Tuesday, April 15, 2014

William Onyeabor

Today I thought I would share some music from one of the most mysterious and best musicians to come out of the 70s-80s Nigerian music scene, William Onyeabor. I first heard his music a few years back and instantly became addicted though with the exception of a few songs there wasn't much material out there and there was absolutely no information out there on who William Onyeabor was. His music is very hard to describe almost a mix of Afro-Funk or Afro-Rock with way ahead of its time electronic that makes for an extremely unique sound. His music also used equipment such as synthesizers which at the time were way out of budget for the vast majority of African musicians and studios giving rise to the theory that Onyeabor was backed by someone "big" in Eastern Europe and thus the source of his money and equipment. Never the less through his music Onyeabor shows some amazing talent and creativity in making some amazing music. I usually like to upload full albums to the blog but this is one of those times when I will only upload a sample of a few songs. The reason for this being that independent label Luaka Bop just released the album "Who  is William Onyeabor?" and if you like the songs I am uploading here I highly encourage you to buy this album to support this label and encourage them to release more if this super rare material.

1. Better Change Your Mind
2. Atomic Bomb
3. When The Going is Smooth and Good

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