In the USA

In the USA

With 400 ethnic groups in Nigeria alone, The Rough Guide to the Music of Nigeria & Ghana (from the Rough Guide series) covers a vast canvas. So it's no wonder--and probably a sensible idea--that Fela Kuti, the Nigerian singer best known in the West, should not be included (on the grounds that his records are ubiquitous anyway). What is included here is dominated by that quintessentially mid-20th-century style known as highlife, best exemplified by its undisputed king E.T. Mensah. With his old-fashioned diction and immense charm, Mensah rides along on a gracefully Westernized instrumental sound. King Sunny Ade, who displaced him (and who was briefly picked up by Western promoters as a potential West African Bob Marley), prefers hard-driving rhythms and clean a cappella choruses. But on this superb CD charm is the key element, with a multitude of variations on local rhythms and instrumental combinations. Check out the two-string gourd molo, as played with brilliant panache by Captain Yaba; or revel in some of West Africa's best-loved party tracks, including those by C.K. Mann and Eric Agyeman. There's up-to-the-minute stuff from expatriate bands in America, and a wonderfully atmospheric gig with the most recent highlife king, Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe. --Michael Church

In the USA

The renewed popularity of Afrobeat in dance music has been well documented with a number of compilations. Strut Records takes the idea forward with a definitive look at funky Lagos during the 1970s over 3CDs (in slipcases) & 3LPs. The project digs into the Nigerian archives, from established names Fela Kuti (from his early days to his later work with Africa 70), King Sunny Ade and Sir Victor Uwaifo & many unsung heroes. The set comes with a fully edited documentary as the 3rd CD narrated with exclusive interviews with many of the key figures in Lagos at the time from King Sunny Ade and Ebenezer Obey to Ginger Baker, Roy Ayers, Fela and Femi Kuti. From Strut/Studio K7.

In the USA