MUSIC

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.”

In November 2022 world-renowned kora player Ballaké Sissoko and acclaimed guitarist Derek Gripper spend just three hours recording a wordless album together. The kora and guitar in the hands of masters - a session where New Ancient Strings meets One Night On Earth. “Musically we tested each other,” says Sissoko, explaining that the most magical aspect of their initial encounter was the spontaneity of the whole thing. “We have the mastery of our instruments, the technique and a good ear. Derek is very curious, that’s very important.” “He’s just such a good listener,” says Gripper about Sissoko. “It’s not what he plays, it’s how he plays it. He’s an amazing interpreter, the prime master of timbre.” “It’s a remarkable album,” says Lucy Duran, professor of Music at SOAS. “It’s the furthest away that Ballaké has gone from his own idiom and it’s brilliant – not world music, it’s in a totally different realm, entering new territory”

 

1971 REVOLUTIONARY SPIRITUAL AFRO JAZZ FROM EXILE Matsuli Music presents soul, spirituality and avant-garde jazz from South African political exile Ndikho Xaba. Its rarity has until now served to obscure both its beauty and its historical significance. Making profound links between the struggle against apartheid and the Black Power movement in the USA Ndikho Xaba and the Natives is arguably the most complete and complex South African jazz LP recorded in the USA. It stands out as a critical document in the history of transatlantic black solidarity and in the jazz culture of South African exiles. This reissue from Matsuli Music brings this collectors’ treasure back into print for the first time since 1971. Ndikho Xaba and the Natives opens a fluid channel of sonic energy that courses between two liberation struggles and two jazz traditions, making them one. It is a critical statement in the history of transatlantic black solidarity, unifying voices stretching from San Francisco to Johannesburg. There is no other recording or group in which the new jazz spirituality of the late 1960s is so fully blent with an African jazz tradition. The limited edition vinyl edition is presented with re-mastered sound in a gatefold sleeve containing unseen photographs and concert bills from Ndikho Xaba’s personal archive together with a personal recollection from Plunky Branch and extensive sleeve-notes written by Francis Gooding. The CD version reproduces this new content in a 24 page booklet as well including two additional tracks taken from a hard to find single released by Ndikho Xaba’s band African Echoes.

A historic meeting point between Ethio-jazz and ambient jazz. Born out of Bristol’s Bloom collective, the eight-piece Afro-jazz band Tezeta sees their 2016 debut album Seventh Place finally issued on vinyl via KLANG TONE RECORDS. Exotic Fender Rhodes lines recalling Hailu Mergia, the psychedelic shimmer of vibraphone and marimba, fiercely jazzy saxophone, and the driving force of contemporary Afrobeat converge into a sound that is both refined and full of fire. The 6/8 rhythms radiate the spirit of Ethio-jazz, while the group’s modern sense of crossover resonates with European ensembles such as Debre Damo Dining Orchestra and Langendorf United. A meditative Afro-jazz gem, and one to recommend also to fans of ambient jazz.

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.

The Ethio Jazz album by Mulatu Astatqé is a jewel of the modern Ethiopian music and a mythical album, since the beginning of Ethiopian music reissues. An incredibly groovy Ethiopian record, originally from 1969-1972. Amazing orchestral 'Ethio-groove' filled with US soul, jazz, sometimes Latin and the deepest Eastern rhythms, even including some great nasty and dirty fuzz guitars. A true gem of Ethiopian modern instrumental music, which illustrates perfectly this symbiosis of strong rhythms and quality arrangements of subtle yet deep Ethiopian melodies. A must for all '60s/'70s collectors! In the Ethiopian musical landscape, Mulatu Astatke is a unique musician, composer, arranger. His real contribution consists in his action for instrumental music, in a country where orchestral traditions doesn't exist. For the last 30 years, he is the leading head of the Ethiopian musical scene. First vinyl reissue and definitely one of the most important Ethiopian music albums.

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."

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.

The UK’s Afro-club Queen, Shannen SP chases her ‘Amapiano Now’ comp for NTS with a cherry-picked survey of Mzansi Bass, including one of her own, locked to the emergent South African hybrid of Bacardi energy and amapiano log drum grooves currently catching fire beyond SA. Spotlighting the freshest iteration of a lineage that runs from ‘80s bubblegum to ‘90s and ‘00s kwaito, thru gqom, amapiano, bacardi and 3-step in recent decades, Shannen SP’s curatorial chops are deadly on-point yet again with this lot for Colombia’s TraTraTrax. Anyone keeping up with contemporary South African styles and patterns will recognise certain hallmarks of prevailing sounds tessellated into the more layered, sticky and even psycho-sexual thrust of Mzansi Bass, which clearly favours an added lash of raving trance synths and simmering energy bound to connect with proper dancers everywhere. Perhaps most notably, it opens with Shannen SP’s debut production credit (after vocal on Nazar’s ‘Airstrike’ in 2020), in duo with Hennybelit on the transition from tense techno hunch to gluts-twang bass in ‘Mzansi Bass’, smartly cued up next to DJ Lag’s nagging trance vamps on ’NOPS’, for the strongest introduction to this new permutation. The pressure holds tight for the rest, firing zippy Kaito-style electro motifs on State Offf’s ‘Alarm’, and full wingspan glyder ‘Favelas’ ft. Lyzza. Jay Music rams the energy with a romantic keen in the finely yoked trot of ‘Midnight Session’, and Deep Narratives plumb proper subbass levels on the quaking ace ‘Ghetto Gong’, next to the martial pomp of ‘Stjwetla Revisit’ by Audio Addicts, and a surprise left turn to Barbie SZN’s cunty rap on blown-out bass in ‘GTI.’

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.

“Origen: Una Exploración por el Jazz Modal de los Trópicos” is a celebration of the human bonds that transcend cultural differences to create a shared language beneath the same sky. Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Americas are the protagonists of this sonic diaspora, where Modal Jazz, Spiritual Jazz, Egyptian Jazz, Ethiopian Jazz, Cape Verdean Kriolu, Brazilian Jazz, Latin Jazz, Caribbean Rhythms, and Flamenco Jazz come together, among many other influences, to shape a journey toward healing and a reconnection with our shared origin.

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.

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.

Strut Records proudly presents a new reissue of the original Afrobeat classic Low Profile (Not For The Blacks), recorded and composed by Afrika 70 saxophonist and bandleader Lekan Animashaun and produced by Fela Kuti. After years touring the world as Fela’s baritone saxophonist, Animashaun stepped forward to lead the legendary Egypt 80 band following Tony Allen’s departure, remaining the group’s musical director until Fela’s death in 1997. He continued on subsequent tours with Seun Kuti until 2016. Lekan began recording his only solo project, Low Profile, in 1977. The album was composed and recorded across sessions at home in Nigeria and on tour with Fela, who both produced the recordings and added keyboards to the album’s title track. ‘Low Profile (Not For The Blacks)’ referenced a government campaign during the country’s 1970s oil boom: “It was inspired by a speech by Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s military Head of State, when he urged black people to keep a low profile about their wealth and not to behave in a vulgar, arrogant way,” explains Lekan. “I argued that low profile is not just for the blacks, as everyone is human, regardless of race.” On the flip side, the simmering Afrobeat anthem ‘Se Rere’ (which translates as ‘Do Right’) delivers Animashaun’s message of living with integrity: do right, and you will reap what you sow. The song later became the band’s opening number during Fela’s live performances both in Nigeria and internationally throughout the 1980s and ’90s. Despite recording beginning almost two decades earlier, Low Profile did not receive an official release until 1995, when it finally surfaced on Fela’s Kalakuta label. One of only a handful of albums led by core members of Kuti’s band, Low Profile captures a pivotal moment in Afrobeat history. Over time, the original has become a rare and highly sought-after record, and this new reissue places the spotlight back on a modest but influential Nigerian legend. Strut’s reissue features the complete original artwork, is fully remastered by The Carvery, and includes brand new liner notes by Lekan Animashaun himself.

Afro-Latin electronic producer, global-sounds inspired DJ, and bassist for Little Simz, Marla Kether returns with her highly-anticipated second EP Luso, released on Strut Records. Featuring a hand-picked selection of collaborators from across her creative circle, Marla continues to craft genre-bending bangers rooted in African, Brazilian, and UK sounds. The 5-track EP spans Batida with grime rapper Mez, Afrobeat with rapper Reek0, Broken Beat with Sofia Grant and a Samba House anthem with Margaridas. With Luso, Marla brings her musical worlds together into her most fully realised project to date. Written and developed between Lisbon and Brasilia, the EP reflects the movement, collaboration and cultural exchange that shaped its creation. “As a producer that first recorded during lockdown, this project was all about getting musicians into a studio and really celebrating the unbeatable energy of live recording,” says Marla of Luso. “I wanted the music to feel human, warm and alive, rooted in rhythm, connection and joy.” Live percussion, bass, vocals and electronic production move together throughout the EP, creating music built for clubs, headphones and festival stages alike. Marla weaves together Brazilian musical traditions, Broken Beat, Afro-Portuguese Batida, Afrobeat and jazz-inflected club music into a deeply rhythmic and emotionally rich body of work. At its core, Luso is a celebration of community, movement and musical freedom - a release shaped by travel, collaboration and the energy of shared spaces. The result is a bold statement from an artist entering a new creative phase. With Luso, Marla Kether confirms herself as one of the most exciting cross-disciplinary artists emerging from the UK underground today.

As the world sinks deeper into screens and algorithms blur the line between creation and imitation, Nubiyan Twist returns with Chasing Shadows, a record that reclaims the pulse, warmth and spontaneity of human connection. The band’s fifth studio album is a rich and restless blend of jazz, afrobeat, hip hop and electronic textures, exploring the space between the organic and the digital. It’s music that moves, sweats, and breathes, made by real people in real rooms with heavyweight features bringing together varied voices from the music community which they inhabit. Bandleader and producer Tom Excell explains: “We wanted to make something that felt joyous and defiantly human — something that couldn’t exist without that connection between people. You can get an AI to write a fugue in seconds, but it can’t capture the chemistry and chaos that happens when musicians lock in together. Chasing Shadows is our way of holding onto that.” Following 2024’s acclaimed Find Your Flame, praised by Rolling Stone, Jazzwise, NPR and more, Chasing Shadows pushes the band’s sound further into new soulful territory under Excell’s expert guidance, featuring new lead vocalist Eniola - a recent graduate of Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London - and a glowing cast of icons and innovators. Malian star Fatoumata Diawara lights up the title track on a powerful slice of Afrobeat, Joe Armon-Jones leads the dub workout ‘Rhythm Of You’, Patrice Rushen steps in on piano in ‘Threads’, and the band take it back to their hip hop roots on great collabs with The Pharcyde’s Bootie Brown, Ghanaian MC M.anifest and London dancehall favourite, Mr Williamz. On Chasing Shadows, Nubiyan Twist continue to look outwards with their music but keep the focus firmly on humanity and positivity. It is an album which crosses continents and which shamelessly celebrates our collective strength.

Strut proudly presents the first official remastered reissue of Lafayette Afro Rock Band's elusive funk/Afro original album, 'Malik,' originally released in 1974.

Strut presents a brand new reissue of Juju’s powerful Afrocentric album ‘Chapter Two: Nia’ from 1974, originally released on Strata East. Juju formed in San Francisco and moved to New York in July 1972. "We were avant-garde artists and revolutionary agents for change," explains bandleader James “Plunky” Branch. "We played venues like Slugs, the East, and Ornette Coleman’s loft on Prince Street; we also met and hung out with the greats, from Pharoah Sanders to John Gilmore. "By 1974, Plunky and the band had relocated to Richmond, Virginia. "New York’s cost of living was high, and I thought Richmond could be a fresh creative environment. We stayed in the home of my oldest and best friend, which we dubbed the Juju Raga Artist House. We lived upstairs and converted the downstairs into the first black arts gallery and performance space in the state." In June 1974, Juju recorded their second album for Strata-East, Chapter Two: Nia, at Eastern Recording Studios in Richmond. "The music was Afrocentric," continues Plunky, "and we included black nationalistic poetry written and spoken by Ngoma Ya Uhuru, a high school friend who had spent time with Amiri Baraka’s Spirit House." The album also featured a remarkable freeform cover of Pharoah Sanders’ classic ‘Black Unity.’ Juju became the local Virginia exponents of progressive ideas that were being expressed nationally and internationally, attracting a small, active group of artists and supporters. However, being in the South, Richmond's black music audience leaned towards blues, gospel, and soul. After much consideration, Juju decided to incorporate trap drums and a backbeat, blending these rhythms with electric sounds, and rebranded as Oneness Of Juju. With a new lineup and renewed energy, the band began a new chapter, releasing their classic African Rhythms album a year later. This new reissue of Juju’s ‘Chapter Two: Nia’ includes the full original artwork, featuring cover art adapted from a concert video still by Collis Davis. Remastered from the original tapes by The Carvery, this Strut release also includes brand new liner notes by bandleader James “Plunky” Branch.

For Takuro Okada, this marks his first physical release since *Konoma*, which received high praise from media outlets and listeners both in Japan and abroad. This work was created for the campaign promoting the new “MT2” footwear line designed by TOKYO DESIGN STUDIO New Balance. The campaign video is available on New Balance T-HOUSE’s owned media platform. 　Side A, “Still Water,” features Shouei Ikeda (flute) and is composed of a minimalist ensemble that strips the arrangement down to the bare essentials while incorporating elements of folk and Afro-music. Recorded based on improvised performances and captured on analog tape, the track evokes the subtle fluctuations of sound and rich spaces reminiscent of a still water’s surface. 　Side B, “Dohman Sehman,” takes the mood of vintage funk as its starting point while weaving in a melodic sensibility and folkloric resonance reminiscent of Japanese folk songs and kayōkyoku. Featuring up-and-coming musicians such as Kei Matsumaru (alto sax), Mei Katsumaru (tenor sax), Yuma Koda (Wurlitzer / Farfisa), Yuka Konishi (bass), and Hayate Ebihara (drums), this track is marked by a powerful groove created by a spatial mix reminiscent of dub techniques and a robust rhythm section. 　With “Still Water,” which is imbued with serene stillness, and “Dohman Sehman,” which contains a powerful groove, these two contrasting tracks showcase the breadth of Takuro Okada’s creative evolution since *Konoma*.

Strut’s Krismasi: Christmas Sounds From Africa explores festive recordings by African artists from the late 1960s to the 1980s. "Moving through Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa and beyond, it takes in highlife, gospel, township jazz, funk and celebratory jams. Highlights come from Kwadwo Donkoh, Martha Ulaeto, Kakai Kilonzo’s Kilimambogo Brothers Band, Baba Gaston’s Orchestra Baba National, Dorothy Masuka, Paul “Dr. Love” Matavire, Reggie Msomi, Flash Dominci and Oscar Suley. A fascinating collection uncovering a lesser-heard side of African musical history."

Strut’s Krismasi: Christmas Sounds From Africa explores festive recordings by African artists from the late 1960s to the 1980s. "Moving through Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa and beyond, it takes in highlife, gospel, township jazz, funk and celebratory jams. Highlights come from Kwadwo Donkoh, Martha Ulaeto, Kakai Kilonzo’s Kilimambogo Brothers Band, Baba Gaston’s Orchestra Baba National, Dorothy Masuka, Paul “Dr. Love” Matavire, Reggie Msomi, Flash Dominci and Oscar Suley. A fascinating collection uncovering a lesser-heard side of African musical history."

A companion mini-album to Heavy Combination, last year’s career-spanning compilation documenting some of the amazing music recorded over five decades by the late Joseph Kamaru, a towering figure in post-colonial Kenyan culture. This new record presents five more gems from the archives, chosen by Disciples and Joseph Kamaru’s grandson, the sound artist KMRU. Carefully remastered from original tape transfers, with liner notes by Kenyan academic Maina wa Mũtonya.