Various Artists – Nigeria 70

Moldy | Stale | Edible | Fresh | Tasty!

There is nothing I love more than an essential summer album. It takes a certain amount of energy and texture for an album to be one that you won’t get sick of over an entire season. The compilation box set Nigeria 70 is quite possibly the quintessential mix of songs perfect the ultimate summer grooving.

First introduced to me one hazy summer night while barreling down the dark highways of the New Hampshire backcountry, Nigeria 70 was my first true taste of Afrobeat music. The sound was oddly familiar, but never as genuine as what my ears were blessed with hearing. I immediately made connections to artists such as David Holmes (composer for the Ocean’s 11 movie series) and Talking Heads (specifically Remain in the Light). But this was different. It was a taste of a distinct and diverse music scene from an area of the world I was barely familiar with.

Afrobeat is a type of music that was made popular in the early 70s in Africa, mostly in the country Nigeria. The person largely involved with the creation of Afrobeat was Fela Kuti, a musician whom many rockers and funk legends pay their regards to. The genre draws from a myriad of different music styles including jazz, funk and rock; often utilizing heavy percussion, chanting and different languages ‘€“ sometimes multiple languages in a song. The heavy focus on percussion, layering of funky bass, organ, guitar and horns lends to a type of music that makes you want to move your feet and get down with your tribal self.

The box set comes with three CDs, two discs of music and a third narrated documentary-style disc which digs down into the Nigerian music scene through interviews with key players of the genre. Throughout the box set, you will notice a lot of focus on political and social matters. Afrobeat’s popularity made it a great vehicle for artists to move along their controversial messages of social injustice with. The empowering chanting and call-and-response aspects of most of the songs was an attractive device to get crowds to back a cause. While this is an important element of the music, often a lot of the songs are also about soulful connections to oneself and our beautiful Earth – something equally as important and powerful.

Disc one immediately transports us to a past African world of joy with song ‘€œIkon Allah,’€ sung mostly in a native language with bouts of indistinguishable chanting weaved in with sensational organ and horns. Other standouts on the disc are ‘€œJeun Ko Ku (Chop ‘€˜n’ Quench)’€ composed by Fela Kuti and the compelling love song ‘€œLa La La.’€ While the songs on disc one are a good collection of the Afrobeat genre, my personal favorite of the box set is the second disc. The recording quality of the songs on disc one fall flat compared to disc two, which also has a much better flow.

Disc two has been easily one of my favorite summer CDs of all time, often rivaling the brilliant Graceland by Paul Simon. It is the perfect type of music you want to be listening to while performing oddly gluttonous sacrifices of whole watermelons on a sun-soaked deck during those eternal summer days. You can’t go wrong with any track. ‘€œAllah Wakbarr’€ by Ofo the Black Company shows us a coarser side of Afrobeat music with its harsh guitar riffs and loud chanting. It is a great pump-up song after the cool and calmer opener ‘€œAlo Mi Alo (Parts 1 and 2)’€ by Orlando Julius & the Afro Sounders.

Skip ahead a few songs to ‘€œGreetings’€ by Joni Haastrup. The mystical chanting by Haastrup at the beginning of the song is met with a series of incredible crashes of flute, chimes, bass and organ. Forty seconds into the song, horns pick up and a funkadelic bass line kicks in for possibly one of the best tracks of the box set. If you’re able get through the chaotic bliss at the beginning, the track makes for an awesome dance song at parties (something I’ve only successfully accomplished once). The Laijadu Sisters are on point and in complete unison in the song ‘€œOrere Elejigbo,’€ another standout on disc two; following a similar Afrobeat format but with powerful, almost ear-piercing, harmonies. Finally, it would be an absolute shame to skip over the remarkable 11 minute ‘€œAgboju Logun’€ by Shina Williams & His African Percussionists. The track starts out with a simple guitar and bass riff over light beats and eventually builds to an incredibly psychedelic groove, leaving you in a tribal trance. The enchanting female backing vocals will be stuck in your head for days.

After being exposed to Nigeria 70, I gained a much better appreciation for African fusion music and the foundation it laid for further genres. The third disc in the box set is a great documentary on how Afrobeat music was made and how it impacted Nigeria, Africa and other regions in the world. In these coming months while you are working on your summer mixtapes or if you’re going on a long road trip, I definitely recommend the music of Nigeria 70. While you might not be able to pronounce some of the band names or understand the lyrics, you will find yourself jumping and singing along to these righteous jams.

Recommended Tracks: Disc 1 – Ikon Allah, Jeun Ko Ku (Chop ‘€˜n’ Quench), La La La. Disc 2 – The Dancing Time, Greetings, Orere Elejigbo, Upside Down, Aboju Logun