Today we have a fourth guest post by dedicated Benn loxo listener and contributor, ubulujaja:

A lot has been made about the fact Chief Stephen Osadebe was mentored by Zeal Onyia, so I thought I would contribute two tracks from his Philips LP titled Zeals Message to give you an idea of where Osadebe learned his craft and what a first class highlife trumpeter sounded like.

Zeal Onyia was a Nigerian trumpeter with impeccable credentials. In 1953 he went to Ghana and played with ET Mensah in the Tempos Band before moving on to the Spike Anyankor’s Rhythm Band. He came back to Nigeria and along with Bobby Benson, Eddie Okonta and Victor Olaiya became one of the great trumpeters of the golden era of highlife in the 60’s and early 70’s.

While he was probably widely recorded or a sideman in other bands, I have only seen a few of his solo recordings including a track on the Night and Day compilation HighLife HighUp’s, a Tabanasi release titled Zeal Rides Again, a few 45’s and 2 78 recordings on a web site dedicated to Zeal Onyia.

The first song is titled Egbe Ne Lueli and is a good example of the raw energy in a classic highlife song, with vocals followed by alternating horns and percussion solos. The drumming on this tracks is particularly tight and there is a great horn blast by Zeal Onyia midway through the song. The rhythmic chorus makes the 2nd track more afro-beat in nature, but the thready horn solo at the beginning became an signature introduction for highlife musicians and was used to great effect by Charles Iwegbue in his classic song, Ejelunor.

Zeal Onyia – Egbe Ne Lueli
Zeal Onyia – Idegbani

I opened my mailbox this morning to find another solid offering from the good people at Rock Paper Scissors: Nawal’s Aman.

You might have already heard Nawal here, on Benn loxo.

Long-time Benn loxo readers will know I have a thing for tiny African islands in the Indian Ocean and the amazing vocalists to be found there. Nawal is no exception. She’s a sufi Muslim female vocalist originally from the Comoros islands with a great voice and a mean gambusi, a yemeni instrument that’s sort of like an oud.

Comorians are quite a conservative bunch, so Nawal had to break with tradition to become the first Comorian woman to perform publicly on stage with an instrument. Women often play at weddings and other private ceremonies but rocking-out on a gambusi in plain site of the masses is definitely a no-no in most circles.

Lucky for us Nawal pursued a career in music in France where she’s lived since the age of 11. Her latest album, Aman, is really good. You can grab it at your local bac starting June 12th, or on Amazon right away.

ps- yes, that’s a little mbira in the mix. Nawal first heard the mbira in the States, but we know Stella does it best.

Nawal – Salama

I just wrote a review about this album for another site so I’m all out of creative energy for a second long post. But hey, I think many of you will really dig the sound of today’s track regardless.

There’s a lot to love about World Music Network’s Introducing series. Daby Balde’s release was really nice, as was Etran Finatawa’s. They’re also the same people who are behind the great Rough Guide series, Nuru Kane’s latest and a whole lot more. I should get around to grabbing their Introducing Vakoka release some day…

Incidentally I was blasting Shiyani Ngcobo’s album, Introducing, this past weekend while driving from Nice to Cannes for a night’s work at the film festival. Something about Ngcobo’s face-paced, almost frenetic, finger picking went well with the rolling hills of the Côte d’Azur on a Sunday evening. I guess there isn’t much that doesn’t go well with Mediterranean sunsets and women in ball gowns.

You can grab this album on Calabash – highly recommended.

Shiyani Ngcobo – Izangoma

Benn loxo listener, curm, asked in the comments of the last post whether young people were still producing guitar highlife in Ghana. The general consensus seems to be: not much.

That said, highlife influence still pops up in contemporary releases every now and again. For example, CC Smith recently hooked me up with a copy of the Occidental Brothers Dance Band International’s latest release. This Chicago-based band led by guitarist Nathaniel Braddock has an old-school African sound that incorporates elements of highlife, soukous and rumba, plus some contemporary twists.

There have been a lot of bad highlife, rumba and African salsa revival bands, particularly synth-based ones in the mid-80s, but the Occidental Brothers pull it off. The guitar work is spot on and they lay on some subtle effects to get that 1960s recording feel to the music as well.

This kind of contemporary throwback to classic West African music also serves as a nice tribute to one of its pioneers, Nigerian highlife legend Chief Steven Osita Osadebe. He passed away last week at the age of 71. The influence of his music obviously lives on.

Occidential Brothers Dance Band International – Komokosaka
Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe – Onu Kwulunjo

Lately I’ve really been into the Bokoor Beats compilation by Professor John Collins.

Professor Collins has been active in the Ghanaian music scene since the late 60s. He’s not a Ghana native but has lived there for over 30 years and continues to be an important member of the musical community.

Over the years his Bokoor Studios in Accra has recorded hundreds of afrobeat, electric highlife and palmwine musicians. He’s worked with people you’ve heard here before, like TO Jazz. His own Bokoor Band also had some great releases in the 1970s, including one of the tracks I’ll post today.

Bokoor Beats is a collection of some of these remastered releases. You can grab it on Calabash – a definite must have for afrobeat, highlife and palmwine fans.

Bokoor Band – Onukpa Scwarpo
TO Jazz – Onam Bebe Basa