Search "record store day" 582 Items

LP | 2022 | Original (Trouble In The East)

Release: 1987 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Originally recorded in 1987 at Tabansi recorded Studio & Roger All Stars and pressed by Wilfilms, Nigeria. You’ll find six tracks of drumcomputer driven lo-fi jams laced with catchy synth lines from the mind of producer Austine Onwurah, who was quite active in the 80’s.. The project with Mr. Idigo resulted in a highly addictive cosmic boogie album which includes four absolute highlights. The record starts with one of the standout cuts; Flight 505, which is a tough electro/boogie crossover with vocals and sparse vocoder on top. Followed by the heavy boogie jam ‘We Got To Love’ , that is the personal favorite and a great track for DJ’s . The magnificent A-side closes with the catchy title track, again great production with top chorus and synth hook. On the flip you’ll find the wicked digital reggae tune ‘Mystic World’ with still ever relevant lyrics that closes the LP.. There is something special about this sought after record, the way the instrumentation has been played and programmed is very groovy and musical with a certain sound to it that is unmistakably Nigerian. The synth melodies weave in the tracks with ease and layers of funky bass and guitar float on top. Music that will grow on you every time you listen to it, one of the clever wonders coming from Nigeria! Officially licensed with courtesy of the family. Carefully restored and remastered with respect to the original sound and artwork. ‘’The need to ‘Search’ has come oh’ people of the world we have taken earthly forms the wisdom of love and unity thou shall love one another for love and unity is the route of life so do I search for Love, Peace & Unity’’ - Alphonsus Idigo

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Potsa Lotsa Xl

Gaya

20,24 €* 26,99 € -25%

Release: 2022 / Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 1984 | EU | Reissue (Soundway)

Steve Monite

Only You

Release: 1984 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Following on from 2016’s Doing It In Lagos: Boogie, Pop & Disco in 1980s Nigeria, Soundway Records return to that blistering set for the first and only officially licensed re-issue of the highly coveted debut album from Steve Monite, featuring the single ‘Only You’ that recently seeped its way into popular culture. Lovingly restored and remastered on 180g vinyl with liner notes. Shooting, space-synth sounds ripple and vibrate, incessant grooves keep the tracks in motion and Nkono Teles production, a producer often overlooked for his hand in the Nigerian boogie sound, sets the LP into orbit. An album that was largely overlooked on release in 1984, the track list includes the latter day hit ‘Only You’ and ‘Things Fall Apart’, the melody of which was lifted for Young Franco’s 2020 single ‘Fallin’ Apart’.

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Hedzoleh Soundz Remixes Feat. Mark Ernestus, Jimi Tenor, Gavsborg, Sascha Todd & Waltraud Blischke

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Meakusma)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance, Reggae & Dancehall

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After reissuing Hedzoleh by Hedzoleh in 2022, a collaborative effort by Meakusma and Soundway, this new 12inch features remixes by Jimi Tenor, Mark Ernestus, Gavsborg and Waltraud Blischke, transporting and transfusing Hedzoleh's tracks into new spheres and circumstances. Hedzoleh Soundz were one of the first and most original ‘Afro’ bands from 1970s Ghana, playing an unusual mix of traditional music and western rock as part of the West African Highlife scene. The music for the Hedzoleh album was used by legendary South-African trumpeter Hugh Masekela as the backbone to his afrojazz classic, “Masekela – Introducing Hedzoleh Soundz”. The Hedzoleh Soundz Remixes 12inch features an eloquent, deep, deeply poppy even, dub by Mark Ernestus, Jimi Tenor taking the original Rekpete track into even more joyous territory, adding some subtly hypnagogic touches at the end, Gavsborg transforming Y Yes Baa Gee Wo into a beat-based drone of sorts, a toolin the right hands, and a majestic experimental twist by Waltraud Blischke, sampling one Hedzoleh track and one unreleased solo track by Sascha Todd, son of Hedzoleh bass player and vocalist Stanley Todd.

This record came about with the support of Ostbelgien.

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LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Comet)

Afro Rhythms Volume 2

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Born Bad)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

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Comet Records presents Afro Rhythms Vol. 2, the first repress of Comet’s singles and Remixes from 2009 – 2017 with floor filler tracks from Tony Allen Afrobeat pioneer 'African Man" remix by Ricardo Villalobos & Max Loderbauer along with the afro deep house reedit of "Cotton’s Field" by French producer Jeff Sharel, the "Awakening" remix from Krazy Baldhead, former artist of Ed Banger and producer of electro malian band Donso and finally Africaine 808 to end this Afro Rhythms comp with their stunning remix of Afrobeat classic tune "Afrodiscobeat". A proper trawl through the vaults of Comet Records.

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Star Feminine Band

In Paris

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Shika Shika)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Star Feminine Band: a 2020 debut, first journey and a 2022 return!Though not exactly a world music label, Born Bad took up the challenge and released Star Féminine Band's debut album in late 2020. Heaps of acclaims and praise and the whole shebang, then boom: the tour that was to materialize, live, all of the band and its entourage's hopes got cancelled due to Covid. After a long delay, the band finally managed to get to Europe, performing on the Transmusicales Festival, as well as for TV stations like Arte, TV5 and BBC to much acclaim. "Once they played, Born Bad and the band clearly had a "mission accomplished" feeling - that all the energy put into this was worth it, starting with the critics who abounded at the Transmusicales to weigh the phenomenon. They left convinced, just like the audience, enthralled by the direct, live formula. The sequel to the adventures of these new ambassadors for Unicef? They persist and sign with a feverish and energetic soundtrack in which nabo, peulh and waama are enlivened with drum lines and spiced up with more "modern" sounds, spreading words of tolerance and kindness. Simple and direct, they speak of their reality, of the ills of young women who don't always have a choice. Often out of school and destined to selling peanuts, bananas or gari on the roadside, most of the girls around there don't have a future. Forced marriage, precocious pregnancies_ "These kids are heroines!", continues Born Bads JB who, by welcoming them in a record studio, allowed for the formula to be sharpened into a sort of garage band with an afro twist. Thanks to the English lessons that their manager Jérémie Verdier has been providing every Sunday night for two years over videoconference, the girls even experimented with English lyrics in "We Are Star Feminine Band" and "Woman Stand Up". In Paris is the happy outcome of that challenge.Vinyl LP in printed under sleeve with French + UK linernotes + Download code * Digipak CD includes 12 pages booklet with French + UK linern...

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Barrio Lindo

Espuma De Mar

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

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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In 2019, whilst touring Japan, Barrio Lindo found himself moving away from the dance floor, instead getting lost in his headphones while listening to music that dismissed genre, oscillating between jazz, chamber orchestras and electronica. As a producer at the forefront of Latin America’s folktronica scene over the last 10 years, Agustín Rivaldo, to give Barrio Lindo his given name, has proven himself more than adept at crafting soundscapes that can transport listeners, full of detail and nuance, but they always had to pander to the club and its duty to keep revellers energised. The epiphany in Japan necessitated a change in direction, to make music that people could get lost in,and which also meant he could revert to his younger self, that guy in his twenties playing guitar with his friends, just for fun. So he booked a studio on the outskirts of Buenos Aires in early 2020 and invited some friends over; the idea was simple, let’s play some music and see where it takes us.
Espuma de Mar is the result, those initial sessions refined over the intervening years, new collaborators brought in where necessary, the production crafted in the same manner as his previous electronic-focused output, but the feel here, the ambience, is completely different. Like the espuma de mar, the sea foam that gives the album its name, this music has a fleeting quality, it arrives, imperfectly, and never stops transforming; it replenishes, it diminishes, it breathes.

The biggest difference between this album and Rivaldo’s previous works is the increased tension, and the sense of space; whereas beats and sequencers, as per their design, propel constant rhythm, here every note has intent, only played if necessary to the composition. This is felt on “Llegada”, a minimal groove soothed by kalimba thumb piano and fidgety synths while layers of trumpet take the lead until a surprisingly sombre piano motif brings the song to a close. The title track has a similar feel, whereby the music sounds improvised, each instrument free to roam, yet each note hits you in the stomach; here, we get an ominous opener, spare notes of trumpet, charango, snare drum and heavily-reverbed piano taking their turn until a rhythm begins to develop, albeit a rhythm that refuses to retain its form, flutes, synths, bass and detached vocals all playing their part as the song refuses to stand still.
Rivaldo has stated that it was the sounds of German-Senegalese group Mark Ernestus' Ndagga Rhythm Force and the UK-based project Hidden Orchestra that had the biggest impact on the album’s sound, and it is certainly possible to see the affect of the latter in the mixture of field recordings and percussive symphonic jazz. For this record, Rivaldo has worked with a small ensemble of Nicolás Lapíne on trumpet, Ignus and drums and Federico Estévez on percussion, as well as invitees such as flautist Mariana Iturri and violinist Alex Musatov. With Rivaldo himself adding guitar, synth, bass and piano, the effect is of a modern chamber orchestra and the drama that can bring. Opening track “Seguí” is a great example with its crashing piano chords and pulsating violin, and there’s no denying the euphoria of a track like “Oasis”, whose woozy trumpets can’t help but recall prime Beirut.
But there’s a reason Rivaldo is thought of so highly within the folktronica scene, and it’s for his attention to detail. No two tracks on the album are the same, it goes from the percussion-heavy “Migrante”, whose breakbeat and jerky synths show a love for hip-hop and 80s funk, to a beguiling track like “Azufre” that has a vaguely-Caribbean cadence until a tenor sax solo from Camila Nebbia takes it into more overtly-jazz territory. Then there’s a track like “Periferia” whose use of close- mic’d percussion makes it feel like the speaker is literally shaking with rhythm, alongside “Tac Tac Tac” that is full of warm, reverberant bass notes, albeit offset by hand claps and the only-discernible vocal on the album. With this in mind, it should be no surprise that Rivaldo is also a luthier, using some of the instruments he’s created on the album; there is a meticulous mind at work. Espuma de Mar is that rare beast, an example of an artist reinventing themselves, yet somehow sounding completely like they’ve always sounded. As Bandcamp once said in a feature on Barrio Lindo, his music is “carefully composed, revealing an underlying sense of wonder and joy”, and this continues on his latest, an album that is destined to provide someone else with an epiphany as they get lost in the music on their headphones, whether that be in Japan or elsewhere.

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Ipek Yolu

Tropical Anatolia

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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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.

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12" | 2021 | EU | Original (Comet100)

Afro Rhythms Volume 1

Nebeyu Hamdi & The Sabat Bet Cultural Gurage Band

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

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Comet Records is excited to present Afro Rhythms Vol. 1 the first repress since 1999 of Singles and Remixes out of Black Voices’s LP from Tony Allen Afrobeat pioneer, along with the iconic Psyco On Da Bus creating a new sound between experimental, electronica and afrobeat, both albums produced by sound activist Doctor L. The compilation is a proper trawl through the vault of the early years of Comet Records featuring producers and artists as IG Culture, Eska, Catalyst aka Alex Attias, Psycho On Da Bus Featuring Doctor L and Tony Allen, Cinematic Orchestra and the legendary Parisian duo Chateau Flight. The tracks "The Drum" and "Brotherhood" produced respectively by IG Culture (Son Of Scientist) and Cinematic Orchestra are part of The Allenko Brotherhood Ensemble project, a collaboration between the unique drumming style of Tony Allen and the best in contemporary producers. Comet label continues its hypnotic elliptical orbit through radical funk realms and dancefloor wormholes, connecting to five decades of music from four continents and still heading for the future, a pure and positive light to guide our way on.

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Yebolala Red Vinyl Edition

12" | 2020 | EU | Original (Nu Afrique / Sheba Sound)

The Unreleased Sounds Of Top Rank

Release: 2020 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Sheba Sound tour the Ethiopian hinterlands, capturing the mesmerising sounds of local talented musicians, using state of the art pop-up recording studios. The hugely anticipated next release from the Sheba Sound archives, under licence to Nu Afrique features crazy, untapped talent of Nebeyu Hamdi, from the Sabat Bet Cultural Gurage Band, based in Welkite, western Ethiopia. The original recordings from 2013 receive ethio-funk bassline overdubbing treatment from Addis Abeba’s inspired masenko bass-man of the moment, ‘Bubu’ Teklemariam.

The full package receives ultimate mixing treatment at The Yard Studio by master dub producer Nick Manasseh (Roots Garden).

The B-side of this EP release features 3 exclusive ethio-dub cuts. Manasseh’s inspiration of deep masenko bass and tribal drum rhythms is evident through his dub treatment of the originals. Playing the tracks back through his mixing desk like it was an instrument, the results are completely unique pulsating, punctuated Ethio-dub rhythm tracks.

Watch out Shaka – the Ethiopians are bringing their own dub cuts to town!

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Aba / Nigeria

LP | 2020 | EU | Original (Dig This Way)

Medianos Exitos Subtropicales Volume 2: El Relincho Del Tiempo

Release: 2020 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Reggae & Dancehall

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It's been a long journey from the day in Nigeria when we found, inside an Alpha Kuffa - Messiah I sleeve, a blank test press of the Yangaman Bob Lp with a little Top Rank sticker on it to the day we met the producer, the great and brilliant George Dureke, who gave us the test presses of the remaining unreleased albums from his Top Rank label, till to the complicated audio Restoration handled by Colin Young and Bassi Maestro. After two years of hard and intensive work it's finally arrived the time for this compilation to be ready and see the light! Eight Unreleased Digital Roots tracks made in Nigeria in the late 80s, never released or pressed, if not on a couple of test presses made on recycled plastic. Surely it includes some of the most interesting Reggae Music made in the Roots Land call Nigeria! Now Ready to be spreaded worldwide!

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Los Siquicos Litoralenos

LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Hive Mind)

LP | 2018 | CH | Original (Les Disques Bongo Joe)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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“The unique and magical sound of Los Siquicos Litoraleños (The Psychics of El Litoral), fermented in the rural north of Argentina, land of gauchos (Argentine cowboys), mate tea, chamamé folk music and Psilocybe Cubensis. In this remote region, cut off from the fashions of the city, Los Siquicos were able to nurture their obsessions, hone their craft, and develop a singular style that takes the traditional chamamé folk music of rural Argentina, then throws it in a blender with Latin-American cumbia and chicha, the tropicalia of Os Mutantes and Tom Ze, the free music of Sun Ra, Captain Beefheart, The Residents, UFO conspiracies, radical philosophy, and a strong dose of the absurd. Out in the hinterlands, they fully embraced the spirit and ethic of DIY punk, gaining a reputation for wild, open air shows on the backs of flatbed trucks, or from makeshift set-ups in village squares and at local fêtes and fairs, where confused locals half recognise the twisted sound of a chamamé beamed in from another planet.

Hive Mind Records are delighted to help bring Medianos Éxitos Subtropicales Vol. 2: El Relincho Del Tiempo (Medium Subtropical Hits Vol. 2: The Neigh of Time) out into the world. The album features a number of brand new songs alongside tracks chosen from Los Siquicos' extensive archive of home recordings. El Relincho Del Tiempo contains the soupy dub-cumbia of Para Ser Un Gran Hombre, the fantasy radio-hit La Danza Del Brontosaurio, and the shamanic ecstasy of Los Ninos Del Brasil or Dostoyevski En El Minimercado.
Los Siquicos Litoraleños invite you to take a leap into their world in which the sounds of the future and the past blur into one, where the music of the whole planet is digested and spat out in new shapes, where the noise is joyful.“

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Damily

Valimbilo

12" | 2018 | EU | Original (Atangana)

Release: 2018 / CH – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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“June 2017, France. It’s 40° both inside and outside. At Studio Black Box, in the Haut Anjou, it is as if you were there, in Madagascar. And when the tape recorders start rotating, the musicians’ imagination feeds off the guts of their music : Malagasy bush, tropical heat, red dirt, sand, drought, corn, cassava, cockcrow, mooing zebus, lambahoany (fabric), leaf hut, fotaky house (mud), dust, portable generator, music, rhum, bodies frantically dancing wether in the dark or under the blazing sun…Tsapiky.

The album shall be named Valimbilo.
Bilo is a disease which strikes one’s mental health, depression is what western societies call it. When one is diagnosed with « voany bilo », a precise medical treatment is engaged and performed without doctors, nor medicine. To vanquish bilo, one has to use music.
The sorcerer solely decides upon the “good” day (the day which gathers the most positive aspects of the astrological conjuncture) to operate: the extended family hosts a ceremony ruled by many taboos, which can last up to a few days, and in which only one remedy is applied in high dosage : some Tsapiky.
They are “doctor” musicians whom talent is source of the cure.
They play for the patient, who has to be facing the orchestra : all of their attention is focused on the bilo, dancing in the sick person’s body : It has to be awaken, seduced, surprised and attacked from every angle before it is pressured, pressured until KO, until it can’t take the it anymore, stuffed with music. Then the patient is relieved, discharged, and the ceremony is over.

During the entirety of the ceremony, the patient picks a person who helps him/her get the bilo out of his/her system, this is what we call “valimbilo”, literally “husband/wife of the bilo.” "

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Fedia Laguerre

Divizion

12" | 1982 | EU | Reissue (Hot Casa)

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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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.

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Boncana Maiga

Koyma Hondo

LP | 1983 | EU | Reissue (Soundway)

Release: 1982 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The Afro-Funk side of the Latin Soul maestro!
Born in Gao (Mali), Boncana Maïga is one of the most talented and popular producer of West-African music since the 60's. He studied flute and Latin arrangements in Cuba during the 60's and founded the famous “Les Maravillas du Mali” in 1968.
He became orchestra leader for the national Ivorian TV in Abidjan in the mid-seventies, and toured all over the world with the famous Africando band. During his recording sessions in NYC at the beginning of the 80's with a lot of “Latin musicians” from Puerto Rico, Venezuela or Colombia, Boncana Maïga also recorded few rare Funky tracks with heavy breaks!
With the artist, we decided to reissue four rare tracks from 1978 to 1982 dedicated to dancefloor, including a really rare soundtrack for the oil company of Ivory Coast called “Petroci”.
In 2018, he'll be back on tour with “Les Maravillas du Mali”, still have a weekly TV show on TV5 Monde and with this reissue will continue to warm your Afro-Funk parties!
Fully licensed, 12inch vinyl (45 RPM) including interview. Remastered by The Carvery!

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Hotline

You Are Mine

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

Release: 1983 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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A very rare LP originally released in 1983 has made its way to Soundway and been mastered with the utmost care.
The only known recorded album by the band, it also features the track “Fella’s Doing It In Lagos” which was included on and inspired the name for Soundway’s hit compilation in 2016.
Band members: Austing D. Ilukhor, Charles Chiagoro, Geofrey Ochiagha, Hawly Adeyefa Jnr, Klesye Edward Doja, Shola Damole, Stanley Ifejoku.

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Shango Dance Band

LP | 2019 | Original (Trouble In The East)

Release: 2017 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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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.

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Aki Takase / Rudi Mahall

Fifty-Fifty

Release: 2019 / Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Estricnina/El Canijo De Jerez Y Juanito Makande

Hemos Visto Cosas Que Harian Vomitar A Un Murciela

LP | 2016 | Original (K Industria)

Release: 2016 / Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer

Apocalipstick

LP | 2017 | EU | Original (Tonic)

Release: 2017 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 2023 | UK | Original (Believe! International)

Olumo Soundz

U.N. (United Nonsense)

21,84 €* 22,99 € -5%

The Tony Allen Experiments - Afrobeat Makers Volume 3

Release: 2023 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Believe! International Records proudly presents (U.N) United Nonsense – the debut album by the Swedish Afrobeat band Olumo Soundz.

The twelve band members of Olumo Soundz are solidly rooted in the great musical tradition hailing from predecessors Fela and Femi Kuti. However, the band puts their own spin on a vibrant genre, and packs a punch at each and every show with their own repertoire.

The four track album (U.N) United Nonsense – presented in a high quality 180 gr vinyl edition – is a joyous musical announcement of awareness, resistance and faith.

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Nu Guinea

LP | 2016 | EU | Reissue (Comet)

LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Soundway)

Release: 2016 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Comet is pleased to announce the third volume of the Afrobeat Makers Series: Nu Guinea - The Tony Allen Experiments.
By re-working the original magic drum patterns from the Afrobeat master Tony Allen, Nu Guinea created a compilation of tracks which is charged by a voluminous electronic jazz-Psyche funk imprint.
For this release, Comet Records teamed up with Early Sounds Recordings, the berlin label, also home to duo Berliners Nu Guinea.
The Naples formed, Berlin-based duo, is a project that arose out of jam sessions, melting synthesizers with instruments, containing a handmade sound that is not aiming for perfection but genuineness. It can be understood as a steadily shaping form, always open for collaborations with other musicians.
They've previously collaborated with singer Wayne Snow (fellow berliner artist on Comet) for the vocal edit of Nu-World, also delivered a remix for Wayne Snow’ ʻRosie Epʼ both recently released on Tartelet Records.

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The Mauskovic Dance Band

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Stone Pixels)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Soundway Records presents the eponymous debut LP from in-demand Amsterdam five piece The Mauskovic Dance Band – fusing no-wave dance punk, Afro-Caribbean rhythms and space disco in a “controlled explosion” (The Quietus).
Entirely self-produced, the band has reiterated their favourite elements of the 70s and 80s legacy of the Afro-Latin psychedelic music of Colombia and Peru, interpreting it through the context of modern day Amsterdam. The output is a lo-fi No Wave groove all its own - rooted in a deep love of champeta, Palenque, psychedelic cumbia, chichi, classic afrobeat and picó soundsystem culture.
Since the release of their “Down In The Basement” EP on Soundway Records in early 2018, the band have found themselves on a hectic European touring schedule – not to mention being involved in other side projects. Following stints with Turkish psychedelic folk rock group Altin Gün, and touring with the re-formed 70s Zamrock outfit W.I.T.C.H., Nic Mauskovic also teamed up with Dutch neo-psychedelic artist Jacco Gardner to form the “cinematic Balearic disco” duo of Bruxas (released by Dutch institution Dekmantel) – and together, they mixed The Mauskovic Dance Band debut album in Lisbon.
Lead single Space Drum Machine encapsulates the band’s prototypical brand of busy rhythmic patterns interwoven with insistent synth stabs and vibrant disco toms, layered with an elastic guitar riff drawing inspiration from Kenyan kikuyu and benga styles. High-pitched vocals describe being on a flight together and inciting each other to press a button of unknown consequence with “push it, push it” - and push it they do, at breakneck pace. And of course, the undeniable influence of Amsterdam’s hotbed of underground dance producers shines through as it does on all tracks - with the vintage psychedelic swirl of synthesiser, lo-fi drum machines and tape recording.

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L'osmose

Maggiore 800

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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In 2020, L'Osmose began its artistic collaboration by combining 70's psychedelia with catchy rhythms. Blending auto-tune, electric guitars, percussion, and analog synthesizers, their music is a reflection of their incessant experimentation and their desire to explore new sonic avenues.

After several radio appearances (couleur3, Worldwide FM, Radiovostok), and opening acts for international artists (Chilla, Yin-yin, OBF, old Farka Touré, Arp Frique), the Geneva sextet has built a certain reputation within the Swiss cultural scene.

Spotted by L'Éclair in 2022, the group continues its rise by recording, with their help, a promising first album which they will sign on the Stone Pixels Records label.

While waiting for the release of this project, immerse yourself in the raw, sincere and captivating energy that their performances emit.

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Mali: The Art Of Griots Of Kela, 1978-2019

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Musee D'Ethnographie De Geneve)

LP | 2016 | UK | Original (Soundway)

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie

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About a hundred kilometers south-west of Bamako, on the left bank of the Niger River, the Malian village of Kela is known to be home to a large community of griot musicians (jeliw) mostly belonging to the Diabaté family. Their art is recognised throughout West Africa and many griots come from all over the world to stay there, sometimes for several years, in the hope of becoming immersed in it. The six pieces for voice accompanied by guitar or traditional koni lutes were recorded in 1978 (tracks 3 to 6) and in 2019 (tracks 1 to 3), in the same traditional dwelling, which still serves as a “studio". The accompanying booklet contains the testimonies of several important musicians who took part in the recording, and evoke key elements of their universe Points of interests - For the fans of the traditional repertoires of Mali’s famous griot musicians. - For music lovers who love the voices accompanied by the guitar and the traditional lutes of the griots.

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Susso

Keira

Hailu Mergia & The Walias

Release: 2016 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

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Susso, aka bassist / producer Huw Bennett, creates music inspired by, and directly sampling, the magnificent sounds of the Mandinka people, recorded during a recent trip to Gambia. Initially travelling with the aim of gaining perspective as a musician and to discover a new world of music first hand, Huw found himself humbled by such a welcoming community of artists, mostly belonging to the celebrated Suso and Kuyateh griot families. The tracks are composed entirely from original source material, field recordings and Huw’s talents as a multi-instrumentalist; performing tuned percussion from the region including the Mandinka Balafon, Kutiringding drum, aswell drawing on his skill as a professional upright / electric bassist. The music produced has a contemporary electronic sound, whilst still paying homage to a traditional Gambian aesthetic. Keira (meaning peace) guides the listener through Huw’s journey up the River Gambia, being welcomed into remote dusty villages, where your people are the most important thing in life.

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Tche Belew

LP | 1997 | US | Reissue (Awesome Tapes From Africa)

Afro-Jazz Clear Yellow Vinyl Edtion

Release: 1997 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The album will be released by Awesome Tapes From Africa for the first time outside Ethiopia, with its original track sequence and album art along with exclusive period photos from Mergia’s personal scrapbook.

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Guy Warren

LP | 2019 | US | Reissue (Return To Analog)

Release: 2019 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Out Here)

Dur-Dur Band Int.

The Berlin Sessions

Chouk Bwa & The Angstromers

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Tears are in the eyes of Xabiib Sharaabi, nicknamed the Somali King of Pop when he entered the stage of Berlin"s HKW. It is a mix of nostalghia, pain and joy. Like many Somalis he had been deprived overnight of both glamour and friends, the war in his homeland had sent him into exile. The glamorous discos and beachfront stages Mogadishu had once been famous for, had disappeared as the city was bombed to the ground. The King of Somali pop found himself stranded in Sweden, many others like the members of Dur-Dur Band Int. ended up in London which until today has the largest Somali diaspora in Europe. In the last decade many early recordings of Somalia"s funk, soul and disco era have been reissued. This record is not a reissue. The Berlin Session - it is the first studio album of its kind since the golden days of Mogadishu came to a halt three decades ago. It is the living proof that Somali music is hot, funky and (!) well alive. The record captures a historic reunion which took place in 2019 in Germany"s capital Berlin. London-based Dur-Dur Band Int. an eight-piece powerhouse of Somali livemusic unites with three legendary Somali singers: Xabiib Sharaabi, Faduumina Hilowle and Cabdinur Allaale. Fueled with a restored sense of pride, the freshly reunited band installs itself in a Neukölln studio for three days.

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Ayiti Kongo Dub 2

12" | 2023 | EU | Original (Les Disques Bongo Joe)

Vibro Success Intercontinental Orchestra

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Following on from the first edition released earlier this year, Les Disques Bongo Joe are pleased to announce "Ayiti Kongo Dub Ep#2" by Chouk Bwa & The Ângströmers. Following on from 2020s acclaimed album Vodou Ale, Chouk Bwa turn up the heat for this exhilarating trip into their bush of ghosts by introducing a new stripped down line-up to fire up the dance floor, based exclusively on the drums and rhythms of the Haitian kongo rite and deep electronic dub expansions by their trusted Belgian counterparts The Ângströmers. As Afro-Caribbean polyrhythms meet bass-weight dub electronics, the two part EP has documented the group experimenting with a stripped back form which focuses on the dimension of trance. Opening with a cermonial chant and designed to enduce dancefloor delirium, the first track taken from the EP is the raw, high-octane, primordial techno of "Zemedo".

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Drunkard

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Dig This Way)

Robson Banda & The New Black Eagles

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Vibro Success Intercontinental Orchestra was an extraordinary group from the Central African Republic, founded by the sax player Rodolphe 'Beckers' Bekpa, also known as Master Békers, in the late 60's. The band achieved surprising domestic success after Beckers introduced the first drums to the Congolese Rumba rhythm. His innovation proved to be wildly popular so they were hired as the resident band of “ciel d’Afrique au Km5”, a night club in Bangui. The club was renowned as the temple of the Olympic Réal football team's fans and that visibility propelled them into becoming the official national orchestra. 1970 marked beginning of the band's international fame . Their fame spread beyond national borders until they became so popular that invitations began to arrive from nearby countries like Cameroon and Chad, the former of which the band would then tour that same year. The success of their performances prompted a further tour in 1972. According to Rodolphe Bépka, the audience enthusiasm Vibro encountered was bewildering. "We filled the old military stadium in Yaoundé in 1970, in 1972 the new Amadou Haïdjo stadium ... We are running with great success in the cities.” Their popularity was also growing in Chad, where they would tour several times through the early and mid 70's.

Towards the end of 1976, Vibro Success decided to take their music global and introduce Central African music to listeners worldwide. It worked. The turning point came in Nigeria. There the group achieved extraordinary success, with live performances followed by contracts with local labels like Scottie and Ben/Clover resulting in hit releases. Most of their LP's were originally released on this later label, Ben Limited, owned by Ben Okonkwo.

Ben, also known as Clover Sounds, brought a great number of the biggest bands from the country to market, bands like The Apostles, Akwassa,The Doves, Aktion, The Visitors, Mansion, Folk 77 and many others. Nearly all those groups started their recording careers in the label's studios based in the commercial heart of Aba, Abia State, one of Southeastern Nigeria’s largest cities. Aba at that time was a flourishing city, an important crossroads of people and culture with an intensive and active and cutting edge live music and nightlife.

But after that golden era the group began to lose its popularity. In the 1980's they returned to Bangui and resumed their old-time gigs in dance halls there - only to realize that their music didn't have the appeal it used to. Making matters worse, the domestic economic downturn accelerated, forcing the orchestra to slowly end its activities . Vibro Succès Intercontinental Orchestra disappeared at the end of the 80s and most of its members died in the 90s. We discovered this LP during our first trip to Nigeria in 2016. While traveling in the east to meet up with a musician, we stopped for a night in a village. As often happens in Nigeria, information has a way of traveling fast. The news that a couple of white guys looking for records had arrived in the village the day before spread like light. When we awoke, we found a couple of elderly music lovers in the hall of our hotel with a little pile of records for sale. The nice cover of the “Drunkard” album was right on top! At first we thought it was just another really good soukous album made by Vibro Success but after we heard “Drunkard” - we knew we had stumbled onto something very special. That was the “easy” part. Soon after, we had the idea of reissuing this LP and that was a bit harder. There were no credits on the cover and not much information about Vibro Succès. We started to ask to our friends to ask around, see if somebody knew them or the producer. That's when sadly we discovered that Ben Okonkwo had passed. So with no leads to follow and seemingly without any possibility of making progress on the matter, we "gave up" and returned to Italy. A couple years later, in the summer of 2019, we found ourselves again in Aba. This time we had the chance to meet Nnamdi Okonkwo, the eldest son of the late Ben Okonkwo. After Nnamdi's mother and family agreed, he was glad to cooperate with us for the re-release of this special album. One of the foundational beliefs of Dig This Way Records is to work hard and try to do everything possible to bring back this rare, unknown music to market, allow people to enjoy these beautiful, vibrant vibes!

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Soweto

LP | 1986 | EU | Reissue (Nyami Nyami)

LP | 2021 | UK | Original (Hive Mind)

Release: 1986 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Nyami Nyami Records are pleased to announce the first ever reissue 100% analog from the original master tapes of the classic Zimbabwean album Soweto from 1986, with the same tracklist and original artwork, produced at the peak of jit’s popularity in the mid-1980s. While staying within the chimurenga music framework pioneered by Thomas Mapfumo and Jonah Sithole, Robson Banda and the New Black Eagles produced a crisp, precise and exciting sound, emphasising the upbeat dance music favoured on the dancefloors of independent Zimbabwe’s nightspots and beerhalls. Mbira-based guitar licks bring a nostalgic feeling to these dance-floor gems championed at the time by legendary English DJ John Peel.

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Hassan Wargui

Tiddukla

12" | 2020 | EU | Original (Secousse)

Release: 2021 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Hassan Wargui is a self taught musician, composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and an expert in the songcraft and poetry of the Tachelhit speaking Amazigh tribes of the Anti-Atlas mountains in the south of Morocco.

He was born in 1985 in the rural community of Issafen, which lies between Taroudant and Tafraoute in the Anti-Atlas mountains of Southern Morocco. His music draws from the deep well of Amazigh, or Berber, cultures that have long been suppressed across North Africa after the region underwent a process of Arabization following the Arab invasions of the 7th Century.

Hassan grew up in an isolated mountain community in which art and music is embedded into daily life. This allowed him to develop an excellent musical sense, a deep understanding of the complex poly-rhythms that underpin Amazigh music, and time to become proficient on the banjo which, since the ascendency of the popular modern folk movement involving groups such as Nass El Ghiwane and Jil Jilala in the late '60s and early '70s, has been the preferred instrument of the region. Like many musicians from the region, Hassan built his first instruments himself, and it wasn't until he moved to Casablanca in his teens to find work which was scarce in his local community, that he was able to save for his first real banjo.

Since then Hassan has been active in the Amazigh musical community and has worked with a number of groups, notably Groupe Lbouchart, Imanaren and Etran Tiznit, as well as recording prolifically as a solo artist using Fruity Loops as a home studio. In 2009, Jace Clayton (DJ/Rupture) stumbled across a CD by Imanaren on a stall in Casablanca medina and this led to a fruitful series of collaborations in 2009 and 2011 (you can learn more about their work together here.)

Tiddukla (which translates to Friendship) is one of Hassan's numerous group projects and he recorded the album with friends in 2015 and self released it through YouTube due to the lack of music infrastructure in Morocco. The Tiddukla album is raw and hypnotic and sees Hassan and his group channeling the deep and contemplative sounds of classic Amazigh groups such as Izenzaren, Archach, Izmaz, all of whom risked their freedom by daring to sing in Tachelhit at a time when the language was still forbidden, and when Amazigh people were fighting for their rights to be recognised.

Hive Mind are thrilled to be able to release Hassan's beautiful music, and to introduce the fascinating rhythms of the Anti-Atlas Mountains into the wider world. We're incredibly proud to be able to support this fiercely independent and hugely resourceful and tenacious artist who has been able to continue creating music for over a decade without any real support from Morocco's music industry and while holding down a variety of day jobs. We really hope you enjoy his music as much as we do.

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Orchestre Les Mangelepa

Nyako Konya

LP | 2020 | US | Original (Awesome Tapes From Africa)

Release: 2020 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Nairobi, Kenya, 1978. In the Phonogram Ltd. music studio, the popular Congolese Rumba band Les Mangelepa is finishing a session. Things are going well: they have recorded all the music they planned and still have an hour to kill before giving back the studio keys. How about improvising one last song on the spot?
And this is how “Nyako Konya” was born. An incredible 9 minutes hypnotic jam, that’ll eventually become one of their biggest tunes, earning them a Gold record and international acclaim throughout Africa.
Meticulously restored and remastered by French engineer Nicolas Thelliez, the original version is featured here together with remixes by three talented producers: French House/Disco producer extraordinaire Yuksek and his wall of sound skills, Netherlands’ Afro lovers and world famous studio maverick Umoja delivering a space dub Lee Scratch Perry style, and last but not least, the trademarked syncopated stabs from Brooklyn’s Uproot Andy.

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Hailu Mergia

Yene Mircha

Anywhere Trouble Feat. Cristina Violle

Release: 2020 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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It's been a long, winding road to Hailu Mergia's sixth decade of musical activity. From a young musician in the 60's starting out in Addis Ababa to the 70's golden age of dance bands to the new hope as an emigre in America to the drier period of the 90s and 2000s when he mainly played keyboard in his taxi while waiting in the airport queue or at home with friends. More recently, with reissue of his classic works and a re-assessment of his role in Ethiopian music history, Mergia has played to audiences big and small in some of the most cherished venues around the world. With 2018's critical breakthrough "Lala Belu" Mergia championed himself and consolidated his legacy, producing the album on his own and connecting with listeners through the sheer creative power of his version of modern Ethiopian music. His subsequent performances revealed an artist who is in no way stuck in the nostalgia for the "golden age" sound. The press agreed, including the New York Times, BBC and Pitchfork, calling his music "triumphantly in the present" in its Best 200 Albums of the 2010's list. Mergia's new album "Yene Mircha" ("My Choice" in Amharic) encapsulates many of the things that make the keyboardist, accordionist and composer-arranger remarkable_elements that have persisted to maintain his vitality all these years, through the ebb and flow of his career. The rock solid trio with whom he has toured the world most recently, DC-based Alemseged Kebede (bass) and Ken Joseph (drums), forms the nucleus around which an expanded band makes a potent response to the contemporary jazz future "Lala Belu" promised. "Yene Mircha" calcifies Mergia's prolific stream of creativity and his philosophy that there is a multitude of Ethiopian musical approaches, not just one sound. Enlisting the help of master mesenqo (traditional stringed instrument) player Setegn Atenaw, celebrated vocalist Tsehay Kassa and legendary saxophone player Moges Habte from his 70's outfit Walias Band, Mergia enhances his bright, electric band on this recording with an expanded line up on some songs. Mergia produced the album which features several of his original compositions along with songs by Asnakesh Worku and Teddy Afro. An artist still reinventing his sound every night on stage during his marathon live sets, this 74-year-old icon refuses to make the same album twice. The album feels as urgent and risky as his concerts can be, pushing the band to the outer limits of group improvisation and back with chord extensions during his exploratory solos. "Yene Mircha" captures this live experience and fosters an expansive view of what else could be in store for this tireless practitioner of Ethiopian music.

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Franck Biyong

12" | 2020 | EU | Original (Hot Casa)

LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Awesome Tapes From Africa)

Release: 2020 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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After a few other successful projects, Franck Biyong, French-Cameroonian Afrobeat composer, guitar player and singer is back on Hot Casa with a hot futuristic Afro-Brazilian club anthem.
The similarities and filiations between traditional West-African drumming and Afro-Brazilian religious musical rites are many: under colonial rule African people and African slaves outwardly practiced Christianity but secretly prayed to their own God, Gods, or Ancestor spirits. So we aimed at keeping the gritty urban menacing sound and poetry of Afrobeat with the percussive mass rumble of Batucada and poignant beauty of Carioca. We then got in touch with Cristina Violle, the first lady of “Samba de Roda” in Paris who graced us with a startling inspired and heartfelt melody. The first completed version of the song then briefly went on alternative radio, we also made plans to release a vinyl version, but for one way or another we shelved the project, without thinking we would get back to it again…until a few months ago.
We went back to the studio last summer and started ironing the song again from scratch. That same initial spirit and energy caught hold of us again from the day we started and we worked relentlessly to create a balanced but experimental track, showcasing rootsy sound, pop instrumentation, tight world beat drumming, song structure, jazzy horns, spacey synthesizers, choral-like vocal harmonies with call and response figurative vocals.
We now proudly present this brand new record; Like our predecessors years ago, we subconsciously did our best to keep alive a longtime tradition of cultural tradition of African Artistic Renaissance, pushing further musical themes of contemporary African sound. To be continued…

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Antoinette Konan

LP | 1983 | EU | Reissue (Pharaway Sounds)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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It makes sense that Antoinette Konan's eponymous album features nothing more than her ahoko on the cover. The deceptively simple traditional percussion instrument transformed Ivory Coast's Baoulé music scene when Konan deployed it against a roaring electrified backdrop of synth, bass guitar and drum machines. Released in 1986, the album is a veritable UFO of instrumental force and contemporary pop sensibility landing in a boiling pot of diverse, creative characters inhabiting Abidjan, Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire). Known as the "Queen of the Ahoko" among Ivorians, Konan single-handedly put the central-Ivorian instrument on the map when she gave it a 20th-century re-introduction. The three-piece wooden idiophone is handmade from a thin, ribbed, flexible stick, against which a smaller chunk of wood is rhythmically scraped. A hollow nutshell held in the non-scraping hand amplifies and manipulates the resulting overtones. Despite the ahoko's diminutive appearance, Konan and her powerful voice have remained at the forefront of Ivorian music for decades now, in an extremely diverse country_approximately 70 indigenous languages_with a competitive, internationally-recognized music industry.Music plays an important role in Baoulé cultural life, heard and seen in festivities, funerals and more. They are the largest ethnic group in Côte d'Ivoire and descend from Akan peoples who migrated from present-day central Ghana. Baoulé vocal music is characterized by polyphony, melodies built on parallel thirds and call-and-response. All of this can be heard in Konan's music. Konan's fingerprints are all over Antoinette Konan, she says, as it was meant to be a highly personal recording. She wanted to portray the suffering, injustice, frustrations, humiliations, personal career struggles, experience of child birth and poverty she sees in society. Taking on the producer role for the first time, Konan was the architect of her dancefloor-ready neo-traditional sound. But crucial to the recording was arranger Bamba Moussa Yang. A creati...

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Bibi Den's Tshibayi

Sensible

12" | 2019 | EU | Original (Hot Mule / Secousse)

Release: 1983 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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A great mix of Zouk, Afro-Funk and Boogie from the Ivory Coast, 1983. Cool synths, electric guitar, Afro-Caribbean rhythms...
Four long tracks, including the massive afro-disco-boogie “Africa Mawa” plus two cool afro/Zouk tracks and a deep ballad with psych guitar.
Featuring Congolese musician Denis Bibi Den’s Thsibayi and his band The Best, “Sensible” was recorded at Abidjan, Ivory Coast, after Denis Tshibayi was requested to play live there. M. Sacko helped with the production / edition and the album was originally released first as a tiny private pressing in the Ivory Coast and later in France on the Tangent label. During that time, Denis Thsibayi also recorded for Earthworks/Rough Trade and in the following decades he recorded with Adrian Sherwood (On-U Sound Records), Alpha Blondy, etc.

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Max Rambhojan

12" | 1981 | EU | Reissue (Hot Casa)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Guadeloupe 1986. The football World Cup has all the Islanders' eyes riveted to their TV sets. At every half time breaks, local TV channel RFO broadcasts a music video on repeat: ‘’Tou’t Jou Pa Min’m". Max Rambhojan, the local singer responsible for this monster tune, has arrived.
In the video, he effortlessly sings and kickstarts a joyous street party with his band, Show Man, his dancers, kids, friends, family and what seems like the whole neighbourhood. The song will gain cult status from then on, cementing the power of the 'Zouk Chiré' sound, a high tempo version of Zouk, highly influenced by Guadeloupe's Carnival mass drum bands. Max self-releases his first solo album on vinyl in 1985, enrolling some of the best musicians the scene has to offer: his band leader King Klero, Guy Jacquet of les Vikings de la Guadeloupe fame on production duties, Ramon Pyrmée on synths, Claude Vamur, Meliza… In 1992 a new solo album follows. By then the artists have familiarized themselves with computers and the sound has gone full-on digital. In that album Max records an updated version of his “Tou’t Jou Pa Min’m” anthem to great effect.
Reducing Max Rambhojan to a zouk artist would be a mistake. He’s first and foremost a master of Gwo-Ka, a musical practice born during the transatlantic slave trade and performed by all ethnic and religious groups of Guadeloupe. It has never ceased to exist and has become a major part of the Island folk music culture. Max Rambhojan was schooled as a kid by Gwo-Ka pioneer Guy Conquette, and quickly joined the backing band of another legend, Ti-Sélès. That sound is the root of his particular style, especially vibrant on two tracks in his repertoire: “Cecilia” and “On Jou Matin”, both featured on this release's b-side. A touch of Spiritual Jazz is also palpable, allowing a magical vibe to spread, giving birth to some of the deepest music from this era.
In 2019, Max still performs Gwo-Ka every week-end in Guadeloupe and also hosts a show on local radio Media Tropical, 88.1FM. Secousse and Hot Mule are proud to present those 4 lost gems on wax and digital, carefully restored and remastered.

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Mac Gregor

Abidjan

LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Psychonaut Sounds)

Release: 1981 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Rare and in High demand Afro digital Soul EP, recorded in Abidjan (Ivory Coast) in 1981.
Originally from Martinique, Clem Marise Voltine aka Mac Gregor moved to Abidjan in 1979 searching for, what she called, her “negritude quest”. She sang about her love for her adoptive city until her death in April 2004 at CHU of Abidjan, Trechville Hospital.
A visionary composer, poet and singer, mixing Creole, French and Nouchi, she made a brilliant musical bridge between the West-Indies and Ivory Coast, backed by a soulful group of top Ivorian musicians such as the great Houon Pierre.
This unique and must have record is a pure dancefloor killer and will definitely be the next Afro Tropical Hit of the next decade!
Fully Licensed in Abidjan, remastered at Carvery Studio on a 12inch vinyl (45 RPM).

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The Rails

Cancel The Sun

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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2LP | 2016 | UK | Reissue (Mr Bongo)

Original Sound Of Mali

Tusona: Tracings In The Sand

Release: 2016 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The Original Sound of Mali’ compiled by David ‘Mr Bongo’ Buttle, Vik Sohonie (Ostinato Records) and Florent Mazzoleni.

Malian music is a deep, lyrical form of African music. Those of us deeply entranced by Malian culture, and, in particular, the immense hypnotic beauty of Malian music, have put together a selection of songs from across the country.

No booklet in this Version.

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Mokoomba

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Out Here)

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Irfan (Le Label))

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Five years after the release of their last album "Luyando", Zimbabwe"s most celebrated music export returns with their long-awaited album "Tusona: Tracings in the Sand". The six musicians from Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe have come up with their most danceable album to date: The DIY production is recorded in Zimbabwe and sees them refining their unique sound: Infectious Afro grooves deeply connected to Zimbabwe"s cultural DNA.

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Les Ogres De Barback

Croc' Noces

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 2023 | UK | Original (Soundway)

Ayo Manuel

1983-90

22,49 €* 29,99 € -25%

Soweto To Harlem Record Store Day 2024 Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 2023 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Soundway Records presents Ayo Manuel ‘1983-1990’, a collection of selected works by one of Nigeria’s DIY pioneers. This mini compilation selects the stand-out cuts from his two albums Love Candidate and Party Time, showcasing the evolution of Ayo’s music. Side A is led by Song Of Love (Instrumental) - mid-tempo, synth-heavy music toeing the line between lo-fi crunch and sophisticated charm. This is followed closely by afro-disco melters Don’t Stop and the aptly titled Fun Time. Both with strong American, disco-funk leanings but full of Nigerian flavour, they come signed, sealed and delivered for any discerning dancefloor. Sojourn (Ajo) lights up side-B, a coming-of-age journey that sets the tone for the rest of the album. With slick US production, but with its feet firmly planted in Yoruba culture, we find a more developed artist combining talking drums with distinct ’90s production, that deliver a unique blend of afro-pop. Gboro Mi Ro echoes the influence of Nigeria’s biggest musical export, Fela Kuti, but still retains its own particular character. Do Goodfollows in the footsteps of its predecessors but with added drama and depth.

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Hal Singer Jazz Quartet

LP | 1976 | EU | Reissue (Afrodelic)

22,79 €* 23,99 € -5%

Che Belew (March Forward)

Release: 1976 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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When the U.S. State Department announced in the mid-1970s that they were sponsoring a South African tour for the Oklahoma-born, Paris-based saxophonist Hal Singer, producer Rashid Vally took note. Even though his nascent record label As-Shams/The Sun (established in 1974) was making waves on the local scene, the idea of commissioning a recording from an international artist was a ballsy idea. With a discography that stretched back to the 1950s, Hal Singer was already somewhat of a legacy artist by 1976. Vally was well-versed on Singer’s accomplishments and specifically enamoured by his composition “Blue Stompin’,” which appeared on a Prestige album from 1959 that had struck a chord in South Africa. With his irresistible charm, Vally managed to coax Singer into a studio in Johannesburg, South Africa, to record a new version of “Blue Stompin’” with South African sax star Kippie Moeketsi, which became the title track of a 1977 album by Moeketsi. The recording session also yielded an album’s worth of new material by Hal Singer and his quartet that took its name from a track inspired by Singer’s trip to South Africa entitled “Soweto to Harlem.” Released in 1976 and only available in South Africa, Soweto to Harlem captures a laid-back, cheeky and nostalgic rhythm and blues set from the Hal Singer Quartet that is unlikely to have emerged for a different target market. With her irresistible charm, Vally was able to convince Singer to enter a Johannesburg studio. The recording session produced this album of new material by Hal Singer and his quartet named after a song inspired by Singer's trip to South Africa, entitled "Soweto to Harlem." Released in 1976 and available only in South Africa, "Soweto to Harlem" captures a laid-back, unabashed and nostalgic rhythm and blues of Hal Singer's quartet that would hardly have been born for a different market. Cinedelic’s 2024 edition of this rare album is sourced from the original tape masters and presents it on vinyl internationally for the very first time. The reissue follows Singer’s passing at the 100 in August 2020 as we contemplate and celebrate his extraordinary contribution to jazz in the United States and beyond.

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Ayalew Mesfin

LP | 2020 | US | Original (Now-Again)

22,94 €* 26,99 € -15%

Dancing Time: The Best Of East Nigeria's Afro Rock Exponents 1973-77

Release: 2020 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Ayalew Mesfin stands aside the likes of Mulatu Astake, Mahmoud Ahmed, Hailu Mergia and Alemayehu Eshete as a legend of 1970s Ethiopia. Mesfin’s music is some of the funkiest to arise from this unconquerable East African nation. Mesfin’s recording career, captured in nearly two dozen 7” singles and numerous reel-to-reel tapes, shows the strata of the most fertile decade in Ethiopia’s 20th century recording industry, when records were pressed constantly by both independent upstarts and corporate behemoths, even if they were only distributed within the confines of this East African nation. Though Mesfin was forced underground by the Derg regime that took control of Ethiopia in 1974, he has returned almost 50 years later with this triumphant set albums – the first time that his music has been presented in this form. These albums give us a chance to discover a rare and beautiful moment in music history, in anthologies built from Mesfin’s uber-rare 7” single releases and from previously unreleased recordings taken from master tapes. Che Belew gives us a chance to discover a rare & beautiful moment in music history, in an anthology built from his uber-rare 7” single releases.

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The Funkees

2LP | 2012 | UK | Original (Soundway)

Release: 2012 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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‘Dancing Time: The Best of Eastern Nigeria’s Afro Rock Exponents 1973 – 77’ by The Funkees is the latest title on Soundway to mine the rich musical output of 60s and 70s Nigeria. For the 5 year period this compilation spans The Funkees output crackled with dance floor fire.

Having featured on three of Soundway’s most popular titles, across the definitive Nigeria Special compilation series, we felt The Funkees output deserved closer inspection. Presented here (on CD, download & double gatefold LP) are 18 slices of funky Afro-rock grooves hand picked by Soundway’s Miles Cleret from a selection of the bands 45s and 2 long players.

In the early 1970s The Funkees were the number-one east Nigerian band and the only outfit to seriously challenge the popular Lagos based rock combos MonoMono and BLO.

It wasn't long before promoters in the UK came calling and The Funkees packed up their instruments and moved to London where they quickly established a fierce reputation on the live circuit.

Here they recorded two seminal albums before finally breaking up in 1977 amidst some controversy. This collection features for the first time all of their Nigerian 45s alongside the best of their UK album material and is accompanied by a full interview with original member Sonny Akpan, who still lives in the capital.

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LP | 1976 | UK | Reissue (Knitting Factory)

Zombie

Release: 1976 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Mr Bongo Record Club Volume 1

2LP | 2016 | UK | Original (Mr Bongo)

Release: 2016 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The first instalment in our new ‘Mr Bongo Record Club’ compilation series – a
selection of favourites, recent discoveries and sought after obscurities, which
form the basis of our DJ sets and our radio show of the same name. Including
cuts by Claudia, Cortex, Dave Pike Set, Fruko, Neno Exporta Som, Connie
Laverne, Barbosa and more.
The original concept for ‘Mr Bongo Record Club’ was a radio show that allowed
us to air our treasured record collections, recorded and broadcast once a
month. We wanted to create an outlet free from any genre or BPM restrictions,
not constrained by the need to beat-mix every record, a space where we could
play latest finds alongside favourites. The only self-imposed rule being that
it had to be played from vinyl.
We have always DJ’d across-the-board, but playing in an eclectic way hasn’t
always been easy. Recently DJ’s such as MCDE, Floating Points, Nick The Record,
Leon Vynehall, Four Tet, Jeremy Underground, Antal (Rush Hour), Sassy J and
Young Marco – to name a few – have opened things up with very diverse sets to
younger audiences; Brazilian samba-rock, next to modern soul, highlife, disco,
boogie, jazz, house, techno and beyond.
We’re seeing a rare groove like sensibility. A shift towards the attitude of
legendary club nights hosted by the likes of Mr Scruff and Gilles Peterson,
where you could hear house, hip hop, Turkish funk, boogie, jazz, dub and Latin
back to back. At the same time it isn't a nostalgic or retro movement, people
have a progressive attitude and a thirst for new-old music. It is a vibrant and
exciting time – we are proud to be a part of it.

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LP | 1973 | UK | Reissue (Knitting Factory)

Gentleman

Release: 1973 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Idrissa Soumaoro L'Eclipse De L'I.J.A.

Le Tioko-Tioko

LP | 1978 | UK | Reissue (Mr Bongo)

Erotic Delight / Change Of A Feeling

Release: 1978 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Idrissa Soumaoro, L’Eclipse De L’I.J.A.’s sought-after album ‘Le Tioko-Tioko’ was originally released in the German Democratic Republic (gdr) in 1978 and has been a long-time favourite at Mr Bongo. Two tracks from the album were featured on our 2017 compilation ‘The Original Sound Of Mali’ (mrblp135), and we subsequently released the track ‘Nissodia’ on its own 12” (mrb12053) in 2020, complete with a blistering dancefloor re-edit by Mike D of The Beastie Boys.

‘Le Tioko-Tioko' is one of the rarest vinyl albums from the already scarce Malian vinyl discography, partly as the album was never released commercially, only independently distributed via the Malian Association for the Blind in Bamako. Though recorded at Radio Mali under the aegis of master engineer Boubacar Traoré; the album was originally released in East Germany. The tapes had been taken by some Malian students to East Berlin as part of a student exchange program. It was then manufactured and released on the East German state-owned label Eterna with only a few boxes of records being shipped back to Bamako.

A true masterpiece, this legendary LP offers some devastating songs such as ‘Djama’ (society), ‘Nissodia’ (joy of optimism), and ‘Fama Allah’ (an ode to god). Hypnotic organ riffs and breakbeats convey an unknown funk quality in Malian music, it now stands as a loving tribute to an unsung Malian golden age. Sadly, like many of the other now desired and prized vinyl rarities, at the time of release, it almost immediately disappeared without a trace due to a lack of promotion, and distribution. So, it feels fitting to share this gem of a record again, and hopefully it will reach the wider audience it deserved over 45 years ago.

Many thanks to Florent Mazzoleni for contributing sections of these notes.

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Witch

7" | 1984 | EU | Reissue (Sharp Flat)

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Space Echo)

Release: 1984 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Mastered from the original analog tapes for the very first time, Sharp-flat brings you the Witch Disco Singles as you’ve never heard them before. WIT 5 hosts a single edit of “Erotic Delight” from the band's 1984 album Kuomboka backed with “Change of a Feeling,” an unheard Witch track released for the very first time.

By the end of the 1970s, Witch was a Zambian music institution. Active since 1972, they had survived the Zamrock years and left an impressive garage, psych and prog discography in their wake. But at the outset of the 1980s, the band was ready to embrace the modern sounds of a newera. Undertaking personnel changes and relocating to Zimbabwe, they were primed by the independence celebrations of their neighbouring country to undertake their mythical transformation into an African disco powerhouse.

With access to a state of the art recording studio in Harare, Witch produced two exquisite albums in the early 1980s. Appearing in 1980,Movin’ On was preceded by the single “My Desire,” which featured new member Christine Jackson on lead vocals. With an upfront funky bass-line, falsetto backing vocals, swirling synths and tight horns, it was a searing hot disco offering that made no bones about the fact that the Witch was ready to get down. Composer/vocalist Stanford Tembo’s mid-tempo burner “You Are My Sunshine" was the perfect fit for the flip.

Documenting the band’s drift from disco into boogie, Witch’s final album Kuomboka was released in 1984 without an accompanying single. New lead vocalist Patrick Chisembele injected youthful energy and a modern soul edge, most notably on “Erotic Delight” with its crisp drums, slinky keys and intoxicating bass groove. Pop reggae was also within the album’s stylistic purview by way of the closer “Jah Let the Sunshine” as well as “Change of a Feeling,” the flip side of a recently discovered single that wasn’t originally released.

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Galathea

Teaspoon And The Waves Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Galathea is the new project by DJ Massimo Napoli, and the title of his first solo album. Borrowing the name from the homonymous Nereid from the Greek mythology, the album is a deep dive into dub, spiritual jazz and African surroundings. Over 12 tracks, the LP conceals a strong personality. Departing from club culture with particular emphasis on electronic dub, Galathea unfolds into many influences and styles, making it a unique listening experience. Mediterranean culture, afro and cinematic melodies, jazz, spiritual echoes, and soothing beats lead the listener into a subliminal escape, where the fluidity and the convergence of genres freely progress into a dream-like journey. In "Spiritual Wind," the essence of spiritual jazz can be perceived on the central 5/4 rhythm, the deep double baseline, and the vocals. In "Afrique," the melody and the rhythmic Nigerian Afro-funk blend with dub tonalities into a subtle listening experience, enriched by Kadi Koulibaly's vocal performance. In "Dune," the album moves from Africa to the Caribbean; it is a tribute to the Cuban and Puerto Rican culture, sonically achieved with the interplay of Latin rhythms and dub sounds. “Black Sand" is an Afro dub jazz composition; John Lui's poignant vocal performance accompanies the dub sounds and African instruments. In "Scirocco," the warm and hypnotic atmosphere merges with Asian hues; it is reminiscent of the Shurhùq (or "midday wind") - a warm wind that blows from the Southeast over the Mediterranean Sea. The result is an explosive combination of music traditions with the addition of dub timbres. In "Simeto," Asian influences merge with jazz. The delicate sitar blends with dub atmospherics like river ripples gently flowing towards the sea. Simeto (in ancient Greek "Symaithos") is the river flowing into the Ionian Sea from the slopes of Etna. "Sunset Dub" was written in collaboration with musician and producer Salvo Dub; the song starts with a dynamic, percussive session and progresses into minimal dub tonalities and electronica. "Sirens" is an ethereal song composition enhanced by the sounds of the sea and the sea birds, as well as the haunting sirens' voices. "Karma Blues" is an Afro-blues track with impact. The kora and the reggae singing perfectly paint the recording and its gentle and atmospheric progression. "This is African Jazz" is inspired by the Savannah sounds; it carries the listener on a refined journey accompanied by an African dub and percussions. "Amanecer" was conceived as a soundtrack to welcome the sun, with the strings accompanying the sea sounds and the chanting of the sea birds.

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Teaspoon And The Waves

LP | 1977 | UK | Reissue (Mr Bongo)

Togetherness Is Always A Good Venture - Tambourine Party Volume 2

Release: 1977 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Official replica re-issue of a South African jazz-funk rarity from Teaspoon & The Waves. Released in 1977 on Soul Jazz Pop, a subsidiary label of Mavuthela Music Company / Gallo, Teaspoon & The Waves’ self-titled album is an absolute masterpiece. Best known for the song 'Oh Yeh Soweto’, which is an astonishing adaptation of Lamont Dozier's anthem 'Going Back to My Roots', this track has become a contemporary underground club classic in recent times and has been featured in sets from a cross-section of DJs. With such a massive calling card song, it could be easy to write off the album as a typical one-tracker (like so many records often are), but that is a long way from the truth. Each of the remaining four tracks are super strong and, for us here at Mr Bongo, this has to be our favourite South African record of this era. 'Saturday Express' is a jazz-funk/disco stomper which will soon be lighting up dancefloors again. 'Wind and Fire' is true afro-jazz-funk excellence, with great spacey synths and reggae-inspired guitar grooves riding throughout. The opener, 'Friday Night’, also has a slightly reggae-tinged tropical groove, whilst 'Got Me Tight' finishes off the session with a feel-good jazz-funk workout that features cool, quirky, Patrick Adams-esque synths. Saxophonist Teaspoon Ndlela has had an amazing and rich musical career. Releasing albums on records labels Soul Jazz Pop, Hit Special, Gallo GRC, alongside working with and writing for South African artists such as Mpharanyana, Stimela, Sipho Gumede and Sgu. He also features on the Paul Simon track 'Gumboots' taken from the iconic 'Graceland' project. Though best known for 'Oh Yeh Soweto' we hope this re-issue helps demonstrate that there is much more magic in this wonderful musician's repertoire to discover.

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Super Elcados

LP | 1976 | EU | Reissue (Mr Bongo)

Shina Williams & His African Percussionists

Release: 1976 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Official Mr Bongo reissue of the ultra-rare album by ‘Super Elcados’. A fusion of heavyweight Nigerian funk, soul & disco, originally released by EMI Nigeria in 1976.
The ‘Super Elcados’ (and ’Elcados’ on other recordings) recorded three albums in the mid and late-70’s, this is their first. It was followed by ‘This World Is Full Of Injustice’ and ‘What Ever You Need’.
Licensed from Geoffrey Johnson (Elcados), courtesy of PMG, with special thanks to Dave Hill for his help!

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African Dances

LP | 1979 | EU | Reissue (Mr Bongo)

2LP | 2002 | EU | Reissue (Comet)

Release: 1979 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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First official reissue of the extremely rare full-length album by Lagos-based bandleader Shina Williams. Clean copies of the original currently sell for up to £500.
The record was born in 1979 when Shina put Biddy Wright, Fred Fisher, Saliu Alabi, Prince Bola, Tutu Shoronmu, Tunde willimas and several other decorated Nigerian musicians – who played with the likes of Fela Kuti, SJOB Movement, Sonny Okoson, King Bucknor amongst others – together to record. The result is ‘African Dances’, a timeless fusion of afrobeat, electronics, boogie and disco. Includes his most well-known song, ‘Agboju Logun’ that Williams knew was ground breaking – “I want to show the whole wide world that Africa is alive with modern musicians to reckon with anywhere,”. This album version is a different mix to the two-track 12” that came out under on Earthworks, Rough Trade in 1984.
Official Mr Bongo reissue. Replica original artwork. Licensed direct from Shina Williams.

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Tony Allen

Homecooking

Release: 2002 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Originally released in 2002, Comet is proud to present the legendary album Homecooking, reissued with a remastered version. Tony Allen talks about the album: “After Black Voices and Psyco on Da Bus albums, I came back with HomeCooking which was an album filled with guests. I brought in Ty, who had remixed some of my work previously, to rap on the record, and Damon Albarn, who had already sung about me on ‘Music is my Radar’. Since the early days I’ve been trying to find things that everybody will want to listen to. I’ve always been pushing Afrobeat in different directions. Here’s another one again, another style, almost clean but still rough, raggedy and radical.’’

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2LP | 2016 | UK | Original (Mr Bongo)

Original Sound Of Mali

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Hot Casa)

Release: 2016 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The Original Sound of Mali’ compiled by David ‘Mr Bongo’ Buttle, Vik Sohonie (Ostinato Records) and  Florent Mazzoleni.

Malian music is a deep, lyrical form of African music. Those of us deeply entranced by Malian culture, and, in particular, the immense hypnotic beauty of Malian music, have put together a selection of songs from across the country.

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Stanislas Tohon

Dans Le Tchink Systeme

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Local Tree Music)

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Afro-Soul Holy Grail by the “Soul Brother from Benin“, featuring the famous “Vis à Vis” band from Ghana and recorded in Kumasi in 1979.

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Yann Jankielewicz

Keep It Simple

Analog People Digital World

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Keep It Simple! That's what Tony Allen told me, whether on stage, in the recording studio or when we were working together on the album "The Source"(Blue Note 2017) in my studio. Obviously, if he repeated it at will, it's because it's so difficult, to express the essential, not to scatter, over-play, over-arrange. So natural for him, so constraining for others! For years he pushed us, the members of his group to develop our projects. I had something in mind, necessarily with him, unfortunately his unexpected demise decided otherwise. It took a moment to accept his departure, to accept being a voice, to find a new path. The desire to continue the work started together, that of mixing styles, sounds to appropriate them and create new, authentic. The desire also to meet new people, another energy. After composing music for this project, I asked my friend Ben Rubin, musician and producer to help me record it. I found in NYC what I was looking for, a sense of urgency, that of doing, generous and committed musicians. I knew Jason Lindner, a musician that I have been following for a long time and he was the first person I thought of for pianos and synthesizers. He has this ability to find new and powerful sounds, with a direct and unadorned playing. For the drums, I didn't especially thought about a musician whose playing could come close or far to Tony's. Ben suggested Josh Dion to me, I've been following him since his "Paris Monster" project, I love his ability to make his drums sound like a new instrument by playing the bass synth with his right hand, that forces him to keep it simple! He also plays 2 tracks in drum/synth mode on the album. I'm also happy that he agreed to sing a song on this album. So we recorded at the Figure8 recording studio in Brooklyn, Eli Crews providing the sound recording, we decided with Ben to create a powerful and assumed sound from the take. Many biases on the tones, whether on the drums and the keyboards. Back in my studio in Paris, I continued to search, to dig while recording additional saxophones, percussions and keyboards. I met Tchad Blake during a week-long mixing seminar. His work on the album on is radical. Keep it simple? Difficult but I try to remain so on all the phases of evolution of this project, from writing to production, in the improvisation parts. Where I feel it the most is in the immediate joy of playing with Jason and Josh, of tweaking a few sounds in my studio to create the unexpected, surprise in the structures, authenticity. Simple as the desire to go towards something essential, to seek oneself, to find oneself, to doubt but also to invent oneself

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Arp Frique

12" | 2022 | EU | Original (Colorful World)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

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Arp Frique returns to the scene with a new album after a string of releases, leaving the cratediggers and dancefloor tastemakers with underground classics like Nos Magia, Voyage and Nyame Ye. On ''Analog People Digital World' he embraces the digital coldness of Yamaha’s classic DX7 synthesizer to create a refreshing listening experience using only the FM synthesis-based sounds from this machine to find new heat for an analog world, reflecting on the digital revolution we are living through. The album features Ghanaian songstress Mariseya (Omampam, Jah Kingdom, Digital World, Roi Salomon), Cape Verdean OG Americo Brito (Go Now Wetiko) and Surinam funkstar Sumy, who joins the record on the opening track “Spiritual Masseuse”. Arp Frique closes the album with “Duncan Truffle”, a very intense and wobbling instrumental echoing Bootsy and Bernie Worrell on a solo exercise. Expect an analog-digital exploration of lofi funk, highlife, zouk and reggae. Does that DX7 sound hot or cold to you?

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Crossroads Kenya: East African Benga And Rumba, 1980-1985

12" | 2022 | UK | Original (No Wahala Sounds)

Dumi-Maichi-Na Chi Maraire & Nyunganyunga Mbira

Release: 2022 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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This compilation collects a number of 7" singles produced by Audio Productions Ltd. in Kenya's capital Nairobi in the first half of the 1980s and released on the Wendo, Lulus, Mlima and APL imprints. The bands featured on this release are the New Gatanga Boys, Ruwengo Bros Band, Banana Hill Band and Les Victoria 'C' Kings from Kenya, Les Moto Moto and Orch Les Volcano from Tanzania (the latter being led here by Charles Ray Kasembe after the death of the legendary Mbaraka Mwinshehe). The closing track is by Orch Zaituken Band, whose name is a contraction of the countries its members came from: Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. The group is emblematic of the Kenyan capital's role as a magnet for East African musicians seeking to earn a living by recording and playing live in the 1970s and 1980s.

No Wahala Sounds are proud to bring you this latest collection of rare 45s from the golden era of benga and rumba, which have never been released outside Kenya before.

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Tichazomuona

LP | 1986 | EU | Reissue (Nyami Nyami)

My Desire / You Are My Sunshine

Release: 1986 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie

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Nyami Nyami Records presents a reissue of a rare gem from the Gramma Records catalog , the historic Zimbabweean label. Dumisani Maraire, the leading creator of modern mbira, settled in the USA in the late 60s where he popularized the traditional music of the Shona people. Tichazomuona is the first album he recorded in liberated Zimbabwe, in 1986, with his wife Maichi and daughter Chiwoniso. You can hear the very young singer on lead vocals on the title track, long before she went on to perform solo on the international stage. We launched Nyami Nyami with her last recording Zvichapera and are happy to also release now her very first.

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Witch

7" | 2022 | EU | Reissue (Sharp Flat)

LP | 1985 | EU | Reissue (Afrosynth)

Release: 2022 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Mastered from the original analog tapes for the very first time, Sharp-flat brings you the Witch Disco Singles as you’ve never heard them before. WIT 4 carries a single edit of 'My Desire' backed with 'You Are My Sunshine' from the group's classic 'Movin’ On' LP from 1980.

By the end of the 1970s, Witch was a Zambian music institution. Active since 1972, they had survived the Zamrock years and left an impressivegarage, psych and prog discography in their wake. But at the outset of the 1980s, the band was ready to embrace the modern sounds of a new era. Undertaking personnel changes and relocating to Zimbabwe, they were primed by the independence celebrations of their neighboring country to undertake their mythical transformation into an African disco powerhouse.

With access to a state of the art recording studio in Harare, Witch produced two exquisite albums in the early 1980s. Appearing in 1980,Movin’ On was preceded by the single “My Desire,” which featured new member Christine Jackson on lead vocals. With an upfront funky bass-line, falsetto backing vocals, swirling synths and tight horns, it was a searing hot disco offering that made no bones about the fact that the Witch was ready to get down. Composer/vocalist Stanford Tembo’s mid-tempo burner “You Are My Sunshine" was the perfect fit for the flip.

Documenting the band’s drift from disco into boogie, Witch’s final album Kuomboka was released in 1984 without an accompanying single. New lead vocalist Patrick Chisembele injected youthful energy and a modern soul edge, most notably on “Erotic Delight” with its crisp drums, slinky keys and intoxicating bass groove. Pop reggae was alson within the album’s stylistic purview by way of the closer “Jah Let the Sunshine” as well as “Change of a Feeling,” the flip side of a recently discovered single that wasn’t originally released.

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E&S Brothers

Taduma

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Outre-National)

Release: 1985 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

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E & S Brothers’ 1985 album Taduma holds a unique yet overlooked place in the history of South African dance music. When Shadrack Ndlovu and Ernest Segeel teamed up with Dane Stevenson, owner of Blue Tree Studio in downtown Johannesburg, and journeyman producer Taso Stephanou, South Africa’s bubblegum era had just begun, spurred on by the success of Shangaan disco. The relative success of their debut 12” ‘Don’t Bang The Taxi Door’, marketed aggressively at taxi ranks throughout the country, helped put the Blue Tree label on the map and E & S were invited back to record a full album: Taduma, featuring on keyboards Dr Buke, an in-demand session player from Soweto.

Rooted in Africa, yet purely electronic, Taduma was a moderate hit, spurred by tracks like ‘Taxi Door’ and ‘Mhane’, its hypnotic refrain ‘Mhane, famba na wena’ meaning ‘Mother, I am going to you’. Other tracks like ‘Mapantsula’ and ‘Be Careful’ place Taduma within the street-savvy ‘pantsula’ style and dance synonymous with consecutive waves of music from disco to kwaito, house and beyond, while ‘Sikele Masike’ repurposes a traditional Shangaan work song. Vocally E & S are closer to rapping than singing, in a combination of English and vernacular – predating other credited pioneers of kwaito in SA like Senyaka and Spokes H. Driving the music instead of vocals are waves of searing synths over rudimentary but explosive drum machine sounds – the word ‘Taduma’ meaning the sound of the drum.

Remastered from the original tapes and reissued for the first time, Taduma will be available on vinyl and digital platforms from early 2022 via Afrosynth Records.

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Hocine Chaoui

Ouechesma

LP | 1978 | EU | Reissue (Rebirth On Wax)

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie

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Chaoui is a genre of Berber music that originated in the Aurès region of Algeria. It is a mixture of Saharan and Atlas mountain music marked with dancing rhythms and is part of the oral living tradition of the Aurès region. The first recordings on magnetic tape date back to the 1930s when Aissa Jermouni’s music was introduced and published internationally. Over the years, Chaoui has given birth to various sub-genres. The genre was popularized in the 1930s and 1940s, and still generates a strong following of fans across the country and especially in the Aurès region in the 2000s. In its most frequent instrumental configuration, a chaoui music group includes a zorna, a gasba flute, a bendir and one or more singers.

Originally, Chaoui musicians were shepherds who lived in the Aurès mountains, and they sang their own localized poetry of personal and regional topics. But also, joyful themes such as local or religious festivals or in the context of Chaoui weddings.

Hocine Chaoui is one of the genre’s most famous and respected musicians and poets. ,Hocine modernized his sound with drum machines, incorporating intense and modern production techniques with phased gesba flute, reverbed out vocals, taking the genre to its logical new phase. This LP is a reissue of one of the most “in demand” of the genre’s cassettes originally released by Oriental Music Production, a cassette label dedicated to the some of the best regional releases during the heyday of the 80’s and 90’s golden era of rai and local Algerian music cassettes. These releases were only ever released on cassette and now command a premium on the collector’s market.

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Les Ya Toupas Du Zaire

Les Ya Toupas Du Zaïre

LP | 1976 | EU | Reissue (Mr Bongo)

Release: 1978 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Les Ya Toupas is a band formed in 1976 by Bopol Mansiamina (Bass - Success Mode, 4 Stars ..), Manuaku Waku (aka Grand Zaiko Wawa) and Ray Lema (Piano, Organ and Guitar) Between 1976 and 1978, they recorded several 7inches including the famous title “Je ne bois pas beaucoup” (1976) compiled on the series of Sofrito (Tropical Discotheque ) in 2011. In 1978, they recorded this unique and unclassifiable instrumental album, Les Ya Toupas du Zaïre, produced by Gérard Akueson (founder of Akue Records and Abeti's producer). The LP is composed of minimalist Afro Jazz rhythms and Deep Funk grooves that are close at times to a tropical trance, all played by musicians who used to offer more classic Rumba rhythms. It is their only album before the departure in 1979 of Ray Lema for the United States and then France. Ray Lema's departure follows a violent disagreement which opposed him to the dictator Mobutu then in place in Zaïre. Let's not forget that the album was released in 1978 and can be seen as their last musicial project.

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Star Beams

Play Disco Specials

Release: 1976 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The Star Beams album is a bit of an enigma. When we first came across their epic dance-floor monster 'Disco Stomp’ it was on a Disco Calypso compilation, so we assumed it originated from the Caribbean. Years later we worked out how wrong we were and that this nugget was actually from South Africa and taken off an ultra scarce album on JAS Pride records from 1976. The next problem was tracking down an original copy and we don’t think we’ve ever seen our Bongo team member Gary Johnson as happy as the day he turned up clutching a copy under his arm.
'Play Disco Specials' was produced by Ray Nkwe who also worked with Mankunku Quartet and The Soul Jazzmen, with all writing credits on the album going to Ray, the recording credited to engineer Robin Ritchie and the artwork to Carol Knowles. Other than this, the personnel of the record remains a mystery, but sometimes a bit of mystery is a good thing.
Aside from the disco-jazz-funk of 'Disco Stomp’, which has found it’s way into the DJ sets of Theo Parrish, 'Play Disco Specials’ will appeal to fans of The Star Beams South African contemporaries The Drive, Batsumi and Pacific Express.

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LP | 1992 | UK | Reissue (Knitting Factory)

Underground System

Release: 1992 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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V.I.P. (Vagabonds In Power)

LP | 1979 | UK | Reissue (Knitting Factory)

Release: 1979 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Johnny Just Drop (J.J.D.)

LP | 1977 | UK | Reissue (Knitting Factory)

Release: 1977 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 1977 | UK | Reissue (Knitting Factory)

No Agreement

Release: 1977 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 1976 | UK | Reissue (Knitting Factory)

Yellow Fever

Release: 1976 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 2019 | US | Original (Syllart)

Gestu De Dakar

Diabar

LP | 2016 | FI | Original (Herakles)

Release: 2019 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Official first reissue of this Senegalese gem recorded in 1981 and produced by Ibrahima Sylla
Remastered from the original tapes, available on LP with 4 page booklet At the dawn of the 1980s, Senegal was immersed in the 'beautiful era' of Cuban influences, African-American soul and funk.

A group of passionate musician friends want to shine in this construction of a revolution in Senegalese music. Their credo will be to claim a spiritual search, that is the meaning of the word Gestü in Wolof. The group of friends gathers around the young guitarist leader As El Haji Malick Diouf who is joined on vocals by Tidiane Bathily, reinforced by Couri Ndiaye and Abdou Bâ, on drums Abdou Kane, on bass guitar Jean-Pierre Gomes, Madiama Diop (saxophone, clarinet) and finally on tumbas Djiby Ndiaye.

They released their first album Diabar in 1981, recorded at Golden Baobab studio under the direction of Senegalese producer Ibrahima Sylla. This unique record of the group will leave the youthful and dynamic imprint of a Senegalese musical revolution like the Orchestra Baobab or the Etoile de Dakar.

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Jimi Tenor

Saxentric

LP | 2019 | EU | Reissue (Dig This Way)

Release: 2016 / FI – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG+, Cover: Near Mint

Record is close to NM!

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Musical Breed

Save The Little Children

Release: 2019 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves, Reggae & Dancehall

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The album was originally released in Nigeria by Tabansi Records and recorded at Afrodisia/Decca studio in Lagos. The Lp never really saw a commerical issue and was probably pressed in very few promotional copies for Radios and Djs making the original nearly impossible to be found nowdays.
Musically it comes with some dope , slow and one-a-way digital roots riddims filled with mad synths , deep conscious lyrics and a deep bassline, it's quite unique as the two main track comes with a raw Dub which is very hard to be found on any other African Reggae albums , the last track call “If I'm To Rule The World” is a very interesting blend of Reggae and Boogie.
We have been working together with the lead singer of the band , Sharon Escco Wilson that we met personally in Lagos, to finally make the album available worldwide.
The cover have been fully restored and the Audio remastered , in the LP we'll add an insert with Lyrics , original pictures from back in the days (and a few new ones) , a newspaper article from 1990 and an extensive interview by Sharon Escco Wilson.

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Mr Bongo Record Club Volume 3

2LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Mr Bongo)

LP | 2018 | UK | Reissue (Mr Bongo)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Volume three in the Mr Bongo Record club series. Another showcase of recent vinyl finds and favourites from our DJ sets and radio shows. This is an extra special one however, as it lands in 2019, the year that we celebrate 30 years since it all began way back in 1989.
In celebration of the 30 years of Mr Bongo, 2019 will see a host of exciting events and even more releases. We take over Brighton Dome on the opening weekend of the Brighton Festival in May, an in-store takeover at Rough Trade East, in July a week long ‘Album Club’ at Spiritland, more at RAPPCATS in LA, record fairs in Utrecht and New York, alongside the digging (and no doubt surfing!) trips to Brazil, India, Australia, Portugal and France…
We’re releasing brand new music from punk-reggae superstars, The Skints; the previously undiscovered 25-year old master composer & arranger, Kit Sebastian; and crossover UK hip hop live show dons, Jungle Brown, this year.
Compiled by David Buttle and Gareth Stephens, assisted by Graham Luckhurst and Gary Johnson.

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Gyedu Blay Ambolley

Simigwa

LP | 2018 | EU | Original (Mr Bongo)

Release: 2018 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Legendary Ghanain album – with one of the music iconic covers ever! – that fuses Highlife, afrobeat, folk and funk. Ambolleys debut solo album originally released in 1975, written and produced with Ebo Taylor. Ambolley grew up during the peak of Highlife in Ghana and was a key figure in its fusion with soul and funk influences from the USA. He played in many bands including Houghas Extraordinaires, Meridians Of Tema, Ghana Broadcasting Band and the Uhuru Dance Band, for which he was recruited by his friend, Ebo Taylor. The group went to Nigeria in 1973 to play with Fela at his legendary Shrine spot. ‘Simigwa’ was a chance for Ambolley to release his own productions and to experiment to a certain extent. A main inspiration for this album was the work of the mighty Mr. James Brown, something that is evident from the rhythm section, horns, vocal stabs and percussion breaks throughout the record. Official Mr Bongo reissue, replica original artwork. Licensed from Essiebons.

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Tunde Mabadu

Viva Disco

LP | 1976 | UK | Reissue (Songhoi)

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Official Mr Bongo reissue of the ultra-rare Nigerian disco-boogie, ‘Viva Disco’, album from 1980. Originally released on the Afrodisia label, this one is unknown to even the most knowledgable collectors out there.
Tunde Mabadu recorded two albums in the 70’s – ‘Viva Disco’ and ‘Bisu’ as Tunde Mabadu & His Sunrise. Perfect examples of golden-era Nigerian disco & boogie, that still hold their own today.
Licensed from Tunde Mabadu and PMG.

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Sorry Bamba Du Mali

Release: 1976 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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One of the most pivotal figures in the history of Malian music is Sorry Bamba. His work spans five decades and his music bridges the gap between Mali's cultural traditions and new the music which arose from the musical cross overs which occurred in Mali's post-Colonial period. Bamba was born in 1938 in Mopti. This is dissected by both the Niger and Bani rivers and known for its rich cultural diversity. Bamba's father was a distinguished veteran of Emperor Samory Toure's military and a nobleman in Malian society, however, this meant young Sorry was forbidden to make music, as under the nation's caste system, music was an art form reserved for the Griots.

At the age of 10, Sorry's parents died and in traumatic times that followed the young teen found solace in music. He first taught himself to play am African six-holed flute. As he progressed he began to absorbed the rich tapestry of music of his surroundings, traditional Malian music, highlife from Ghana, local accordion master Toumani Toure, European singers and musicians. In 1957 Sorry formed his first band, Group Goumbe, named after a popular Ivory Coast dance style. In 1960 Mali gained independence from France, Bamba and his group benefited from a new openness toward local music on the state-run radio network Radio Mali. Sorry then went on to form two award-winning, further collectives Bani Jazz and later the Kanaga Orchestra. They fused Latin jazz, Western R&B, Psychedelic and funk, and traditional Malian styles made them a favourite in Mali and beyond.

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LP | 1972 | UK | Reissue (Knitting Factory)

Shakara

Release: 1972 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 2016 | UK | Reissue (Mr Bongo)

Ebo Taylor

My Love And Music

LP | 1977 | EU | Reissue (Hot Casa)

Release: 2016 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Originally released in 1975 on Gapophone Records, George Prah’s label, hailing from Ghana. Only available in very limited quantity (reportedly 500 copies) due to the musical vacuum imposed by the military dictatorship in the country at the time.

Laid back, lush, highlife vibrations from start to finish, with noticeable reggae influences throughout.

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Francis The Great

Ravissante Baby

C.K. Mann & His Carousel 7

Release: 1977 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Rare funk & Avant-Garde soul from a seven years old kid singer featuring the best of French and Cameroonian musicians diaspora, recorded in Paris in 1977.

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Funky Highlife

LP | 1975 | EU | Reissue (Mr Bongo)

Ndia Egbuo Ndia (Afro-Jigida)

Release: 1975 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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C.K. Mann made his name as a virtuous guitar player in Ghana when he played with Moses Kweku Oppong in the Kakaikus Guitar Band in the early 60s. He then became the leader of the band Ocean’s Strings until 1966. In 1968, he enjoyed a hit with the single ‘Edina Benya’. Mann was known for blending authentic African music with European influences. He was inspired by Latin American music and created a style all of his own. He became known as the ‘King of Highlife‘ in Ghana in the 70's, when he released the record ‘Nimpa Rebre’ featuring vocals from Pat Thomas and Kofi Yankwon. Funky Highlife came out of the Essiebons label run by Dick Essilfe Bondzie. According to Dick, this album could have been a massive hit in Ghana but the vinyl factories ran out of stock because of Ghana’s economic downturn, so the demand for the record could not be met. The album is a fusion of highlife and soul. The best-known track ‘Asafo beesuon’ is a multi-layered, drum heavy, funk medley and is over 13 minutes long.

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The Semi Colon

LP | 2012 | US | Reissue (Comb & Razor Sound)

Nikki Giovanni And The New York Community Choir

Release: 2012 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Ndia Egbuo Ndia (Afro-Jigida), an LP recorded by the Nigerian rock group Semi-Colon in 1976, was an experimental response to Fela Kuti’s then-dominant afrobeat sound, substituting Fela’s sophisticated horn charts and jazz leanings with wiry electric guitar work and a passion for vintage rock ‘n’ roll. Long fabled and coveted amongst collectors and DJs alike, the album has remained one of the rarest of the Nigerian 1970s “afro” cycle. Comb & Razor Sound is proud to be reissuing this lost gem of Afro-rock for
a new audience.

This reissue marks the second release from Comb & Razor Sound, following up the success of its inaugural offering, 2011’s Nigerian disco and boogie compilation Brand New Wayo, which was spotlighted on NPR’s All Things Considered and received favorable mention on its “Song of the Day.” The new edition of Afro-Jigida continues Comb & Razor’s exploration of rare, cutting-edge popular music produced in Nigeria in the 1970s and 80s.

Afro-Jigida will be initially released in its original six-track vinyl format, with a deluxe CD release to follow at a later date. As a bonus, the first 1000 copies pressed of the album will include a 7” single featuring the never-before-released demo recording "Our Fada".

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Like A Ripple On A Pond

LP | 2021 | US | Original (Modern Harmonic)

LP | 2022 | US | Original (Story Sound)

Release: 2021 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG+, Cover: VG+

Cover and blue vinyl are close to NM.

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Ana Egge

White Tiger

Release: 2022 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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CD | 2015 | EU | Original (Al Dente)

The Moonfires

Black Sugar

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Springstoff)

Release: 2015 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Band Leader Alex Puddu is behind the project the Moonfires. The Album is released on 300 copies limited edition on Alex Puddu's own label Al Dente. The Album Black sugar is written, Arranged and Produced By Alex Puddu Recorded during the summer 2014 in Copenhagen Recorded at Redrum Studio Mixed and Masterd in N.Y.C Astoria Queens Soundworks recording by Kamilo Kratc Album photo by Maiken Kildegaard Artwork by Leo Scherfig

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Jamila The Other Heroes

Bazaar Bizarre Poster

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Freedom Train Record Store Day 2024 Edition

Feso Trombone

LP | 1984 | EU | Reissue (Lantern)

23,74 €* 24,99 € -5%

LP | 2018 | EU | Original (Hot Casa)

Release: 1984 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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A necessary groundbreaking album, originally released on Belgian label Antler in 1984. Fesobi Olawaiye debut is finally been re-issued, showcasing the incredible talent of the African musician, a longtime Fela Kuti associate in the legendary Afrika 70. Ander the moniker Feso Trombone he just prove an authentically brilliance, moving forward the afro-beat dogma while providing incredible white funk harmonies and contagious rare groove. Remastered from the original tapes!

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Deke Tom Dollard

Na You

23,74 €* 24,99 € -5%

2LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Favorite)

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Mindblowing Afro-Soul music from Ivory Coast served up by Deke Tom Dollard, an obscure artist who only recorded two albums in 1979 and 1981 but who created an original funky fusion with Bété langage. A Selection of four amazing tracks recorded in Abidjan on two different records label called War Records and As Records.
The music here is a mixture of Funk with heavy basslines, traditional percussions, funky guitar riffs, nice horns section and lyrics in Beté. The song “Demonde” is inspired by harmonies of the famous “Dance to the Drummer Beat” by Herman Kelly.
Those two rare records were found by Afrobrazilero (aka Djamel Hammadi) and never appeared on the vinyl market. It's almost impossible to have infos about this singer and composer neither the musicians involved in the recording sessions. Most of the traces of the recording session were lost by the labels we licensed the tracks with.
Unique, pressed on a deluxe vinyl, remastered by The Carvery, this very Funky album is a must have for all the Afro Funk lovers!

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Voilaaa

Voiciii

23,99 €*

Estrellas Remixes EP Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Favorite Recordings proudly presents Voiciii, the 3rd and new album by Voilaaa, an immersive dip into its Afro-Disco universe spread across 14 tracks. Needless to say you’ll find in this new LP all the ingredients that made him famous: strong dancefloor-friendly festive bangers, irresistible funky arrangements and an undeniable sense of humor and irony. Bruno “Patchworks” Hovart, behind Voilaaa, is as often surrounded by amazing vocal featurings from previous LP’s regulars (Pat Kalla, Lass) but also new voices you may already have heard on its recent EPs (David Walters, Rama Traore, Ayuune Suule), as well as the saxophonist Boris Pokora. The LP is also an occasion to pay tributes to major artists of the African sound, such as Fela Kuti (on “Water No Get Enemy”), or Manu Dibango (“Manu Écoute Ça” and “Tenor Jam For Manu”). Since the release of Voilaaa’s previous LP’s Des Promesses and On Te L’Avait Dit and their massive international support, the Voilaaa Soundsystem did travel through the world to deliver its message of infectious joy and groove, from Equator to Thailand, from Kazakhstan to the infamous French “Fête de l’Huma”. Now you know: Voilaaa is everywhere and Voiciii (“here it is”) their new album.

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Guts

2x12" | 2024 | EU | Original (Heavenly Sweetness)

23,99 €*

LP | 1981 | EU | Reissue (Sabura)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

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Limited to 1000 copies worldwide, only available with GUTS and HHV.

In 2022, Guts brought together his musical family for his ‘Estrellas’ album. An ambitious project that brought together musicians from: Franc, Cuba and various African countries. For a journey that was as rich artistically as it was humanly. The list of superlatives was almost endless, "Formidable", "incredible", "unforgettable" and "magical" all thrown into the pot, during these magical moments in the Dakar studio. From the seventeen tracks heard on the original album, three have been entrusted to the expert and inventive hands of four producers, who have come up with new interpretations bringing Africa and the Caribbean together for a modern dancefloor.

‘Por Que Ou Ka Fe Sa’ (Poirier Remix)

From his studio in Montreal, Canadian Poirier has opted for a strong groove and relentless bass drum to keep out intruders, putting vocalists David Walters and Brenda Navarrete in a rhythmic cocoon. Accompanied in a slightly moody bassline that adds some driving muscle to the track. The hooky guitar line eventually gives way to the saxophone that emerges from the mix to parade around the front line. The original electric piano is replaced by a synth pad that loops and spins driving the track to its conclusion.

‘Por Que Ou Ka Fe Sa’ (David Walters Remix)

Before recording this track, David Walters and Brenda Navarette didn't even know each other. So in the magic of the moment that brought them together is a genuine and sincere artistic bond. It is no longer Guts but David who is at the musical helm, and before they too can savour the connection between the two artists, the dancers will have to pass through an overheated corridor where a Caribbean rhythm resonates with percussion. Digital and woodwind swirl and clash until the vocal encounter with the artists. It's a moment of respite that's as suspended as it is life-saving, because the exit is also via the famous corridor.

‘San Lazaro’ (Bosq Remix)

On Bosq’s mix, he’s opted to maintain things focused on the dancefloor, keeping the percussion persistent for the unleashed bodies of the dancers to smile. It's once again the walking bass line rises to the forefront of the groove, softening the shocks of the relentless kick drum. Roberto Valdes's timeless piano has disappeared, while guitars float and add to the atmosphere. The track is no longer awash in cigar smoke. Under Akemis's powerful vocals the low ceiling has disappeared, and the open roof is more a brass-lit spectacle. That doesn't make things any less overheated though, this one is sweaty until the end.

‘Medewui’ (Captain Planet Remix)

Captain Planet brings the dancer’s attention to the Afrobeat flavored jam that rocked the original, highlighting the Pat Kalla & Assane Mboup duet. Despite the track remaining mid tempo, laying back is no longer the order of the day as this mix really develops. The drums are more present jolting along with the organ in the first half. Once all the storytellers have taken their microphones, the rhythmic beats are doubled and the track is carried towards a frenzy of Afro-Latin dancing. Fired up by the brass and percussion, it’s this almost switch up that takes hold of the second part of the tune, with some righteous authority and relentless piano and trumpet.

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José Casimiro

Sabura DJâ Nfrontam

23,99 €* 29,99 € -20%

LP | 1972 | EU | Reissue (Strut)

Release: 1981 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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"Sabura Djâ Nfrontam" by one of the biggest names in the triumph of the electrification of Funaná, the great José Casimiro. The album was recorded in 1981, celebrates music made in Portuguese-speaking Africa, finally reissued for the first time.

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Mulatu Astatke

Mulatu Of Ethiopia

23,99 €*