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From the vaults of Philips in Nigeria comes this collection of music from mysterious trumpeter and bandleader, Bola Johnson. Unmissable '60s and early '70s recordings for all highlife and Afrobeat fans. A missing jewel from a golden age of Nigerian music. Up till now, Bola Johnson only seems to figure in the margins of the high octane Lagos music scene of the late '60s and early '70s. He may have never had the focus, the career longevity or the catalog of titans like Afrobeat's Fela Kuti, juju's King Sunny Ade or highlife's Victor Olaiya, but his music took its own magnificent route through the popular music of the time. His joyful treasure of a voice embellished every style in his repertoire, from the sweetly melodic heights of highlife and palm wine to the soulful skanking of Afro-blues/funk and Afrobeat; his red-hot trumpet scorches its way to your yearning soul; his tunes vibrate with infectious hooks and undulating rhythms; he seems equally at home composing across the stylistic range -- Funk? Calypso? Highlife? You name it. His early years were inflamed by his time playing with Nigerian trumpet-playing legend and highlife maestro Eddy Okonta, but he joined Eric Akeaze's highlife band as a singer and maracas player in that same year, then resident at the Easy Life Hotel, in Mokola, Ibadan, which was the hub of the music scene in Nigeria in the '60s. When Eric Akeaze and his band left the Easy Life Hotel, Bola was asked to stay and set up the Easy Life Top Beats. They also toured the northern part of Nigeria. When Bola returned south, this time to Lagos later in 1968, he and his musicians were ready to make their funkiest tracks. In 1964, while still only 17 years old, Bola had been signed to the Philips West African record label, and he recorded many of the rootsier tracks you will hear on this album as 7" singles. In 1968, in Lagos, he recorded the funkier material on his Papa Rebecca Special LP and later a rootsier album entitled Ashewo Ajegunle Yakare. Given how great he sounds, you've just got to ask exactly why more material wasn't recorded. According to Bola, the A&R people at Philips in those days allowed sentiment for the past to override their judgment in promoting new artists, because they had highlife giants on their label such as Osita Osadebe, Rex Lawson, Victor Olaiya and Bobby Benson, and so it was hard for younger artists to get their attention, backing and consequent exposure. Additionally, it was always difficult for him to own musical instruments, and bandleaders were the people who owned and supplied their musicians with musical hardware. Of course, you must factor in the civil war and the consequent decrease in popularity of highlife, then the rise of juju, Afrobeat and the briefly fashionable Afro-rock. Classic and unique as Bola's approach was, it didn't seem to light the same kind of fuse for young Lagos. As his musical opportunities began to wane, Bola went into broadcasting, firstly at Radio Nigeria Ibadan in 1970 and then he moved to the FRCN (Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria) in 1973. Sometimes he played at the Cool Cat in Ebute Metta, Lagos. These days, Bola lives in Ikorodu, a suburb of Lagos. He still writes music and looks forward to making new recordings.
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