Freedom Family Ghana Funk
sergiosimoes
4 Posts
This is a great record I found last week in a Flea market. here is a youtube sample.
http://soulserver.us/2012/07/freedom-family-holy-worshipping/
http://soulserver.us/2012/07/freedom-family-holy-worshipping/
Comments
This is as a good a place as any to announce that Frank and I (Voodoo Funk and Academy Lps) will be reissuing this in a deluxe version early this year. It's fully licensed from the band, and singer Albert Jones tells an incredibly vivid (and entertaining) story of a musician's life in 70's West Africa in the extensive liners. We're both especially happy with the way this came together, I'll drop some hype when it's on the way.
here's hoping Brazil lifts its insane import taxes on records by then. 90% tax on any order over $50US (and that includes the shipping).
Hot damn! That's a major score! That's an easy $500 at VG+... maybe more since there are two issues of this record. One that is very rare and anther that is impossibly rare. Tell me what the label looks like and I'll tell you what you have.
Oh and like M*** said, the reissue is going to be extra sweet. I had singer and band leader Albert Jones as a guest at my house for a full week and we spent the entire time putting together the liner notes. Usually when you talk to veterans like him, memory sometimes isn't too great and often people are shy talking about the ehm, juicy stuff... Albert not only had an incredible memory but he also had absolutely no inhibitions to talk about the sex & drugs side of things. There were several times when I just could not believe what he was telling me and I can say without any exaggeration that the liner notes are going to be just as mindblowing as the music. An incredible biography spanning pretty much the entire decade of the 1970s and covering ground from Ghana to Ivory Coast, back to Ghana and to Nigeria.
can't wait!
I'm as good as my word...
About two years in the making, I am very happy to announce the release of the Freedom Family 'Ayentsoo' Lp!
Here's the hype:
"By the time the Freedom Family cut their lone record in 1974, they were perhaps the most seasoned band in all of West Africa. Years of backing up Geraldo Pino, when they often played six hours a night for months on end, had honed them into razor-sharp Afro Funk machine without equal.
First coming together in 1970, they underwent numerous permutations, crossing paths with musicians such as the Big Beats, the Barbeques, Voices Of Darkness, The Elcados, Joni Haastrup and Fela along the way. Their musical odyssey took them from Ghana to Liberia, Nigeria, The Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta).
The story of the Freedom Family is an incredible insight into the life of a musician in 70's West Africa and a dramatic portrait of that music scene in general. This release includes a beautiful 8 page booklet with liner notes by singer Albert Jones, whose vivid recollections bring these stories to life in compelling fashion. Illustrated with vintage photos of the band, the booklet alone is an incredible document of the time.
Academy Lps and Frank Gossner (Voodoo Funk) continue their fruitful collaboration with the release of Ayentsoo, an incredible Afro Funk record that is rivaled only by the first Marijata record (also released on Academy Lps) in it's sheer power and heaviness. Indeed, this record
takes it's rightful place along any funk record from anywhere as a pinnacle of the genre. Absolutely consistent from beginning to end, there is not a dull second here.
Recorded in 1974 with legendary producer Odion Iruoje (Ofege, SJOB Movement, Fela and many others), this record features one of the fattest bass sounds ever committed to tape and captures the band at the absolute stunning peak of their powers. In fact, Odion would play this record for years to come as an example to other bands he was producing.
This deluxe reissue continues the high standards set by the previous Academy Lps releases with beautifully restored artwork, 8 page illustrated booklet and powerful remastered sound by Tim Warren."
To which I would add that this record stands up to prime era Kool And The Gang or JBs as one of the greatest funk records ever. Strong words, I know, but I believe 'em. Drummer Attah Boison is an absolute mofo.
Can be listened to/ordered here:
http://academylps.bigcartel.com/product/freedom-family-ayentsoo
These won't be in stores until next month, so you can grab 'em early here. You might peruse some of our other selections to combine shipping. Orders placed now will ship after the weekend.
Any questions etc, please don't PM, you can email me academylps a t geeemail.
Thanks!
We have good distro in the UK, but it will be a few weeks before stores have them since many people are closed for August.
x 2
one of those records I pull out only when it can be played LOUD from beginning to end. It'll be nice to have a copy I don't have to worry about as much, and the liner notes are a killer addition. You guys have been working on this one for a while!
I'd buy a T.... but I know they don't grow on Trees...
Today the city is regularly bombed by Bokol Haram, just two weeks ago they bombed some open air beer bars and killed 25 people. Since the Islamists took over in the 80s the big hotels have drained their pools so men and women can't break the rules of sharia and take a bath together. One of my buyers went there 2 years back and first visited Kaduna, formerly home of the Super Elcados and other killer funk bands. Five hours after he left they bombed the hotel where he had spent the night and in Kano he was told that the Islamist had burned down all record stores during the first religious riots back in the late 80s. Nevertheless, my friend stayed for several weeks and got some seriously heavy stuff out of private collections.
Albert told me how back in the 70s, Kano was the second largest city in Nigeria, a buzzing metropolitan city with direct daily flights to and from London and Paris. The band befriended several flight attendants who always brought them the newest fashion from Paris and records and music magazines from London. He elaborated on how they were often hired for whole weekends to play on the compounds of the big local Alhadjis who had brought in truck loads of beer from the South and hired scores of Fulani hookers. Albert said back then they would go to the central market to buy speed, lsd and penicillin (to get rid of their frequent bouts of chlamydia). They often dropped some acid on the spot after shooting themselves up with the penicillin and walked back home tripping, wearing big hats and platform boots. He said they would always dress up when going out.
Today young people in Kano have discussions on Facebook if it is acceptable for men and women to be dancing in the same room.
I'll make this non-specific, but
Fuck religion.
On a brighter note, the LP looks awesome!
It's all not that simple, Kano had been introduced to Islam in the 13 hundreds during the Malinque empire and those Alhadjis who would hire the Freedom Family to play at their compounds for whole weekends were deeply religious people... obviously they also knew how to have a good time. In sub-saharan Africa one does not or at least did not always exclude the other. Albert himself today is a devout Muslim while still enjoying music and not being ashamed of his more ehm... secular past... it' the radicalisation of the religion (mostly steered, financed and manned from abroad) that caused all the harm and is responsible for how tragically fucked up the situation there has become.
But please let's not turn this into another pro/contra religion thread.
No, no, looking forward to the LP.
:feelin_it: