Champions of Soundway
There have been some fascinating articles in the press over the last few months on the two most recent Soundway compilations, Palenque Palenque! Champeta, Criolla & Afro Roots 1970 – 1991 and The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia in 1970s Nigeria. So we have chosen two of our favorites for your reading pleasure. Please follow the links below to read the rest of the articles.
The forgotten beat of 70s Africa
by Sean O’Hagan
Originally published in The Observer
The World Ends, according to Soundway, “represents a forgotten chapter in Nigeria’s musical history”. That period coincided with the Biafran war, which started in 1967, just as America and Britain were celebrating the so-called summer of love. For young, hip Nigerians, the electric guitar was the symbol of all things new and vibrant, and the psychedelic sounds filtering out from San Francisco and London were the template for a hybrid sound that spoke only of the future. It has taken four decades for those sounds to be excavated, re-pressed from the vinyl, and marketed to a new audience….
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‘Champeta Criolla’ Compilation Rides Colombia’s Wild Afrobeat Wave
by Steve Hochman
Originally published in The Spinner
Never mind the British Invasion. In the early ’70s, Colombia was host to an Afrobeat Invasion. DJs were spinning whatever highlife, juju and soukous records they could get their hands on via their colorful picos sound systems in the poorer neighborhoods of Barranquilla and Cartegena and just as garage bands throughout North America in the previous decade were churning out enthusiastic – if rough – versions of “Day Tripper” and “Satisfaction,” Colombian combos of varying quality were playing competing interpretations of Nigerian icon Fela Anakulapo Kuti’s ‘Shakara’ and ‘Zombie’ by the handful…..
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