In the early 1970s The Funkees were the number-one east Nigerian band.
Akula Owu Onyeara is taken from 'Dancing Time: The Best of Eastern Nigeria's Afro Rock Exponents 1973 - 77' released earlier this year on Soundway.
Also featured on 'Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-6 Part 1', this track is just one tasty slice of funky Afro-rock grooves hand picked by Soundway's Miles Cleret. Click here to subscribe to Soundway Records - www.bit.ly/sub2soundway
MUSIC FROM PLANET EARTH: PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE
Soundway Records was conceived in 2002 by label owner Miles Cleret whilst returning from Ghana with a hoard of dusty old 45s and LPs that had mostly not been heard outside the former Gold Coast since their original release. Planned on a whim the trip was not one of the carefully planned research expeditions that Miles would later embark on to any number of far-flung tropical destinations. On the contrary he left England with no idea of what he might find or that it might be the start of a career in the record business.
Although the label has it's roots in West Africa the scope has grown to include many other parts of the tropical belt with the aim of making available recordings that have in most cases never been available outside of their original countries and often not even there for over 30 years. Over the years Soundway's modus operandi has been to approach the music from a different angle from many of the more established "World Music" labels. By focusing on more obscure artists as well as big names and often concentrating on progressive recordings more in sync with Cleret's generation and background in DJ culture and dance-music. Styles have included afro-beat, funk, highlife, ethio-jazz, molam, calypso, cumbia, champeta, biguine, latin-jazz and disco as well as many unclassifiable recordings.
Since 2012 Soundway has begun releasing new material from a carefully selected handful of contemporary recording artists including acclaimed acts Ondatropica, Bomba Estereo and Ibibio Sound Machine
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