Living the Highlife: Chief Inyang Henshaw and "Esonta"

From Nigeria comes today's random tune, called Esonta. The song is by Chief Inyang Henshaw, a Nigerian musician who was active in the West African highlife scene in the 50s and 60s and who sang in the Efik language. I could not find much more information on Inyang Henshaw, but ran across Esonta on the 2003 album The Rough Guide to Highlife.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

A Natural Thing Going Down: The Funkees and "Dance with Me"

The Funkees booty shake into our random song of the day! The Funkees were formed in Nigeria in the 1960s following the Nigerian civil war, and immediately established themselves as a band delivering funky, upbeat and danceable tunes sung in English and their native Igbo language. They moved to London in 1973 and gained prominence in the West African and West Indian music scene before breaking up in 1977. This song, Dance with Me, can be found on their 1976 album Now I'm a Man and the retrospective compilation album Dancing Time: The Best of Eastern Nigeria's Afro Rock Exponents 1973-77 released in 2012.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Funkees

Punctuating Their Music: The Semi-Colon and "Ebenebe"

Other than finding out from little tidbits on the internet that The Semi-Colon, the artists performing today's random tune, were a 70s era Nigerian band that served as a counterpoint to the great Fela Kuti's psychedelic Afro-funk, I couldn't find much more on them. They have apparently released six albums, the last in 1986. So today I'll simply let you enjoy this upbeat tune, called Ebenebe. Ebenebe can be found on The Semi-Colon's 1976 album Ndia Egbuo Ndia (Afro Jigida), which was re-released in 2013.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90848307

Or Not: Adekunle Gold and "Ready"

Today's random tune is called Ready, and it is by Adekunle Gold. Adekunle Kosoko is a Nigerian highlife singer who was born into royalty in Lagos State, Nigeria. He became interested in music at a young age, and grew up listening to the music of King Sunny Adé and Ebenezer Obey. He gained some attention after he posted a photoshopped picture of himself hugging Tiwa Savage, but his big musical break came after he recorded a version of One Direction's Story of My Life, which gained critical acclaim and was nominated for awards. His first full album likewise received critical acclaim and rose to #7 on the Billboard World Music charts. He has released two albums, and you can find Ready on his 2016 debut album Gold.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adekunle_Gold

He Lived the Highlife: Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe and "Ka-Anyi Jikota"

Today's random tune is by Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe, a Nigerian highlife musician also known just as Osadebe. Of the Igbo people, Osadebe's career spanned 40 years. He came from a family of musicians and dancers, and he started his career in Lagos singing at nightclubs with bands and orchestras. He eventually put out his first solo album in 1958, and eventually over his career he composed over 500 songs. While he started out doing Igbo highlife, his music came to also include elements of calypso, samba, bolero, rumba, jazz and waltz. As he matured, his music also began to reflect social commentary less confrontational but along the same lines as his countryman Fela Kuti. When highlife music began to fall out of favor in the 1980s, yielding to Jùjú music and Afrobeat, he gradually began turning his priorities to fatherhood over music and released his last album in 2000. Osadebe died in 2007. This song, Ka-Anyi Jikota, can be found on his last album, 2000's Kedu America, and on The Rough Guide to Highlife (2003).

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Stephen_Osita_Osadebe

Not Yet Zombie: Fela Ransom Kuti and the Koola Lobitos with "Amaechi's Blues"

Today's random song is an early tune by an African and music legend, Fela Ransom Kuti, accompanied by his quintet the Koola Lobitos. A Nigerian musician and composer who played many instruments, Fela Kuti was a pioneer of Afrobeat. In 1958, Kuti was sent to London to study medicine, but decided to study music instead and formed his first band, the Koola Lobitos, who fused jazz and highlife music. After five years in London, he moved back to Nigera and reformed the Koola Lobitos but after a while, he decided to move to Ghana to try a different direction. It was in Ghana that he first started playing what would be called Afrobeat, a unique fusion of jazz, funk, highlife, psychedelia and traditional chants and rhythms of West Africa. In 1969, he spent 10 months in Los Angeles where he became acquainted with the Black Power movement, and this experience would influence his future music, as well as drive his human rights and political activities. He became not only a revered musician, but a political figure as well. He frequently decried Nigerian political corruption and mistreatment of Nigerian citizens and consequently was arrested over 200 times. Personally, he also believed in polygamy as part of a greater African culture, and participation in this practice may have led to his contraction of HIV/AIDS which was his official cause of death in 1997, although his exact cause of death remains controversial. His funeral featured a five-sided glass coffin for full public viewing. His music has since undergone a revival, helped by the Broadway musical Fela! which was nominated for 11 Tony Awards, and an annual Felabration festival in Lagos. You can find this song, Amaechi's Blues, on the 2016 Fela Kuti retrospective Highlife-Jazz and Afro-Soul, issued by Knitting Factory.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fela_Kuti

He Is: Fela Ransome Kuti and the Highlife Rakers with "Fela's Special"

Today's random song is an early tune by an African and music legend, Fela Ransom Kuti, accompanied by The Highlife Rakers. A Nigerian musician and composer who played many instruments, Fela Kuti was a pioneer of Afrobeat. In 1958, Kuti was sent to London to study medicine, but decided to study music instead and formed his first band, the Koola Lobitos, who fused jazz and highlife music. After five years in London, he moved back to Nigera and reformed the Koola Lobitos but after a while, he decided to move to Ghana to try a different direction. It was in Ghana that he first started playing what would be called Afrobeat, a unique fusion of jazz, funk, highlife, psychedelia and traditional chants and rhythms of West Africa. In 1969, he spent 10 months in Los Angeles where he became acquainted with the Black Power movement, and this experience would influence his future music, as well as drive his human rights and political activities. He became not only a revered musician, but a political figure as well. He frequently decried Nigerian political corruption and mistreatment of Nigerian citizens and consequently was arrested over 200 times. Personally, he also believed in polygamy as part of a greater African culture, and participation in this practice may have led to his contraction of HIV/AIDS which was his official cause of death in 1997, although his exact cause of death remains controversial. His funeral featured a five-sided glass coffin for full public viewing. His music has since undergone a revival, helped by the Broadway musical Fela! which was nominated for 11 Tony Awards, and an annual Felabration festival in Lagos. You can find this song, Fela's Special, on the 2015 various artists retrospective Highlife on the Move: Selected Nigerian & Ghanaian Recordings from London & Lagos 1954-66, issued by Soundway Records.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Pretty Cool: Jaywon and "Kule Lori"

Today's random tune is by Nigerian superstar Jaywon, and features Reminisce and Seriki. The song is called Kule Lori. Singer, songwriter, performer, producer and actor Jaywon was born Iledare Oluwajuwonlo, and is known not only for his music but for establishing Next World Music in 2013. He is also a multiple award winner for his music during his career, which started in 2005 in Lagos. He has released one album and a number of singles. You can find Kule Lori on his 2016 album Oba Orin. He is joined on the song by Nigerian rapper Remilekun Abdulkalid Safaru, also known as Reminisce, who in 2014 was named by Time Magazine as one of the seven world rappers you should meet. Also featured is another Nigerian rapper, Ibiyemi Seriki, who goes by his last name.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

No Peace When You're Hungry: Keyboard and "Peaceable World"

Today's random tune is a little bit of rare funk. The song, called Peaceable World, is performed by Keyboard, a one-off band made up of session musicians who were used extensively on Nigerian producer Odion Iruoje's recordings in the 70s. The main musicians were Nigerian session musicians Brodricks Majuwa and Isaac Digha, and they were joined by Beninese musician Ignace de Souza and Jonni Wood. The album that the song is from, Hungry Man (1978), is extremely rare, and when Soundway Records got the rights to reissue the album in 2014, the reprint was limited to 1000 vinyl copies only.

Living the Highlife: Celestine Ukwu and "Igede"

Today's random tune is in honor of Mike's mother Shirley Hess, who turns 85 years old today. The song is called Igede, and is performed by Celestine Ukwu and his band. A Nigerian highlife musician, he began his career in the 1960s with the Paradise Rhythm Orchestra, then launched his own band called the Music Royals. The Biafran War caused the band to go on hiatus for three years, but in 1970 they resurrected themselves as the Philosophers National, and became known for several songs in the early and mid-1970s. His music is generally described as softer and more laid back than most highlife music, and he tended to feature piano, vibraphone and pedal steel guitar. The songs that his band played were generally around the topics of social evils and the need for peace. Celestine Ukwu tragically died in an automobile accident in 1977. Igede can be found on the 2003 compilation album Rough Guide to Highlife. The song is based in Igbo folklore, and was a smash hit in 1971.

Get Your Back Up Off The Wall: The Funkees and "Dance With Me"

Uh huh. Today's retro funk song by The Funkees will get your booty off the couch or the office chair - wherever you are it'll be shakin'. The Funkees were formed in Nigeria in the 1960s following the Nigerian civil war, and immediately established themselves as a band delivering funky, upbeat and danceable tunes sung in English and their native Igbo language. They moved to London in 1973 and gained prominence in the West African and West Indian music scene before breaking up in 1977. This song, Dance with Me, can be found on their 1976 album Now I'm a Man and the retrospective compilation album Dancing Time: The Best of Eastern Nigeria's Afro Rock Exponents 1973-77 released in 2012.

Believe It: Nneka and "Believe System"

Nneka is the artist that sings our random song for today, called Believe System. A Nigerian hip hop/soul/reggae singer who sings in both her native Igbo language as well as English, Nneka cites Fela Kuti and Bob Marley, as well as Mos Def, Talib Kweli and Lauryn Hill as her key influences. Her first album, released in 2005, garnered rave reviews and subsequent releases have only cemented her reputation, and she has been compared to Erykah Badu, Neneh Cherry and Floetry. She has released five solo albums and two EPs. Believe System can be found on her 2015 release My Fairy Tales.

Pioneer: Orlando Julius and The Heliocentrics with "Buje Buje"

Today's random song comes from artist Orlando Julius of Nigeria. Julius is known as an innovator and a crucial personage in the development of modern afro-pop. In the 1960s, he was fusing traditional Nigerian music with American R&B, pop and soul. In the United States, he collaborated with such artists as Lamont Dozier, the Crusaders and Hugh Masekela. His 1966 breakout album, Super Afro Soul, was ahead of its time and possibly influenced the development of funk that was about to sweep over the United States. It also made him a superstar in his native Nigeria where he released a long string of records. However, he was relatively unknown internationally until the re-release of Super Afro Soul in 2000. In 2014 the Heliocentrics, a London-based collective that fuses funk, jazz and hip hop, brought Julius to their studio and backed him on his latest album that consisted of vintage, never before heard tunes and new compositions. This funk/R&B song, Buje Buje, is from that 2014 release entitled Jaiyede Afro.

Funkee Time: The Funkees and "Dance with Me"

Awwwww yeee-aaaah! Get your booty up and get down to this afro-rock from the mid-70s by The Funkees. The Funkees were formed in Nigeria in the 1960s following the Nigerian civil war, and immediately established themselves as a band delivering funky, upbeat and danceable tunes sung in English and their native Igbo language. They moved to London in 1973 and gained prominence in the West African and West Indian music scene before breaking up in 1977. Dance with Me can be found on their 1976 album Now I'm a Man and the retrospective compilation album Dancing Time: The Best of Eastern Nigeria's Afro Rock Exponents 1973-77 released in 2012.