Various - Nigeria 70: Sweet Times - Afro Funk, Highlife and Juju From 1970s Lagos

The return of their pioneering 'Nigeria 70' compilation series on Strut with a third volume: 'Sweet Times: Afro Funk, Highlife and Juju from 1970s Lagos' compiled again by series curator Duncan Brooker. Excavating another choice batch of rare grooves from Nigeria's label archives, the new edition places the spotlight on some of the deeper fusions happening across the country during the 1970s as traditional guitar highlife blended with jazz and funk, hypnotic juju grooves became more progressive and young Nigerian bands came through with their own heavy West African take on us soul, funk, disco and rock. Tracks range from the dynamite big band workout of Alex Ringo's Moneyman and the super 5 international to the Congolese guitar-drenched 'Henrietta' by the late Ali Chukwumah, former member of Stephen Osita Osadebe's sound makers. Darker psych grooves from Don Isaac Ezekiel sit alongside raw college funk from college band Tabanaku comprising students from the university of life. Highlife legend Victor Olaiya unleashes a slow, languorous afro jam lifted from a rare polydor 45 and juju legend Ebenezer Obey cooks up a lilting, deeply beautiful mid-tempo groove from 1970 in a musical plea for peace. 'Nigeria 70: Sweet Times' is another essential celebration of the glut of incredible music that surfaced in post-independence Nigeria.