1. Better Change Your Mind
2. Atomic Bomb
3. When The Going is Smooth and Good
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD
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
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD
1. Better Change Your Mind
2. Atomic Bomb
3. When The Going is Smooth and Good
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD
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Props to you, Lalo. Thanks for encouraging the support of the musician you like.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'd also recommend checking out a short documentary that just came out about his music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiaRp0M2fxE
DeleteJust watched the documentary and purchased to album. What a fascinating character! Do you have any of Onyreabor's vinyls?
ReplyDeleteI have the audio for the "Tomorrow" album if you are interested in it.
DeleteBut I don't own any of the actual vinyls I had a chance to buy the "Atomic Bomb" album at a record store a few years ago but they wanted more money than I could afford. There's a very large West African population in the area of the US were I'm at so the record stores would carry some really great and rare material here unfortunately now they've all started to only focus on mainstream music.
I am interested in the Tomorrow album. On another note, I noticed that one of the songs you shared with us (When the Going is Smooth and Good) isn't on the Luaka Bop compilation. Too bad for those who only have their compilation because that particular song is faaaaaantastic, man.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the late reply had been having some computer issues. Yeah that is my favorite track I think it had previously been released on a compilation by Strut Records called Nigeria 70. I don't know if maybe they own the rights to the song and thats why it wasn't featured on the new compilation. And you should be able to download the album from here http://nonotnyet.blogspot.com/2013/05/william-onyeabor-multi-album-repost.html
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