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.

Whereas nearly all of kuduro (Angolan electronic music) has no links with its country’s musical heritage, it is deeply engrained in Batida’s music. Sampling tracks from 1970s Angola, Batida is a reinterpretation of Angola’s musical past, bringing it firmly into the modern day.

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

1. Pronto pra Batida feat. MCK
2. Algeria
3. Yumbala feat. Circuito Feixado
4. Tirei o Chapéu feat. Ikonoklasta
5. Puxa feat. Beat Laden
6. Bazuka (Quem me rusgou)
7. Tribalismo feat. Circuito Feixado (CD ONLY)
8. Ka Heueh feat. Ngongo
9. Saudade feat. Bob da Rage Sense
10. Cuka feat. Ikonoklasta

The majority of the records were of the ska and rocksteady persuasion but one or two stick out as being slightly different.

‘Soul Food’, a super weighty instrumental soul / blues / funk b-side was released in 1969/70 on Rude Boy Records featuring amongst others Ghanaian saxophonist and vocalist Teddy Osei (who went on to form the Afro rock band Osibisa). ‘Booma Woman’ was also a B-side in a more reggae-funk style released possibly a year later featuring vocalist Jean Manix.

Both have been out of print ever since and are re-released with the Nelson families’ full permission.

Nelson was a very popular and well-loved figure in Guyanese society and many of his songs have become nationalist and political songs that have become part of the national psyche.

The 7” vinyl is limited to 1000 copies and comes with a free MP3 download of the release.

TRACKLISTING:
7″ VINYL SINGLE (SNDW7016)
A1 The Booma Rockers – Soul Food
B1 The Booma Rockers – Booma Woman

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 majority of their songs were based around a 6/8 rhythm influenced by the music of the Ewe people from the South East of Ghana and Western Togo. With themes that draw heavily on traditional folklore and deep philosophy the album has a heavy feel that sets itself well apart from the much of the lighter happier highlife of the previous decade. Alongside Fela’s first few albums, Blo’s Chapter One and Mono Mono’s Give The Beggar A Chance this was one of the very earliest Afro – Rock LPs released in West Africa and has remained out of print for nearly forty years. Projection One never got a release in the band’s home country of Ghana and apparently sailed way over most peoples heads at the time. Very much like the debut Hedzoleh Soundz album that Soundway re-issued in 2010 (another Ghanaian band that were recorded in Lagos, produced by Iruoje on the recommendation of Fela Kuti) the only copies that made it back to Ghana were the few that the band took back themselves.

Soundway will release Projection One here in it’s full original format on gatefold vinyl as well as on CD for the first time: remastered and accompanied by liner notes that contain the reminiscences of band leader Nana Danso (who subsequently founded and now runs the Accra-based Pan African Orchestra).

Tracklist:

1. Darkness
2. Gondzin
3. Edzayawa
4. Naa Korle
5. Amanehun
6. Abonsan
7. Obuebee
8. Adesa

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.

Disc 1 tells the story of some the earliest Colombian cumbia recorded, a genre that captured a nation, spreading from its birthplace on the Caribbean coast in land to central Colombia and the capital Bogota. Disc 2 sees the evolution of cumbia. Greats of Colombian music like Alberto Pacheco, Toño Fernandez & Anibal Velasquez brought the music forward, bringing new influences and instruments to the genre. What had once been considered the music of the underclasses had risen up as the new sound of a nation.

After five years of becoming slowly submerged in Colombian musical culture, learning the accordion, setting up a band and a studio, and scouring the country in search it’s recorded legacy, Will ‘Quantic’ Holland (Quantic Soul Orchestra & Quantic y su Combo Barbaro) has compiled the fruits of his labour into this unique compilation that tells the story of cumbia in the years of the phonograph record’s supremacy. Along with good friend and head of Soundway Records, Miles Cletet, Will Holland has condensed hundreds of 78s, 45s and LPs into just over two and a half hours of the finest Colombian cumbia.

Both vinyl editions come with a bonus track and are limited to 1500 copies.

“The whole album is simply stunning with a superb track listing” Laurent Garnier

“These CDs put history not in the museum but firmly in the middle of the dancefloor.” The Telegraph – Pop CD of the Week

“It’s a magnificent cumbiapedia.” The Observer

“Joyful tropical madness.” MOJO

‘The Original Sound of Cumbia’ Medley by Soundway

Tracklist

Disc 1 / SNDWLP032A

1. Gastón (El Isleño) con El Conjunto de Jaime Simanca – La Cumbia Está Llamando
2. Conjunto Los Rumberos – Cumbia del Puerto
3. Lucho Peréz – Judith
4. Alberto Pacheco y su Conjunto – Sembrando Café
5. Rafeal Yepes Crespo con sus Negros de la Región – Nubia en la Playa
6. Santander Flores – Capital Cebuista
7. Ruffo Garrido y su Conjunto – El Pájaro Prieto
8. Conjunto Ritmos del Caribe – La Fullera
9. Anibal Velásquez y Su Conjunto – San Jacinto
10. Orquesta Ritmos de Sabanas – Montería
11. Baldomero Urieles con Efrian Burgos y su Conjunto – Amor del Magdalena
12. Los Alegres del Valle – Samaria
13. Conjunto Martínez – Cumbia Fonsequera
14. Silvio Guzman y Conjunto Jose M. Peñaranda – Canto a Betty
15. Pedro Salcedo y su Orquesta – La Vaca y El Caporal
16. Los Alegres Bucaneros – Cumbia Bucanera
17. Gildardo Montoya y Conjunto Los Rumberos – Fabiola
18. Guillermo Munoz y Conjunto Típico del Magdalena – Cumbia de Todos
19. Cresencio Salcedo – Me Quedo con el Viejo
20. Lalito y Conjunto Colombia – Flores de Colombia
21. Nacho Paredes con Los Vaqueros Sabaneros – Dulce Lamento
22. Los Ases del Ritmo – La Margarita
23. Emiro Caicedo y su Combo – Los Cumbiamberos
24. Hugo Racedo y su Conjunto – Cumbia del Magdalena
25. Trio Serenata – Cumbia Sobre El Mar
26. Los Indígenas – Sangre Goajira
27. Toño Fernandez – La Muerte
28. Los Hermanitos Ferreyra – Cumbia del Mar

Vinyl bonus track

Angel Martinez con Los Sabaneros – Cumbia Alegre

Disc 2 / SNDWLP032B

1. Betopey – Cumbia del Carnaval
2. Conjunto Miramar – Reina de Cumbias
3. Los Cumbiamberos de Chorrera – La Millera
4. Andrés Landero – Rosa y Mayo
5. Los Tigres con Morgan Blanco – La Culebra
6. La Cumbia Soledeña – Tambo, Tambo
7. Jaime Simanca y sus Fandangueros – Cumbia Negra
8. Aniceto Molina y su Conjunto – Cumbia Candela
9.Banda Bajera de San Pelayo – Descarga en Cumbia
10. Alberto Pacheco – Guayabita Colorá
11. Banda 11 de Enero de Murillo – La Cachona
12. Lucho Campillo y su Conjunto – Rastrillando
13. Carlos Román – El 4 y 5
14. Banda 2da de Laguneta Córdoba – Tracionera
15. Satanás y su Grupo – Cumbia de La Montaña
16. Toño Fernández – La Guacharaca
17. Lucho Yepez – La Gaita del Pato
18. El Pholy Combo – El Porro es Hermano De La Cumbia
19. Grupo Costa Brava – A Baranoa
20. Elías Morón y su Conjunto Vallenato – Playas Embrujadas
21. Chico Cervantes – Cumbia Colombia
22. Anibal Velásquez y su Conjunto – Cumbia Bogotana
23. Alfonso Puerta y su Conjunto – Pescadores del Mar
24. Miguel Durán – Elionora
25. Celia Estremor y su Grupo de Baile Cantao – El Secuestro
26. Hermanos Tuiran – Lluvia
27. Unknown – El Niño Llora

Vinyl Bonus Track

Heber Macias – Cumbia Linda

Track list:

A1: Tequila – Orquesta Tropicana
B2: Lluvia – Sonora Tropical