick changing times. It would be in 1987 that she would sign to the independent Ream Music which with the help of their tight knit in house production team had released hits for upcoming disco artists Makwerhu, Ntombi Ndaba, Sunset, Athena, Percy Kay and more. The label's success in the traditional market made Patience a perfect fit and could have been their first crossover artist.
With the help of owner's Danny Antill and Clive Risko they would cut a 4 track EP that like many others of the time ended up being lost in to the hyper saturated market of the emerging Bubblegum demand. Two tracks would be written by Patience, including the title "Wozani La" Musically these were more aligned with her sound of the 70's accompanied by a purely digital production, but it's the two songs written by label boss Danny Antill that appear on this release. These two songs are unlike anything heard at the time. Embracing full commitment to the digital studio and some extensive and risky experimenting the trio managed to slide heavy house bordering electro pop and a haunting swing beat groove alongside the compositions of Patience to complete this EP for both markets. Although the album had great potential, poor promotion and low sales led Patience to feel cheated and after not earning a cent for the record left the label and took her first break from music since the early 70's. She would later return to her original sound recording up to til 2006 when she released what would be her final album before her death the following year. Still loved by her fans and those who knew her, she is remembered through the Patience Africa Foundation. Founded by her son Mangaliso in 2017 to help create a better South Africa in our lifetime.

Go to Item

Jon K / Pat Thomas

Asafo / Enye Woa

12,99 €*

3LP | 2018 | EU | Original (Analog Africa)

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

After much online hype shrouded in mystery, Soundway presents the first in a new series of 12” releases which will make available many hard-to-find and in-demand dancefloor tracks on loud, DJ-friendly pressings.
On this first 12” are two late 1980s Ghanaian highlife cuts taken from the catalogue of Nakasi Records. Nakasi was run by the late producer Nana Asiedu (Big Joe) - a well-known figure in the Ghanaian and African music community of 1980s London.
The A-side showcases a track from Jon K’s second solo album, which was a re-working of a traditional Fanti language Asafo company song Asafo Beesuon. Made famous by C.K.Mann on his seminal album ‘Funky Highlife’, this version very much reflects the more westernised late 1980s sound of highlife music recorded in the UK, Holland, Canada and Germany for both ex-pat Ghanaian audiences and those back home in West Africa.
The album features the stalwart session musician Alfred Bannerman, the go-to Ghanaian guitarist known for the classic cut of ‘Let Me Love You’ by Bunny Mack, among many other tracks over the last 40 years, including his work on contemporary releases for Soundway such as Konkoma and Ibibio Sound Machine.
On the B-side, Pat Thomas (the brother in-law of Big Joe) needs little introduction having been touring the world extensively in recent years with the Kwashibu Area Band. Somehow this dancefloor-heavy cut has eluded recent compilations and reissues. With horns arranged by long time friend and collaborator Ebo Taylor, it’s an instantly recognisable sound that also features Rex Gyamfi - himself a well-known purveyor of 1980s ‘burger-highlife’.

Go to Item

Dur-Dur Band

Dur Dur of Somalia

36,99 €*

12" | 2018 | EU | Original (Atangana)

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Analog Africa are proud to present the 27th release of their Analog Africa Series. A fantastic, hypnotic and funky compilation from the Dur-Dur Band of Somalia that comes out on a Triple LP.

When Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb arrived in Mogadishu in November of 2016, he was informed by his host that he would have to be accompanied at all times by an armed escort while in the country. The next morning, a neighbour and former security guard put on a military uniform, borrowed an AK-47 from somewhere and escorted him to Via Roma, an historical street in the heart of Hamar-Weyne, the city’s oldest district. Although previous Analog Africa releases have demonstrated a willingness to go more than the extra air-mile to track down the stories behind the music, the trip to Mogadishu was a musical journey of a different kind. It was the culmination of an odyssey that had started many years earlier.

In 2007 John Beadle, a Milwaukee-based musicologist and owner of the much loved Likembe blog, uploaded a cassette he had been handed twenty years earlier by a Somalian student. The post was titled ‘Mystery Somali Funk’ and it was, in Samy’s own words, “some of the deepest funk ever recorded.” The cassette seemed to credit these dense, sonorous tunes to the legendary Iftin Band. But initial contact with Iftin’s lead singer suggested that the ‘mystery funk’ may have actually been the work of their chief rival, Dur-Dur, a young band from the 80s.

Back then, Mogadishu had been a very different place. On the bustling Via Roma, people from all corners of society would gather at the Bar Novecento and Cafe Cappucino, watch movies at the famous Supercinema, and eat at the numerous pasta hang-outs or the traditional restaurants that served Bariis Maraq, a somali Beef Stew mixed with delicious spiced rice. The same street was also home to Iftinphone and Shankarphone, two of the city’s best known music shop. Located opposite each other, they were the centre of Somalia’s burgeoning cassette distribution network. Both shops, run by members of the legendary Iftin Band, would become first-hand witnesses to the meteoric rise of Dur- Dur, a rise that climaxed in April of 1987 with the release of Volume 2, their second album.

The first single ‘Diinleya’ had taken Somalian airwaves by storm in a way rarely seen before or since. The next single, ‘Dab,’ had an even greater impact, and the two hits had turned them into the hottest band in town. In addition to their main gig as house band at the legendary Jubba Hotel, Dur-Dur had also been asked to perform the music for the play “Jascyl Laba Ruux Mid Ha Too Rido” (May one of us fall in love) at Mogadishu’s national theatre. The play was so successful that the management had been forced to extend the run by a month, throwing the theatre’s already packed schedule into complete disarray, and each night, as soon as the play had finished, Dur-Dur had to pack their instruments into a Volkswagen T1 tour bus that would shuttle them across town in time for their hotel performance.

The secrets to Dur-Dur’s rapid success is inextricably linked to the vision of Isse Dahir, founder and keyboard player of the band. Isse´s plan was to locate some of the most forward-thinking musicians of Mogadishu´s buzzing scene and lure them into Dur-Dur. Ujeeri, the band’s mercurial bass player was recruited from Somali Jazz and drummer extraordinaire Handal previously played in Bakaka Band. These two formed the backbone of Dur-Dur and would become one of Somalia’s most extraordinary rhythm sections.

Isse also added his two younger brothers to the line-up: Abukar Dahir Qassin was brought in to play lead guitar, and Ahmed Dahir Qassin was hired as a permanent sound engineer, a first in Somalia and one of the reasons that Dur-Dur became known as the best-sounding band in the country.

On their first two albums, Volume 1 and Volume 2, three different singers traded lead-vocal duties back and forth. Shimaali, formerly of Bakaka Band, handled the Daantho songs, a Somalian rhythm from the northern part of the country that bears a striking resemblance to reggae, Sahra Dawo, a young female singer, had been recruited from Somalia’s national orchestra, the Waaberi Band. Their third singer, the legendary Baastow, whose nickname came from the italian word ‘pasta’ due to the spaghetti-like shape of his body, had also been a vocalist with the Waaberi Band, and had been brought into Dur-Dur due to his deep knowledge of traditional Somali music, particularly Saar, a type of music intended to summon the spirits during religious rituals. These traditional elements of Dur-Dur’s repertoire sometimes put them at odds with the manager of the Jubba Hotel who once told Baastow “I am not going to risk having Italian tourists possessed by Somali spirits. Stick to disco and reggae.”

Yet from the very beginning, Dur-Dur’s doctrine was the fusion of traditional Somali music with whatever rhythms would make people dance: Funk, Reggae, Soul, Disco and New Wave were mixed effortlessly with Banaadiri beats, Daantho and spiritual Saar music. The concoction was explosive and when they stormed the Mogadishu music scene in 1986 with their very first hit single, ‘Yabaal,’ featuring vocals from Sahra Dawo, it was clear that a new meteorite had crash-landed in Somalia. As Abdulahi Ahmed, author of Somali Folk Dances explains: “Yabaal is a traditional song, but the way it was played and recorded was like nothing else we had heard before, it was new to us.” ‘Yabaal’ was one of the songs that resurfaced on the Likembe blog, and it became the symbolic starting point of this project.

It initially seemed that Dur-Dur’s music had only been preserved as a series of murky tape dubs and YouTube videos, but after Samy arrived in Mogadishu he eventually got to the heart of Mogadishu’s tape-copying network – an analogue forerunner of the internet file-sharing that helped to keep the flame of this music alive through the darkest days of Somalia’s civil strife – and ended up finding some of the band’s fabled master tapes, long thought to have disappeared.

This triple LP / double CD reissue of the band’s first two albums – the first installment in a three-part series dedicated to Dur-Dur Band – represents the first fruit of Analog Africa’s long labours to bring this extraordinary music to the wider world. Remastered from the best available audio sources, these songs have never sounded better. Some thirty years after they first made such a splash in the Mogadishu scene, they have been freed from the wobble and tape-hiss of second and third generation cassette dubs, to reveal a glorious mix of polychromatic organs, nightclub-ready rhythms and hauntingly soulful vocals.

In addition to two previously unreleased tracks, the music is accompanied by extensive liner notes, featuring interviews with original band members, documenting a forgotten chapter of Somalia’s cultural history. Before the upheaval in the 1990s that turned Somalia into a war-zone, Mogadishu, the white pearl of the Indian Ocean, had been one of the jewels of eastern Africa, a modern paradise of culture and commerce. In the music of the Dur-Dur band – now widely available outside of Somalia – we can still catch a fleeting glimpse of that golden age.
Listen & Enjoy!

Go to Item

Fedia Laguerre

Divizion

LP | 2018 | EU | Original (World Circuit)

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Founded in 2018 by DJ and producer Deni-Shain – the man behind acclaimed compilations Space Echo and Pop Makossa -, Atangana Records is the logical follow-up to more than 20 years of travels, constantly on the lookout for new artists and music around the world. As a “tropicalist globetrotter”, in this new project Deni-Shain, in partnership with Thomas Vicente, co-owner of the French restaurant “Le Verre Volé”, aims to dig, reproduce & transmit cross-cultural music, usually unreachable and/or less known by the public.
The goal is simple: share the love of music and to rediscover the pleasure of voicings, percussions and sadly forgotten harmonies, whether you find yourself in a jam packed club or the intimacy of your home.
Atangana’s first releases will be looking at the Caribbean’s Islands, especially into Haiti with the reissue – highly expected by various diggers – of the acclaimed single « Divizion » by singer Fedia Laguerre. Originally released in 1981, this first 12" comes with a remix by Voilaaa and an instrumental cut exclusively based on the additional work by the French afro-collective.

Go to Item

Orchestra Baobab

Tribute To Ndiouga Dieng

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Lee Dodou & The Polyversal Souls

Basa Basa

7" | 2018 | EU | Original (Philophon)

10,99 €*

Everything You Do, You Do For Yourself

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

As the lead singer of George Darko's legendary Burger-Highlife hit-band, Lee Dodou became the number one voice of 80's Highlife. Born in Kumasi, the epicenter of Ghanaian Highlife, he came to Berlin in the late 70's - by then the uprising epicenter of Burger-Highlife - to work as a back-up-singer for Pat Thomas. After joining and leaving Georg Darko and running his own band "Kantata", he stopped releasing music in the early 90's. Now, Philophon is proud to present new recordings of his soulful genius to the world of 2018.
Basa Basa is a song in the classic "concert party" style, as it was played in the glorious 60's. After a firey horn introduction Lee takes over in that funny and entertaining manner typical for "concert party" music. Buzz Duncker joins Lee's phrases with some gentle clarinet. Highlife at its best!
Sahara Akwantuo is anything but a classic: it's the start of a kind of philophonic Highlife, labeled as Kraut-Life. Ghanaian love of life meets German romantic melancholy. Happy rhythms meet mysterious synth landscapes. Eternal summertime and mangos are meeting a wet winter world and roast apples. Kraut-Life at its best!

Go to Item

Guy One

7" | 2017 | EU | Original (Philophon)

10,99 €*

Inye Deluxe Vinyl Edition

Release: 2017 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

With the single "Everything You Do, You Do For Yourself" North-Ghanaian Kologo master Guy One opens the door to his first international release #1, which will be available end of January 2018. Guy One promises what his name is saying: he is the number one artist of Frafra music, named after his people: the Frafra.
"Everything You Do, You Do For Yourself" is his only song having a phrase in English. Here he is following the example of his collegue and friend King Ayisoba, who introduced the use of English into Frafra music a few years ago. The beat is a driving Highlife rhythm. That's the kind of groove we all love Ghana for!
On "Estre" we have special guest Florence Adooni, one of the leading voices of Frafra-Gospel. She is interweaving perfectly with the horn arrangements by Max Weissenfeldt, as well the drummer of the song, and gives after her part the lead to Mr. Guy One - yeah, the number one!

Go to Item

Itadi

LP | 2017 | EU | Original (Hot Casa)

The Invasive Dance Beat Of Cameroon 1976-1984

Release: 2017 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

This deluxe LP contains also two unreleased tracks, interview, and photos and was fully licensed with his family. Afro funk and Political Soul from Togo. Recorded in the beginning of the 80's and self-produced by Itadi in 1983 , this obscure album contained deep soul and controversial rare grooves backed by the 5 band members called the “Afro Funk Band de Lomé”. Itadi's music is unique, in his second album, he kept the same recipe: a mixture of soul, reggae, hi-life and Funk, with heavy lyrics which sounds like slogans and caused him big trouble after its release. He was obliged to escape the country to USA. A real definition of a revolutionary musician. Remastered by Frank Merritt at Carvery Studio.

Go to Item

Pop Makossa

2LP | 2017 | EU | Original (Analog Africa)

LP | 2017 | US | Original (Comb & Razor Sound)

Release: 2017 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

An explosive
compilation highlighting the era when funk and disco sounds
began to infiltrate Cameroon's Makossa style. The beat that
holds everything together originate's from the Sawa people's
rhythms. When these rhythms collided with merengue, high-life,
Congolese rumba, and, later, funk and disco, modern Makossa was
born. Makossa, the beat that long before football, managed to
unify the whole of Cameroon. Some of the greatest Makossa hits
incorporated the electrifying guitars and tight grooves of
funk, while others were laced with cosmic synth flourishes.
However, most of this music's vibe came down to the bass, and
'Pop Makossa' demonstrates why many Cameroonian bass players
are among the most revered in the world.

Go to Item

Shango Dance Band

LP | 2016 | EU | Original (Hot Casa)

Release: 2017 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

In the early years of Fela Kuti's career, well before he would define the genre of afrobeat, and leave an indelible mark on the musical landscape, he was a struggling trumpet player, seeking to redefine the sound of his current group, the art-jazz ensemble Fela Ransome-Kuti Quintet. As he moved his group towards the then-popular genre of highlife in 1963, he lost his bassist in the move towards commercial success, but gained the company of Ojo Okeji, who had a sterling reputation both as a bassist and
percussionist in groups like Lagos Cool Cats, Rex Williams' Nigerian Artistes, and Western Toppers Highlife Band, a favorite of Kuti's. Okeji impressed Kuti with his deft jazziness on the bass, so he was in on the spot, and the Fela Ransome-Kuti Quintet became Koola Lobitos. It was Okeji that introduced Kuti to the famed percussionist Tony Allen, (Who would subsequently join Kuti into his greatest years as an artist) as well as conguero Abayomi "Easy" Adio. During his time in Koola Lobitos, Okeji not only contributed deeply melodic, and adeptly rhythmic baselines, but brought his own influence from emerging US soul artists like James Brown & The Famous Flames and Wilson Pickett, heavily pushing Koola Lobitos towards a more soulful direction. This push was often resisted by Kuti, who frequently clashed with Okeji. 1968 proved to be a turning point for the group, as the Nigerian Civil War broke out, and many starving musicians turned to the military for work. Okeji and Adio would leave for the army, while Kuti and Allen kept Koola Lobitos going, where it evolved through different names and iterations and grew into the worldwide afrobeat force that made Kuti an icon during the 70s and 80s. But as Kuti and Allen rose to global recognition, Okeji and Adio would form a new band within the ranks of the 6th Infantry Brigade of the Nigerian Army. Their emblazoned blue jackets earned them the nickname "The Blues”, but Okeji preferred the name “Shango” after the Yoruba thunder god. Shango took the fundamentals of Kuti's famous afrobeat and brought new layers of guitar and horn arrangements, while often invoking supernatural aesthetics, and maintaining a love for the US soul artists that influenced Okeji so much. Because Shango was an army band however, their records were not readily available to anyone outside of the military so their music, including their eponymous 1974 LP, remained relatively unknown even amongst the people of Nigeria. Decades later Comb & Razor is thrilled to present this long-lost Nigerian gem for the first time to a world-wide audience.

Go to Item

Joni Haastrup

Wake Up Your Mind

12" | 2016 | UK | Original (Sol Power)

Release: 2016 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Growing up in a royal household in Nigeria, Joni Haastrup began his musical journey performing for his brothers band Sneakers and was quickly snapped up as a vocalist for Orlando Julius Ekemode and his Modern Aces' Super Afro Soul LP, one of Afro-beat's formative LPs. Soon after, Ginger Baker of Cream fame replaced Steve Winwood with Joni on keys for Airforce's UK concerts in '71 and the success of the collaboration led to further shows with Baker as part of the SALT project before he returned to Nigeria to set up MonoMono. Back in London in 1978, Joni recorded his solo gem Wake Up Your Mind for the Afrodesia imprint. Coming in a Deluxe gatefold Replika LP with printed sleeves

Go to Item

Sol Power All-Stars

Djidjo Vide

13,99 €*

Hailu Mergia & Dahlak Band

Release: 2016 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Just in time for summer, Sol Power Sound is proud to present its 4th release, the Djidjo Vide EP, a 1-2 punch of Afro house by label heads, the Sol Power All-Stars.

Djidjo Vide, the title track on the A-side, features DC (via Togo) Afrobeat band, Elikeh. It's a vibey slice of propulsive Afro house about finding joy in the face of hardship. Massama Dogo's commanding vocals (sung in Mina) combined with the driving bassline, and aggressive horns (performed by DC's Sticky Bear) make Djidjo Vide a summer sure shot for a roof-top jam, beachside dance floor, or nightclub near you.

The B-side, Tell Me Why is darker and deeper, chock full of percussion, a chopped vocal sample, and in-your-face afrobeat horns (performed by Matt Rippetoe and Joe Herrera of DC's the Harry Bells). It's a late-night beatdown that will set things off proper in a dark room!

Go to Item

Wede Harer Guzo

2LP | 2016 | US | Original (Awesome Tapes From Africa)

Release: 2016 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Psychedelic Sanza 1982-1984

Francis Bebey

2LP | 2014 | EU | Original (Born Bad)

LP | 2014 | EU | Original (Hot Casa)

Release: 2014 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Special compilation from Parisian re-issue kings, Born Bad, of the late Cameroonian master musician, Francis Bebey. This is the material we were hoping would follow the excellent comp from last year. Amazing 'universal' music currently only available on expensive originals. Double album with printed innersleeve.

Go to Item

Vaudou Game

Apiafo

World Psychedelic Classics 5: Who Is William Onyeabor

Release: 2014 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Apiafo is a 12 tracks album, entirely recorded, mixed and mastered with old analog tapes, and played with vintage instruments, recalling the sound of bands like Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou or El Rego!

Go to Item

William Onyeabor

3LP | 2013 | US | Original (Luaka Bop)

40,99 €*

Release: 2013 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Damon Albarn & Four Tet dig this gentleman, so you should dig this forgotten master of african synth-craze, too!

Go to Item

Kenya Special: Selected East African Recordings From The 1970s & '80s

3LP+7" | 2013 | UK | Original (Soundway)

Make It Fast, Make It Slow

Release: 2013 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Soundway Records present Kenya Special: Selected East African Recordings from the 1970s & ‘80s - a treasure-trove of rare and unusual recordings from East Africa. Spread out over two CDs and one triple LP, Kenya Special is accompanied by detailed liner notes, original artwork and photographs.

It follows on from Soundway’s much acclaimed African ‘Special’ series that to date has focused on the highlife and afrobeat output from 1970s Nigeria and Ghana. Kenya Special is a collection of 32 recordings (most of which were only ever released on small-run 45rpm 7" singles) that stand out as being different or unique as well as some classic genre standards. From Kikuyu language ‘liquid soul’, Luo benga and Swahili afrobeat to genre-bending Congolese and Tanzanian tracks recorded in Nairobi, Kenya Special sees Soundway yet again taking the less trodden path. Many of the tracks featured here are peppered with innovation and experimentation highlighting how diverse the music scene in Kenya was at the time.

In 1970s Kenya the two threads of rumba and benga loosely dominated the music scene. Benga quickly became Kenya’s unique contribution to afro-pop; spreading like wildfire through the interior countryside with it’s fast, 4/4 machine-gun beat and intricate electric guitar layers. The Congolese take on Afro-Cuban rumba was introduced by touring bands many of whom settled in East Africa - influencing bands from Kenya and Tanzania to come up with their own take on this popular style. Alongside these styles were small ensembles and hotel-sponsored bands, playing a blend of music that often included rock ‘n’ roll riffs, elements of ‘afro’ music (influenced by West African musicians like Fela Kuti), and multiple other combinations from South African and Zambian guitar styles to disco, funk and Swahili coastal rhythms like chakacha.

Painstakingly compiled, assembled and researched over two years by a team of five people from five countries (Kenya included), Kenya Special is a collection that looks beyond the mainstream and brings new life and recognition to some little known gems and forgotten classics of Kenya’s past.

Go to Item

Rob

LP | 2012 | UK | Original (Soundway)

Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate

Release: 2012 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

ROB was an enigmatic recording artist from Ghana who cut two albums for the legendary Essiebons label in 1977. Neither of these were big domestic hits at the time and have since become prized amongst collectors in recent years. The title track from this LP was always one of the most popular on the first Soundway release Ghana Soundz and over the years we have been asked many times to re-issue the LP in it’s entirety. A stranger, slower offering than his more dancefloor funk-laden and Spartan first LP, this record sees ROB in similar territory but with the tempo switched down and the introspection turned up.

ROB’s trademark horns dominate and are supplied by the Mag-2, an army band founded by leader Amponsah Rockson, who named it after the army unit the band played for – the “magnificent” second battalion. In 1977, Rob traveled to the coastal town of Takoradi in search of Mag-2, which had an entire section of its line-up dedicated to horns, with the intension of laying out his proposal to them. Luckily for Rob, the band took him up on it.

With religious overtones and a broody, slightly off-key atmosphere at points it’s certainly one of the stranger afro-funk records to come out of West Africa but with tracks like Loose up Yourself and Make it Fast, Make it Slow he nails it for sure.

Go to Item

Ali And Toumani

2LP | 2010 | EU | Original (World Circuit)

Release: 2010 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Sensation ~ Documenting The Sensation Recordings 1948-52

John Lee Hooker

LP | 2024 | UK | Original (Ace)

Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-09-27

ohn Lee Hooker is not an artist who plays by the rules that govern what we generally accept as “traditional” blues music—he very rarely plays in 12-bar format when he performs his songs. On his most popular tune, ‘Boogie Chillen’, his lyrical and musical phrases last anywhere as short as nine or ten, or maybe fifteen or even nineteen measures long, depending on how long he wants to “boogie” on his guitar riffs that roll and tumble between his patented vocal phrases.

Go to Item

12" | 2024 | EU | Original (Afrosynth)

Music Team Sampler

12" | 2024 | UK | Original (DDS)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-10-11

Selection of all winners from the Music Team label - mid 80s to early 90s gems on here!

One of South Africa’s biggest independent labels for more than a decade, Music Team offered working musicians a shot at fame via access to top studios, producers, songwriters and session musicians, as well as distribution via a number of imprints: CTV, Red Label, Solid, Spinna, Mambo Music and others. Artists in the stable who tasted success would typically release a few albums over as many years before moving on to other labels or falling off the radar as times changed. At their peak, according to label boss Maurice Horwitz, Music Team was selling a million records a month, and was at the forefront of South African pop music as it evolved from soul to disco and beyond.

Afrosynth Records’ ‘Music Team Sampler’ dusts off six rare and long-forgotten gems from the Music Team catalogue, originally released between 1986 and 1992. Four are typical of the label’s take on the popular ‘bubblegum’ sound of the day — Isaac ‘Cool Cat’ Mofokeng’s ‘Candy’, ‘I Won’t Let You Go’ by Linda Oliphant, Jappie Lebona’s ‘My Love is Yours and ‘Instant Love (Eyami Lendoda)’ by Thandi Zulu (aka TZ Junior). Two instrumentals — Mr. Ace’s ‘Ace 1’ and ‘Axe Chop’ by The Hard Workers, a studio project by Music Team’s in-house producer Tom Mkhize — meanwhile hint at the imminent rise of kwaito and house.

Forged in the fire of a cruel and volatile political system that was gradually unraveling, instead of addressing political realities these indelible pop songs sought to provide an escape to a world where love and music were all that mattered.

Go to Item

NZO

Concentrate

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Akuphone)

Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

The 4th in the DDS 12” series, NZO helps stake the label’s 15th year of operations with a typically Janus-faced
approach to classic >< contemporary club ruffage. Tune to tune, she decimates and distills familiar tropes in
singular, whirring syncopations designed to prompt bodies to move in fresh new ways. It’s all primed for
proper animist magick, bound to snag rhythm fiends with its shape-cutting manoeuvres.
Working deep in the hardcore ’nuum’s 30 odd year tradition of concrète sampler chicanery, the four tracks
find fractured vocals and echoes of club classics revitalised and reset with advanced drum ingenuity.
160BPM opener ‘Concentrate’ appears like Hessle Audio’s Joe stripped for parts, whilst ‘Mallet’ swivels like SND
remodelling Afrobeats’ palette of tuned percussions, next to what could almost be a lost Various Production
edit in the sublime tension of syrupy R&B and frothing drums on ‘Come Alive’.
The EP ends with its standout, ‘Body & Soul’, an undulating ama simmer punctuated by dub chords like some
lost Basic Channel production re-cast for the lovers.

Go to Item

Badiaa Bouhriz

Kahrumusiqa

Trance Gnawa Music From Morocco

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

KahruMusiqa is a musical retrospective by Tunisian singer and composer Badiâa Bouhrizi AKA Neysatu. She is known as the author behind the protest songs that became the anthems of the Tunisian revolution.

KahruMusiqa means electronic music, but is never used as such in Arabic to name the genre. The record is a collection of sonic experimentations that started when she first got her hands on music production softwares in the 2000s. The tracks are based around poems in classical Arabic language or Tunisian dialect written by Badiâa herself or female poets she admires, such as Palestinian authors Fadwa Tuqan or Salma Al Jayusi, or the Tunisian poet Noureddine Werghi. Most of the vocal work are improvisations recorded with a computer microphone. A take on the classic Turkish folk song Muhabbat is almost a modern harmonic rewriting, using only classical guitar, vocals and delays.

KahruMusiqa’s themes are in line with Badiâa Bouhrizi ideological trajectory. She is a queer woman in the moving sands of Tunesia in the song Transrimel. She also questions the political contract that led to Balfour and the displacement of millions of Palestinians in 1948, describing a journey between London and Nablus, in Fil Madinatil harima (“In The Old City").

This lo-fi bedroom album also displays several songs that have become classics of the Arab underground milieu like Ila Selma, and is the first ever record Badiâa Bouhrizi was willing to release.

Go to Item

Nass El Ghiwane

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Elmir)

Afla Sackey & Afrik Bawantu

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

In North Africa, a ziara is a spiritual ceremony where people come to exorcise demons, purify their bodies and loudly reaffirm their attachment to God, the prophet and the deities who claim to embody him. On this occasion, there are uncontrolled outbursts from the audience, but this has nothing to do with Roman orgies, as it lacks ostensible debauchery, aphrodisiacs or saturnalia - it is merely a blurring of the line between the religious and the superstitious. In a shrill parable, cries erupt from chests, twisting through vertical space and setting everything ablaze; a delirious chorus is chanted, ending in syncopation, and the litany, whose leitmotif Ya Chai, Ya Afi (O Healer...), shouted in unison, builds to a crescendo until the body is totally exhausted. An intoxicating ecstasy reminiscent of a voodoo ritual. What mystics call "union in God", a God who would multiply himself.

The most brilliant performers of this type of ceremony are called the Gnawa. Originally from black Africa, mainly Sudan and Senegal, they were forcibly implanted in southern Maghreb by Tuareg raiders seeking to use them as slaves. After several decades of servitude, they managed to emerge from their painful condition, which they evoke in some of their songs, and - as a result of cross-fertilization - to form a mixed race known as the hormis (the reddish). They then grouped together in mystical brotherhoods, the most important of which were based in Morocco, and devoted themselves to rituals through which, while attesting to the greatness and omnipotence of Allah, they pursued their fatal liaisons with the djins or djenoun, genie-like spirits that may be either benevolent or hostile.

But above all, the Gnawa, who never abjured their faith in animist divinities, distinguish themselves by their bewitching music, dance and rhythms, which are believed to hold therapeutic virtues. During the festivities, all movements are orchestrated and staged by the maâlem, or master (one of the most famous is Si Mohamed Chaouki), for he alone knows all the rules. He is a master of the instrument that aids healing, the guembri, a kind of acoustic bass strummed with three gut strings, and knows which melody-remedy matches each patient possessed by a particular spirit. All this is accompanied by dekka (frenzied hand-clapping) and animal sacrifices (chickens, goats and, on rare occasions, bulls).

In recent years in particular, the Gnawa musical and rhythmic tradition, which borrows from both Middle Eastern arabesques and African percussion, has enjoyed a marked revival among Moroccan artists of the new generation. But until now, only the very popular group Nass El Ghiwane has been able, with talent, faithfulness and authenticity, to reconstitute the Gnawa spirit, as witnessed by this album. So join them, and get into the trance.

Go to Item

Destination

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Wah Wah 45s)

49,99 €*

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Les Soeurs Doga & Viktor Marek

Bayiri / Mashallah

7" | 2024 | EU | Original (Fun In The Church)

12,99 €*

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Music On Vinyl)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Haoua and Azera Doga, also known as Les Soeurs Doga, are twin sisters from Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou. The power duo, which has long been a household name in its home country, has been active since the early 2000s and surprises with its ability to switch seamlessly between traditional idioms, which are mostly sung in their mother tongue Mooré, and modern, almost rap-like songs. And in doing so, they address the most pressing problems of their country, such as terrorism, poverty or hunger, while at the same time transforming them into rousing call-and-response anthems that are 100% positive. Or, as the Burkinabe press put it: "A strong spiritual message coupled with festive optimism". We are delighted to be able to present these outstanding artists in Germany once again.

They will be accompanied by their Hamburg friend, beatmaker and sampling wizard Viktor Marek. The globetrotting producer and DJ is the manager of the infamous Golden Pudel Club in St. Pauli and is known for his involvement in projects such as The Kings of Dubrock, 8 Doogymoto and his dubstep/folk project Sufi Dub Brothers, which he runs together with Pakistani sitar virtuoso Ashraf Sharif Khan. A first taste of his collaboration with the mighty Doga Sisters appeared last year on his solo album "Mr. Subtitle".

Go to Item

Ethiopians

Slave Call

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

2LP | 2024 | UK | Original (Burning Sounds)

Phil Pratt

Star Wars Dub

30,99 €*

Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (BBE Africa)

Remi Kabaka

Roots Funkadelia

36,99 €*

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

LP | 2024 | Original (Diamond West)

The Mesmerizers

Far From The West

16,99 €*

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Altin Village & Mine)

Release: 2024 / Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Introducing "The Mesmerizers," a mysterious trio of maestros whose debut 7" record transports you to a bygone era of exotic enchantment. Unearthed from the depths of a forgotten studio and given new life, these captivating compositions beckon you into a timeless realm where the boundaries of sound and imagination blur.Within the sultry grooves of this vinyl treasure, The Mesmerizers weave a spellbinding tapestry of exotica, echoing the seductive rhythms and lush melodies reminiscent of a golden age that refuses to be tethered to any specific moment.

Go to Item

Odd Okoddo

Negore

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Jammin' Colors)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

"Negore" is the second album by the Kenya-based duo Odd Odokko. After their debut "Auma" saw percussionist Sven Kacirek work with pre-existing recordings of singer and instrument builder Olith Ratego, the two opted for a similar approach for the ten pieces to preserve the expressiveness of the latter"s performance. Further contributions by sound artist KMRU and Angel Bat Dawid on bass clarinet expand the duo"s sonic palette which draws on the dodo music of the Luo people and enriches it with percussive, melodic, and occasionally electronic means. The record"s title translates to "petroleum lamp," signifying the transition from day to night-when the time has come to dance. In this decidedly joyful spirit, "Negore" is dedicated to transitions and venturing into the future. Ratego"s interpretation of the folk tradition is expressly contemporary, while Kacirek uses a rich variety of avant-garde and advanced electronic music techniques to propel it even further.

Go to Item

Black Lives

People Of Earth

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Havanna Meets Kingston Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Mista Savona Presents

2LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Baco)

45,99 €*

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

LP | 2024 | Original (One World)

Raphael Gimenes

Dinamarca

Release: 2024 / Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-09-13

LP | 2024 | Original (Culture Factory)

Bob Marley

Trenchtown Rockers

37,99 €*

Release: 2024 / Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Batov)

Kolonel DJafaar

Getaway

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Merci Yaya Bongo - Female Animation Groups In Gabon 1982-1989

2LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Secousse)

36,99 €*

LP | 2016 | EU | Reissue (Analog Africa)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Gabon, 1980’s. President Omar Bongo has been in power since 1967. Together with his wife, the infamous singer Patience Dabany, he invents one of the ultimate political propaganda machine: ‘animation groups’, massive female choirs and dancers, up to 60 women deep, singing the praise of his regime over some of the best soukous rhythms ever, broadcasted live on TV. Between 1982 and 1989, mainly thanks to the flourishing oil economy, a record-label is created, a state-of-the-art recording studio is set up, and the best Gabonese and Congolese musicians are recruited. Dozens of vinyls are pressed and sold with huge success all over the country. The Bongo family has reigned continuously over Gabon until the 2023 coup d’état.

Go to Item

Bitori

Legend Of Funaná /

Congolese Funk, Afrobeat And Psychedelic Rumba

Release: 2016 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Analog Africa No. 21 „bitori“ - Legend Of Funaná (The Forbidden Music of The Cape Verde Islands) - In 1997, a quiet, unassuming man of 59 years old named Victor Tavares - better know as Bitori - walks into a studio for the very first time to record a masterpiece which many Cabo Verdean consider to be the best Funaná album ever made.

Bitoris musical adventure had begun long before this point. It was 1954 when he embarked on a journey across the seas to the island of Sao Tomé & Principe. The young man´s hope was to return to Cabo Verde with an accordion.

Following two years of hard labour Bitori had succeeded in saving enough money to acquire what was to become his most valued possession, his cherished instrument. The two month journey back to Santiago, his island of birth, proved time enough to master it. Self taught, Bitori developed his own style, an infectious blaze, that quickly caught the attention of the older generation. Before long Bitori was being asked to share his musical talents, igniting the local festivities around Praia with his music.

But not everybody welcomed the rural accordion-based sound. Perceived as a symbol of the struggle for Cape Verdean independence and frowned upon as music of uneducated peasants, Funaná was prohibited by the Portuguese colonial rulers. Performing it in public or in urban centres had serious consequences - often jail time and torture awaited musicians that were “caught in the act”. In light of such persecution the genre of Funaná began to slowly disappear.

In 1975 Cabo Verde achieved independence from Portuguese colonial rule. Along with Cabo Verde’s independence came a lifting of the ban placed on Funaná. The musical repercussions in Cabo Verde were plenty - many upcoming artists embraced Funaná, translating and adapting its musical form in new ways. It was not to be until the mid-1990’s, however, that Funaná in its traditional form was actually recorded.

It was a young singer from Tarafal, Chando Graciosa, who was to play a key role in this event. Upon hearing Bitori, Graciosa immediately felt drawn to Bitori's unique playing style - a raw and passionate sound accompanied by honest lyrics that reflected the harsh reality of the Cabo Verdean working class. He eagerly approached Bitori suggesting they join forces and travel overseas with the objective of taking Funaná beyond its rural roots. The two of them, with others in tow, achieved their goal and travelled to Europe, introducing a receptive European audience to the vibrant energy of Funaná. Eventually Bitori returned to his beloved Cabo Verde. Graciosa opted to settle in Rotterdam in order to pursue his career - he vowed, however, to bring Bitori across to Holland at a later date to record an album.

In 1997 the time was ripe to immortalise the sound Bitori had shaped over a time span of four decades. Built around a formidable rhythm section, formed of drummer Grace Evora and bass player Danilo Tavares, "Bitori Nha Bibinha" was recorded. The recording catapulted Chando Graciosa to stardom, making him Cabo Verde´s No.1 interpreter of Funaná.

The success in Cabo Verde was phenomenal and Funaná rapidly gained the recognition it deserved, especially in urban dance clubs. Bitori´s songs quickly became standards - classics known and loved throughout the country. The musical success, however, was solely limited to the Cabo Verdean islands - until now!

Analog Africa is proud to contribute to the worldwide promotion of Funaná - the once forbidden sound of the Cabo Verde archipelago - by releasing a worldwide re-issue of Bitori and Chando Graciosa´s legendary recording. The release will herald Bitori´s first European tour taking place during the summer of 2016. Watch this space! And listen!

Go to Item

Verckys & Orchestre Vévé

2LP | 2014 | EU | Reissue (Analog Africa)

33,99 €*

Release: 2014 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

O.D.O.O. Overtake Don Overtake Overtake Vinyl Edition

Fela Kuti

LP | 2024 | Original (Knitting Factory)

Release: 2024 / Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Funeral Gongs Ceremonies In Ratanakiri, Cambodia

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Sub Rosa)

18,99 €*

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

All My Friends Black Vinyl Edition

Aoife O'Donovan

LP | 2024 | US | Original (Yep Roc)

Release: 2024 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

London Afrobeat Collective

Esengo

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Canopy)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Taking inspiration from afrobeat father Fela Kuti as well as artists including Ebo Taylor, Parliament, Funkadelic and Havana d’Primera, London Afrobeat Collective’s music has won them admirers across the UK Europe and beyond. This eight-strong multi-cultural collective from England, Italy, France, Congo, Argentina, and New Zealand, combine traditional afrobeat and hi life with funk, jazz & Latin, to deliver party music born of their truly global DNA. A regular on the touring circuit and celebrated for their raucous energy, heavy dance grooves and conscious lyrics.

On the 14th February, they are set to release their fourth album ‘Esengo’ via Canopy Records.

‘Esengo’, produced by Sonny Johns (Tony Allen and Hugh Masekela, Ali Farka Toure), showcases London Afrobeat Collective’s love and respect for the traditions of afrobeat. With acclaimed Congolese singer Juanita Euka on vocals once more, ‘Esengo’ channels the spirit of Fela Kuti but with a willingness to create original music that crosses genres.

Lead single and album opener ‘Topesa Esengo Na Motema’, finds the band in a lighter yet spirited mood, celebrating the joy of living, reconnecting, and getting back on the road once more, while the groove-heavy ‘My Way’ is a refreshing blast of tight percussion and powerhouse vocals from Euka. Elsewhere, ‘Freedom’ perfectly captures the raw, soulful energy of their raucous live performances, while the blaring horns of ‘El Ritmo De Londres’ and easy, loose rhythms of ‘De Kinshasa À Sona Bata’ showcase London Afrobeat Collective at their rousing finest.

Go to Item

Wagadu Grooves - The Hypnotic Sound Of Camara 1987-2016

2LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Hot Mule)

Rogamar Turquoise Vinyl Edition

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

The Soninke collective consciousness finds its origins in a founding myth, a blood pact: the legend of Biida and the decadence of the empire of Ghana or Wagadu (evoked by Léopold Sédar Senghor as a land of plenty in his poem Le Kaya Magan). From the 3rd century AD, gathered in the region of Sahel, on the edge of the Sahara desert, the Soninko ruled over their kingdom and its capital Kumbi Saleh. According to folklore, they were blessed with abundant rain and nuggets of gold could be picked directly from the ground. They owed this prosperity to a providential but cruel protector: the Wagadu Biida, a seven-headed serpent who lived at the bottom of the Kumbi well. Every year, as a reward for his favours, the Biida demanded an offering: the life of the most beautiful virgin woman in the community. Sacrifices took place for generations, until the 13th century AD, when fate chose Siya Yatabéré, Maamadi Sehedunxote's sweetheart... Centuries later in 1977, Gaye Mody Camara, a young Soninke raised in Mali's Kayes region, settled in France to found his own empire. Initially selling wax, kola nuts and other goods in his Parisian outlets, he rapidly started distributing cassette tapes and eventually producing a multitude of recordings for his own label: Camara Production. Crossing paths and collaborating over the next four decades with legendary artists, griots and industry moguls like Boncana Maïga, Jean-Philippe Rykiel, Ganda Fadiga, Diaby Doua or Ibrahima Sylla, Camara became one of the great independent music producers of his generation, and a pilar of the Parisian Soninke diaspora. Released in close collaboration with Gaye Camara and with the assistance of Daouda N'diaye, one of A.P.S' (Association pour la Promotion de la langue et de la culture Soninké) historical members, this selection of songs and accompanying notes aim to shed a light on an intricate culture and its modern music, injustifiably unknown outside of West Africa and the various Soninko diasporas around the world. From Malian Zouk to Mauritanian Reggae and other psychedelic groovers originally released on cassettes or digitally, we have given the utmost attention to bringing this music to a new format. It has been carefully remastered and pressed on a couple of 180g vinyls, with riso printed liner notes.

Go to Item

Cesaria Evora

2LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Music On Vinyl)

38,99 €*

LP | 2024 | UK | Reissue (Soundway)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on turquoise coloured vinyl.

Three years after the Grammy Award-winning album Voz D'Amor, Cape Verdean superstar Cesaria Evora returned with Rogamar, the tenth studio album by the "Queen of Morna". Together with her talented Cape Verdean songwriting team, Cesaria Evora presents 17 tracks in total, including 2 bonus tracks that were specially included for this release ("Nos Maestro" & "Mae Africa (Version Cap-Vert))". It also includes a performance with Ismaël Lô on "Africa Nossa", as well as the popular song "Um Pincelada".

Go to Item

Black Truth Rhythm Band

Ifetayo

24,69 €* 25,99 € -5%

Reencanto - Live At Union Chapel

Release: 2024 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Soundway presents a long-awaited remaster and re-cut of the 1976 album ‘Ifetayo’ by Black Truth Rhythm Band, an important and overlooked chapter in Trinidad’s rich musical history that blends West African influences with jazz, funk and the social commentary of the calypso tradition. Led by the charismatic Oluko Imo, the group drew on the strong connections to Yoruba culture and Orisa traditions in Trinidad, looking to Africa for inspiration and reflecting the burgeoning Black Power movement of the time. Recorded at KH studios in Port of Spain, Ifetayo (Yoruba for ‘Love excels all’) was the group’s sole album release. Imo contributed lead vocals and played bass, kalimba, conga, flute and percussion, channelling music from both sides of the Atlantic into a distinctive and unique slice of Afro Trinidadian expression. Includes bonus track “Imo” not included on the original LP

Go to Item

Mayra Andrade

2LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Komos)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-10-11

Roots Radics & Mikie Brooks

One Love

LP | 2024 | UK | Original (Burning Sounds)

30,99 €*

Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Alagbon Close 50th Anniversary Opaque Orange Vinyl Edition

Fela Kuti

LP | 2024 | Original (Knitting Factory)

Release: 2024 / Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-10-11

LP | 2024 | Original (From Here)

Stick In The Wheel

A Thousand Pokes

Release: 2024 / Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-10-11

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Crunchy Frog)

Ki!

Yong-Gwanglo Part Two

21,99 €*

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-11-22

Me Sim Rrom - I'm A Man Limited

Fanfare Ciocarlia

7" | 2024 | EU | Original (Asphalt Tango)

15,99 €*

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-10-04

Release: 2024 / Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-09-27

LP | 2019 | Reissue (Real Gone Music)

Picture
Coming Soon

Norma Tanega

Walkin' My Cat Named Dog

42,99 €*

Release: 2019 / Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-10-04

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Glitterbeat)

Dal:Um

Coexistence

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-10-04

Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head) Transparent Vinyl Edition

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80

LP | 2024 | Original (Record Kicks)

Release: 2024 / Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-10-04

2LP | 2024 | EU | Original (By Norse Music)

Mari Boine

Alva

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-09-13

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Ajabu!)

Tigana Santana

Cacada Noturna

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-09-13

LP | 2024 | Original (Vibes And Pressure)

Picture
Coming Soon

Natty

The Divine Trinity

Release: 2024 / Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-11-08

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Baco)

Mohamed Abozekry

Roh El Fouad

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-09-13

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Topsy Turvy)

Exotic Roosters

Wachi Wara

21,99 €*

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Chameleon Crystal Blue Sky Vinyl Edizion

Jana Milla

LP | 2024 | US | Original (New West)

Release: 2024 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Preorder shipping from 2024-09-20

LP | 2018 | EU | Reissue (20th Century Masterworks)

Bob Dylan

Debut Album

18,99 €*

Release: 2018 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

LP | 2016 | EU | Reissue (Yep Roc)

Watchhouse

Blindfaller

Release: 2016 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

The Rough Guide To The Music Of West Africa

LP | 2017 | UK | Original (World Music Network)

17,99 €*

Release: 2017 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Antibalas Black Vinyl Edition

Antibalas

LP | 2012 | US | Reissue (Daptone)

Basket Of Light Colored Vinyl Edition

Release: 2012 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

The unstoppable, irresistible rhythms and melodies of Antibalas have influenced scores of artists across rock, hip hop, afrobeat and beyond. Born in a Brooklyn warehouse in 1997, 12 piece ensemble Antibalas is credited with introducing Afrobeat to a wider global audience, influencing countless musicians and developing a live show that is the stuff of legend. Members of Antibalas served as musical directors and the house band in the Broadway hit Fela! and penned original music for the show. Members have also recently collaborated/performed with Iron and Wine, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Mark Ronson, TV on the Radio and The Roots. On the heels of the hit musical Fela!, Antibalas ended up reuniting with former member and producer Gabriel Roth, who was at the helm for their first three albums. This self-titled album was their first on Daptone Records.

Go to Item

Pentangle

LP | 2019 | EU | Reissue (Music On Vinyl)

29,99 €*

Release: 2019 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Basket of Light is the most progressive release by the British folk-rock group Pentangle. Traditional English folk songs are reinterpreted with a mix of jazz, pop and rock influences. The album opener “Light Flight” has become their signature song, which was also the theme song from BBC1’s first colour drama series Take Three Girls. With Basket Of Light, Pentangle proved they could release a progressive, ground-breaking work without keyboards, much studio trickery or even electric instruments. The original Pentangle was active in the late 1960s and early 1970s. During the recordings of Basket Of Light, line-up included Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Terry Cox, Danny Thompson and Jacqui McShee. Basket Of Light is available as a limited edition on yellow & orange marbled vinyl, housed in a gatefold sleeve.

Go to Item

Welcome To Zamrock Volume 2

2LP | 2017 | US | Reissue (Now-Again)

35,99 €*

I Hate My Village Red Vinyl Edtion

Release: 2017 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

By the mid-1970s, the Southern African nation known as the Republic of Zambia had fallen on hard times. Though the country’s first president Kenneth Kaunda had thrown off the yoke of British colonialism, the new federation found itself under his self-imposed, autocratic rule. Conflict loomed on all sides of this landlocked nation. Kaunda protected Zambia from war, but his country descended into isolation and poverty. This is the environment in which the ’70s rock revolution that has come to be known as Zamrock flourished. Fuzz guitars were commonplace, as were driving rhythms as influenced by James Brown’s funk as Jimi Hendrix’s rock predominated. Musical themes, mainly sung in the country’s constitutional language, English, were often bleak. In present day Zambia, Zamrock markers were few. Only a small number of the original Zamrock godfathers that remained in the country survived through the late ’90s. Aids decimated this country, and uncontrollable inflation forced the Zambian rockers that could afford to flee into something resembling exile. This was not a likely scene to survive - but it did. Welcome To Zamrock!, presented in two volumes, is an overview of its most beloved ensembles, and a trace of its arc from its ascension, to its fall, to its resurgence.

Go to Item

I Hate My Village

LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Master Music)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

2LP | 2021 | EU | Reissue (Schoolkids)

Declan O'rourke

Arrivals

42,99 €*

Release: 2021 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Havana Meets Kingston Part 2

Mista Savona Pres. V.A.

2LP | 2017 | EU | Reissue (Baco)

39,99 €*

Release: 2017 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Magical Thinking (with Seamsplit)

Chico Mann of Antibalas

2LP | 2013 | UK | Original (Soundway)

World Psychedelic Classics 5: Who Is William Onyeabor

Release: 2013 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Chico Mann’s fifth album will be anticipated by the single "Same Old Clown", featuring the sultry vocals of New York based Kendra Morris.

Displaying his mastery over an arsenal of studio weapons and synthesizers, Chico Mann (aka Marcos Garcia) scores his fifth long player against a backdrop of pop sensibilities and guest vocalists. The album draws as much on 80's funk, boogie and electro as merengue and Afro-beat.

A member of Antibalas, multi instrumentalist and guitarist, Garcia has in the past worked with the likes of TV On The Radio, The Roots and Dam Funk as well as remixing Little Dragon and Alice Russell.

Go to Item

William Onyeabor

3LP | 2013 | US | Reissue (Luaka Bop)

38,99 €*

Release: 2013 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Alogte Oho & His Sounds Of Joy

Doose Mam / Gure Yose Me

7" | 2021 | EU | Original (Philophon)

12,99 €*

The Best Of Vis-A-Vis In Congo Style

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy are back with a new single release after their album debut "Mam Yinne Wa", which can be seen as a harbinger of the second album. You can hear another Frafra Gospel masterpiece by the king of this genre.

"Doose Mam" is a soulful piece that goes straight to the limbs with its repetitive rhythm. The jubilant middle section, in which the wind instruments and the choir pass the balls to each other, is to be emphasized. "Gure Yose Me" ties in with the Frafra Gospel tradition of making use of reggae rhythms. Here we hear a stepper played by Josie Coppola, Europe's No.1 reaggae drummer. Both pieces were produced both in Berlin and in Kumasi by Max Weissenfeldt in Philophon's in-house Joy Sound Studios.

Go to Item

Vis-A-Vis

LP | 2021 | US | Original (We Are Busy Bodies)

33,99 €*

LP | 2021 | US | Original (We Are Busy Bodies)

Release: 2021 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

We Are Busy Bodies returns with a remastered reissue of The Best of Vis-A-Vis in Congo Style. The album finds the the young band in great form, with six new songs. The album was one of three released by the band in 1976. The band continued to be the backing band of choice of some of Ghana's biggest and most famous musicians all while recording their own albums.

Go to Item

Vis-A-Vis

Di Wo Ho Ni

33,99 €*

Release: 2021 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

We Are Busy Bodies exploration of Vis-A-Vis catalogue continues with a remastered reissue of their album Di Wo Ho Ni. The band continued to be the backing band of choice of some of Ghana's biggest and most famous musicians all while recording their own albums. The album has been remastered by Noah Mintz at Lacquer Channel, with art restoration completed by Steve Lewin.

Go to Item

Essiebons Special 1973-1984

2LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Analog Africa)

31,99 €*

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Dick Essilfie-Bondzie was all ready for his 90th birthday party when the Covid pandemic hit. The legendary producer, businessman and founder of Ghana’s mighty Essiebons label had invited all his family and friends to the event and it was the disappointment at having to postpone that prompted Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb to propose a new compilation celebrating his contributions to the world of West African music.

For most of the 1970s Essilfie-Bondzie’s Dix and Essiebons labels were synonymous with the best in modern highlife, and his roster was a who’s-who of highlife legends. C.K. Mann, Gyedu Blay Ambolley, Kofi Papa Yankson, Ernest Honny, Rob ‘Roy’ Raindorf and Ebo Taylor all released some of their greatest music under the Essiebons banner.

Yet Essilfie-Bondzie had been destined for a very different career. Born in Apam and raised in Accra, he was sent to business school in London at the age of 20, and returned to the security of a government job in Ghana. But his passion for music, inspired by the sounds of Accra’s highlife scene, had never left him, and in 1967 he figured out a way of combining music and business by opening West Africa’s first record pressing plant.

The venture, a partnership with the Philips label, was a huge success, attracting business from all over the continent. By the early 1970s Essilfie-Bondzie had left his government job to concentrate on his labels, and by the mid-seventies he was on a hot streak injecting album after album of restless highlife into the bloodstream of the Ghanaian music scene.

Essiebons Special features a selection of obscure workouts from some of the label’s heaviest hitters. But in the course of digitising his vast archive of master tapes, Essilfie-Bondzie found a number of Afrobeat and Instrumental maszterpieces tracks from the label’s mid-70s golden age that, for one reason or another, had never been released. Those songs are included here for the first time.

Sadly Essilfie-Bondzie passed away before the compilation was finished. But his legacy lives on in the extraordinary music that he gave to the world in his lifetime.

Go to Item

Buganda Royal Music Revival

LP | 2021 | UG | Original (Nyege Nyege Tapes)

Karl Hector Presents: Johnny!

Release: 2021 / UG – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

From Its Founding In The Late 14th Century, The Kingdom Of Buganda Has Been Celebrated Through Sound And Nurtured A Rich Musical Tradition In Its Royal Court. Coming From Across The Kingdom, Musicians Would Take Turns In The Palace To Sound Drums, Xylophones, Flutes, Lyres, And More To Praise And Honour The Existence Of The Kingship. In Recent Years However, The Tradition Has Been More Difficult To Maintain, Especially Since 1966 Where There Was A Violent Attack On The Palace That Abruptly Abolished The Kingdom And During Which Royal Musicians Fled Or Were Killed. And While The Kingdom Was Re-Established In 1993 As A Cultural Institution, Many Of The Remaining Musicians Had Since Chosen To Sideline Their Skills To Deal With The Issues Of Their Day To Day Lives, The Practice Of The Royal Tradition Waning In Popularity, Especially With Younger Listeners And Players.But All Is Not Lost. Scattered Across The Kingdom, A Motivated Team Of Older Veterans And Attentive Young Players Are Still Keeping The Tradition Alive. Offering A Transversal Glimpse Into The Past And The Present, "Buganda Royal Music Revival" Collects Recordings Made In Between The Late 1940s And 1966 Illustrating The Older Generation's Skills, And Presents Them Alongside Recent Recordings Featuring Old And Young Musicians Who Still Carry On This Musical Tradition, Some Even Performing For The Current King, Muwenda Mutebi Ii. The Later Were Made During The Shooting Of The 2019 Documentary "Buganda Royal Music Revival" That Presents Through A Film What This Album Conveys Through Sounds: A Packed Dive Into A Century-Old Tradition.The Music Displayed Here Is Diverse And Vibrant, Presenting A Variety Of Styles And Highlighting Instruments That Illustrate The Depth And Sophistication That Stemmed From The Royal Court Experience Of Buganda. As A Starter, The Album Opens With 'Mujaguzo'. Often Translated As 'The Drums Of The Kingship', The Mujaguzo Is A Crucial Ensemble For The Cultural Tradition, Made From Drums Collected By The Kingdom Throughout...

Go to Item

Johnny!

LP | 2021 | Original (Now-Again)

Release: 2021 / Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Ghanaian Afro-Rock From Producer/Composer JJ Whitefield, Inspired By His Karl Hector & The Malcouns And Whitefield Brothers Projects JJ Whitefield, who in the early ‘90s revived the gritty, analogue Funk sounds of the ‘60s and ‘70s with his Poets Of Rhythm, has been working with Now-Again Records for over decade, releasing a flock of acclaimed projects with Karl Hector & The Malcouns, Whitefield Brothers, Rodinia and the Original Raw Soul anthology. He first started exploring African rhythms with the Whitefield Brothers in the late ‘90s, continuing in the ‘00s with Karl Hector & The Malcouns. He’s been instrumental in launching Ghanaian Afro Beat/Funk legend Ebo Taylor´s international career, decades after the maestro recorded the landmark albums that have inspired thousands. Whitefield recorded two new studio albums with Taylor and toured in his band between 2009 and 2013, where he met Taylor’s son Henry and percussionist/Singer Eric Owusu. The trio now front the Johnny! band and find inspiration not only in Ghana’s hypnotic grooves, but also the full frontal fuzz guitar assault heard on the legion of 70s Zambian Zamrock albums reissued by Now-Again. Indeed, Whitefield credits his tours with Zamrock godfathers Rikki Ililonga and WITCH’s Jagari Chanda as instrumental in creating the Johnny’s sonic backdrop. The band is rounded out by Turkish drummer Bernd Oezsevim (Woima Collective, Rodinia) and Indonesian bassist/multi instrumentalist Tomi Simatupang (Whitefield Brothers). This is what was oft-called “Afro Rock” at the core, with the possibilities to stretch out into swinging highlife, sweet soul or psychedelia . The results, point at a new direction for the music inspired by the Great Continent. One that takes a direction once mocked as derivative and asserts its importance on the globe’s current musical stage.

Go to Item

Africa Funk Roots Chapter One

2LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Cosmic Disco Machine)

29,99 €*

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Instrumental Modal Pop Of 1970's Egypt

Baligh Hamdi

CD | 2021 | EU | Original (Sublime Frequencies)

18,99 €*

Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou Dahomey

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Sublime Frequencies finally unleashes it’s Essential compilation from 1970’s Egypt. Modal instrumental tracks from Baligh Hamdi - one of the most important Arabic composers of the 20th Century (writing for legends Umm Kalthum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Sabah, Warda, and many others). Features his legendary group the “Diamond Orchestra” with Omar Khorshid on guitar, Magdi al-Husseini on organ, Samir Sourour on saxophone, and Faruq Salama on accordion. All of these musicians were discovered and recruited by Hamdi to interpret his vision of a modernized, hybrid Arabic music. Under Hamdi’s direction, this orchestra charted a new melodic direction and created a new musical language. This compilation is culled from a specific era of Hamdi’s long career, a decade where he fully realized an international music which incorporated beat driven Eastern tinged jazz, theremin draped orchestral noir, tracks that feature searing guitar solos from none other than Omar Khorshid, and a selection of buzzing, sitar driven, Indo-Arabic tracks establishing a meeting of mid-east and eastern psychedelic exotica, and a vision that created some of the hippest music coming out of the Middle East from the late 1960’s and throughout the 1970’s.

Go to Item

Kpede Do Gbe Houenou / Ma Wa Mon Nou Mi O

7" | 2021 | EU | Original (Acid Jazz)

11,99 €*

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Acid Jazz Records continue their exclusive licensing agreement with Albarika Store, the legendary record label that defined the sound of Benin and influenced the entire region of West Africa and beyond.

Go to Item

Republicafrobeat Volume 5 - Mujeres Ii

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Kasba)

22,99 €*

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Afro-Jazz-Folk Collection Volume 1

Super Biton De Segou

2LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Deviation & Mieruba)

22,49 €* 24,99 € -10%

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Vampisoul)

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Deviation Records is pleased to present you their latest and exiting collaboration with the Mieruba Label Team. The Super Biton has existed since the 60s, like Ségou, its orchestra, the Super Biton has always remained behind what was done in Bamako and in the big cities of Africa. The Ségou orchestra developed and incorporated amplified instruments that mingle with brass, in particular electric guitars, symbols of modernity at the time. It opens up to Cuban music, and congas and bongos complement the sound of the orchestra. The group drew a unique sound from it, a perfect balance between tradition and the modern. There are about fifteen artits on stage, singers, guitarists, drummer and percussionists. The Super Biton has for years been the best known and most sought-after orchestra of Mali outside the country's borders, the Super Biton transcends the only Bambara heritage with its repertoire. Ségou is a crossroads between Bambara, Fulani, Mandingo and Somono cultures and Biton has drawn on all these traditions to create a repertoire extremely rich in rhythms and words. Some musicians completed their training in Cuba. They play "bambara jazz", incorporating a lot of brass instruments such as saxophone, trumpet, clarinet. The compositions are modern and sophisticated. Mieruba Art Center is a place dedicated to the transmission and safeguarding of Malian musical heritage through musical exchange between the older and newer generation - Artist residences, music lessons, rehearsals, Workshops, Masterclasses - and so on. Just as happy former musicians of Mali, the members of Super Biton give lessons on site. It is also the office of the Mieruba-ML label in the same place where Deviation Records is collaborating for the second time on the album - After the « Lost Maestros Collection » - with the support of La Manufacture de Vinyles. Phil of Deviation Records tells: "I am very enthusiastic at the idea of offering you these two volumes of the History of the Super Biton of Ségou, Clique of Super Heroes of sound, a source of inspiration for generations of musicians, DJs and also griots and storytellers of great renown! This double LP compiles the first Chapter of the rich Afro-Jazz-Folk Collection whose tapes have been remastered by Monsieur Jonin and cut at the MB Mastering Studio in Aubervilliers .The gatefold artwork is conceived by Ewwanuelle Collage and formatted by Bertrand Tondeur, Graphic designer of Les Mouches. All that’sleft to say is that i hope that you enjoy listening to the final result !"

Go to Item

Nil's Jazz Ensemble

17,99 €*

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Highlights:The Only Album Ever Recorded By Peruvian Sax Player Nilo Espinosa And His Group, Also Known As The Nil's Jazz Ensemble, Remains Not Only As One Of The Truly Grails For Collectors Of Latin-American Jazz But Also As An Outstanding Piece Of Music On Its Own.After Years Unavailable, Our Reissue Presents This 1976 Album In Its Full Glory, With Remastered Sound And Original Artwork, Including The Rare Promo Poster.Pressed On 180g Vinyl.Description:Once Resettled In Lima, Peru, In 1974 After Spending Some Time Playing In A Jazz Quintet In Berlin, Sax Player Nilo Espinosa Would Put Together The Nil's Jazz Ensemble, A Top-Notch Array Of Local Talent Consisting Of Pancho Sáenz (Trumpet), Miguel 'Chino' Figueroa (Keyboards), Oscar Stagnaro (Bass), Andrés Silva (Drums And Percussion), Jorge Montero, Richie Zellon And Ramón Stagnaro (Guitars).They Recorded One Single Album That Remains Not Only As One Of The Truly Grails For Collectors Of Latin-American Jazz But Also As An Outstanding Piece Of Music On Its Own. The Opening Song "Reflexiones" Is A Mind-Blowing Jazz-Funk Number Right Up There With The Very Best Of The Genre, Written By Black Sugar's Former Member Miguel 'Chino' Figueroa, Featuring A Fantastic Work On Trumpet And Rhodes.The Album Also Includes A Cover Of The Rare Groove Classic "Hard Work" That Could Have Easily Sneaked Into The Funkiest Side Of The Prestige Catalogue.Following The Success Of This Album, Espinosa Would Expand His Band To A Big Band Format And Tour Local Theatres And Clubs In Lima, Where Jazz Music Was A Popular Genre At The Time.Our Reissue Presents This 1976 Album In Its Full Glory, Pressed On 180g Vinyl With Remastered Sound And Original Artwork, Including The Rare Promo Poster.

Go to Item

2LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Agogo)

Two Tribes Volume 2

It Wasn't Hard To Love You

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Not long after the release of Two Tribes Vol. 1, we realized that our journey had only just begun and lots of stories still had to be told. Motivated by lots of positive responses, we soon put to work researching and compiling music for what would become "Two Tribes Volume Two". We put our emphasis on expanding to other European regions as well as including different countries than on Vol. 1 and we also wanted to give it a bit of a different musical twist. The result are 14 tracks covering what we consider a broad and diverse spectrum but still clinging to our initial idea of building a musical bridge between the continents of Africa and Europe. The immense cultural diversity of both is represented by newcomers alongside more well known names, both of which have a strong connection to the rich musical traditions of Africa. On board are African artists living in diaspora on equal footing with Europeans that incorporate their high affinity to the African continent into their music. Exciting outernational collaborations round off the selection for Vol. 2! Includes tracks by Onipa (Strut Records), Guts, Wanubalé, David Nesselhauf (Kryptox Records) and many more

Go to Item

Fanfare Ciocarlia

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Asphalt Tango)

21,99 €*

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

CD | 2021 | EU | Original (Sounds Of Subterrania)

Ipek Yolu

Tropical Anatolia

13,59 €* 15,99 € -15%

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Sounds Of Subterrania)

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Ipek Yolu is the Turkish name for the Silk Road which connected the East and the West. This band does not deal in silk but they connect flavors, smells and sounds from different corners of the globe, connecting the world.
The band merges bass-heavy electro-tinged cumbia grooves, saz riffs and surf guitar into a multicultural melting pot of South American rhythms, Anatolian folk music and 60s psychedelic rock. A unique universe of sound that bridges the tropical jungles and the dusty deserts in a kaleidoscopic blend of music. Ipek Yolu has used 2020 to write their debut album Tropical Anatolia and are ready to hit the venues and festivals.
The members of Ipek Yolu first got together for an improvised jam session during the Aarhus Roots & Hybrid Festival in 2018. The show was set up as a special one-time-only show merging members from the bands Hudna & Junglelyd. The show ended up lasting for almost three hours. It didn’t take them long to discover they were onto something special. If you know any of these bands mentioned you know you’re in for a body-shaking party, characterised by musical curiosity and improvisation.
The three members of Ipek Yolu have all been part of the Danish music scene for several years. The band leader, Orhan Özgür Turan, is a well-known and respected saz player all over Denmark, and has made a name for himself through his efforts in the Anatolian Folk band Hudna. In 2018 he won an award as Global Roots Artist of the year at The Danish World Music Awards. Olaf Brinch and Lasse Aagaard have worked together for many years making high energy cumbia with their band Junglelyd and Afrobeat with their band African Connection. Olaf is also an integral part of the Danish band AddisAbabaBand. In addition, Olaf and Lasse have toured and recorded with great musicians such as CC Yoyo, former drummer of Fela Kuti, in both Ghana and Denmark. All of the past experiences collided to create Ipek Yolu.

Go to Item

Ipek Yolu

Tropical Anatolia

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Wah Wah)

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Go to Item

Bazali Bam

Action