Bola Johnson ¿ Man No Die ...
NEW DOUBLE LP
Vampi Soul (Spain), Late 60s/Early 70s ¿ Condition: New Copy
The first ever compilation of stellar Nigerian grooves from Bola Johnson ¿ a wonderful singer with a great ear for melodies, and an uncommon stylistic range ¿ great stuff that rolls from highlife tunes with shimming guitars and charismatic vocals, to juju inflected numbers, soulful Afro Funk, more spiritually resonant numbers and rootsier cuts.
Common threads connect it all masterfully, though, and there's an particularly an insistent approach to melody that's straight up irresistible.
in a nice package from Vampi Soul: "Somebody Find Me Trouble", "Oh My Baby Josephine", "Obiriki Aye N Yilo", "Koto Ye O", "Buroda Mase", "Kilode", "Mimo Mimo Loluwo", "Lagos Special", :Meme Latori", "Nigeria Drive On The Right", "Pappa Rebecca Special 1 (She's A Woman)" and more.
From the vaults of Philips in Nigeria comes this collection of mysterious trumpeter and bandleader Bola Johnson. Unmissable 60s and early 70s recordings for all highlife and Afrobeat fans. A missing jewel from a golden age of Nigerian music.
Up till now, Bola Johnson only seems to figure in the margins of the high octane Lagos music scene of the late 60s and early 70s. He may have never had the focus, the career longevity or the catalogue of titans like Afrobeat's Fela Kuti, juju's King Sunny Ade or highlife's Victor Olaiya, but his music took its own magnificent route through the popular music of the time. His joyful treasure of a voice embellished every style in his repertoire, from the sweetly melodic heights of highlife and palm wine to the soulful skanking of Afro-blues/funk and Afrobeat; his red hot trumpet scorches its way to your yearning soul; his tunes vibrate with infectious hooks and undulating rhythms; he seems equally at home composing across the stylistic range¿ Funk? Calypso? Highlife? You got it!
Bola Johnson was born in 1947 into a musical family. He attended Livingstone Academy in Lagos and, after that, the prestigious Eko Boys High School. In 1962 he dropped out of school to follow his musical destiny. His trumpet dreams were inflamed by his time playing with Nigerian trumpet-playing legend and highlife maestro Eddy Okonta, but he joined Eric Akeaze's highlife band as a singer and maracas player in that same year, then resident at the Easy Life Hotel, in Mokola, Ibadan, which was the hub of the music scene in Nigeria in the 60s. When Eric Akeaze and his band left the Easy Life Hotel, Bola was asked to stay and set up the Easy Life Top Beats. They also toured the northern part of Nigeria. When Bola returned south, this time to Lagos later in 1968, he and his musicians were match fit and ready to make their funkiest tracks.
In 1964, while still only 17 years old, Bola had been signed to the Philips West African record label, and he recorded many of the rootsier tracks you can hear on this album as 7-inch singles. In 1968, in Lagos, he recorded the funkier material on his "Papa Rebecca Special" LP and later a rootsier album entitled "Ashewo Ajegunle Yakare". Given how great he sounds, you've just got to ask exactly why more material wasn't recorded. According to Bola, the A&R people at Philips in those days allowed sentiment for the past to override their judgment in promoting new artists, because they had highlife giants on their label such as Osita Osadebe, Rex Lawson, Victor Olaiya and Bobby Benson, and so it was hard for younger artists to get their attention, backing and consequent exposure.
Additionally, it was always difficult for him to own musical instruments, and bandleaders were the people who owned and supplied their musicians with musical hardware. Of course, you must factor in the civil war and the consequent decrease in popularity of highlife. Then the rise of juju, Afrobeat and the briefly fashionable Afro-rock. Classic and unique as Bola's approach was, it didn't seem to light the same kind of fuse for young Lagos. As his musical opportunities began to go off the boil, Bola went into broadcasting, firstly at Radio Nigeria Ibadan in 1970 and then he moved to the FRCN (Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria) in 1973. Sometimes he played at the Cool Cat in Ebute Metta, Lagos.
These days, Bola lives in Ikorodu, a suburb of Lagos. He still writes music and looks forward to making new recordings.
Tracks list
1. Baby £1:10 /-
2. Somebody Find Me Trouble
3. Iyawo Kokoro Mi Da
4. Money Hard
5. Oh My Baby Josephine
6. Obiriko Aye N Yilo
7. Asewo Ajegunle Yakare
8. Oro Aiye
9. Koto Ye O
10. Buroda Mase
11. Kilode
12. Mimo Mimo Loluwo
13. Ezuku Buzo
14. Hot Pants
15. Mele Latori
16. Lagos Sisi
17. Oyinmomo
18. Lagos Special
19. Never Part 1
20. Edumare Soro
21. Pappa Rebecca Special 1 (She's A Woman)
22. Nigeria Drive On The Right
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