Miles Cleret, owner of the UK-based Soundway label, was in town on May 29 to spin a set of dancefloor sizzlers at Studio Lam on Sukhumvit 51. Cleret, who was last in Bangkok two years ago, has been living with his family in Bali for the past few years and is preparing to return to the UK. He told World Beat there were a number of new Soundway records in the pipeline, and gave me a copy of his latest release Highlife On The Move – Selected Nigerian & Ghanaian Recordings From London & Lagos 1954-66, which is a must for fans of African pop music.
For more than a decade, small labels like Soundway have been delving into the roots of African popular music, going ever deeper and further back into the early days of African pop which often coincided with independence from European colonial rule. Ghana, for instance, was the first to gain independence in 1957.
Highlife On The Move rewinds back to the early days of the scene and charts the development of the period during its heyday from the mid-50s to the mid-60s, when highlife was performed and recorded in Ghana, Nigeria and London. The 38 tracks on the album come from 25 different ensembles, some based in Africa and some based in London.
The London connection is fascinating as during the 50s there was a lively music scene in London that featured both African and Caribbean (calypso was a fad during the 50s) musicians alongside British jazz musicians. The liner notes go into his era in detail and interested readers might like to check out Colin MacInnes' novel City Of Spades from his trilogy set in London during this period.
Perhaps the most important African musician in London at that time was Nigerian percussionist Ginger Johnson, who had settled in the city after World War II to play music with various jazz bands, orchestras and swing outfits. He release several vinyl singles in the 50s that were among the first recordings of African popular music in Europe. His legendary album African Party which was released in 1967 with his band African Messengers is to be re-issued by Freestyle Records. Among rock fans he is remembered for a percussion workout with the Rolling Stones at their famous concert in Hyde Park, London, in 1969.
Indeed, the opening track, Highlife No.5 by Johnson, sets the tone for the compilation as it is a classic highlife tune complete with its distinctive dance rhythm, soaring horns and laid-back vocals.
Johnson opened a club in North London during the late 60s and another famous Nigerian, Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, visited him, playing in his club and staying in his house; it seems that Johnson was the father figure for the upcoming generation of Nigerian and Ghanaian musicians either visiting London or playing there. Fela's music on the album is pre-Afrobeat and includes an interesting effort by Kuti on Nigeria and politics, Nigerian Independence, which prefigured his radical stance against the authorities in Nigeria by Kuti.
Other notables on the compilation include English-born Ghainaian Kwamalah Quaye (often called simply Cab Quaye, who was the son of bandleader Caleb Quaye. Cab was a stalwart of several jazz bands and orchestras but he turned back to his African roots in the 50s; with his Sextetto Africana band he fused together African and Cuban music, the spectacular results of which you can hear on the dancefloor filler Son Of Africa.
Aside from the wonderful highlife tracks that form much of the great music on this fine compilation there are also some funky numbers that came about as a result of the cross-fertilisation between Caribbean and African musicians, particularly from London-based musicians like Steve Rhodes and Ginger Johnson on bubbly tracks like Brown Skin Girl and Drink A Tea or Chris Ajilo's Afro Mood, which sounds a lot like Jamaican ska.
This is a beautifully illustrated compilation, with fascinating liner notes by highlife expert Dr Markus Coestler. You can buy either the 2-CD or the 3-vinyl LP versions — both are essential to any decent record collection.
John Clewley will be spinning some of these fine tracks at his next DJ session on Saturday night at Speakeasy Shebeen, at Studio Lam on Sukhumvit 51. From 9m till late. Be there or be square!
