MUSIC

Tsapiky music from Southwest Madagascar features wild ecstatic vocals, distorted electric guitars, rocket bass, and the amphetamine beat! Unlike anything else, this is THE high life music you've always wanted - ceremonial music played with abandon and extreme intent, honoring the living and dead alike. In Toliara and its surrounding region, funerals, weddings, circumcisions and other rites of passage have been celebrated for decades in ceremonies called mandriampototse. During these celebrations – which last between three and seven days – cigarettes, beer and toaky gasy (artisanal rum) are passed around while electric orchestras play on the same dirt floor as the dancing crowds and zebus. The music, tsapiky, defies any classification. This compilation showcases the diversity of contemporary tsapiky music. Locally and even nationally renowned bands played their own songs on makeshift instruments, blaring through patched-up amps and horn speakers hung in tamarind trees, projecting the music kilometers away. Lead guitarists and female lead singers are the central figures of tsapiky. Driven as much by their creative impulses as by the need to stand out in a competitive market, the artists distinguish themselves stylistically through their lyrics, rhythms or guitar riffs. They must also master a wide repertoire of current tsapiky hits, which the families that attend inevitably request before parading in front of the orchestra with their offerings. This work, a constant push and pull between distinction and imitation, is nourished by fertile exchanges between various groups: acoustic and electric, rural and urban, coastal or inland. What results during these ceremonies is a music of astonishing intensity and creativity, played by artists carving out their own path, indifferent to the standards of any other music industry: Malagasy, African or global.

Subtitled: Ethnic Music Classics: 1925-48. This series of archival 78 transfers was originally released in 1995 on CD only. Now for the first time on vinyl, a deluxe gatefold presentation in a limited edition pressing. Produced by Hisham Mayet (Sublime Frequencies) in conjunction with Yazoo Records. Compiled here are many of the greatest performances of world and ethnic music ever recorded. This volume represents a trip around the world, stopping at each port to sample one of that country's finest recordings of its indigenous music. Each of these recordings was captured at a period during the golden age of recording when traditional styles were at their peak of power and emotion. Included inside are extensive notes and beautiful period photographs that work together with the music to communicate an exciting sense of discovery. "One of the most consistently rewarding world music compilations in years, the cuts range from Macedonian fiddle jaunts to Puerto Rican Christmas tunes, from Abyssinian religious chants to ominous Japanese court music. The instruments include Ukrainian sleigh bells, Sardinian triple pipes, Vietnamese moon lutes and Ethiopian one-string violins...a profound artistry lurks beneath the alien vernaculars." --Village Voice; Vol. 1 contains music from Nigeria, Sardinia, Russia, Ceylon, Rajahstan, Cuba, Rumania, Vietnam, Macedonia, Morocco, Society Islands, South Africa, India, Japan, Jamaica, Fiji, and more.

Ethnic Music Classics: 1925-48. This series of archival 78 transfers was originally released in 1995 on CD only. Now for the first time on vinyl, a deluxe gatefold presentation and limited edition pressing. Reissue produced by Hisham Mayet (Sublime Frequencies) in conjunction with Yazoo Records. Compiled here are many of the greatest performances of world and ethnic music ever recorded. This volume represents a trip around the world, stopping at each port to sample one of that country's finest recordings of its indigenous music. Each of these recordings was captured at a period during the golden age of recording when traditional styles were at their peak of power and emotion. Included inside are extensive notes and beautiful period photographs that work together with the music to communicate an exciting sense of discovery. Early 20th century recordings from Bulgaria, Puerto Rico, India, Mozambique, Ukraine, Trinidad, Kazakhstan, Ceylon, Tibet and elsewhere, compiled by archivist Pat Conte.

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Isaiah Collier connects with the divine ancestors on a transcendent Direct-To-Disc session, Parallel Universe Chicago-based innovator and educator Isaiah Collier is opening up new dimensions in the jazzwise continuum. A saxophonist by trade whose multi-instrumental talents and compositional prowess have stretched the limits of the form, Parallel Universe represents a new chapter in Collier’s musical journey. Having already performed with a diverse range of musicians such as Chance The Rapper, Waddada Leo Smith, Chicago jazz royalty Angel Bat Dawid and his own band The Chosen Few, Collier’s latest work as a bandleader explores the shared musical heritage of the African diaspora with a sense of grace and assurance that belies his years. Embracing the risk and vulnerability that comes with the live process, Collier and his band tapped into the frequencies of improvisation that fired up so many of the most timeless jazz recordings. “Recording direct-to-disc gave me a really fortunate opportunity to experience what our musical predecessors almost a hundred years ago were dealing with,” he explains. Name-checking Sun Ra, Ras G, J Dilla, Fela Kuti, Miles Davis, Gil Scott-Heron, Whitney Huston, Aaliyah and Frankie Knuckles, the opening of track of Parallel Universe imagines a genreless musical lineage that resonates with the polyphony of stories his band bring to the table, from Chicago and beyond. Featuring gospel soul singer Jimetta Rose, AACM and former Art Ensemble of Chicago trumpet player Corey Wilkes, blues-rooted guitarist Michael Damani, regular collaborators Julian Davis Reid, James Russell Sims and Micah Collier, the 8-track album bristles with a sense of love and understanding between players at the top of their game. Nowhere is this more evident than on the album’s 13-minute centrepiece, ‘Village Song’, in which Collier evokes the spiritual, psychological and emotional home of the African diaspora in song. “I want to speak to everybody of the African diaspora, truly in its entirety,” he explains, “from all the way of being back in the motherland, to the new lands we’ve come to.” Rooted in the percussion of Sonny Daze and the kalimba of Radius, ‘Village Song’ is a joyous and affirmative celebration of that unity. Picking up the flute, Collier explains, was also a part of that narrative: “The saxophone was not made in Africa so the concept of going back into the village we have to go back to our village instruments and dialect.” With vocals sung in Yoruba - inspired by a gift from legendary saxophonist Kenny Garrett - ‘Village Song’ soars between rhythms and references, from Afro-Cuban syncopation to the deep triplet swing of mid-‘60s Coltrane. Laying the foundations for the album as a whole, the result is truly exhilarating, “Give me that feeling that makes me feel like I’m alive,” Collier enthuses. “People can tell when you’re taking chances. I know that’s what everybody is looking for.”

1993 release. Bana OK present Bakitani. When the colossus of Congo, Franco Luambo, died in 1989, the great band he had led for more than 30 years, OK Jazz, was of course, devastated. But its members survived their enormous loss and lived to rock another day. Nine of the best of them carried on as Bana OK - "Children of OK" - and sustained the signature tout puissant ("all-powerful") sound of their late master's band. The leader was saxophonist and composer Rondot Kasongo Wa Kasongo, who had long been Franco's right-hand man. Three more of these "children" were veteran guitarists Fan Fan Sesengo, Papa Noel and Thierry Mantuika. And the singers included the female star of the last years of OK Jazz, Baniel Mbambou, and the heartthrob tenor Malage de Lugendo. Bakitani would have made Franco proud.

A compilation album featuring the signature songs of Pamelo Mounk'a, one of the Republic of the Congo’s leading singers. Having reached the peak of his artistry as a solo artist following his time with groups such as Les Bantous de la Capitale, his sweet, soaring high-pitched vocals beautifully intertwine with a dazzling horn section. From the graceful rumba vocals, which evoke Afro-Cuban and Latin influences, to the dynamic sevén tracks in the latter half—marked by leaping guitar refrains—this album encapsulates the elegance and passion of refined Congolese rumba.

Includes 32 pages booklet in French, Portuguese and English. Many songs are representing the still missing style Semba.

Ry-Co Jazz became pan-African heroes during the 1960s when they introduced their vital Congo/Latin rhythms to West Africa. The band was founded in Congo in 1958/59 and managed by Henri Bowane, the hit parade guitarist who first brought Franco into the recording studio. Original members Freddy N'kounkou [vocal], M'Bilia Casino [congas and vocal], and Panda Gracia [double bass], were soon joined by ace guitarist Jerry Malekani who stayed with the group until they ended their epic adventure in 1972. From 1967, with sax master Jean Serge Essous on board, they spent four years in the French Antilles, leaving their influence on the pioneers of 'zouk' music.

Henri Bowane was a crucial figure in the development of Congo rumba. He was one of the first generation singer/guitarists to record in Kinshasa (then Leopoldville) during the early 1950s. As resident bandleader and arranger at Loningisa studios, Bowane was the first professional boss and mentor of the legendary Franco.

A landmark work released in 1995 on the UK label RetroAfric by Sikamo Jazz, a super‑group formed in 1993 when veteran masters reunited to create new music together.

In the history of West African music, Laba Sosseh is remembered as a singer who symbolizes the deep connection between West African and Cuban music.

A two‑disc compilation that assembles Afro‑Latin music which blossomed in Cotonou, the largest city in the Republic of Benin, during the 1960s and 1970s.

A two‑disc compilation bringing together Afro‑Latin music that developed in Conakry, the capital of the Republic of Guinea, during the 1960s and 1970s.

The first-ever ethnographic acid Western! In a genre-defying film, Zerzura follows a young man from a small village in Niger who leaves home in search of an enchanted oasis. His journey leads him into a surreal vision of the Sahara, crossing paths with djinn, bandits, gold seekers, and migrants. Zerzura is a modern folktale transposed onto an acid Western, equal parts Jodorowsky and Jean Rouch. Written and developed with a local Tuareg cast, Zerzura mixes ethnofiction with the genre picture, exploring themes of migration and exoticism through a collaborative approach. Comes with 12-page booklet. In Tamashek with English and French subtitles; 84 minutes, all region DVD, NTSC format. Limited edition of 1000 copies.

Planet Ilunga presents, in collaboration with the children of Nico Kasanda alias Docteur Nico, an anthology dedicated to African Fiesta Sukisa, available as a 3LP and a digital release (with bonus songs). This release is the fruit of many years of preparations and was realized in close partnership with Liliane Kasanda, Nico’s eldest daughter. Marking forty years since his passing, we felt that the year 2025 was the right time to honor Docteur Nico’s legacy with this original collection.

Almost all of the African Fiesta Sukisa songs were released on Nico’s Sukisa label which translates in Lingala for “the final accomplishment”. The music on Sukisa, crafted by Nico, Dechaud and legendary vocalists such as Chantal, Sangana, Apôtre, Lessa Lassan and Josky, embodies the essence of that powerful phrase with genius and class. The label ran between 1966 and 1975 and released approximately 280 songs. Ngoma also issued the group between 1967 and 1971 and, in addition, reissued material from the Sukisa label. Many of the Sukisa songs have become part of the collective memory of Congolese society and are still heard, discussed, and analyzed daily across digital platforms worldwide, as well as on numerous Congolese radio and television stations.

The album we put together features some of African Fiesta Sukisa’s signature songs alongside never before reissued tracks from the Sukisa catalog. It furthermore contains a large booklet with song commentary, testimonial interviews from well-known musicians, journalists, fans and Nico’s entourage, besides never-before-published photos from the family’s personal archive, illustrating the life and career of the one and only ‘dieu de la guitare’.

Alastair Johnston, author of the book ‘A Discography of Docteur Nico’ and longstanding Planet Ilunga collaborator, designed a stylish booklet and cover using all our collected material. Audifax Bemba, longtime admirer, compiler and connoisseur of Nico’s music, and the author of most of the song commentary in our accompanying and very visual booklet, offers his portrait of Nico Kasanda:

“After displaying technical virtuosity with African Jazz, expert and accomplished guitar with African Fiesta, which musicologist Sylvain Bemba described as a dream guitar, Nico Kasanda was consecrated ‘dieu de la guitare’ by the public in the late sixties. With his band African Fiesta Sukisa, Docteur Nico displays his wide palette of unusual sounds. While exploring the Hawaiian guitar with its clear, airy, plangent, psychedelic effluvia, he continues to replicate the piano comping technique, and adds two missing strings to his bow: a simulation of the sanza (likembé or thumb piano), whose sounds he reproduces right down to the noisemakers of the tiny tin rings on the one hand, and the sounds of the Luba balafon on the other.

The right note, in the right place, at the right time, is the triptych on which Nico Kasanda’s playing is based, a note dressed in the perfect sound. A guitar of pure emotion. With African Fiesta Sukisa, his playing takes a ‘Chopin-esque’ turn, sending out more notes in a sublime adagio. The true artist is the one who simplifies everything. Docteur Nico is a genius of our time, whose style makes him the supreme exponent of the most important guitar school in Congolese music. He is recognized by his peers as the greatest African solo guitarist of all time. Sculpting sound in a tireless quest for beauty, Nico Kasanda has sublimated the guitar throughout his career.”

Dur-Dur Band Volume 3 and 4Funk, disco and Somali soul from 1980s MogadishuIn the 1980s, Mogadishu was home to one of East Africa's most vibrant music scenes. Nightclubs, hotels and theatres filled with the sound of ambitious young musicians blending Somali melodies with funk, disco, reggae, soul and jazz. At the centre of that movement was Dur-Dur Band - a group whose recordings would later travel far beyond Somalia's borders and find new audiences decades after they were made.Drummer Adan Handal, alongside childhood friend Isse Dahir Qassim, brought some of Mogadishu's finest young talents together to explore new directions in Somali popular music. That idea gave birth to Dur-Dur Band. Drawing inspiration from Somali traditions as well as international influences, Dur-Dur created music that was both deeply local and remarkably modern.Their early cassette releases - Volumes 1 and 2 - quickly spread across Somalia. But it was with Volumes 3 and 4 that the band reached it's creative peak. Recorded under difficult circumstances, these albums captured a group pushing against every limitation: experimenting with rhythms, arrangements and studio techniques while facing personal losses and a country moving toward crisis.Volume 4 became one of Dur-Dur's most adventurous recordings - combining electronic percussion, unusual drum textures and reggae-inspired grooves with the unmistakable spirit of Somali music.Today, Dur-Dur Band's music has travelled further than anyone could have imagined - from Somalia's dance halls to listeners around the world. Their recordings are more than a document of a vanished era; they are proof of a musical creativity that survived war, displacement and decades of silence.For Adan Handal, the only musician to appear on every Dur-Dur recording, the story of the band is ultimately the story of a sound that refused to disappear.

South African multi-instrumentalist Mpumi Dhlamini’s Nebula Nomad explores themes of deep inner reflection and cosmic wonder. TIP! The EP puts three tracks (clocking in at nearly 20 minutes runtime) from the 2024 album on vinyl for the first time: two reimagined versions of earlier compositions ‘The Higher Being’ and ‘Sibusise Nkosi’, along with ‘Culmination’. Dhlamini writes, produces and performs all vocals and instruments, with contributions from Mzizi, Tendai 'Shoxx' Shoko, Ayo Solanke, Sibusiso Mkhize, Zoe The Seed and Sphelelo Mazibuko. A brief introduction to a remarkable talent at the vanguard of South African spiritual jazz who has battled adversity and come out stronger, with something important to say.

Music of Many Colours is a joint album between Roy Ayers and Fela Kuti, recorded after a three week tour of Nigeria's major cities in 1979, during which Roy Ayers performed as the opening act for Fela's band. The two artists decided to record the album as a round-up to the tour. Roy Ayers describes the experience saying, "I met Fela Kuti in Nigeria in 1979, and we fell into a great relationship, good personal and music vibes, and we recorded that album together. Fela also came to USA in the eighties and we performed at NYC's Madison Square Garden. Amazingly energetic, Fela Kuti had a very original concept that was called Afro Beat - a genre with a very unique identity and exceptional music. One of Fela Kuti's most impressive qualities was that he was undeniably a brilliant show man, as a musician and as a huge dancer as well. His African concept was truly original... The tour was about two black men together coming together, one from Africa and other from USA, a very exciting collaboration."

Ambient field recordings collected across the Western Sahel. Sounds of desert oases, late night radio broadcasts, village calls to prayer, and riverboats drifting down the Niger river. A nice companion piece to the musical work from the blog, this an hommage to the sounds that don't always find their way onto records.

Olvido Records is proud to present African Steel, a follow-up to 2019’s African country-western compilation Bulwayo Blue Yodel. Here we have a compendium of beautiful songs highlighting the early years of the slide guitar in southern, central and eastern Africa. Featuring traditional and popular regional styles adapting the acoustic lap-steel guitar, African Steel reveals intriguing influences from southern American country and blues, Argentinian and European tango, and back to the Hawaiian origins of the instrument, long before the shimmering electric slide guitar of Docteur Nico, and the pedal steel mastery of Demola Adepoju of King Sunny Ade's African Beats. Ranging from up-tempo dance numbers, to plaintive bottleneck-blues style ballads, to a Ugandan string-band cover of a Jimmie Rodgers classic, each song presented here is a unique glimpse into the early years of the slide guitar’s incorporation into various African musical cultures. These fourteen songs have been carefully restored from rare shellac and lacquer discs to honor and celebrate a previously under-represented chapter in global music history, and includes a booklet with contextual notes and translated lyrics.

With a mix of modern and traditional instruments these fourteen songs go through the progression of an Ethiopian Amhara wedding sung in Amharic. With the trio of singers, Lemma G. Hiwot, Zenebech Tesfaye, and Selamawit G. Selassie, alternating turns at the microphone, and sharing call and response duties, a relentless frenzy of hand clapping incites dancing and smiles. The consumption of tedj (honeywine) and the swirling love of a wedding was captured in the studio with euphoric energy to take away to play over and over again when the festivities are over. With hand screened covers and an insert of wedding photos accompanying the liner notes, this is the next best thing to an invitation to the real thing. Originally released on Philips Ethiopia in 1973. A co release with Mitmitta Musika of Addis Abeba, Ethiopia.

Tsapiky music from Southwest Madagascar features wild ecstatic vocals, distorted electric guitars, rocket bass, and the amphetamine beat! Unlike anything else, this is THE high life music you've always wanted - ceremonial music played with abandon and extreme intent, honoring the living and dead alike. In Toliara and its surrounding region, funerals, weddings, circumcisions and other rites of passage have been celebrated for decades in ceremonies called mandriampototse. During these celebrations – which last between three and seven days – cigarettes, beer and toaky gasy (artisanal rum) are passed around while electric orchestras play on the same dirt floor as the dancing crowds and zebus. The music, tsapiky, defies any classification. This compilation showcases the diversity of contemporary tsapiky music. Locally and even nationally renowned bands played their own songs on makeshift instruments, blaring through patched-up amps and horn speakers hung in tamarind trees, projecting the music kilometers away. Lead guitarists and female lead singers are the central figures of tsapiky. Driven as much by their creative impulses as by the need to stand out in a competitive market, the artists distinguish themselves stylistically through their lyrics, rhythms or guitar riffs. They must also master a wide repertoire of current tsapiky hits, which the families that attend inevitably request before parading in front of the orchestra with their offerings. This work, a constant push and pull between distinction and imitation, is nourished by fertile exchanges between various groups: acoustic and electric, rural and urban, coastal or inland. What results during these ceremonies is a music of astonishing intensity and creativity, played by artists carving out their own path, indifferent to the standards of any other music industry: Malagasy, African or global.

Pax Nicholas is one of the last living veterans of Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 — the ensemble that defined Afrobeat as a global force. Born in Accra, Ghana, he joined Africa 70 as conga player and backing vocalist in 1971, appearing on landmark recordings including Lady Shakara. Living through the violent raids on Fela’s Kalakuta Republic and nine months of imprisonment under Nigeria’s military dictatorship, he experienced firsthand the dangerous power of music as resistance. In 1978, he left Africa 70 at the Berlin Jazz Festival alongside drummer Tony Allen, and settled in Germany, where he built a remarkable second chapter — leading the twelve-piece Afrobeat ensemble Ridimtaksi, collaborating with Finnish jazz maverick Jimi Tenor, and reuniting with the African diaspora in Berlin for Ebo Taylor’s celebrated 2012 album Appia Kwa Bridge released on Strut Records, alongside Tony Allen and Africa 70 guitarist Oghene Kologbo, recorded at Berlin’s analogue Lovelite Studios. In 2009, Daptone Records reissued his 1973 cult classic Na Teef Know De Road of Teef, earning him long-overdue global recognition. Now signed to Paris-based Afrobeat imprint Comet Records, Pax Nicholas returns with his new single “Mind Your Business” — a heavyweight dancefloor Afrobeat cut built on thundering brass, interlocking percussion and a razor-sharp guitar riff. The release features an exclusive remix by Gabriel Belabbas, producer, DJ and co-founder of Parisian label Positive Future, who recasts Mind Your Business in deep, minimal territory — a sparse, tension-laced groove that channels the hypnotic darkness of Moodyman and Ricardo Villalobos. Stripping the arrangement back to its percussive skeleton, he lets the Afrobeat elements — brass, rhythm, heat — surface and recede like smoke, leaving just enough space for the tension to build and the dancefloor to fall. Slow-burning and devastating on a proper soundsystem.

Strut presents Nigeria 80, the next essential chapter in the legendary Nigeria 70 series, diving deep into the explosive sound world of 1980s Nigeria. Following the global impact of 2001's Nigeria 70, which helped introduce rare Nigerian recordings to international audiences, Nigeria 80 continues the journey, unearthing a rich, restless, and wildly creative decade of music from Lagos to Enugu. Despite economic instability and restrictive political conditions in the 1980's, Nigeria’s music industry flourished, driven by a growing network of independent labels such as Tabansi and Phonodisk, which championed local artists and expanded creative freedom. The 1980s also marked a significant rise in visibility for female artists, with trailblazers like Onyeka Onwenu helping to reshape the landscape and open doors for a new generation of performers, writers, and producers. Nigeria 80 showcases the extraordinary breadth of this era, with all tracks reissued here for the first time. The compilation brings together essential recordings from across Nigeria’s musical spectrum: highlife greats Victor Uwaifo and Nico Mbarga appear alongside Paulson Kalu, whose personal favourite “Akugbue Nwa Ewu” stands out as a prime example of the style. Prince David Bull’s “Soko Soko” (later reinterpreted in Starboy’s Afrobeats hit “Soco”) features as a key touchpoint between eras. Segun Adewale delivers a driving juju workout, while Lekan Animashaun, longtime bandleader of Africa 70, contributes a late-era Afrobeat classic produced in collaboration with Fela Kuti. The compilation also highlights more experimental and hybrid sounds, from I.C. Rock’s proto–hip hop gem “Advice” to Evi-Edna Ogholi’s self-produced reggae statement “The World”. The set closes with “Apama” by Ibealaoke Chukwukeziri, the “Apama Boy” from Achi in eastern Nigeria, featuring hypnotic vocals and percussion from his Anaedeonu band. Nigeria 80 is available as a Strut Exclusive Edition 2LP including an extra 12" insert, a black vinyl 2LP housed in a gatefold sleeve, or CD digipak, which includes a 16-page booklet with artist photos and liner notes by Francis Gooding. Compiled by Duncan Brooker. Audio restoration by See Why Audio. Mastered by The Carvery.