I’m determined to eventually get a post in for every single Original Music release. I know that many of you, or at least those who read often, may already have these albums, but bear with me. It’s a personal goal to collect and post a sample from every album in the OM catalog.

Today’s picks come from Original Music’s 17th release, Mbuki Mvuki. It’s a compilation of, in their words, “terrestrial hits from the catalog”. So if you’re not into running around, collecting every release, this album is a good sampler of much of what the label offered.

According to the liner notes, Mbuki Mvuki is Bantu for “to shuck off one’s clothes in order to dance.” I don’t know about you, but that’s what we’re doing here in our Paris apartment this sunny Saturday morning.. dancing, possibly with some by-request Diana Ross thrown into the mix, coffee in hand.

Three of my favourite tracks off the compilation from Ghana, Tanzania and Nigeria. Enjoy your Sunday.

Professional Uhuru - Madzi Me Sigya
Salim Abdullah - Wanawake Wa Tanzania
New Star Orchestra - Olefaya Loko

Today we have the fifth edition of the Highlife Turntable by Benn loxo listener, ubulujaja:

For this volume of the highlife turntable I have selected three Ghanaian tracks to feature.

The first song is Meyee Owuo Den by the group Nana Takyi and his sunkwa international band. The song is off the mid 70’s release Maria. The tight interplay between the vocalists and the extended guitar playing are the things to check out. The word Sunkwa means “Cry for Life” in Twi. Sterns Music used to carry an Atakora Manu CD called Sunkwa that had the same kind of up tempo pop Ghanaian musical style.

I am still grooving on Bob Cole’s music and this track, which I found on his late 70’s release Highlife Akwantua LP, is called Amanfo. The song has the same great boisterousness that I have found in other songs by Bob Cole and the piano playing really stands out. Check-out the solo piano at the opening sequence and then the jump style call-and-response the piano gets into with the horns later in the song. As always, the backup vocals are impeccable. I think the term Amanfo refers to a Ghanaian tribe or cultural group.

The last song is Ahafo KuKuom by the great T.O. Jazz off his LP, Agyapa Ye. I liked the rootsy quality of the vocals and the punchy backbeat.

I hope you like the music.

Thanks, ubulujaja. Great music, as always.

Nana Takyi and his Sunkwa International Band - Meyee owuo den
Bob Cole - Amanfo
T.O. Jazz of Ghana - Ahafo Kukuom

One of my favourite Benn loxo readers, one who is responsible for introducing me to a lot of the music on this site, recently turned me on to Ignace De Souza.

Ignace De Souza is one of the those forgotten greats of West African music who was very influencial in his day. To give you an idea, in the liner notes of an Original Music compilation of his music, John Storm Robers credits De Souza’s track, Ole, as being the first afrobeat recording.

Originally from Benin, De Souza got his first big start when he got a gig playing sax with Alfa Jazz, who John Collins credits as being the first professional dance band in Benin. In later years De Souza moved to Ghana and played with several groups before forming his own. By the mid-60s, De Souza and Black Santiagos had become quite popular and began introducing Congo music to Ghana.

While a lot of the music on this Original Music comp sound pretty much like what you’d expect from the time and place they were recorded, there are several stand-out tracks. Two come to mind: Asaw Fofor for a 1960s chase scene and Anyenko for laid-back, “protofunk” summer music.

Unfortunately, great things never last. Does anyone know why the Black Santiagos split? Either way, in 1970 De Souza left Ghana before eventually settling in Lagos where he played with the house band at the Ritz Hotel. (I can’t help but associated this last bit with an image of Murph and the Murphtones at a Holiday Inn in the film The Blues Brothers.)

ps- you can still buy this album at Stern’s.

Ignace De Souza - Asaw Fofor
Ignace De Souza - Anyenko
Ignace De Souza - Ole

A while ago the people at ThrillJockey got in touch about the band Extra Golden, collaboration between the Nairobi-based benga band, Orchestra Extra Solar Africa, and the a Washington D.C. rock group named Golden.

I was happy to find that I quite like their music, especially since there really aren’t that many American bands that work African music into their sound with any great success. It usually sounds forced and incongruent, with few exceptions. In contrast, Extra Golden’s sound works well to my ears.

Extra Golden got its start when Ian Eagleson was doing doctoral research in Kenya on the history of benga music between 2002-2004. Orchestra Extra Solar’s guitarist, Otieno Jagwasi, was helping Ian with his research.

Ian returned to Nairobi in 2004 and the two finally starting putting some music together. They recruited local drummer, Onyango Wuod Omari, and Ian brought along a Golden band member, Alex Minoff.

Most of the album was apparently recorded during a single whirlwind session in a Nairobi nightclub. The result is a spontaneous-sounding record with a fresh Western rock-Kenyan benga fusion that actually works.

Extra Golden’s second album, Hera Ma Nono, is coming out on October 9th. It’s as good as their first - check-out the track Obama posted below. My favourite off their first release is the title track, Ok-Oyot System. The song title comes from the Luo expression, ok-oyot, which means “it’s not easy”.

It certainly wasn’t easy for the members of Extra Golden. During the recording process Otieno Jagwasi fell sick and eventually died of complications related to HIV. At around the same time Ian Eagleson had a run-in with the cops in Nairobi and apparently had to pay large sums of cash to stay out of jail.

Despite all this the band persevered and continues to play and record. I’m hoping to catch them live at some stage following their upcoming release.. sounds like they’d be fun live.

Extra Golden - Ok-Oyot System
Extra Golden - Obama

More today from the seemingly endless of supply of great music on the Original Music series.

Today’s tracks come from the compilation, I’ve Found My Love: 1960’s Guitar Band Highlife of Ghana.

“King” Kwabena Onyina is one of the unsung heroes of Ghanaian guitar band highlife. He was well-known in his native Ghana during the 1950s, 60s and 70s for his guitar playing, great voice and catchy songwriting.

The “King” bit is a title he earned from winning a guitar competition in 1961. (You can thank the unsung hero of African music reviews, Banning Eyre, for that factoid.)

I know nothing about the Royal Brothers. Anyone care to fill us in?

Have a nice weekend.

King Onyina - Manya Me Dofo
Royal Brothers - Ohia Woa Enwu

A couple weeks ago Benn loxo reader, Andrew, hooked me up with a couple more precious Original Music compilations. Man, they’re always such a step above pretty much anything else out there covering the same eras.

Telephone Lobi is a compilation of 1960s Ghanaian danceband highlife released in 1995 by Original Music. The Lobi, by the way, are an ethnic group who speak a language of the same name in Ghana. They’re known for fiercely resisting French colonialism back in the day… with poisoned arrows. Ouch.

Anyway, for today’s post I picked a track by the Red Spots that I love, a track by the Professional Beach Melodians because they have an amazing name, and a third by Police Band #1 because they also have an amazing name plus I think we should all dance on this rainy day.

We’ve been posting danceband highlife and Original Music tracks on Benn loxo since ‘04 so I won’t bore you with the details. But remember: they’re out of print so grab ‘em whenever you can.

As it happens, the music on Telephone Lobi goes really well with another, totally different, group I’ve been into lately: Quantic. I’m really bummed I can’t make their show at the Maroquinerie on June 30th. If you’re in Paris it’s a must-see. But hey, I’ll be somewhere between Argentina and Bolivia, so who’s complaining!

Red Spots - Oya Ke Me
Professional Beach Melodians “Uhuru No. 2″ - Akwantu
Police Band #1 - Me Ye Fun
Quantic - When You’re Through

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

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

A few years ago some friends and I had the bright idea to organize a roadtrip from Dakar to The Gambia at 3am. Anyone who’s worked the 7-places circuit around West Africa can tell you that negotiating the price of a bush taxi in the dark corners of a large gare routière is never a good idea in the middle of the night.

We ended up getting partially mugged by a large and rather talentless gang of pickpockets after our first taxi drove us deeper into the dark corners of the station instead of out onto the road. These kinds of situations are rarely dangerous in West Africa but they can certainly delay your departure.

Once we got out of that situation we found another ride outside the station. Unfortunately about 500m into our new trip we had to punch the driver and pull up his parking brake in the middle of the highway so we could escape. You see, he was driving us in a circle, back into the same group of thieves who this time seemed a little more prepared, while trying to physically restrain us from opening the door. We managed to get out and hop over the guard rail where, miraculously, another taxi was coming the other way. Unfortunately this chauffeur was very drunk and demanded a bribe to take us away from the angry, approaching gare routière crew.

A couple quick and loud negotiations later and we eventually made it to a hotel who sheltered us for about an hour while we tried to get the cops to chase away the taxi dudes (patiently waiting for us outside at this stage). However, as so often happens in these situations, the cops were less than helpful. The whole affair lasted until near morning. At the end of it we were out a couple bucks but still had (most) belongings and no injuries. Everyone was in high spirits so, of course, we flagged another taxi, piled in, and drove down to The Gambia as the sun rose.

One exploding tire at 120km/h and one large box of red wine consumed by our third and non-evil chauffeur later and we were at the border crossing, safe and sound.

The bottom line: ça dépend du chauffeur. (It depends on the driver.) So much of life in West Africa comes down to small truths like this.

Papson - Ça depend
Lenny Kravitz - Mr. Cab Driver

Today we have a third highlife installment from Benn loxo listener, ubulujaja:

“Lord Bob Cole (who may also have been known as Bob Johnson) was a Ghanaian comedian, songwriter, and actor who was a veteran of the Ghanaian Concert Party scene of the 1950’s where highlife music was mixed with comic dramatizations of local events. I first heard his music on the 1970’s C.K. Mann and Bob Cole release Osode: African Hot Highlife Rhythms and started making an effort to track down anything I could by him. The song Kekerebtire is a Nzima song off a Decca 45 release probably done in the mid to late 60’s. The structure of the song is classic highlife with the opening horns blast and interwoven guitar and percussion solos, but the punchy nature of the vocals make the song stand out and are delivered with a sort of vaudevillian boisterousness that must have characterized the concert party scene. For more information on the Ghana Concert Party Theatre you should check out Catherine M. Cole’s book Ghana Concert Party Theatre.

I don’t know much about Muchacha Imuzor as there are no liner notes or list of performers on any of the LP’s I have managed to find, but he did a number of good Ukwauni styled highlife records in the 70’s for the EMI Label. The song Anazo Eze is a 16 minute track off an LP of the same name. His vocals have a distinctive urgency that bring together the rhythms of the guitar, percussion instruments and chorus to make a solid Ukwauni praise song.”

Thanks as always for the post, ubulujaja.

Bob Cole and his Music Makers - Kekerebtire
Muchacha Imuzor - Anazo Eze

Been doing a lot of home living and home cooking lately. Today’s track is especially great for when you’re chopping onions.. knife in my left, glass of red in my right, highlife-ing around the kitchen.

You can hear this tune on the Art Hurts release, The Old Highlife. It’s the baby of Art Hurts Records’ Nashville native, Beston Barnett. He went to Ghana on his Honeymoon and ended up studying guitar with Nana Opoku Agyemang. Three weeks into the lessons he managed to convince his new teacher to record an album with long-time friend, Amankwah “Roadmaster” Ntori.

You might recognize Agyemang’s guitar from, among others, F Kenya’s Band that we heard here before on one of Ulubujaja’s guest posts. And in case you’re wondering, Roadmaster gets his name from his mom since he used to walk for miles on foot.

Roadmaster & Agyemang - Akwasi Broni

I’m not exactly sure how or when Charlotte Dada became the Benn loxo inside joke. It could have been when a particularly scratch-happy cat was named after her, or how I often use her cover of Don’t Let Me Down as a way to get people interested in that “other” side of 60s and 70s West African music… or how it has come to represent an important part of my life- that last year in Senegal and a transition to Paris.

The original Charlotte Dada post, way back in 2004, got some attention on other web sites, too. The result of those new hits was a bunch of new friends, some help from Quannum records, a gig at MTV and big media coverage. Much to my surprise, Charlotte and Benn loxo have brought me many good things over the years.

That said, it’s with great pleasure that I thank Miles from Soundway Records for bringing a little more Charlotte into our lives. The people at Soundway are responsible for bringing us many of Benn loxo’s favourites such as the Ghana Soundz compilations, TP Orchestre Poly-Rythmo re-releases and Benn loxo listener Natural Self’s Ghana Soundz remixes, one of which we heard a few weeks back.

The Cool Blaze Band feat. Charlotte Dada - Everything Cool

In 1971 a bunch of big name American soul and rock musicians traveled to Accra, Ghana, for a live performance called Soul to Soul. Anywhere between 100,000 to 200,000 people showed up to Accra’s Black Star Square to watch the likes of Wilson Pickett, Tina Turner, The Staple Sisters, Santana and Roberta Flack perform for over 13 hours. A few Ghanaian acts such as Kwa Mensah and The Aliens got to perform too, but apparently the locals split a $1000 paycheck while the Americans earned a cool $50,000.

Regardless, the concert was a big success. An album of the live recordings was released and a documentary about the trip was produced, both of which were recently remastered and re-released. As a thoughtful Christmas present, Benn loxo listener and good friend, Rob, grabbed me a copy.

While most people will complain that Roberta Flack’s recordings and performances aren’t included on the DVD, I think I speak for all of us at Benn loxo when I say that the album is amazing except for the notable exception of easily the most important performer: Charlotte Dada. Once again, the unofficial voice of Benn loxo and the inspiration for a cat remains elusive. (By the way, if any of you could get me that film about her that screened at the Toronto film festival a few years ago you’d get Benn loxo love for life.)

The DVD is fascinating to watch, especially for the bewildered looks on the visiting musicians’ faces and the fine dancing of Tina and the Ikettes. The real gem of the film is Wilson Pickett’s performances. Apparently he was known as “Soul Brother #2″ down in Ghana in those days (obviously one step behind James Brown), and enjoyed enormous popularity. While the Ghanaian crowd looked stunned during Santana’s guitar solos and the avant-garde sounds of Les McCann, they brought down the house when Pickett took the stage.

You can buy a copy here and get more info over here.

Wilson Pickett - Land of 1000 Dances (live in Ghana, 1971)
Ike & Tina Turner - I Smell Trouble (live in Ghana, 1971)

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

Today veteran Benn loxo guest poster, ubulujaja, returns with some more hard to find 1970s highlife:

“F. Kenya was born in the Ghanaian town of Asima in the Eastern Nzema District. Trained as a goldsmith, he started singing in the mid 60’s with the Ahamanos band and later joined Kaikaiku’s No. 1 band before going out his own in the late 70’s. He was one of the first popular singers to sing in his native Nzema language and the energy in his vocals and performances made him very popular in Ghana and neighboring Ivory Coast. F. Kenya moved to the Ivory Coast in the early 80’s and did a number of LP’s including the great LP’s Powerhouse Vol 1 and Vol 2. A few F. Kenya tracks have appeared in the Gun and Guitar compilations Vol 1 and 2 put out by John Booker, but nothing else has been available in the West. The song Ngaluka Ngaluka is from a 1977 Essiebon release of the same name. His nephew is the famous Cote de Voire musician Meiway.

Master Bob Akwaboah started out in the early 60’s with Kwaa Mensah’s band, then joined Dr. K. Gyasi’s band as a vocalist before forming the Akwaboah’s guitar band in 1963. A prolific musician he put out more than 50 45’s during the 60’s and a number of LP’s. I first heard his music on one his early 80’s release Hwe Mibi Nako. This LP is worth tracking down because the great Ghanaian trumpeter ET Mensah lends a hand along with Sweet Talks bassist Ralph Karikari. While not as well known in the West as bands like the African Brothers and Sweet Talks he was a integral part of the Ghanaian music scene for three decades and his music is a prime example of the down tempo guitar band sound of Ghanaian music in the 70’s and 80’s and deserves wider recognition. The track Mihune A Anka Manba is from the B-side of an Executive release titled Wayge Wodee Anaa. The record does not list a release date, but I would guess sometime in the late 70’s.”

Thanks again for the music, ubulujaja.

F. Kenya - Ngakula ngakula
Master Bob Akwaboah and his Supreme Internationals - Wayge Wodee Anna (Maye Dada)

Benn loxo listener, Tom, sent me some interesting music from Ghana the other day. He writes,

“I’m an avid reader/listener to Benn loxo. I’ve uploaded a couple of tracks of Batman Samini from Ghana. He’s absolutely massive there, and just received a MOBO award nomination for Best African Act - awards on 20th September. His “thing” is a hybrid of Highlife, Reggae/ Ragga, some calling it Raglife (!).

Lambori is from his 1st Album Dankwansere. Obaa Besia, meaning “My Ideal Woman”, is from his current album called Samini. You can buy it from iTunes.

There’s a story on him at ghanamusic.com.” ..and another one over at Benn loxo friends, fly.co.uk.

“He’s originally from the Northern Ghanaian town of Wa, where his name Samini means “Rain God”. That was taken with a pinch of salt until a few months ago he launched his new album in Accra and it literally started raining as the first song was played and didn’t stop for 2 whole days. So I’ve warned the MET office in the UK that he’s coming to London in a couple of weeks.”

Thanks for the music, Tom. So is Batman his real name? I particularly like Lambori. It’s a great example of the successful fusion of local instruments and sounds with a contemporary Western urban sound. It’s amazing how much the production has improved with this recent round of releases when compared to hiphop and reggae albums from Ghana and surrounding countries just a few years ago.

Batman Samini - Lambori
Batman Samini - Obaa Besia

Today we have a guest post by Benn loxo listener, Wen, on Ghanaian “Hip Life” music:

Ghanaian Hip Life is a hybrid of Afro-American hip-hop and West African highlife. It is characterised by rapping over a 4/4 beat, however it differs from most traditional hip-hop with its melodic lead vocals. The rap is mostly in the local languages Twi, Fanti, Ga and Ewe, but also in the lingua franca of the Muslim minority, Hausa. The official language in Ghana is English, though due to migrant relations with the neighbouring countries French is also used. In these songs we hear a more pidginised form of English which contains old expressions from colonial times that are still used today.

The music is mostly made-up of samples of old Highlife tunes. Hiplife is created with computers and synthesizers in the studios. Live performances are accompanied by playback and are performed as lip-synchs. Live performance plays an important role and most of the hiplife performers are very good dancers.

Hip Life is a medium for the youth to express their issues, but themes affecting general society such as HIV/AIDS and malaria are also discussed.

The four members of the group V.I.P. (Vision in Progess) come from Nima, a primarily Muslim migrant community in Accra. In their songs they criticise issues within their native community, such as in “Ni Ne Naki”, the strict marriage form of auren daure, where the Muslim wife must stay within the household. This is usually not common practice in Ghana where Islam is not as as strict as in, for example, northern Nigeria.

V.I.P. rap in Hausa but also in Twi, the Akan-dialect of southern Ghana, Ewe, English and French. The press regards them as Ghana’s own Wu-Tang Clan.

Their most popular track, “Rana Sallah” (day of prayer), off their first album, “Biibiiba O” (Something will come), describes the Id el-Fitr, the festival after the Ramadan. The beat was sampled of Busta Rhymes’ “Dangerous”. Their second album “Ye de Aba” contains samples of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”. On their third album, “Ahomka Wom”, V.I.P. collaborates with other Hip Life artists such as Frank Mensah Pozo, Tic Tac, 2-Tee and Lil’ Kryz.

Wen

Thanks, Wen, for the music and background. -Matt

VIP - Ahomka Wo Mu
VIP - Ni Ne Naki
VIP - Adoley

While German and Polish fans run around throwing bottles at the police in Dortmund, the Ghanaians are dancing around fountains in Stuttgart. The Black Star fans that I’ve seen here and in Munich have great spirit.

So why not give them something to dance to? Some highbeat from one of Ghana’s great musicians, CK Mann, and some highlife from TO Jazz.

We heard CK Mann before singing one of my favourite tunes to come out of 1970s Africa, Funky Hi-Life, and TO Jazz you might have heard on this post featuring that solid compilation, Vintage Palm Wine.

Go Ghana!

CK Mann - Nyimpa Rebre
TO Jazz - Agyeman Baidoo

I have to be in the right kind of mood to listen to highlife. Drunk on palm wine? Yeah, bring it on. Earphones in, on a beach, sipping a coconut? Absolutely. Slightly hung-over late Sunday afternoon with a glass of Chablis after some modern ballet? Fuck yeah.

Old-time Benn loxo listeners know the deal about highlife, so I won’t bore you with too many details. The genre is still enormously popular both in and outside of Africa. It’s easy to see why; its laid-back rhythms, simple melodies and happy feel give it a universal good-vibe quality.

Highlife music makes me think about my friend Dulue in Lagos, Nigeria. When I was but an African music pup I would pepper him with questions about Nigerian music. He’d lean-back and his eyes would glaze-over as he remembered his highlife music past: Jim Lawson, Celestine Ukwu, Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe… These are some of the older kings of the genre, while more contemporary highlife musicians usually just copy the music of the elders. That’s fine by me since the sound ages well. If I play some hard-core fuji to my kids in 10 years, however, they might look at me kinda funny.

Today’s track comes off one of the stronger highlife compilations out there, The Kings Of Highlife, put together by Wrasse Records. It’s a good survey of 1960s and 70s highlife music from Nigeria and Ghana. Paulson Kalu from today’s pick is an Igbo from Nigeria who played with the best of them during the golden age of West African highlife music. If you like what you hear you can get some of his albums at Stern’s.

Have a nice, lazy Sunday.

Paulson Kalu - Okwudili