Tabansi Studio Band - Wakar Alhazai Kano 9 & Mus'En Sofua: four incredible slices of almostundiscovered
late-70s/early 80s Afrobeat magic, but not Fela's Yoruba/Pidgin Afrobeat.
This is Igbo and Hausa Afrobeat- two very different and rarely heard styles. For the first time
anywhere, BBE is proud to reissue back to back two LPs that are so elusive that many Afro
heads doubted their very existence until now.
The beats are laid down by the seven legendary Martins Brothers - of 'Money' fame- whilst
vocals are courtesy of a multi-lingual Igbo legend, Prof. Goddy Ezike, one of the most
extraordinary voices out of Africa, up there with Youssou N'Dour and Salif Keita, whose halfcentury
career has, like fine wine, simply improved his voice.
Wakar Alhazai Kano and Lokoci Azumi Ta Wuca (tracks 1 and 2) draw on Northern Hausa
music, with its Islamic inflections and skipping 12/8 time signatures more typical of the string
and wind-based instrumentation of Kano and the broader sub-Saharan musical palette.
Kama Sofos and Aka Ji Ego Ga Anu Nwam (tracks 3 and 4) are sung in Igbo, with all the
percussive wonders that Igbo culture has to offer, filtered through a jazzy Afrobeat
improvisational spectrum.
Never before. Never again. New Afrobeats, in old bottles.
Igbo and Hausa Afrobeat- two very different and rarely heard African styles.
Percussive, dance-floor ready sounds, so rare as to astound even the deepest of diggers.
The Tabansi Studio Band comprises the seven legendary Martins Brothers (of 'Money' fame).
Vocals by Goddy Ezike, one of the most extraordinary voices out of Africa, up there with
Youssou N’Dour and Salif Keita.
