Helen Nkume & Her Young Timers Band

Helen Nkume was approaching her thirties when she began her musical career in the early 1970s. Before the decade was out, she and her Young Timers Band were leading exponents of highlife and stars in their native Nigeria. In the 1990s, she reinvented herself, dubbed ‘Prophetess’, as a gospel singer and continued singing until her death, aged 57, in 2000. Early achievements being eclipsed by later successes, little from the 1970s has survived, including just the one photograph, the one that adorns this four-track compendium, issued on vinyl and digitally, by Italian independents Dig This Way Records. Running to only 29 minutes, it excites as much in what has been found as it frustrates in thoughts of what has been lost. Happily, much here comes from her two best-received albums. Vol IV's ‘Music’ is a driving Afrobeat fantasia, lit up by an adrenalised rhythm section, operatic Hammond organ and vocals that could easily sit in same-era Plastic Ono Band. The lo-fi ‘Onye Ije’ finds Nkume spotlit against frenetic but recessed accompaniment, doused with hallucinogenic immediacy. Taken from the Young Timers Band album, ‘Umu Imo Special’ collides highlife, jazz and Afrobeat in an amphetamine rush, an incantatory Nkume anticipating her later status as ‘Prophetess’. ‘Ndi Uwa Enyi Ego’ is a fizzing delight, soloist and band in perfect harmony.