A Lost Review - Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump

A couple of months ago, the super-cool record label Strut Records have been dropping some fine digital dumps on the audio world. None of this stuff is particularly new (i.e. recently recorded) but it is probably new to the vast majority of people listening to music these days. One of these compilations is called Nigeria: Lagos Jump: Original Heavyweight Afrobeat, Highlife & Afro-Funk. Here's a review I made of it back in June 2008.

Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump is a compilation of material by west African musicians from the early 1970s and is the follow-up to the double CD released in 2007 called Nigeria 70: The Definitive Story Of 1970s Funky Lagos. What initially pops into the mind of this reviewer is "Does this new material on Lagos Jump not that definitive?" Well, it would seem that the makers of the original Nigeria 70 compilation were a bit hasty calling that collection definitive. The initial success may have caught them by surprise, underestimating the desire of the music public for these lost afrobeat classics from the likes of Fela Kuti, Afrobeat Allstars etc.

While the original double disc focused on the relatively major performers of the time period, Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade and Mano Dibango, this new disc unearths a group of lesser known artists that continue to mix contemporary western instruments and musical styles with traditional African rhythms, vocals and instruments. Like the subtitle states, this collection focuses on some of the sub-genres of afrobeat, highlife and afro-funk. Throughout this second journey through the many acts who were part of the music scene in and around Lagos during the 1970s, a time of political and cultural unrest. Throughout the disc the underlying feeling with these selections is that to really appreciate these songs, you just gotta get up and dance. There's the funky "Everybody Likes Something Good" by Ify Jerry Crusade", the traditional rhythm of Ahanti Afrika Jah's "Onyame" the Calypso-inspired "Aiye Le" by Olufemi Ajasa & His New Nigerian Bros. and the light acoustic touch of the high-pitched guitars on Peacocks Guiter Band's "Eddie Quansa." And that's only the beginning of this amazing collecton. First rate from stem to stern. For more information and some on this compilation, check out Strut's Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump microsite.