I know that I am far past Africa now, island hopping across
the Pacific, but a friend of mine sent me a package of 45rpm records from Africa that I am more than willing to share with anyone
who has specific requests. Just leave them here in the comments for this post
& I will upload them as quickly as I can get to it.
Here is the list of what I received:
Paul Ede & hisGroup – Emota b/w Ivin Segbe No Gie, Benia Highlife, Nigerphone NXF 216.
Pastor Rex Lawson & Mayor’s Dance Band – Tamuno Atie Mieb/w Adigboloja, Kalahari & Ibo Highlife, Phillips West African Records PF
584.
E.K. Nyame & E.K.’s Band – San Bra b/w Made Ye Mobo,
Osibi Samba & Highlife, Phillips West African Records PF 355.
B.E. Batta & Eastern Star Dance Band – Igbigi Minasiarib/w Baby Pan Cake, Kalihari & Pidgin English Highlife, Phillips West
African Records PFN 793.
Moffort Band – Roko b/w Susu Ka me ho assem, A & A
Records 45AA 202.
The Colwell Brothers – Land of Liberty b/w Africa’s Got the Answer, A & A Enterprises 15633.
The New Star Orchestra – Olefaya Loko b/w Orin Congo,
Agidigbo, Decca 45 NWA 5007.
E.T. Mensah & his Tempos Band – Weeya-Weeya (meringue)b/w Odo Pa(highlife), Decca 45 GWA 4025.
Roger Clency et son Groupe Typique – Welcome Tou L’ileMaurice b/w Bal Ranne Zarico,
Mauritius,
Damoo D 147.
Steven Amechi & his Rhythm Skies – Driver Ka Obanye b/wBaby You Know De Tie, Ibo Highlife, Phillips West African Records PFN 967.
Serge Lebrasse et les Lanasucs – Maurice No Pays b/w SegaMacambo, Dragons VPN 130.
Professional Uhuru Dance Band – Time for Highlife b/w Mafam’Annye Yie, Akan Highlife, Phillips West African Records PF 784.
John Mwale – Wakati Niliku Penda b/w Mpenzi Wangu Rebecca(with R. Shimbiro), Swahili, AGS (African Gramophone Stores) AGS 7-48.
Let me know (or not).
NØ
Anonymous10/14/13, 8:58 PM
ReplyDeleteHi NO. I can't believe there are no comments after this post. Such a tantalising collection of singles.
Perhaps you had hundreds of responses, & sent copies via Email rather than post the links? (Can I send you mine?)
I also can't believe that, in 7 years of scouring the net for every Roots, African, Caribbean & World blog online, I have never come across your site until 4 days ago. Discovering so much unheard, obscure music is what keeps me getting out of bed each morning.
Perhaps I'm too late on this one, especially if you had zero response, but I'd like to express my interest.
Generally, I love the early stuff, with a particular love of Ghanese & Nigerian Highlife. E.T. Mensah & E.K. Nyame are favourites.
I'm curious about the 2 Mauritius singles - I've really liked the few tracks I've been able to track down. I already know Serge Lebrasse's "Maurice No Pays" but not the flipside.
Indeed, there are another three singles where I seem to have 1 track covered but not the flip. These are (with the track I do have) -
Paul Ede ("Emota"); B.E. Batta ("Baby Pan Cake"); & E.T. Mensah ("Weeya-Weeya").
Both sides of these are excitingly mouth-watering and completely unknown to me, tho' I'm familiar with the artists (except for Clency) -
E.K. Nyame / New Star Orchestra / Steven Amechi / Professional Uhuru Dance Band / John Mwale / & Roger Clency (Mauritius, already touched upon)
The Pastor Rex Lawson single is the only one I have both tracks. (What a great artist he is).
The Moffort Band, & particularly The Colwell Brothers, I'm prepared to wager are a little bit later & "funky" (so of less interest).
But I could be wrong. But hey, I have to draw a line somewhere. I can't ask for EVERYTHING - particularly on a first meeting.
Now that I've discovered your site, I look forward to learning more about you & your travels, and perhaps an exchange of ideas & music in the future.
Thanks NO. Regards, Mick from Oz.
I have had several replies but nothing really interesting other than yours & one other from someone who asked me to keep it private because of items mentioned in the content.
DeleteMost of the people who wrote were like, ewhh, FREE RECORDS! They didn't really seem to have any vested interest in the music itself. I can tell by your comment that you would be a good recipient of some of these discs.
I will be glad to work out something with the two of you to receive some of these treasures. I will email you tomorrow California time & we can talk about it.
Thank you for your kind words, for your informative thoughts, & your obvious love of musick (you'll notice that I spell music[k] two different ways at different times. To me it is exactly like magic & magick. The is {stage} magic & then there is {real} magick. There is {stage} music & there is {real} musick). You definitely should have the things you are missing (the three artists you mentioned). We work something out on some of the other ones over which your mouth is watering (don't get the covers all wet!!!).
Hasta mañana.
NØ
Paul Ede
ReplyDeleteB_2uwXDngRG_sU8-BIZVz1XM7VJ8NDyIqaytfn2kULM
B.E. Batta
JXPgrAwyXT8OBeVa8DCQs0Wdx8YCYfdGD47SebC7yp8
E.T. Mensah
UAQpJTRzUzjnLrBCShmk_UzWtUdNXPQuqhm_cFiQPjM
Roger Clency
X30Atww21ZzQBvItIhFVNCHpzYdm-5jOsl01UHnUe1M
Serge Lebrasse
XONCOgDDis1S_ifYf67QehV7vopL32zRSegEZjav11w
E.K. Nyame
ReplyDeleteBiIhoGA6yGeh5WJL0RNEkgFaA0ko8Ev86L3Vn63KDrg
The New Star Orchestra
ISuk9wqJdROuE_Bypv3NOVWU6C5c2fZ54G_TnKt4OfA
Steven Amechi
BBlOlAXOHoUqmQvpApQJ2R0dyfd2LLAwAnrm-yBaFiM
Professional Uhuru Dance Band
Fo79uyrDYRR_xus_vhOnwCCweAMBq-C_KscdIqNJmts
John Mwale
deLAPhQr--Rnisa-fzdMh3QHGh80dgy9PoX1WnaXImk
Hi NØ & thank you so much. These are all absolute gold & all brilliant examples of their respective genres. Not a single side has disappointed, and the Mauritius tracks make me want to find more just like them.
ReplyDeleteLet me say too that you have done a brilliant job ripping them. High bit rate, nice warm bass. Good on you for preserving & sharing these rare gems.
Mick from Oz
Thanks again kind sir. It has been my pleasure. These records need to be preserved & shared. Otherwise they will fade into nothingness, which I, as Nathan Nothin', am trying to do my part to prevent. I just hope that technology doesn't walk away from us & leave us holding today's version of the 3.5" floppy disc or 8-track.
ReplyDeleteI had a different turntable before but was not totally happy with it. About two years ago I bought a Audio Technica deck & have been totally pleased. Also the 45s my friend sent were in surprisingly good condition.
I didn't rip the three remaining records as you said you had Pastor Rex & might not be too interested in the other two (Moffort Band & Colwell Brothers). The Moffort Band is the only one of all the 45s that has a date on it & it says 1963, so if that's something you may be interested in after all, let me know.
1963!! Nathan, I simply MUST hear the Moffort Band! Pre-Beatles, pre-psych, pre-soul&funk and certainly pre-disco. Back in the day of a purer form. Outside influences, no doubt, but back before every second African band was trying to emulate the U.S. latest styles. Is it Ghanese? Is it Highlife or something else entirely?
ReplyDeleteWhen I wrote that first request I was trying to prioritize by not asking for anything completely unknown to me (& not appear TOO greedy. Ha!). For all I know the Colwell Brothers single may also be fantastic, even if it is funky. Which would just leave the Pastor Rex single. Even tho' I have those tracks covered, it could become a first taste of this great artist for one of your other readers. Also, the quality of your work may just out-do every other rip on the planet.
I don't think of myself as greedy, but I am insatiable when it comes to great music.
Thanks again mate. Mick from Oz
Liberian.
DeleteHighlife.
Try to rip the last three this weekend if I have enough time. Got a lot on my plate this weekend. Gotta get my place ready for winter. It'll be coming sooner than I think now that Dias de los Muertos is almost here (& Guy Fawkes day for all the Anonymous out there).
The last three 45s are now done
ReplyDeletePastor Rex
PAZeGC7PcmgzZgoluUbEOjiG2iU91DIELSL8HaeMp0c
Moffort Band
WNXrWRKiibI-HKRo-mNrRSONA_89vbQTGblBUIcOe7U
Colwell Brothers
H828VAMp9IrZm0N9aWas40ukN6xzO4CA0F6egnhD4K8
Liberian Highlife. Well there you go, that's a first for me. It's got its own lilt - different to Highlife from Ghana & Nigeria - and very nice it is too. What a pearl of a 45!
ReplyDeleteAnd the Colwell Brothers? (Also Liberian, the clue is on the cover) The English titles made me think it was probably late '60s or '70s and funky. Just goes to show I can't tell much from a title alone. Funky? The complete opposite of funky, almost pure country - banjo and all. Trouble is, I have no idea where to put this or what it goes with (some Arkansas bluegrass?). Worth its weight in gold, for novelty value alone.
Once again, great job with the rip Nathan, and thank you for sharing these gems. Mick from Oz.
The Liberian highlife is definitely different from what I'm used to hearing. Wiki sez:
Delete"Highlife music is very popular in Liberia...It emerged in the 1950s in Ghana, Sierra Leone, & Liberia, especially among the Liberian Kru people, who were sailors that played Spanish guitar, banjo, pennywhistle, harmonica, accordion, mandolin and concertina."
As to the Colwell Brothers, well I guess I blew it there. After listening to the record a few times, I decided to do some more digging & although the record was released in Monrovia, Liberia (I believe it is part of the Overseas Rediffusian (sic) Programme Services of A. & A. Enterprises) the Colwell Brothers were not from Africa.
DeleteThe Colwell Brothers were born in Detroit, Michigan. From Detroit, the family moved to Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, a town outside of Bedford. After about three years, the family moved again, this time all the way to Los Angeles, California. It was in LA, when Steve, Paul, & Ralph were 14, 12, & 10 respectively that they began their music career.
They started off with a five dollar guitar, a second hand banjo, & a 'uke'. They started as youngsters do, entertaining friends & performing at school functions. Later, they got their parents to get them some better musical instruments. Before long, they were being invited to appear on various radio programs.
From 1949 to 1951, their career took them back to the Mid-West. There, there appeared on:
WIBC - Anderson, Indiana
WLW - Cincinnati, Ohio
WHAS - Louisville, Kentucky
WFBM-TV - Indianapolis, Indiana
1950 saw them winning the Class "A" Indianapolis Amateur Contest. Later that same year they won a Hillbilly Band Contest in Renfro Valley, Kentucky. By fall 1950, their careers had an interruption due to a siege of polio. But in 1951, they resumed performing & were a part of the Horace Heidt (???) show.
DeleteThe family decided to move again in 1951, again back to California. They were determined to see if they could make it in the entertainment scene that was growing out west.
Cliff Carling was managing them back then. He got them a few appearances on Tex Williams' Coast-to-Coast "Round-Up Time". Tex was quoted in one article:
"Those kids are the brightest young stars to hit the big-time in many a moon."
By 1952, they had caught Columbia records attention & released their first record for the label. In the mid-1950s they were touring with the "Moral Re-Armament" group that devoted itself to getting entertainers to travel thoughout war-torn Europe to entertain the folks. After that they joined the Overseas Programme & performed throughout Africa
The brothers were also said to be accomplished yodelers.
I guess they are still playing today. The following review is from August 15, 2010.
"It was a musical odyssey around the world. The veteran country & western group the Colwell Brothers from California, now in their seventies, had last performed in Caux, Switzerland, in 1961. Their first visit to the 'home for the world', as the Initiatives of Change centre in Caux was described, had been in 1953. Now they were back, with composer, pianist, & xylophone player Herbie Allen, to give a barnstorming performance before a packed international audience in Caux's main hall on 14 August.
Many in the audience had not been born at the time of the Colwell Brothers' last visit. Yet they took the musicians to their hearts, won by the sheer vitality & versatility of the three brothers, Steve (lead & rhythm guitar), Paul (lead guitar, mandolin, & banjo) & Ralph (bass guitar). They were joined by their physician brother Ted on rhythm guitar.
The two-hour show began with classic country/western & bluegrass songs from the Appalachian Mountains. They sang "Mr Bojangles" & the theme song from the Coen Brothers' film O Brother, Where Art Thou? Their musical journey took their audience to Europe, Africa, the Far East, & Latin America. They sang in French & Italian, in the Xhosa language of Southern Africa, & a national song of the Congo in French which they had written at the time of Independence. They sang in the Bengali of Calcutta, in Japanese, in the Maori of New Zealand, in the Spanish of Mexico, before returning to their country/western & bluegrass roots of the USA."
Guess you can file it under bluegrass after all.
NO, This is a treasure. As a DJ spinning old vinyl to new CDs on radio, I am always on the lookout for more -specially older- material to share with listeners locally and all over the world. I have a few of these, but not many! I cannot figure out how to listen. Yes, I'm over 60!
ReplyDeleteSeveral simple steps.
ReplyDeleteIn the comments above, copy (edit/copy in your browser) the decryption code.
Select the same title from the article above (that will take you to MEGA hosting site)
MEGA will ask for the decryption code that you can paste (edit/paste in your browser).
Then download the file to your computer.
Unzip with WinRar or 7zip or whatever you use to unpack compressed files.
Listen to the .mp3 & enjoy.
Thank you kindly for your comment. If you have any further questions, just let me know.
this will keep me busy for awhile
ReplyDeletelooks and i am sure will sound great
robert
Hi Nat. Mick from Oz here. Do you remember me from about 4 years ago? (see earlier comments here & your email archive). We had lengthy communications in regard to this Gift Box post.
ReplyDeleteLast time we spoke I was about to leave Melbourne, spent about a year in limbo, & now have my own place in a small rural town called Maldon in Central Victoria. Nicely settled now - suits me down to the ground.
I'm doing a weekly radio show "The Rhythm Method" on community station Main FM in nearby Castlemaine (mainfm.net). Can stream it live from the site from anywhere. 3 - 5pm our time. Probably makes it some ungodly hour in your time zone.
I thought of you because today I'm playing a bunch of things from Mauritius - including some of the tracks I got from you from this post!
Sorry about the short notice - I suddenly got busy over the last few days, but I did want to let you know. Longer rave later (?). I hope you're well mate & still going strong. Cheers. Mick from Oz.
Good day, mate. I am old & I've fried more than my allotment of brain cells, but I fondly recall our communications of the past. You posted here & elsewhere. Then we continued through email at my dumpbush address. Great to hear from you again
DeleteI'm going to try & figure out the radio show & see if I have the savvy to stream it. Would be great to hear you & your musical offerings. Thanks so much for taking the time to reach out.
Stay in touch, all right.