African Jazz/Funk/Psych

In Ghana “to chop” is to eat, so the phrase No Funk, No Chop quite simply means; deliver afro funk and disco bombs, or no one will eat today.

Live! is an album recorded in 1971 by Fela Kuti's band Africa '70, with the addition of former Cream drummer Ginger Baker on two songs.

This disc is an overt response to the consistent harassment afflicting Fela Kuti's Kalakuta Republic in the early '70s under the oppressive Lagos authorities.

2000 Blacks Got To Be Free is a musical collaboration between the African American vibraphone player Roy Ayers and Fela.

Hailu Mergia weaves Moog and DX7 synthesizers, Rhodes electric piano and rhythm machine into the rich harmonic layering of his accordion, creating hauntingly psychedelic, elegantly arranged instrumentals.

Africamore: The Afro-Funk Side of Italy (1973-1978) Continuing Four Flies' dedication to delving into lesser-explored periods of Italian music, Africamore takes us on a captivating journey into the intersection of Afro-funk and the Italian soundscape during the six years between 1973 and 1978 

Soundway Records presents a collection of nineteen tracks chronicling a time when drum machines, synthesisers, imported pop, reggae, disco and soul collided with highlife, juju and cultural music in Nigeria.

On the title track Fela and the backup singers ridicule the mindset of men in uniform over an urgent, quick-march accompaniment from Afrika 70.

Next up on Africa Seven is the second edition of our "African Funk Experimentals" LPs. With these we took some of our favourite African artists, choose the most funky we can find and then put together a compilation of their choicest and funkiest tracks.

Funeral For Justice is the new album by Mdou Moctar. Recorded at the close of two years spent touring the globe following the release of 2019 breakout Afrique Victime, it captures the Nigerien quartet in ferocious form.

It was the sound of post-independence Nigeria, a time of celebration and wealth but, ultimately, of political oppression. 

Living near Dortmund, Atta worked as a day-laborer, farmhand and English teacher, but he was also absorbing Stevie Wonder, the Staples Singers, KC and the Sunshine Band, Michael Jackson and the disco movement.

The early 21st Century, a shadowy figure rose from the dust that settled atop forgotten record collections throughout Africa, leaving behind trails of clues, but Luaka Bop unmask a phantom: the great William Onyeabor.

The sessions lasted just two days, and we can only imagine the atmosphere in that room as the hip hop godfathers exchanged the conga drums of Harlem for the explosive sounds of authentic Afrobeat.

Soul Jazz Records' new Nigeria Soul Fever is their first release to explore the vast wealth of Nigerian music recorded in the 1970s.

In the early 1980s, a particular alchemy between new musical technologies and significant social, cultural, and political transformations in Ghana gave rise to a new style of highlife.

Sahra Halgan, Somaliland's iconic singer, freedom fighter, and cultural activist, returns with third album Hiddo Dhawr, a culmination of enduring friendship and global exploration

Gentleman is both an Africa 70 and Afro-beat masterpiece.

Afrique Victime sounds and feels like a Tuareg hand reaching down from the sky, and we are very lucky for this chance to get lifted.

Archival reissue of the Afroprog-psych Zamrock masterpiece.

The first vocal album by beloved Ethiopian nun, composer, and pianist Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru - profound and deeply moving home cassette recordings made amidst political upheaval and turmoil.

Wah Wah 45s are proud to present the debut LP on the label from Ghanaian vocalist and djembe drummer Afla Sackey. With his band Afrik Bawantu, he has fulfilled thedreamof blending traditional Ghanaian music with sizzling Afrobeat grooves, topping it off with anirresistibly funky twist! Their unique blend of vibrant African rhythms with brisk, animatedhorn sections and heavy bass-lines bring a fresh perspective to the Afrobeat genre.

The ultra-rare holy grail masterpiece by Elcados originally released by EMI-Nigeria in 1973 and recorded by Kayode Salami.

Restoring, reissuing and contextualising iconic tracks from Ousmane Kouyate & Ambassadeurs Internationaux, Rail Band, Les Messagers du Mali, Mystere Jazz de Tombouctou and many more, the second compilation in this series dives ever further into the richness of post- independence music emanating out of Mali. One in which traditional foundations and instrumentation, blended with modern musical advances and influence.

The album commences with title track “Tension”, leading Mulatu’s signature sound in a new, rhythmically intense direction, hence the name, providing fresh creative ground for the collaborators.

Seun Kuti releases highly anticipated album Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head) featuring guests Damian Marley and Sampa The Great.

First full length album since 2020! Third full-length LP from the band. Recorded live to tape. Features a locked-groove on the B-side.

Reissue, originally released in 1962. 

Les Amazones d’Afrique is a creative force that embraces international voices; sweet, strong harmonies that summon the rights of women and girls; and a meltdown of heritage and new gen talent.

Over the past few years Acid Jazz has released a series of reissues from the enigmatic ‘Albarika Store’ – a goldmine of records from Benin, West Africa from the late ‘60s through to the early ’80s. 

Following the first in a series of his classic recordings reissued in collaboration with Awesome Tapes From Africa, Mergia assembled a band and began performing live again after many years driving a cab in Washington, DC.

Fela Kuti lives on! This is the 10th Anniversary reissue of the classic tribute album pressed on opaque banana yellow and opaque red vinyl benefiting the Red Hot organization. 

Susso, aka bassist / producer Huw Bennett, creates music inspired by, and directly sampling, the magnificent sounds of the Mandinka people, recorded during a recent trip to Gambia.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Fela Kuti's classic Open and Close, Partisan release the first vinyl pressing since the 1980s.

Francis Bebey is the kind of artist whose legacy feels infinite. Tresor Magnetique, this compilation of unreleased tracks, archival recordings, and neglected gems from Bebey's vault, feels like a grand reveal in an ongoing narrative - a story that spans continents and generations. The compilation's name (translated as "Magnetic Treasure") sets the stage perfectly. Not only does it reference the fragile tapes discovered in the home of Bebey's son, Patrick, but it also hints at the almost gravitational pull of Bebey's art. Meticulously digitized at Abbey Road Studios, these tracks radiate clarity and urgency that defy the decades separating them from contemporary ears. One listen to Tresor Magnetique, and it's as if you're opening a letter from another era, only to find that its contents speak to you more vividly than today's headlines.

His 2009 World Circuit debut, the raw and uncut Secret Agent, has all the ingredients that combine to make Afrobeat so special.

By 1972, when Music of Fela: Roforofo Fight was originally released (on two vinyl albums, Music of Fela Volume One and Volume Two), Fela was becoming one of the most avidly followed musicians in West Africa. 

Florence Adooni Unleashes A.O.E.I.U. – An Afro-Futuristic Highlife Odyssey: Step into the future of highlife with Florence Adooni’s debut album, A.O.E.I.U. (An Ordinary Exercise In Unity). 

Femi Kuti’s ‘Journey Through Life’ marks a deeply personal chapter in the Afrobeat legend’s career

Fela Kuti (1938-1997) was a Nigerian musician, producer, arranger, political radical, outlaw and the originator of Afrobeat. A titanic musical and sociopolitical voice, Fela’s legacy spans decades and genres, touching on jazz, pop, funk, hip-hop, rock and beyond.

The past five years have seen amapiano, South Africa’s electronic music movement born in the townships of the country’s Gauteng province, evolve from an underground sound to a nationwide mainstream staple.

The massed horns, relentless grooves, and bold improvising that would come to define Fela's aesthetic sound positively revolutionary on these essential early recordings.

The Joy, a five-piece acapella group from South Africa, release their selftitled debut album, which was recorded and captured on film in one take at Paul Epworth’s Church Studios in late 2023.

Inspired by his cultural background Bukky goes in search of the cuisine traditions of his mother land Nigeria.

From the landlocked tropical savanna of Upper Volta, an ever-evolving cast of musicians brought the world's rhythms to the streets of their native Bobo-Dioulasso.

Sometimes a musical message is so urgent that questions of recording quality are almost beside the point. Informally recorded in 1969 in a noisy club – Copenhagen’s famous Jazzhus Montmartre – the flavour of this album is ‘documentary’ rather than luxuriantly hi-fidelity, yet the essence of Abdullah Ibrahim’s communication comes through loud and clear. 

For 20 years the Tuareg culture and music has fascinated the world.

The 1974 debut album Ojinga’s Own and single Basa Bongo/Black Pepper by Guyanese Afro-Folk band The Yoruba Singers has been remastered for vinyl and digital.

Muyei Power or Orchestre Muyei (muyei means ‘our country’) was one of the top dance bands of the1970s in Sierra Leone.

Second volume of treasures in the ATA catalogue.

The Nigerian princesses of afro-funk arrived on the international scene with 1976’s Danger and never looked back.

Legendary yet ever-evolving, Zamrock pioneers WITCH continue to push boundaries with their bold new record, ‘SOGOLO’. After their remarkable resurgence and 2023’s critically acclaimed ‘Zango’ - their first album in nearly 40 years -‘SOGOLO’ proves that their innovative spirit remains as strong as ever.

The 25 songs presented in "Roots Rocking Zimbabwe - The Modern Sound of Harare' Townships 1975-1980" showcase the birth of the modern music industry in Zimbabwe and the explosion of creativity bands of the 1970s and 80s endlessly delivered.

Strut Records is proud to announce a new official reissue of Simigwa by Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, launching a series of releases on Strut celebrating the legendary Ghanaian label Essiebons.

William Onyeabor was born outside Enugu, a small, rural town in Eastern Nigeria, he created his own genre of African electronic funk in the late 70s and early 80s, making music completely unique for his time.

Mdou Moctar’s new album is Funeral for Justice completely re-recorded and rearranged for acoustic and traditional instruments. It is an evolution of the band’s critically-adored breakout – the meditative mirror-image to the blistering original.

When a passionate DJ and crate digger intuitively selects music for a DJ compilation, without artistic compromise and without the burden of trends, AfroMagic vol.2 emerges from the depths of his soul.

Intimate early recording by Malian icon. Awesome Tapes From Africa the label began over 10 years ago with the reissue of Nahawa Doumbia’s Vol. 3.

1979 township disco funk masterpiece from one of South Africa’s most prolific bands of that era.

This is the third volume in Luaka Bop’s critically acclaimed World Spirituality Classics series, illuminating the relationship between music and belief.

Following the great success of BBE’s 2023 reissue of Remi Kabaka’s 1976 lost masterpiece 'Son of Africa' comes yet another neglected and hitherto-hidden slice of pure Kabaka goodness: 1980’s 'Roots Funkadelia'.

Abacothozi were formed in 1973 by bassist Berthwel Maphumulo, formerly of the Elite Swingsters.

Lo-fi Tuareg guitar from renowned Timbouctou musician Abba Gargando.

Digitally remastered from the original tapes, Ali Farka Touré’s ‘Green’ album showcases Ali's acoustic guitar and vocals, both alone and accompanied by calabash and ngoni (traditional four string guitar)

This epic Afrobeat album contains just one eponymous track clocking in at just over 25 minutes in length, and beginning with a mysterious and psychedelic musical interplay between Fela on organ and Tony Allen on drums. 

Ayalew Mesfin stands aside the likes of Mulatu Astake, Mahmoud Ahmed, Hailu Mergia and Alemayehu Eshete as a legend of 1970s Ethiopia.

Ayalew Mesfin stands aside the likes of Mulatu Astake, Mahmoud Ahmed, Hailu Mergia and Alemayehu Eshete as a legend of 1970s Ethiopia.

The album is a fusion of highlife and soul.

After “Afro Exotique – Adventures In The Leftfield, Africa 1972-88” was enthusiastically embraced by heads, collectors and core Africa Seven enthusiasts alike, we dived back down into the vaults, and hope we’ve come up with another volume of listenable esoterica from roughly the same period.