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AF 1008LP
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When the U.S. State Department announced in the mid-1970s that they were sponsoring a South African tour for the Oklahoma-born, Paris-based saxophonist Hal Singer, producer Rashid Vally took note. Even though his nascent record label As-Shams/The Sun (established in 1974) was making waves on the local scene, the idea of commissioning a recording from an international artist was a ballsy idea. With a discography that stretched back to the 1950s, Hal Singer was already somewhat of a legacy artist by 1976. Vally was well-versed on Singer's accomplishments and specifically enamored by his composition "Blue Stompin'," which appeared on a Prestige album from 1959 that had struck a chord in South Africa. With his irresistible charm, Vally managed to coax Singer into a studio in Johannesburg, South Africa, to record a new version of "Blue Stompin'" with South African sax star Kippie Moeketsi, which became the title track of a 1977 album by Moeketsi. The recording session also yielded an album's worth of new material by Hal Singer and his quartet that took its name from a track inspired by Singer's trip to South Africa entitled "Soweto to Harlem." Released in 1976 and only available in South Africa, Soweto to Harlem captures a laid-back, cheeky and nostalgic rhythm and blues set from the Hal Singer Quartet that is unlikely to have emerged for a different target market.
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AF 1007LP
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With one foot planted in jazz and the other in the township groove of Mbaqanga, saxophonist Sello Mmutung was a powerful crossover figure in the history of popular music in South Africa. Using the stage name Bra Sello, meaning "brother" and used as a term of affection and respect in the jazz community, he came up in the era of shellac 78s as an exponent of the 1960s sax jive sound that brought the swinging rhythm of kwela into the domain of South African jazz. Despite the injection of American rhythm and blues into South African pop in the late-1960s, Bra Sello's first releases on vinyl on the CBS label saw him backed by the group Abafana Bentuthuko and holding down an unapologetic township sound. Joining the independent Soweto label under producer Cambridge Matiwane in the mid-1970s, Bra Sello recorded two records in the hit-making bump jive style popularized by serious jazz musician Dollar Brand on the one hand and prolific studio group the Movers, operating in funk and soul territory, on the other. Blending modern American and traditional African elements into joyful hip-swinging rhythms, Butterfly (1975) and The Battle of Disco (1977) reflect the vivacity of urban life in South Africa and document an era when dance music was performed by bands as extended jams laced with jaw-dropping solos. With music trends shifting dramatically in the late-1970s, the title of The Battle of Disco was an ironic call to arms in response to the territory that group musicians were beginning to cede to synthesizers and DJs. For enthusiasts of African music from the 1970s, a full appreciation of the continent's output is incomplete without South Africa's pop-jazz sound providing a regional counterpoint to the funk experimentation of West Africa. Reissued for the very first time, Bra Sello returns in 2023 with limited replica editions from Afrodelic using master tape sources from the As-Shams/The Sun collection.
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AF 1006LP
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With one foot planted in jazz and the other in the township groove of Mbaqanga, saxophonist Sello Mmutung was a powerful crossover figure in the history of popular music in South Africa. Using the stage name Bra Sello, meaning "brother" and used as a term of affection and respect in the jazz community, he came up in the era of shellac 78s as an exponent of the 1960s sax jive sound that brought the swinging rhythm of kwela into the domain of South African jazz. Despite the injection of American rhythm and blues into South African pop in the late-1960s, Bra Sello's first releases on vinyl on the CBS label saw him backed by the group Abafana Bentuthuko and holding down an unapologetic township sound. Joining the independent Soweto label under producer Cambridge Matiwane in the mid-1970s, Bra Sello recorded two records in the hit-making bump jive style popularized by serious jazz musician Dollar Brand on the one hand and prolific studio group the Movers, operating in funk and soul territory, on the other. Blending modern American and traditional African elements into joyful hip-swinging rhythms, Butterfly (1975) and The Battle of Disco (1977) reflect the vivacity of urban life in South Africa and document an era when dance music was performed by bands as extended jams laced with jaw-dropping solos. With music trends shifting dramatically in the late-1970s, the title of The Battle of Disco was an ironic call to arms in response to the territory that group musicians were beginning to cede to synthesizers and DJs. For enthusiasts of African music from the 1970s, a full appreciation of the continent's output is incomplete without South Africa's pop-jazz sound providing a regional counterpoint to the funk experimentation of West Africa. Reissued for the very first time, Bra Sello returns in 2023 with limited replica editions from Afrodelic using master tape sources from the As-Shams/The Sun collection. Afrodelic's unique edition of Butterfly features a previously unreleased track on Side B.
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AF 1005LP
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Reissue, originally released in 1974. 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 Zaria, then in 1972 we left band management and started The Elcados. The original management of The Moonrakers sold the name to his elder brother who had a club in Kano and they brought Prince Bola Agbana to get other musicians to continue The Moonrakers while we moved in as The Elcados." Moonrakers Band and the Elcados were the two bands that inflamed northern Nigeria in the early '70s with a more rocking and virtuoso sound, and especially with tons of rare grooves, then everything else around it. Coming to the album content tracks like "Wait For Me", "Cut Your Coat According To You Size", "Yara Manyan Gobe", but also "Enia Sa Pele" and "Move On", will make floating camels appear on the dancefloor, or in your house.
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AF 1004LP
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Reissue, originally released in 1978. A little masterpiece of soul Afrofunk with carpets of dreamy keyboards on their swirling, seductive sound and their really cool voices. The second album of Black Children Sledge Funk Band released in 1978 is a delight. Repressed for the first time.
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AF 1003LP
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Official reissue, originally released in 1978 on the Blackspot label (DECCA's West Africa division). Tunde Mabadu's ultra-rare debut album, Bisu, which includes the super groovy "Red Jeans", differs from the later 1980 Viva Disco album by a much more pure African style. A beautiful and soulful production in which Tunde's deep voice and sax move on the excellent horn arrangements, percussions, the wah-wah rhythm guitar, and weird keyboards and synths (at times psychedelic as in the nine-minute "Blue Bird"). As wrote on the original liner notes of the era: "His music will mesmerize you from the first track. A dedicated musician especially to his African roots with so much to offer musically."
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