Being the first of a string of brand new projects, this eponymous first album sees Soundway taking a slightly different direction in 2012 and beyond. Championed mostly for their work in un-earthing and re-releasing classic, rare and vintage tropical recordings, Soundway have started signing new acts that have drawn on and been inspired by the kind of music found on the label’s groundbreaking compilations and re-issues.

What originally started out as a radio show designed to promote new African music has slowly evolved into a collaborative project crossing continents. Music is the starting point but through dance, graphics, photography, radio and video, Batida expands, taking in politics and social commentary but always bringing it back to the party.

Batida’s high energy live show features dancers, percussionists, DJs, MCs alongside visuals and images (both archive and new) of Angolan streets, war and fragments of tribal life.

Batida will be making their first live performance of the year at this years Eurosonic festival in The Netherlands.

The album will be pre-ceeded by an exclusive, limited-edition 7″ remix single.

The market runs from 11am – 5pm, Saturday 10th December. Hope to see some of you down there.

For more information and the list of other labels involved go to the Independent Label Market blog

These limited edition screen print t-shirts, available in green and blue, are printed on a 100% certified organic cotton jersey. The t-shirts are manufactured using renewable energy generated from wind and solar power which reduce the carbon footprint of EarthPositive garments by up to 90%. Both t-shirts are limited to 100.

ORDER HERE

SIZES (measured across the chest from underarm to underarm)

SMALL: 50cm / 20 inches
MEDIUM: 53cm / 21 inches
LARGE: 56cm / 22 inches
X-LARGE: 60cm / 24 inches

This month we’re repressing some of the most popular singles and LPs from the Soundway back catalogue. All of these titles will be shipping from our online store the week of the 5th December except the Eddie Hooper title which shall be available again from early next year.

Bukom Mashie / Disco Africa 12″ vinyl & download
SNDW12001

Re-pressed here is the very first Soundway 12” release featuring 2 highly charged, Afro-funk tracks from Oscar Sulley and The Ogyataana Show Band. The tracks appear in both their original form and remixed versions by Quantic all guaranteed to get the feet moving. Released just prior to the critically acclaimed Ghana Soundz: Afro-Beat, Funk & Fusion in 70s Ghana, the lead track ‘Bukom Mashie’ featured on the soundtrack to the Hollywood blockbuster ‘Last King of Scotland’.

A1 – Oscar Sulley – Bukom Mashie
A2 – Oscar Sulley – Bukom Mashie (Quantic Remix)

B1 – The Ogyatanaa Show Band – Disco Africa
B2 – The Ogyataana Show Band – Disco Africa (Quantic Remix)

CLICK HERE TO BUY

Africa Is Home / Olufeme 12″ & download
SNDW12005

Originally released in 2005 to coincide with the release of Ghana Soundz vol 2: Afro-Beat, Funk and Fusion in 70s Ghana, this 12” vinyl sees two tracks from that release re-edited and re-mixed by Brighton based Natural Self. Joe Mensah’s ‘Africa Is Home’ is subjected to a re-edit, stretching the groove for added dance floor pleasure. Side B, Oscar Sulley’s lively Afro-beat number ‘Olufeme’ is remixed with baritone sax and flute added to the mix.

A1: Joe Mensah – Africa Is Home (Natural Self Re-edit)
B1: Oscar Sullety – Olufeme (Natural Self Remix)

CLICK HERE TO BUY

Eddie Hooper – Pass It On (Part 1)

This release comes from the Guyanese singer Eddie Hooper, famous in the large part for his soca recordings. However, it is the disco spectrum that Hooper transcends in this double header that has ‘end of the night’ written all over it.Recorded in 1980, Hooper delivers some of the most life-affirming and spaced out disco soul you’re likely ever hear integrating Rhodes keys, orchestrations, the odd early keyboard synth and vocals that permeate the tracks and aptly spell out how to ‘set your spirit free’.

A. Pass It On (Part 1)
B. Tomorrow’s Sun

CLICK HERE TO BUY

Colombia! The Golden Age of Discos Fuentes – The Powerhouse of Colombian Music 1960-76 CD, 2xLP & digital

Since 1934, Disco Fuentes (Fuentes Records) has acted as the largest record label in Colombia, a country where it is impossible to escape music. This collection of tracks delves into the golden years of 1960-76 and is hand picked from the enormous Fuentes record catalogue comprising various tropical music styles. Cumbia, Gaita, Fandango, Salsa and Champeta all feature in the selection from one of the worlds best Latin music archives.

CLICK HERE TO BUY

Cartagena! Curro Fuentes & The Big Band Cumbia and Descarga Sound of Colombia 1962 – 1972 CD, 2zLP, digital

Soundway set sail for the Colombian coastal town of Cartagena for their first selection of 2011. Sourced from a period when musicians effortlessly combined the swing of cumbia with the driving bass of salsa, Cartagena! un-wraps a period of musical history seldom heard beyond the tropical coast of South America.

CLICK HERE TO BUY

Next month sees the release of The Original Sound of Cumbia: The History of Colombian Cumbia & Porro As Told By The Phonograph 1948 – 79. Compiled by Will ‘Quantic’ Holland the album is the result of five years research by Will and is his and Soundway’s definitive guide to the origins of Colombian cumbia and porro.

This however was not Soundway’s first foray into Colombia. In 2008 Soundway turned its attention to Colombia, a country where music is impossible to ignore, with the release of ‘Colombia! The Golden Age of Discos Fuentes. The Powerhouse of Colombian Music’.

As this journey of discovery grew, four more Colombian compilations followed as well as a handful of singles and EPs. From the oddball Afro influenced champeta of ‘Palenque Palenque’ to the swinging descarga and cumbia of ‘Cartagena!’ and to the eagerly awaited 55 track new release ‘The Original Sound of Cumbia’, Soundway continues to unearth the music of one of the most musically prolific and exciting countries in the world.

This map, loaded with tracks, videos and pictures goes in part to highlight the regions of Colombia that the different styles originated from and that the musicians, labels and recording studios were based. Rare video interviews with Curro Fuentes and Michi Sarmiento feature alongside performances from the likes of Lucho Bermudez and of course, some of the fantastic music that have featured on these compilations.

DJs: Miles Cleret (Soundway), Frankie Franics (Sofrito) & very special guest Will ‘Quantic’ Holland

25th November, 10pm – 3am, Designers Block, 32 Cremer Street, London, E2 8HD
£6 early bird, £8 advanced, £10 on the door

CLICK HERE TO INVITE FRIENDS

To coincide with the release of ‘The Original Sound of Cumbia’ we’re excited to announce the official London launch party on 25th November. Soundway head honcho Miles Cleret and Sofrito’s Frankie Francis will be joined behind the decks by a very special, guest and ‘The Original Sound of Cumbia’ compiler Will ‘Quantic’ Holland. So expect some of the finest cumbia Colombia has to offer as well as the usual mix of the rarest and funkiest, retro tropical grooves from around the world. Not to be missed we assure you.

Dancing Time With Soundway: The Original Sound of Cumbia launch party will be held at the fabulous Designers Block on Cremer Street, Shoreditch. The first 50 tickets can be bought for the special early bird price of £6. Advance tickets after that shall be £8 and £10 on the door.

BLACK GODDESS WILL BE SHOWN IN FULL AT ‘DANCING TIME WITH SOUNDWAY’ IN LONDON ON 10th SEPTEMBER

Written and directed by Ola Balogun and shot on location in Brazil and Nigeria in 1977-78, “Black Goddess” had the distinction of being the first collaboration between an African country and Brazil in the field of film production. It won the International Catholic Film Office prize for best motion picture at the Carthage Film Festival in 1978 and was honoured at a special screening in the widely acclaimed “New Films, New Director’s” programme at the New York Museum of Modern Art in April 1980.

FILM SYNOPSIS (written by the film’s director Ola Balogun)

“Black Goddess” is a love story that spans two centuries.

In 18th century Yorubaland in Nigeria, Prince Oluyole is taken prisoner in the course of internecine warfare fanned by overseas slave traders. He is sold into slavery in Brazil.

Flash forward to the 1970’s in Lagos, capital of Nigeria : A dying man bequeaths a sacred carving of Yemoja to his son Babatunde, to whom he entrusts the task of travelling to Brazil to retrieve the duplicate of the carving. The carving that Babatunde is to seek out is supposedly held in trust by members of a branch of their family who remained behind in Brazil when Babatunde’s forefathers returned to Nigeria after slavery was abolished in Brazil at the end of the nineteenth century.

In Brazil, Babatunde meets unexpected assistance in his quest from a young female devotee of the cult of Yemoja, who falls into a trance in his presence during a religious ceremony in one of modern Brazil’s African religious temples known as candomblé.

At Yemoja’s prompting, the young woman undertakes to guide Babatunde to a deserted village in a remote part of Brazil, where they encounter the same mysterious woman to whom Prince Oluyole owed his survival two centuries earlier.

As the interaction between Yemoja, Babatunde and his guide deepens, the adventure evolves into a fresh blossoming of the tragic love affair between Prince Oluyole and Amanda which was cut short by her premature death two centuries earlier…

DJ Vamanos YouTube mix

http://ghettobassquake.com/

A.J Holmes YouTube Mix

http://ajholmesandthehackneyempire.com

Live music comes from The Cambodian Space Project.

The evening will kick off with a very rare screening of Black Goddess, Ola Balogun’s movie from 1978.

10th September 2011
Netil House, 1 Westgate Street, E8 3RL
7pm – 4am,
£12

BUY TICKETS

SOUNDWAY STORE // GIGANTIC

SOUNDWAY STORE TICKETS ARE BOX OFFICE COLLECTION – PLEASE BRING YOUR ORDER CONFIRMATION NUMBER WITH YOU ON THE DAY

Soundway DJs

Miles Cleret
Djs Chris Menist & Maft Sai (The Sound of Siam)

Guest Djs

Djs Vamanos & A.J. Holmes (Secousse / Ghetto Bassquake / The Hackney Empire).
The Quietus DJs presents Departure Lounge

Live

Cambodian Space Project – 6 piece direct from Phnom Penh

Film

Screening of ‘Black Goddess’, an award winning from the 1970s shot in Nigeria & Brazil – starts 7.30pm

Tickets are also available from select record stores: Rough Trade Records, Soul Jazz, Phonica, Lucky 7 and Flashback Records