Sunshine Day: The Boyhood Sessions

Richard Linklater spent 12 years making the 2014 movie Boyhood, a remarkable and sprawling investigation of the human condition refracted through the experience of a boy growing up in Texas. It gave him plenty of time to assemble an extraordinary soundtrack that ranged from Pink Floyd to Lady Gaga – and which also included the London-based Ghanaian band Osibisa. They offered several tracks from which a contemporary dance remix of their 1975 hit ‘Sunshine Day’ was chosen for inclusion in the film. The song is included on this 12-track album in three different versions, along with other material recorded for, but not included in the film, plus four live tracks and a rather crass Afro-pop arrangement of ‘Nkosi Sikelele Afrika’.

In truth, it’s a less than satisfying mish-mash with the best moments coming in the live material, although the new studio recording ‘Abele’ is a pleasing enough jazzy Afro-beat workout. Osibisa are under-sung world music pioneers, but anyone wanting to explore their legacy further would be better advised to wait for the career retrospective box set, promised for 2021 to mark their 50th anniversary.