Nigeria Special Volume 2: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds and Nigerian Blues 1970-6

When the Nigerian civil war ended in 1970, a period of experimentation and musical freedom ensued, producing some rich and complex sounds that haven’t been matched in the region since. But when the foreign record labels that released these records were pressurised out of the country by the Nigerian government from the late 1980s, much of the catalogue was lost or destroyed.

So DJ and anthologist Miles Cleret had his work cut out for him, tramping around Lagos looking for records from the golden era of Nigerian music. However, this second volume of the series which opened up a whole gamut of sounds to tremendous acclaim is every bit as good as the first.

In it, The Don Isaac Ezekiel Combination run off a terrifically bluesy version of ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ (yes, the Lord’s Prayer), with deep sax and clattering drum kit rhythms that make you want to throw your arms up and embrace something, if not the Lord. The rare and psychedelic–sounding juju recording by Twins Seven Seven is full of ecstatic heavy guitar riffs and glorious female chorus lines. Tunji Oyelana and The Benders show, via their improvisational, edgy track ‘Iwo Ko La Dami’, that jazz was big on the scene at the time and fused well with the sounds that were already dominant, such as juju and highlife.

This is a majestic compilation: 19 tracks of immensely entertaining, bluesy music and a 24–page booklet that’s an education in itself. African music fans should not let it pass them by.