Afrobeat Airways 2: Return Flight to Ghana 1974-1983

Admirers of 70s African music are living in high-cotton times, thanks to admirably dogged labels like Soundway and Analog Africa. Afrobeat Airways 2 is the latest labour of love for the latter, helping to further explain-with the additional aid of a magnificent 44-page booklet that features interviews and some terrific photography from the era-how Ghanaian highlife absorbed soul and funk during this musical belle époque without losing its regional flavour.

From the scratchy guitar announcing Uppers International’s ‘Aja Wondo’, the time machine delivers us into another era and another place. The 13 selections are attractively varied, whether it’s slow and smouldering stuff from Los Issufu & His Moslems or fiery and frantic like The African Brothers’ ‘Wope Me a Ka’. Some tracks allow highlife to keep a majority share in the mix (such as K Frimpong’s ‘Abrapo’), while others lean more heavily on outside influences. For instance, De Frank & His Professionals’ ‘Waiting for My Baby’ sounds for all the world like an early Allen Toussaint production from New Orleans. Music aside, one of the delights of these old African compilations is finding the band with the best name. This time it’s the turn of the groovily monikered Tony Sarfo and The Funky Afrosibi.