Jan 3/07
Keep it simple
Happy new year.
I’m back from Canada, in a new apartment just down the street from the Paris SDFs, ready for another good 12 months as I hope you all are. Big love for sticking with Benn loxo for yet another year.
A few weeks ago a Benn loxo reader tipped me off about a good remix of The Uhuru Dance Band’s song, Olufeme, by Natural Self. I particularly like this mix because he keeps it simple. The original was already ready for the dancefloor, but boost the bass and add some loops and suddenly the hiphop kids forget they’re dancing to 70s Ghana groove.
In his own words, “Natural Self is an on going project by producer Keno-1 that involves various collaborators along the way.” More info on the MySpace page or here.
You might have already heard the original on that great compilation, Ghana Soundz 2.
Natural Self – Olufeme
Oscar Sulley & The Uhuru Dance Band – Olufeme
This remix is SO awesome, and thanks for posting the original. You rock, Matt!
Nothing to do with music but I just found out what SDFs means: Sans Domiciles Fixe or homeless/street people. When I was in Paris in June ‘06, I noticed a lot of panhandlers around the Poste by the Canal St-Martin, probably because there is a cash machine right there on the wall. On previous trips to Paris in the ’80s and ’90s, I rarely saw any street people, and assumed it was because of the French social security programs, so I was dismayed and surprised to notice them on my last visit.
Nice sounds. ou know, the lyrics are in Yoruba (“Ololufemi”–which is what they are attempting to sing there–means “my lover,” and it’s a fairly common epithet in Yoruba music), which is Nigerian. So, even the Ghanaian “original” must have had a Yoruba prototype (the traffic went both ways: Nigerians were crazy for new versions of Ghanaian folksong “Yaa Amponsah”).
I think I know what the Nigerian prototype was, but I don’t have my computer here, so I can’t confirm. I’ll let you know in a few weeks.
Oscar’s mother was Yoruba and allthough there are other Nigerian songs with the same subject matter (Fela’s Kolla Lobitos track for example) this is an original composition and was a re-working of a track he put out on a 45 in Ghana on his own label.
Nice site.
sorry – koola lobitos.