In 1982 Island Records released the album 'Juju Music' by King Sunny Ade And His African Beats, which introduced the music of this West African musician to a worldwide audience. For many, like me, it was the first that I heard of this joyous outpouring of rhythmic guitar-based music, and although it represented the first worldwide release for Adé, he was already established in his native Nigeria as its "biggest musical draw and juju music's reigning monarch". The album was a critical and commercial success, peaking at #111 on Billboard's "Pop Albums" chart, and The New York Times described it as "the year's freshest dance-music album", crediting it in 1990 with having launched the "World Beat movement in the United States". 1983's 'Synchro System' was more of the same, and these two records have made regular returns to the turntable in the intervening years. What I didn't realise until recently is that Ade had been releasing records in his native Nigeria for many years before we Westerners discovered him. Sunny Adé was born in Osogbo to a Nigerian royal family from Ondo and Akure, making him an Omoba of the Yoruba people. He left grammar school in Ondo City under the pretence of going to the University of Lagos, and it was there that his eclectic musical career began. It began with Moses Olaiya's Federal Rhythm Dandies, a highlife band, but he left them to form a new band, The Green Spots, in 1967.
Over the years, for various reasons ranging from changes in his music to business concerns, the band changed its name several times, first to African Beats and then to Golden Mercury. His music is characterized by, among other instruments, the talking drum – an instrument indigenous to his Yoruba roots, and the guitar and uts peculiar application to jùjú music. He introduced the pedal steel guitar to Nigerian pop music, and has also included synthesizers, clarinet, vibraphone, and tenor guitar into the jùjú music repertoire. Over the past few months I have collected nearly thirty of his albums, released between 1971 and 1981, and as they are extremely hard to find, and all contain some great Afrobeat guitar-work, I'll be posting them not only for fans of the "Master Guitarist", but also as an introduction to a genre that you might not have heard before. Many of these album segue the songs together, so they only have two tracks, with each one consisting of four or five songs played one after the other. I'm starting with the 'Master Guitarist' series, then working my way through the rest of the releases chronologically, and I hope that you enjoy these posts, as I love this music and want to introduce it to a wider audience who weren't around in the 80's to hear those Island albums.
Track listing
01 Sunny Ti De / Kolawole Bickersteth / Egbe Aburi / Ka Ma Gbagbe Atijo / Dele Davies
02 A Kunle A Tewo Adura
03 Prince Remi Aladesuru
04 Gbe Mi Debute Ogo
05 Tonni Ani
06 S. K. Dada
