Any other lovers of Afro-funk here? Here's a spot to recommend your favorite albums & artists of the sub-genre.

Couldn't start an Afro-funk thread without mentioning it's godfather, Fela Kuti. The man left us some 50 releases, not counting compilations (one of the better of these is The Best of Fela Kuti released on Universal in '99). There's an excellent two-fer reissued recently, Shuffering & Shmiling/No Agreement, which is also good beginning album for those new to Fela. You just have to love those albums with 2 LP-side length songs.

My introduction to Afro-funk came with the '99 v/a comp, Africa Funk- The Original Sound Of 70's Funky Africa. There are plenty of excellent collections of Afro-funk still in print, such as Afro-Funk Explosion, Afro-Baby and the Ghana Soundz series. Most of these cds collect artists from the '60s-'70s yet I find more new comps feature modern artists, and not just exclusive to those based in Africa.

A really fantastic comp of modern bands is Feel The Beat- Afro Funk. The more well-known artists featured here include Kokolo, Antibalas and Quantic Soul Orchestra. Two new discoveries for me are Ras (they deliver a scorching funk instrumental to die for!) and Femm Nameless who cover a Nina Simone tune, "See Line Woman". Some other Afro-funk artists I enjoy are the Oneness of Juju, Fela's son Femi, and Tony Allen, who was Fela's drummer for many years.

I like afro-funk, although only at the most superficial level. Basically I have quite a bit of Fela Kuti, and a few cds from Femi. While I like all of it, I haven't devoted much time to deepening my knowledge. I'm glad this thread started up, so that I can get a few recommendations. I recently heard a great track "Give a beggar a chance" by the band Monomono on the blog soul sides. Its a fantastic track, and I would definately like to hear more from them. Anyone have any information on them?

Monomono has a track on Nigeria 70, which I believe is out of print now. It's a 3 cd set, 2 cds of music and the 3rd cd of interviews with artists such as Fela, King Sunny Ade, etc. But I don't recall the Monomono song you mentioned, thanks for the tip.

When I saw the name Monomono, I was reminded of the Detroit Afro-funk band Nomo. Their music has a very nice jazz feel and a real soulful groove. It's mostly instrumentrals in the style of the Daktaris and the Kokolo Afrobeat Orchestra.

Picked up the 1972 Wild River album by Matata recently. It's more Afro-rock and soul than funk with some nice percussion work. It was advertised as a little psychy but I don't hear that, unlike I do with the band Hawk. Matata has a later album, Feelin' Funky, which is less rock and more funk, as the title suggests. Both are very nice and are recommended if you like the mid-late '60s Jame Brown kind of beat.

I fully endorse the "Africa Funk" compilations (there are two volumes), crazed.

Another v/a compilation you might want to check out is "Black Rio", a collection of 1970s Afro-Brazilian funk. Great stuff!

The title of Mombasa's African Rhythms & Blues is decieving. There are African rhythms but they are mixed with soulful funk jazz for an all-instrumental album. My favorite track, "Makishi", has some vocal chants but mostly it's an energetic piece with some great African sounds. Not a bad track here, recommended if you like soulful Afro-jazz.

quote:

Originally posted by crazed:
The title of Mombasa's African Rhythms & Blues is decieving. There are African rhythms but they are mixed with soulful funk jazz for an all-instrumental album. My favorite track, "Makishi", has some vocal chants but mostly it's an energetic piece with some great African sounds. Not a bad track here, recommended if you like soulful Afro-jazz.

I'll add this to my list (along with surf instrumentals and Norwegian power-pop )

An album you might want to check out is Aura by King Sunny Ade. This was from his Island years, when the label tried to turn him into the next Bob Marley. Not particularly funky but a good Ade album.

I've only heard a few tracks from King Sunny Ade, though now I don't recall much about them. I'll hunt down some samples from Aura to refresh my memory. I think the Ade album I heard was a best-of cd.

Picked up here in town 4-Track Recording Session by the Green Arrows. They were an Afro-pop band from Zimbabwea in the '70s. Their style is more pop than funk, and there's a nice lite-dance element to their sound. There's also an element of surf to the mix, however slight. Best track is the sole English language song, "Towering Inferno", which is downright psychedelic. The front cover shows the band dressed as your typical early '70s US soul group so don't be decieved. Very nice collection, glad I picked it up.

Fans of Antibalas will probably enjoy the first release from Chico Mann, Manifest Tone Vol 1. Headed by Antibalas guitarist Marquitos Garcia, the band dishes out some excellent Afro-funk and dance sounds. The music is probably more electronic than Antibalas but just as funky (maybe leaning more towards James Brown than Fela Kuti at times). A great find if you can find it.

Great early 70's Nigerian pop - psychedelic and afro-funky:

BLO - Chapter One (1973 LP)
Ofege - Try to Love (1973 LP)

BLO is three guys from Salt, the band that Ginger Baker put together on his '72 stay in Nigeria. Another member of Salt was Joni Haastrup who after a brief spell in the U.K. with Ginger Baker's Air Force returned to Nigeria and became the leader of Monomono.

These albums are long out of print but cuts from both are popping up on recent Afro-funk compilations.

There was a Blo compilation a few years back, Phases: 1972-1982, which I believe is out of print now. The early years tracks were my favorites.

Ofege is a new one for me, I'll have to do some searching for it. Last several months have been dry for Afro-funk reissues that I don't already have.

dear crazed,

you might be interested in this blog :-

http://combandrazor.blogspot.com/

this blogger knows tons about 70's Nigerian music and often posts rare and out of print stuff.

Thank you much, gomad361. That makes my day!

Some great links on there, most which I'd never been to before. The Afro-funk forum I used to check in on has been gone awhile & I've missed catching new & old stuff. So, downloading Ofege as I type...

My pleasure crazed

I don't know if you like the more Francophone West African stuff but this is my vote for album of the year all styles:

Authenticité - The Syliphone Years (1965-1980)

A double cd lovingly researched and compiled by Graeme Counsel for Sterns - even substantial enthusiasts for this music will have aready only a handful of these 28 choice slices of classic "modern era" Guinean music. The booklet alone is worth the price!

quote:

Originally posted by gomad361:
I don't know if you like the more Francophone West African stuff but this is my vote for album of the year all styles:

Authenticité - The Syliphone Years (1965-1980)

A double cd lovingly researched and compiled by Graeme Counsel for Sterns - even substantial enthusiasts for this music will have aready only a handful of these 28 choice slices of classic "modern era" Guinean music. The booklet alone is worth the price!

I've seen this one in the upcoming releases at Dusty Groove and have heard samples from it but didn't know it was out now. I'll definitely be looking for it.

I picked up this compilation, Afro-Baby, yesterday. Looks like it was put together by the same guys who did the Ghana Soundz records. I have the first volume of that and love it to death. I'm really excited - I'll post some more when I've given it a spin.

Afro Baby is one of my favorite Afro-funk collections. Favorite track is from the Sahara All Stars. Yep, same label released both Ghana Soundz comps. Both are fantastic but I think I enjoyed vol. 1 the most. Hopefully Soundway will release a 2nd vol of Afro Baby, digging deeper into the Afro-funk vaults.

My latest Afro-funk pick-up is the 3rd album from Kokolo (or Kokolo Afrobeat Orchestra), Love International. Some topical subjects ("Vote Black President"), Fela meets James Brown ("Congo Bongo", among others) and a few Latin twists and turns (more evident in "Nueva York"). As always, a brilliant adventure into Fela-inspired Afro-funk, but made fresh by Kokolo. Good to hear them and Antibalas release strong material this year.

Afro Baby and the two Ghana Soundz comps. are all first rate but Soundway's best offering imho is the superb T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou compilation "The Kings of Benin Urban Groove 1972 - 80". If you like this, a great new Benin afro-rock/funk compilation is in the works from Analog Africa (the label that brought you the excellent Green Arrows and Hallelujah Chicken Run comps.). Due out February 2008, working title seems to be African Scream and it will contain at least one knock-out Poly-Rythmo track "Gbeti ma djro" which sounds so clean (on Analog Africa myspace) that it must come from the original master tapes.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: gomad361,

I have the T.P. Orchestre album and it is fantastic. Thanks for the heads up on the African Scream album, I'll be looking forward to it.

Two Afro-Cuban funk comps are supposed to arrive on cd in September. I can't find the titles though I know Dusty Groove will be offering them.