DOWNLOAD: Next Stop Soweto - Melotone Sisters With Amaqola Band + S. Piliso & His Super Seven
After jumps into Nigerian and Ethio grooves, Strut has released a most-excellent compilation culling the best of South African soul-jazz-township-jive from the late 60’s and 70’s and every single jam is a blistering, funked-up celebration. Two more records will comprise the series, but for now, Next Stop Soweto is where it’s at. Below, Melotone Sisters With Amaqola Band and S. Piliso & His Super Seven ply mbaqanga fusion for all it’s worth, which to us (and all the twee rippers who can’t come close to replicating these beats), is a lot.
Melotone Sisters With Amaqola Band - I Sivenoe
S. Piliso & His Super Seven - Kuya Hanjwa
DOWNLOAD: Peter King - Shango
For the longest time it was easy be ignorant of all the music being made by other cultures, even if their styles meshed well with those popular at home. Thanks to the Internet and archivists like Strut, so much of that music is now coming to light for the rest of us. Strut's latest finds are compiled on Nigeria 70: The Definitive Story of 1970's Funky Lagos, a rich collection of Afro-funk/jazz. There's no better place to start than with Peter King's "Shango," which quickly shifts from cascading hand percussion to bright horn fanfare, its physical funk rhythms locking listeners in loose grooves.The time is ripe to explore the familiar territory you never knew existed.
Sounds like: Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, James Brown, Fela Kuti at his most concise.
