VA - The Rough Guide to Psychedelic Africa (2012)

The 1960s and 1970s across Africa were decades defined by bright optimism and clashing sensibilities. Music plunged through the heart of this dynamic time and was a powerful tool of expression. Far-out psychedelic-sounding rock mixed with a thick dollop of deep funk and soul became the sound of a generation.

On this Rough Guide Nigerian guitar maestro Sir Victor Uwaifo employs the sweet harmonies and gently lilting textures of highlife, mixed with echoing horns and distorted guitar lines, resulting in a heady psychedelic brew. His seminal track ‘Guitar Boy’, included on this album, was a huge hit in 1966. Celestine Ukwu’s gentle track ‘Obialu Be Onye Abiagbunia Okwukwe’ also includes a highlife groove, played at a laid-back tempo and teasingly interspersed with swooping, bent notes played on a pedal steel guitar. On ‘Let Yourself Go’, Olaiya rasps and growls his vocals above tightly stacked horn lines that, along with the percussion, pound out a straight-ahead groove.

East African psychedelic music often has a darker, jazzier feel, inferred from the use of traditional modes and harmonies. Hailing from Ethiopia, Alèmayèhu Eshèté’s music is brooding Ethio-jazz with a splash of psychedelia in the form of a winding high-pitched guitar, a booming amplified bass line and interjecting keyboard figures.

This Rough Guide also includes music from musicians who have successfully re-launched their careers on the contemporary ‘world music’ scene. Enjoy the revived retro sounds of Orchestra Baobab, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo and Ebo Taylor.

To top it all off this original compilation comes with a full-length bonus album from none other than Sir Victor Uwaifo himself. First recorded in 1971, enjoy Ekassa in fully re-mastered splendour.