Few images are as emblematic of the changes that swept Africa's music scene in the 1970s as Afrodisia's iconic logo. Starting out as a doodle by label founder Dave Bennett, the stylized picture of a woman sporting an afro surrounded by a bold, curved typeface has appeared on hundreds of West African records, epitomizing one of the most transformative periods for African music.
During this decade artists in newly independent countries all over Africa were exploring and reclaiming indigenous styles which had been marginalized during colonialism, while also absorbing the rock, funk, and disco coming from abroad. The music scene exploded, and for the first time big labels began to take notice. Decca was particularly active, and its West Africa sales manager Dave Bennett launched Afrodisia as a Lagos-based label in 1972. Bennett strived to transfer all creative decision-making away from the London offices to Lagos, a move facilitated by the military junta’s indigenisation decrees of 1972 and 1977, requiring Nigerian ownership stakes in local companies. This enabled him to work closely with Nigerian colleagues who were deeply connected to the music scenes in Lagos and further afield, and led to Afrodisia’s relationship with the likes of Oriental Brothers International, an Igbo band from the East.
Afrodisia’s first decade yielded hundreds of recordings. In 1980, PolyGram acquired Decca and Afrodisia reorganized as a wholly Nigerian company retaining Nigerian rights to its catalog. Those recordings captured the plethora of sounds that were igniting the region’s music scenes, from jùjú to Afrobeat, highlife, psych-rock and, later on, soul and disco.
The following selection includes records by major stars like Fela Kuti, and others by lesser known artists who nonetheless had a pivotal role in shaping modern African music, as well as one compilation of killer singles, mostly originally issued by Afrodisia and assembled by Africa Seven in 2022.
