Nigeria Special

NIGERIA SPECIAL: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-76
NIGERIA DISCO FUNK SPECIAL: The Sound of the Underground Lagos Dancefloor, 1974-1979
NIGERIA ROCK SPECIAL: Psychedelic Afro-Rock and Fuzz Funk in 1970s Nigeria

If you have been lucky enough to hear the recently released Nigeria Special, I’m sure you must be amazed at how a small UK based label has managed to get such an authentic feel for a foreign music. Well there is a reason for this…

Although compiled and sequenced by Soundway boss Miles Cleret, who himself has spent much time in Nigeria, behind the scenes were in fact some of the original artists who actually feature on the releases. If you take a closer look at the end credits on the sleeve notes, you will find ‘many thanks to’ Laolu Akins and Berkley Jones of Blo, Joni Haastrup of Mono Mono, and Victor Uwaifo. All legends of modern Nigerian Music.

All these people became involved with Cleret over his many years of researching his way to the roots of modern Nigerian Music. As Cleret confesses, without them the releases would not have possible (or at least would have been inferior), so like West African music itself, the Nigeria Special Series is part of a communal creative process.

This is something really special about West African music and musicians that Cleret is not the first to discover. On the main Nigeria Special Fansite there are two embedded YouTube videos, one of which is also included here.

Cleret is in fact another in a line of open and progressive music enthusiasts who have traveled to Nigeria and been fortunate enough to make friends and collaborate with the musicians there (other famous guests include Brian Eno). What makes Cleret’s arrival fascinating though is that he went to Nigeria as a DJ and ended up influenced by musicians. It is this that makes the Nigeria Special series so special, a modern outlook up front, but with the original knowledge behind.

Diggin in Nigeria takes you far deeper than just dusty record shops and boot sales.

Tim Bridgman

Nigeria Special is already available, Nigeria Disco Funk Special is set to follow on 24 March 2008, and finally Nigeria Rock Special is due on 28 April 2008. For best places to buy click Here

Well, Nigeria Special 2CD has now been out one month, and a BIG BIG thank you to all the people who have said nice things about the music, the packaging, the fansite, or anything else. We are so glad you appreciate it!

We are still waiting for Itunes to sort themselves out, but apart from that, Nigeria Special seems to have spread everywhere (with a smile).

We’ll keep you informed on further news as it breaks.

Timjim

For the best the places to buy Nigeria Special click Here

Since the 1960s modern music has become so varied and diverse that at first appearance it looks as if complete chaos rules. But it really doesn’t have to be that complicated.

If you can get your hands on the right information, it can only need a few choice articles to get you off on the right foot on a coherent musical journey. What did the trick for me was quite simply a few well written sleeve notes that opened up my mind and ears.

Here are the 5 sleeve notes that changed my record collection, culminating on Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues (Soundway):

1. Africa Funk (Harmless Records 1998) – David Hucker

Not the most extensive notes, but the magic ingredient is there. This album reached out across all of Africa and included African immigrant fusion groups from UK, France, and US. How could all these places produce music so similar? It was with these sleeve notes that the penny began to drop.

2. Nigeria 70 (Strutt 2001) - John Armstrong / Quinton Scott

Now these are what I call sleeve notes. Unlike the Africa Funk notes (which were only available with the CD release), Nigeria 70 was a magic gatefold vinyl release with information crammed into every space available. Armstrong’s intro was followed by artist sections on Fela, Tony Allen, Peter King, Sunny Ade, and more. It was more information than I could take onboard at the time.

3. Ghana Soundz (Soundway 2002) – Miles Cleret

If Nigeria can do it, so can Ghana. Just as I was being converted to the sounds of Nigeria, suddenly this LP came out and knocked away any complacency and favouritism. The sleeve notes (accompanied by many original cover designs) repeated much of the story of Nigeria 70 to Ghana, revealing the bigger picture of west African music as a whole.

4. The Very Best of Ethiopiques (Union Square Music 2007) – Francis Falceto

Despite already being warned about Ethiopian music by Africa Funk (which featured a track from Mulatu Astatqe), my passion for West African music caused the neglect many other African countries, until I got hold of these sleeve notes. Funk, Jazz, Blues, Soul and Latin, Ethiopian style. What else lies out there???

5. Nigeria Special (Soundway 2008) – Miles Cleret

10 years after Africa Funk and with Fela and Mahmoud Ahmed now recognised worldwide, Miles Cleret returns with sleeve notes that go in another direction. Staying away from many of the big names in favour of giving details on lesser known artists, these notes also give prominence to the languages in which the songs are sung (Yoruba, Ibo, edo, and more). This in-turn reveals the peoples from whom the music originates and takes us onto a level beyond national boundaries.

So, brings me up to date. Thanks all the above people for your research and for writing it down so coherently. I look forward to whatever comes next.

Timjim

PS. Nigeria Special 2CD is accompanied by a 32-page booklet with rare photos, cocer art and historical information on the musicians. Thanks to Raf for buying the CD releases when sleeve notes were unavailable on vinyl.

For the best the places to buy Nigeria Special click Here

Not only does music change over time, but so does the way people listen to it. Back in the 50’s US Rock’n’Roll was specially produced to sound its best on the local diner’s juke box. Motown then came along and perfected the ultimate sound for a car radio. A few years later, Dub and Hip Hop records were then produced to be blasted out on walls of speakers stretching up to the ceiling (if there was one).

The music produced in Nigeria from 1970-76 is remarkable in many ways. In the 1960’s Rudy Van Gelder perfected the ultimate means of balancing sound levels in US Jazz recordings (both mono and now stereo), using new micing techniques and low-cost magnetic master tape he developed a style that would become industry standard by the 70s. It was only after this time that sound quality stored on vinyl records became good enough to sample and it is with this technology that labels such as EMI, Decca, and Polydor recorded in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s problems with preserving its sound were different. The high quality materials needed for pressing were expensive and high temperatures damaged the vinyl. Add to this, 30 years of storage and neglect and you begin to get close to the problem faced when re-issuing obscure Nigerian music, particularly when there are no master tapes and the only copies left are the original vinyls.

As the proud owner of a few original Nigerian pressings, what really surprised me about Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds and Nigerian Blues was how all the recordings had been re-mastered and balanced to sound as if they had all just rolled out of the same modern recording studio and straight onto CD. Just like most listeners, lack of space means I have micro speakers, designed perfectly for the latest digital recordings but not for the full and earthy sound of Nigerian groove from 1970-76. A tough mastering challenge if ever there was one!

However, I’m pleased to say that the work done by Nick Robbins at Sound Mastering Ltd is really something else. Sound Mastering are the in-house digital transfer and re-mastering people at Ace Records, who along with Soundway, also re-master for the likes of Soul Jazz. I can’t tell you what they did to it or how they did it, but Nigeria Special is a great example of how modern digital sound processing can now reclaim the sound of original analogue records. The results are just lovely.

Rare old Nigerian music has simply never sounded so good. Even on my Mickey Mouse speakers.

Timjim

For the best the places to buy Nigeria Special click Here