Onye Rie Ibe Ya Erie

Formed in Eastern Nigeria as an Igbo highlife band shortly after the Nigerian-Biafran War, the Oriental Brothers have undergone numerous fissures and line-up changes since their 1973 debut album but two of the band’s original five members – singer Dan Satch Opara and percussionist Aquila Alaribe – remain. This is the band’s first album in 20 years and comes via the rather circuitous route of the enthusiasts at Palenque Records in Colombia, where the Oriental Brothers’ classic recordings have apparently been a huge influence on champeta. The five long tracks here, all around the eight-minute mark, roll back the years. The swaying highlife rhythms, warm harmony vocals and sweetly chiming guitars of Kenneth Emenogu and Okechukwu Uzodinma are so steeped in nostalgia there’s little to suggest that tracks such as ‘Ndaa Julie’ and ‘Anyi Biara Uwa Abia’ couldn’t have been recorded in their 1970s heyday – which, by the way, is high praise rather than a criticism.