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Lagos Chop Up: Fuji & Afrobeat, Highlife & Juju
The companion to another compilation from the Honest Jon’s label, Lagos All Routes, this is a grab bag of various Nigerian musical styles from the ’60s to the ’80s. On the more modern side, Sir Shina Adewale’s “Awa Ni Superstars” is a short but raucous juju music blast, full of talking drum and live-wire guitar; Dr. Victor Olaiya’s “Omelebele” is rattling, fuzzed-out psych-rock with a blasting organ solo and punchy horns; the Ikenga Super Stars Of Africa’s “Soffry Soffry Catch Monkey” is wah-wah Afro-funk with a shaker-driven rhythm; Oliver De Coque’s “The Tragedy Story Of Two Friends” is a lilting highlife number with beautiful vocal harmonies that runs more than nine minutes. On the other hand, there are traditional styles represented too, like Etubom Rex Williams’ “Uwa Idem Mi,” which features mbira, hand percussion, and call-and-response male vocals, and Kollington Ayinla’s “Alhaja Sikira Adunni/Ayinla Fuju E Ga Pupo,” a remarkable vocal-and-percussion workout that sounds like an Islamic rite staged in a junkyard. The album ends with Shina Williams & His African Percussions’ “Ise Aje Male/Egbe Kegbe/Emi Koni Koja Ayemi,” a 15-minute medley that blends Afrobeat with Memphis soul to thrilling, “what if King Curtis was Fela, and vice versa?” effect.