Nearly two years ago, we announced that we were assembling an anthology of the best Nigerian psych-fuzz-funk tracks from the country’s golden years of the early to mid 1970s in conjunction with Uchenna Ikonne and New-Zealand based psych-zealot Heavyfuzz. There was a catch, though: After a series of missteps dealing with shady middle men and copyright “holding companies” who claimed to represent bands and artists that had no connection, we helped send Ikonne back to Nigeria to track down – and officially license – each track for their anthology from the bandmembers themsselves. That was, as far as we could tell, a first for a Nigerian comp of this sort – but is the only way that we like to do business.
The process took Ikonne the better part of a year, and, although he returned with stacks of licenses, records culled from radio stations tucked deep in Eastern Nigeria’s “psych-funk-belt,” never-before-published photos and scores of interviews, he wasn’t able to track down every artist he was after. Thus, our comp was delayed.
Back Stateside, though, Ikonne found one of the missing links: Question Mark’s bandleader Franklin Izuorah. Living in Texas, working as a family therapist, yet still playing music, Izuorah signed on. The timing was perfect – right around the release of Madlb’s Medicine Show #3, Beat Konducta In Africa. The Loop Digga drew from Question Mark’s “Love” for his “Endless Cold (Lovelost)” and Ikonne and Egon worked to put the finishing touches on their anthology.
Well, it’s nearly a year later – and their white-whale of an anthology is almost done…. But, in the interim, they teamed up with Germany’s Shadoks to reissue Question Mark’s album in full, packaged with an extensive interview that Ikonne conducted with Izuorah and percussionist Uzo Aguiefo. You can download “Love” below.
Download: Question Mark “Love.”