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Wake Up You!

14/01/2016A Decade-Long Investigation Into 1970s Nigerian Rock Scene
 

Time for another musical history lesson: In case you forgot, last September we recommended the brilliant "Don't Think I've Forgotten" documentary project on Cambodia's thriving music scene during the '60s and '70s, that is until full-out war broke out and ripped the country's rich culture to shreds.

Likewise, L.A.'s very own Now-Again Records, run by Stones Throw Records GM and A&R Egon and specialising in global funk, psychedelia and sometimes jazz, is about to release a two-album/two-book project entitled "Wake Up You! The Rise And Fall of Nigerian Rock, 1972-1977", documenting the country's rock music scene, that emerged in the early 1970s, during and after the Nigerian Civil War that erupted in 1967.

"The rock scene that developed during the following three years of bloodshed and destruction would come to heal the country, propagate the world-wide ideal of the Modern Nigerian, and propel Fela Kuti to stardom after conflict ended in 1970."

The publication is the result of a decade-long investigation by musicologist and researcher Uchenna Ikonne ("Who Is William Onyeabor?")

Volume 1 releases on April 15, 2016, but you can already listen to a thrilling track by Ify Jerry Krusade in the SoundCloud player above. Stay tuned!

AUTHOR: Lev Nordstrom