Afro-space-disco murder — shuffling and wiggling, synthy and bubbling — from this re-incarnation of Willy Nfor’s Mighty Flames, recruited mostly from the wave of Cameroonian musicians drawn to Nigeria in the late-1970s by its heavy new funk sound. It’s a long way from Ohio, but the Troutmans are in the mix.

‘The groundbreaking debut album by legendary Nigerian percussionist Gasper Lawal, originally released in 1980 on his own label CAP.
‘Lawal meticulously self-produced, composed, and overdubbed the album over four years, assembling an elite group of musicians from both Nigeria and the UK. Several of he instruments used were hand-built, including a powerful one-of-a-kind drum carved deep in the Nigerian bush. “This music is not about trends, about what is commercial or a “sound” of a particular moment,” explains Lawal, “it is about music to be felt, that gives pleasure. It is nurturing and meditative.”
‘Spiritually resonant, rhythmically rich and genre-defying,’

Ka-boom! The legendary digger re-ignites the Lagos Disco Inferno and kicks off his very own mouth-watering imprint with two sides of boogie-down bliss.

The Nigerian percussionist together with US soul singer OC Tolbert, in 1982.
A grippingly odd couple of sides: Happiness is slow-burning gospel; Nwanne is terrific, stampeding Afro-disco, with popping bass, echoing shout-outs and drums on fire.

Aka J.J.D. (Johnny Just Drop).
‘Recorded in autumn 1976, six months before the army attack on Kalakuta Republic, this is a lampoon of ‘been-to’ Nigerians, who had been to Europe or the US and returned with an inferiority complex about African culture. Ghariokwu Lemi’s front-cover portrays a suited-up been-to, dressed like a cartoon British toff, as he parachutes into a Lagos street to the bemusement of passers-by. The back cover shows a more funkily dressed been-to, wearing US-style ghetto-chic, but looking equally out of place. See how these JJD’s dress and talk, sings Fela, they are trying to be foreigners. In response, the chorus repeats the single word ‘original’, invoking Fela’s closing line on Gentleman: ‘I no be gentleman at all-o, I be Africa man, original.’‘

‘Welcome to the Kalakuta Republic — havin’ a ball.’ Buy this for the wonderful JJD, 23 minutes live and direct, with all the cogs of the Africa 70 band well-oiled and whirring together.

‘Them leave sorrow, tears and blood, Them regular trademark… My people self dey fear too much, We fear for the thing we no see… We fear to fight for freedom.’
Magnificent defiance from 1977.

‘Another underground spiritual’, as the opening puts it, about Botha and apartheid,and supporters like Thatcher, Reagan and the Dis-United Nations. (‘One veto vote is equal to 92 or more, or more’).

In 1974 the police raided Fela’s commune. Looking for dope, they threatened to pump his stomach.

Interpol head: ‘I’ll talk to you in my office.’
Fela: ‘You get office? You foolish, stupid bastard, you goat…’