Wakar Alhazai Kano/Mus'en Sofua

After recording several albums for various Nigerian labels as the Martins Brothers Dance Band (heard on Soundway's 2004 compilation Afro Baby: The Evolution of the Afro-Sound in Nigeria 1970-79), the seven-strong Afrobeat band from Port Harcourt signed onto the label headed by Igbo businessman Chief Tabansi. He turned them into the Tabansi Studio Band and, realising that their simmering funk needed a strong lead vocalist, added the Igbo singer Goody Ezike to the line-up. Together they recorded two splendid LPs in 1979, which are reissued together here.

Each LP contained just two tracks apiece, between 12 and 18 minutes in length, although the two original releases are subtly different in style. Wakar Alhazai Kano draws on Hausa music with its Islamic inflections and 12/8 time signatures. Mus'en Sofua is sung in Igbo with 4/4 rhythms drawing on funk, jazz and soul and closer in style to Fela Kuti's brand of Afrobeat improvisation. This reviewer's preference is for the two Hausa tracks, if only because they break with the standard motifs and familiar inflections of Afrobeat. Yet all four tracks simmer irresistibly and Ezike – who is still around today, spreading the Igbo Christian gospel -sings like a force of nature.