NIGERIA 70: SWEET TIMES - AFRO-FUNK, HIGHLIFE & JUJU FROM 1970S LAGOS (VINYL)

Strut announce the return of their pioneering Nigeria 70 compilation series with an exclusive new third volume: Sweet Times: Afro Funk, Highlife & 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 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 U.S, soul, disco and rock, As on previous Nigeria 70 volumes all of the featured tracks are previously unissued outside of Nigeria, The selection ranges from dynamite
big band workouts to Congolese guitardrenched rhythms, with darker psych grooves from Don Isaac Ezekiel sitting alongside raw college funk from University band Tabanaku, 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 postindependence Nigeria.