STRUT IS ON A ROLL

Re-launching the mighty and influential Strut label back in 2008 might have been the best decision K7 ever made. Not only because the demise of the quality label was a terrible loss for the revive market, but also because the releases under the guidance of the new mothership are equally high quality compilations. In this day and age there seem to be more labels re-releasing afrobeat than there are tunes available, so it is quite refreshing to. Coming out soon on Strut:

Following his recent studio album ’Love And Death’, his first international release, Ghanaian highlife guitar legend Ebo Taylor gets a long overdue compilation of his seminal 1970s recordings. 

‘Life Stories’ revisits the heyday of Taylor’s work, focusing on his solo albums and some of his lesser known side projects including the dynamite Apagya Show Band and short-lived Taylor-led combos Assase Ase, Super Sounds Namba and The Pelikans. The selection also touches on his writing and production work for C.K. Mann and a collaboration recording with fellow member of early ‘70s nightclub band Blue Monks, Pat Thomas. If anything, this makes my afrobeat heart tick again. A superb compilation.
















Formed during the late’60s, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo soundtracked the years following Benin’s independence under Kerekou’s Leninist - Marxist regime, whipping up a groundbreaking fusion of traditional highlife, Afrobeat, soul, funk and the indigenous styles and voodoo-led traditions of their homeland. Their songs touched on all of their national languages – the mina French dialect, Fon and Yoruba – and confidently referenced a broad range of international music from James Brown to Johnny Halliday. As well as forging their own success, they were the first port of call to back many of West Africa’s greatest artists, from Gnonnas Pedro to Manu Dibango and Bembeya Jazz.

The band’s reputation began spreading to Western audiences in 2004 through a breathtaking Soundway compilation of archive classics and rarities followed by two sumptuous collections on Analog Africa. Around the same time, French radio producer Elodie Maillot (Radio France, Vibrations, Mondomix) began seeking out the original band members in Benin. After a memorable radio interview, the musicians asked her to achieve their dream - to play once in a lifetime outside of Africa.

Since then, the band has reformed, now a 10-piece featuring five original members from the very first ‘60s incarnation, two from the mid-‘70s line-up and three new members. They have played many high profile concerts, bringing the infectious Poly-Rythmo sonic melting pot to a whole new generation of fans.

Recorded in Paris and produced by Maillot, ‘Cotonou Club’ is the band’s first new album in over 20 years, a celebration of the Poly-Rythmo sound with new versions of the band’s classics and a host of new compositions. Guest appearances include African superstar Angelique Kidjo, who began her career in Poly-Rythmo’s backyard, new World Circuit signing Fatoumata Diawara and Paul Thomson and Nick McCarthy from indie favourites Franz Ferdinand.

I'm  a huge fan of the band's early work, which indeed I discovered through aforementioned labels, and this album too makes for a fine listening experience.  It's quality music as ever. That said: I kinda miss the humidity, rambling equipment and low cost recording atmosphere of the early days. Like reggae, afrobeat thrives on a certain sound which can only be caught on tape if the circumstances are right, so it seems. I'm not going to complain though. Although the sound and songs on this new album are too neat and clear for my taste, the story behind it is just too beautiful to dismiss this for a reason like that. Cotonou Club is a dream come true and well deserved break for the Orchestra. With many more to come, I hope. Go catch 'em on stage if they're anywhere near you.

And last, but definitely not least, Strut announces a new chapter in the Nigeria 70's series. It was the first release in this series that got me hooked on Nigerian afrobeat, so it is quite safe to say I'm more than looking forward to this new installment.

"Sweet Times: Afro Funk, Highlife & Juju from 1970s Lagos’ is again compiled by series curator Duncan Brooker and features extensive sleeve notes by John Collins, author of ‘West African Pop Roots’. As on the previous Nigeria 70 volumes, all of the featured selections are previously unissued outside of Nigeria. Tracks range from the dynamite big band workout of Alex Ringo’s Moneyman & The Super 5 International to the Congolese guitar-drenched ‘Henrietta’ by the late Ali Chukwumah, former member of Stephen Osita Osadebe’s Sound Makers. Darker psych grooves from Don Isaac Ezekiel sit alongside raw college funk from college band Tabanaku comprising students from the University Of Ife. Highlife legend Victor Olaiya unleashes a slow, languorous Afro jam lifted from a rare Polydor 45 and juju legend Ebenezer Obey cooks up a lilting, deeply beautiful mid-tempo groove from 1970 in a musical plea for peace. 

Track List
1. MONEYMAN AND THE SUPER 5 INTERNATIONAL – LIFE
2. ALI CHUKWUMAH & HIS PEACE MAKERS INTERNATIONAL – HENRIETTA
3. BOLA JOHNSON & HIS EASY LIFE TOP BEATS – E MA S’EKA
4. DR VICTOR OLAIYA’S INTERNATIONAL ALL-STARS – KINRINGJINGBIN
5. ZEAL ONYIA & HIS MUSIC – IDEGBANI
6. ADMIRAL DELE ABIODUN & HIS TOP HITTERS INTERNATIONAL – IT’S TIME FOR JUJU MUSIC
7. EJI OYEWOLE – UNITY IN AFRICA
8. TUNDE MABADU – VIVA DISCO
9. SINA BAKARE – INU MIMO
10. SOKI OHALE’S UZZI – BISI’S BEAT
11. THE DON ISAAC EZEKIEL COMBINATION – IRE
12. ETUBOM REX WILLIAMS & HIS NIGERIAN ARTISTES – AMA MBRE EWA
13. CHIEF COMMANDER EBENEZER OBEY & HIS INTERNATIONAL BROTHERS – AJOYIO

MULATU ASTATKE RETROSPECTIVE

On the heels of his extremely successful Inspiration Information collaboration with The Heliocentrics, Mulatu Astatke teams up with Strut once again for the first complete overview of his career, including many rare sides which have never before been compiled for world wide release.

Vibraphone and keyboard player, master arranger and bandleader, Mulatu Astatkeis one of the all time greats of Ethiopian music, and the creator of his own original music form, Ethio jazz. Through the acclaimed Ethiopiques album series and through featuring on the soundtrack to the Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers, his music has belatedly reached a global audience and a new, younger generation of fans. Strut is now unleashing, for the first time anywhere, the definitive Mulatu career retrospective covering his landmark ‘60s and ‘70s recordings.

Mulatu is a true pioneer of African music. He was the first Ethiopian musician of his generation to travel extensively and to record abroad – he studied in the UK in Wales and at Trinity College Of Music in London, cutting his teeth on the buoyant London jazz scene of the early ‘60s. He became the first African student to attend Harvard and he lived and recorded in New York, developing a unique sound that fused Western jazz with traditional Ethiopian melodies. As Mulatu says, “it took a long time to get the balance, to let the colours and the feelings of the Ethiopian modes shine through.” Returning to "Swinging Addis" during the late ’60s, he became a pivotal figure, arranging for many of the country’s top vocalists and developing rich, dense textures in his own music during the final years of Selassie’s reign and the mid-‘70s rule of the Derg Communist military junta.

Tracing the progression of his Ethio jazz experiments with full access to all of the labels for whom he recorded, Mulatu Astatke: New York-Addis-London is the essential Mulatu. Covering his first recordings in the UK during 1965, his groundbreaking fusions for the small Worthy label in New York and his key ‘70s recordings back in Addis on Amha, Phillips and Axum, the album features comprehensive sleeve notes by Miles Cleret, boss of the excellent Soundway Records imprint, and rare, previously unseen photos from Mulatu’s personal archive.

Tracklist
1. ASIYO BELEMA (feat. Frank Holder)
2. MASCARAM SETABA (with Ethiopian Quintet)
3. I FARAM GAMI FARAM (with Ethiopian Quintet)
4. SOUL POWER (with Ethiopian Quintet)
5. GIRL FROM ADDIS ABABA (with Ethiopian Quintet)
6. SHAGU (Mulatu Astatke Quartet)
7. MULATU
8. DEWEL
9. NETSANET
10. YEKATIT
11. ENE ALANCHIE ALNOREM
12. YEGELLA TEZETA
13. YEKERMO SEW
14. TEZETA
15. EMNETE
16. YEKITIR TEZETA
17. LANCHI BIYE with Tilahoun Gessesse
18. FIKRATCHIN with Menelik Wossenatchew
19. EBO LALA with Seifu Yohannes
20. WUBIT with Muluken Melesse
21. KASALEFKUT HULU with Tilahoun Gessesse

DJ Cliffy - Black Rio 2 Promo Mix

Summer is finally upon us! And while the BBQ fumes from the holiday weekend may be dying down, one can never have enough tunes to serve as the soundtrack for outdoor summer fun. With Black Rio 2, DJ Cliffy digs deep into his crates of samba, soul, funk and more to bring you a selection of overlooked Brazilian jams that will be sure conjure images of a tropical setting no matter where you are. For a taste of the flavor, check out this half hour mix featuring tracks from the compilation. To top it off you can also head over to http://www.blackrio-2.com/ to download the track "Our Sound" by Guimaraes E O Grupo Som Sagrado. Black Rio 2 is out now on Strut.

Tracklist

Sonia Santos – Poema Ritmico Do Malandro
Emilio Santiago – Bananeira
Pete Dunaway – Supermarket
Os Diagonais – Nao Vou Chorar
Avan Samba – Ibere
Zeca Do Trombone E Roberta Sax – Coluna Do Meio
Balanca Pova – Novo Dia
Renata Lu – Faz Tanta Tempo
Bebeto – Princesa Negra De Angola
Cry Babies – It’s My Thing
Guimaraes E O Grupo Som Sagrado – Our Sound

Download here or here

Funky Brazil on Strut records: Black Rio 2

Back in 2002, Strut released ‘Black Rio’ compiled by London DJ Cliffy, a snapshot of the ‘70s Black Rio soul and funk movement in Brazil. In March, Strut release the second volume inthe series, delving deeper into the vaults to sample some of the lesser known gems emerging from the Carnival capital during the era.Whilst Tropicalia had given Brazil’s musicians and songwriters a powerful political voice during the ‘60s, the Black Rio movement had to battle the odds – black soul was perceived as not being authentically Brazilian and the country was under the rule of General Emilio Garrastazu Medici’s oppressive dictatorship which effectively suffocated cultural expression between 1969 and 1974. Still, the movement took hold as disenchanted black Brazilian youth mirrored the struggles of their contemporaries in the US with their own potent brew of samba, soul and funk. Black Rio parties attracted thousands, bands including Banda Black Rio and Uniao Black were created from the scene and music figureheads like Jorge Ben began exploring more dense, Afro directions on albums including ‘Africa Brasil’. While Black Rio Vol. 1 brought together pioneers of the movement like Tim Maia and Gerson King Combo, Volume 2 digs deeper still, exploring more of the key artists and many of the short-lived bands and smaller labels of the time. Highlights include the dynamite funk / samba jam ‘Faz Tanta Tempo’ by Renata Lu, a great funky cover of Gilberto Gil’s ‘Bananeira’ by Emilio Santiago and a rare slice of breezy soul, ‘Supermarket’, by Pete Dunaway aka Paulistano, one of a group of artists giving themselves a Western-sounding name at the time.The album is compiled and annotated again by leading Brazilian music DJ Cliffy, the man behind London club night Batmacumba. the longest running Brazilian club night in England, now enjoying a bi-monthly residency at London’s Notting Hill Arts Club.
Release date on cd, lp and download: june 22nd. For more info check: http://www.blackrio-2.com/