Jazz & Improvisation / Afrobeat

Overtake Don Overtake Overtake was the penultimate album of newly recorded studio material released by Fela before he passed in 1997. Like its immediate predecessor, Beasts Of No Nation (also 1989), and its followup, Underground System (1992), the al…

** In process of Stocking ** The tape of the very first Fela Ransome Kuti recording session has languished in a series of dusty cupboards and damp basements for 60 years. It’s a miracle that it has survived in such fine condition. The original Melodi…

The Mapendo album of the Mighty Cavaliers, up to today, has been shrouded in mystery. Why is that, you can find next to nothing about the band and the album. The only song which is maybe well known in the collectors scene is "Dunia Ina Mambo" from th…

* 2021 Stock *  The Super Biton has existed since the 60s, like Ségou, its orchestra, the Super Biton has always remained behind what was done in Bamako and in the big cities of Africa. The Ségou orchestra developed and incorporated amplified instrum…

After their debut album the most multifaceted and unpredictable musical collective in Italy – Addict Ameba – come back with their sophomore album, “Caosmosi”. Faithful to the aim of bringing together different paths, traditions and horizons in their …

Strut proudly presents the first official remastered reissue of Lafayette Afro Rock Band's elusive funk/Afro original album, 'Malik,' originally released in 1974.

Strut proudly presents the first official remastered reissue of the funk/Afro classic, Lafayette Afro Rock Band's 'Soul Makossa' from 1973.

"The Nigerian establishment labelled Kalakuta Republic inhabitants as — ‘hooligans’, ‘hemp smokers’, etc. Noise For Vendor Mouth is Fela’s indifference to that name calling because, for him, people in Kalakuta are really a bunch of hard working citiz…

The deepest song here is the second track, ""Mr Grammarticalogylisationalism Is The Boss,” which ridicules the notion that speaking ""proper"" English demonstrates superior intelligence, and bemoans the fact that doing so is, unfortunately, a require…

"The Kalakuta Show album release was Fela’s undaunted manner of extracting revenge on the military regime that attacked and brutalized him in 1974. The second of such attacks in a space of eight months, Kalakuta Show was an attempt by the Nigerian po…

Also featuring Ginger Baker, the title track is among Fela’s first overtly political lyrics. His political perspective had evolved during the 1969 / 1970 tour of the US, largely through his friendship with the black-rights activist Sandra Izsadore, w…

Highly recommended, a true Revelation! After a long hiatus since the homonymous 2006 release on Schema Records, The Invisible Session is back with Echoes Of Africa to be released on the newly-launched Space Echo label. Initiated in 2006 by Schema Rec…

*2023 stock* "Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense: Fela explains the role of the teacher in any society with the concept that: all the things we consider as problems, and all the good things we accept from life as good, begin with what we are taught. The…

Knitting Factory Records reissue Fela Kuti’s ‘Army Arrangement’ on vinyl, previously only available as part of the Box Set series. ‘Army Arrangement’ is about Nigeria’s attempt at ‘democracy’ in 1979 after more than a decade of military rule.Bill Las…

*2023 stock* "A brilliant album from Fela Kuti – and one that shows him really coming into his own, with that tremendous new sound that would go onto influence decades of musicians! The title track – Roforofo Fight – is a side-long jam that instantly…

*50th Anniversary reissue* These percolating, horn-heavy grooves simmer while Fela Kuti lays down his trademark rants, often in deliberately skewered pidgin English....totally unstoppable in its mix of music and message. His voice, interlocking guita…

* Repress! Includes printed inner sleeves * Double LP version with printed inner sleeve. Born Bad Records presents the music of Cameroonian musician Francis Bebey, circa 1982-1984. "The first time I saw a sanza (a type of African 'thumb piano'), it w…

50th Anniversary Reissue on Igbo Smoke Vinyl. Fela Kuti (1938-1997) was a Nigerian musician, producer, arranger, political radical, outlaw and the originator of Afrobeat. A titanic musical and sociopolitical voice, Fela’s legacy spans decades and gen…

*2023 stock* "Perhaps the distinguishing factors of records like Open & Close and some of Fela Kuti's other '70s releases are that as much as he liked to ride a groove, he also liked to disrupt it, twist it and turn it, reshape it, only to bring it b…

"Zombie: Fela in his life time was never ‘a good bed-fellow’ of the military institution. As a political activist, he believed the army should operate under the mandate of a civil government. If national interest compels the armed forces to intervene…

*2023 stock* Fela Kuti deplores the fashion among African women for skin-whitening creams, an example of the post-colonial inferiority complex he believed was holding back the country's development. The song addresses the fashion much as 1973’s “Gent…

*2023 stock* "Johnny Just Drop is talking about Africans who travel abroad only to return home with new values and mannerisms. Since the advent of colonialism in Africa, the education system left Black people with an inferior perception of their cult…

New from Strut, a fresh reissue of the classic debut album Try And Love from one of Nigeria’s most celebrated Afro-rock bands, Ofege. Formed by guitarist Melvin Ukachi and bassist Paul Alade while young students at St Gregory’s school in Lagos, Ofege…

Next up on Africa Seven is the second edition of our "African Funk Experimentals" LPs. With these we took some of our favourite African artists, choose the most funky we can find and then put together a compilation of their choicest and funkiest trac…

Finish The Sun, the second offering from Shane Cooper & Mabuta, is a glowing and energetic album, rooted in grooves from all over the African continent. The six-piece outfit draws on influences from Mali, Nigeria, the Sahel, Morocco; and the many sou…

Bush Brothers & Space Rangers sees Oneness Of Juju at the peak of their powers in 1977. Oneness had enjoyed two fruitful years with Black Fire prior to these recordings, breaking through with the African Rhythms and Space Jungle Luv albums. “When we …

Wah Wah 45s are very proud to present the first full-length album in almost a decade from vocalist, keyboard player, Fela Kuti collaborator and afrobeat legend, Dele Sosimi!

** 2021 Stock ** Assagai's second and final album. This Afro-funk band from Zimbabwe was based in London in the very early 70s, and released their second album in 1972. Seems that members of UK prog band Jade Warrior helped out in the recording of th…

** 2021 Stock ** Assagai's debut for Philips' progressive subsidiary Vertigo was realized in 1971 to quiet applause. Critics soon became favorable as Afro-rock gained a foothold as the "next big thing" and it wasn't long before they would make their …

A little masterpiece of soul afrofunk with carpets of dreamy keyboards on their swirlingly seductive sound and their really cool voices. The second album of Black Children Sledge Funk released in 1978 is a delight. Repressed for the first time.

An aura of mystery is hidden on this magnificent album released on EMI Nigeria in 1974 and today a collector’s cult object was the only one named Moonrakers Band.Steve Black tells: “We were the original members of The Moonrakers and were based in Zar…

Bala Miller was famous for pushing boundaries. His first job was selling beer in the Muslim north. And as a musician he'd always try to sneak in 'local' flourishes while playing trumpet with Bobby Benson and Victor Olaiya. It was with his band, the P…

Akwassa were among the best Afro-Beat bands coming from Nigeria. They released La'ila in 1975 and were one of the early Nigerian Funk bands to get an album out. They were related to the Heads Funk Band and most members were part of both bands. They m…

Don't let the floppy hat and rolling English countryside on the cover fool you. Harry Mosco's Country Boy is a certified floor-filler, bursting with Studio 54 era disco-funk as well as a token reggae monster, complete with its own dub version. Harry …

Hard World is the first of three albums released by Heads Funk Band and it's one of the most rare LPs coming from Nigeria. What we have here is a pure, well crafted Afro-Funk. Heads Funk Band is related to Akwassa, where both are two exceptional band…

The self-proclaimed funkiest band on the west coast of Africa, the Heads Funk Band, could arguably make that claim for the whole continent. Featuring the slick guitar of Felix ‘Feladey’ Odey, the slinky drumming of Eddie Offeyi and the swirling keybo…

Killer 1973 Solo album from the percussionist of kraut band Can. A boiling cauldron of polyrhythmic grooves and jazz improvisations with a strong early 70ies prog touch, haunting Exotica jazz passages with “jungle” feel. For fans of Osibisa, Fela, Gi…

In mid-seventies, Nigerian bands came and went with alarming regularity, rising meteorically from the slums to stardom and falling back again just as quickly. Masisi Mass Funk from Anamara State was one such band. But during their brief moment in the…

** Carefully remastered and pressed on 180g vinyl. Including extensive biography & photos from the Schwarz family's archives. ** In the beginning of the 1970’s, Guinea-Bissau was a country broken up into many ethnic groups and at the heart of a war f…

Second album by Greece's premiere Afro-jazz band. An Odyssey of sound through West African percussion, jazz, Greek melodies and a tinge of funk. Greece is maybe not the first country that comes to mind when you think of Afrojazz. Afrodyssey Orchestra…