The Tabansi Studio Band - Wakar Alhazai/Mus'en Sofoa (BBE Music)

WHAT THE COVER LOOKS LIKE:

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WHAT WE SAY?

Got all the Fela Kuti Lps? Had enough of the largely pale modern imitations & not suffering from tech induced ADHD? Then I'd suggest checking out these epic, deeper than deep, mythical Afrobeat cuts from The Tabansi Studio Band kindly resuscitated by BBE Music's equally epic African music reissue mission.

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WHAT YOUR EARS SAY:

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WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY:

Tabansi Studio Band – Wakar Alhazai Kano & Mus’En Sofua: four incredible slices of almost- undiscovered late-70s/early 80s Afrobeat magic, but not Fela’s Yoruba/Pidgin Afrobeat.

This is Igbo and Hausa Afrobeat- two very different and rarely heard styles. For the first time anywhere, BBE is proud to reissue back to back two LPs that are so elusive that many Afro heads doubted their very existence until now.

The beats are laid down by the seven legendary Martins Brothers – of ‘Money’ fame- whilst vocals are courtesy of a multi-lingual Igbo legend, Prof. Goddy Ezike, one of the most extraordinary voices out of Africa, up there with Youssou N’Dour and Salif Keita, whose half-century career has, like fine wine, simply improved his voice.

Wakar Alhazai Kano and Lokoci Azumi Ta Wuca (tracks 1 and 2) draw on Northern Hausa music, with its Islamic inflections and skipping 12/8 time signatures more typical of the string and wind-based instrumentation of Kano and the broader sub-Saharan musical palette.

Kama Sofos and Aka Ji Ego Ga Anu Nwam (tracks 3 and 4) are sung in Igbo, with all the percussive wonders that Igbo culture has to offer, filtered through a jazzy Afrobeat improvisational spectrum.
Never before. Never again. New Afrobeats, in old bottles.