Tag: Nigerian Fuzz Funk

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.”

A while back, we told you about the anthology we’ve been working on in conjunction with Uchenna Ikonne (the man behind the perennially-dope Comb & Razor blog) and New-Zealand based psych-zealot Heavyfuzz. Well, it took Ikonne a bit longer in his home-country of Nigeria than he thought, but he’s back in the States with piles of 45s and LPs, stacks of licensing agreements and… an anthology of the same type of music that he’s assembled with Soundway Records.

Yes, you might think that we’d be a bit miffed but, if you know us well, you know that we view the quest to spread unheard-of sounds as a global-community-minded effort. That’s why we teamed up with Jazzman – instead of fighting tooth and nail for the same licenses of the same funk and soul tracks. And who wins? Well, the original artists who recorded the music first off – and then you, the consumer, as you get to hear more music than you would otherwise.

So…. on our Forge Your Own Chains anthology, you can check out The Strangers’ “It Takes Too To Make A Pair;” on Soundways’ The World Ends, you can catch The Strangers’ “Onye Ije.” And, while The World Ends focuses on the exquisite fuzz-driven “Deiyo Deiyo” by The Hykkers, we’ll release their Sly-Stone influenced “Stone The Flower.” See, we can all get along!

Download: The Hykkers “Deiyo Deiyo” from Soundway’s The World Ends here.
…. and if you missed them:
Download: The Strangers “It Takes Two To Make A Pair” here.
Download: Wrinkar Experience “Money To Burn” here.