Guy One - Everything You Do, You Do For Yourself

Guy One - Everything You Do, You Do For Yourself
Philophon

Guy One is Guy One because he's number one! That's what Philophon say and who are we to argue. The 'number 1 Frafra artist in the world' duly delivers a record that fulfils the hyperbole and then some. It's melodic, exquisitely composed and features some truly amazing percussion sounds. Highlife music never sounded so good!

Here's what Philophon have to say:

With the single "Everything You Do, You Do For Yourself" North-Ghanaian Kologo master Guy One opens the door to his first international release #1, which will be available end of January 2018. Guy One promises what his name is saying: he is the number one artist of Frafra music, named after his people: the Frafra. 

"Everything You Do, You Do For Yourself" is his only song having a phrase in English. Here he is following the example of his collegue and friend King Ayisoba, who introduced the use of English into Frafra music a few years ago. The beat is a driving Highlife rhythm. That's the kind of groove we all love Ghana for! 

On "Estre" we have special guest Florence Adooni, one of the leading voices of Frafra-Gospel. She is interweaving perfectly with the horn arrangements by Max Weissenfeldt, as well the drummer of the song, and gives after her part the lead to Mr. Guy One - yeah, the number one!

Bit of a wait on this - vinyl ships late January 2018, but get your pre-orders in now as I doubt it will stick around!

Ata Kak - Time Bomb (Documentary)

Ata Kak - Time Bomb
RBMA

The truly remarkable, heartwarming tale of Ata Kak, brought to life in this RBMA documentary. The story of Ata Kak has some parallels with Sugarman, the South African folk musician whose music became a massive hit among young Americans 30 years after its recording and completey unbeknownst to the artist.

Ata Kak is a Ghanian villager who happened to make one album, at home in the early 90s. Some years later it was discovered by pure chance by African music collector Brian Shimkovitz, who was struck by how infectious, giddy and idiosyncratic the sounds were. He had never heard anything like it, and thus began a decade long search to find the artist responsible.

This is the story of how that all unfolded, and it will make you feel very, very happy.

Do not mug yourself by watching the doc and not then listening to the album in all its glory!

You can buy the album in a range of formats here (USA) or here (UK)

Nik WESTON presents KIKI GYAN/TUNJI OYELANA (Mukatsuku Records)

Mukatsuku Records are one of my personal favourites - I've bought so many releases over the years and almost all of them are still regular selections. A heady blend of really, really good remastering and a great ear for a funky gem make Nik Weston's releases essential purchases for many Funk, Soul, Jazz, Afrobeat and Disco DJs. If, like me, you play a lot of all those genres, you'll be hard pushed to find a more consistently excellent label for your needs. Some tracks are hitherto unknown, but what i like is that the first criteria seems to be 'is it really fucking good?' rather than 'is it really fucking rare?' - so we also get Fela Kuti, Grant Green and other well known artists featuring in the catalogue.
Every purchase comes with some stickers and a genuine-sounding note from Nik that displays a heartfelt gratitude to his customers. It's the little things, and marks Nik out as the sort of chap one would enjoy a good pint with. I've never met him though, He could be a psychopath. Or a Tory voter.

The latest offering is a welcome installment in my Afrobeat/Afro-Funk education, featuring, as it does, a couple of artists whose work is new to me. Kiki Gyan delivers an extremely happy slice of Ghanian Disco with Love To Love You, which is followed on the flip by Tunji Oyelana's wonderfully jaunty It's Not Your Fault. Both are Nik Weston edits and his sure touch make for killer afro-funk cuts. Get in my basket.