Introduction

From 2005 to 2008 I lived in Conakry, the capital city of Guinea, from where I extensively traveled all over the coastal region of West Africa, always on the lookout for records but collecting much more along the way.

Here, on the first page of this blog, I posted some of the more recent mixes but the meat and potatoes you will find in the archived list to the right which contains somewhere around 60 reports that I wrote during my 3 years in Africa. Except the first two posts which are about two visits to Ghana and Nigeria made while living in NYC. Anway, all the links ending with "-MP3-" will lead you to posts with streaming mp3 mixes which were all created with the records found on these travels and within just days or weeks of finding them. All posts are in reverse chronological order. If you want to start from the beginning, please begin at the bottom of the list with the story of Mr. Mafa and his record store.

Between these many travels to various other places in the region, I also got to witness the deterioration of Guinea from a poor but peaceful safe haven for refugees from war torn neighboring countries like Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast, into a scenery of violent riots, ethnic conflict and unspeakably brutal attacks by government forces on members of the local opposition. These 3 years were packed with invaluable experiences, some sad, some just bad but most of them good and inspiring - just like about everything if you live life well.
Take it easy,

Frank

New Nigerian Mixes

This one is almost 90 minutes long and showcases the type of tunes I'm into these days... starting with various Funk & Disco favorites, followed by some seriously heavy Edo Funk Benin City style before wrapping things up with a few unknown and deep, deep Afrobeat tunes. Click on the image and get sweaty!

Here's another Nigerian Disco and Boogie mix:

A new mix and some fresh shirts!

Monsoon season had me stuck at the house for a couple of rainsoaked weeks so I got busy and put together a new mix with some tasty Nigerian Disco, Funk and Boogie records that my friend Damian recently sent me over from Lagos. Click on the image and get ready to get down: I also made a bunch of new T-shirt designs for my online store over at Dizzyjam! All designs are available in regular S, M, L and XL as well as in tight girl's sizes and in a huge variety of customizable color combinations. These are printed with heavy duty plastisol transfers which do not fade or wash out. I've been putting mine through a lot of abuse over the years and they still look as sharp as ever.

Various Mixes 2008-2012 -MP3-

These are some mixes I put together from 2008 through 2012 to promote my various parties in NYC. I decided to leave these up for you to enjoy. There are many more mixes contained in the various older posts of this blog that were all done while I lived in West Africa from 2005-'08 and first got infected with this amazing music.

Click on the image to listen:

00:00 The Clusters -cool mood
04:00 Orch. Poly Rythmo -ou c'est lui ou c'est moi" (unreleased version)
14:36 Evelyn Dance Band led by Orlando Julius -erora miliki
21:37 Uhuru Sounds -ariwo yaa
26:58 Jake Sollo -deiyo deiyo
31:26 Bonds Funk Band -sitting at the court hall
35:01 Pyramid's 7 -shokolokobangoshay
41:17 Big John Oaikhena -agbon nu ghegbeji
46:13 Rail Band de Mali -djiguiya
56:01 St. Augustine -kpalanuma
63:20 Orch. le Bida de la Capitale -kenuma

Lately I've been seriously getting into Highlife tunes from Benin City (no relations to Benin the country). Benin City is the capital of Edo state in Southern Nigeria and birthplace of Sir Victor Uwaifo. I hope you will enjoy this music as much as I do. All these songs are really long, I only managed to fit seven of them into this mix that runs well over 1 hour... I don't like to cut tracks short. To me the length of these tracks matches the trance inducing nature of the music.

Click on the image and let yourself go!

00:00 Solo Hit -ododo
05:18 Ugbo & his Philosophers -efe
14:25 Collins Oke -iguo
22:18 Aigbe Lebarty -green revolution
30:22 Victor Uwaifo -ohue
38:38 Akaba Man -ighie vibie
45:27 Talents of Benin -ovbiokhokho

This is a Nigerian Disco mix I put together to promote my Lagos Disco Inferno Parties. Click on the image for a direct link to the mp3 and get sweaty!





My main man in Ghana, Dankyi-Appah Safo Kennedy aka Ken has recently gone international and been spending some time digging for records in Northern Nigeria. When I got to talk to Albert Jones from the Freedom Family and Geraldo Pino's Heartbeats about the scene in Kano and Kaduna back in the 1970s, I became certain that there have to be records up there. This turned out to be true as Ken just express-mailed me a big box of packed with the most unbelievable Nigerian funk 45s. Of course I couldn't resist but throw together a quick mix using some of these gems... a few boxes with LPs should arrive here at Voodoo Funk headquarters shortly and once they are here, I'm sure another mix will follow up in no time.

I'm not listing all tracks. Sorry for being so squirelly but I'm in the process of sourcing some of these tunes for possible re-issue and I don't want people chopping up my mixes and re-posting these tracks individually on YouTube or on one of those lame torrent sites...
Click on the image to listen:

Click on the image below and get your groove on!

00:00 Artist Unknown

03:03 Stoneface & Life Everlasting -Agawalam Mba

05:55 Segun Bucknor -Baby Get Your Thing

09:17 Artist Unknown

12:17 Artist Unknown

15:12 The Funkees -Onye Mmyaa

21:05 Geraldo Pino & The Heartbeats -Shake Hands (45 Version)

29:04 Tony Grey & The Zeinians -Do Your Thing

32:00 Artist Unknown

34:45 Showboy Eric Akaeze -I Will Tell Mama

40:43 Orchestre Vévé -Talali Talala

44:48 Joni Haastrup & Monomono -Water Pass Gari (Or Gari Pass Water)

Here's a fresh, new boogie mix for you...
Click on the image below to get down!




This is a mix I made with some records that I brought back home after spending January 2011 in Ghana and it includes quite a few new discoveries. Click on the image to listen.

00:00 Uppers Chapter Two - Samari Bolga
02:53 The Walking Shadows - If You Do Me - I Do You
06:10 Joe Mensah - Right On Bosue
09:48 Nyame Bekyere - Broken Heart
22:22 Uppers International - Aja Wondo
26:16 The Walking Shadows - Kun Adele
29:37 Rev. Jerry Boifraind (The Handsome Rebel) - Apartheid
38:10 Kelenkye Band - Jungle Music
43:48 Foundars 15 - Finger Fun
48:08 The Future Hope International - Onye Ma Echi
53:23 Sir Victor Uwaifo - Ohue
61:39 Jimi Solanke - Owo Orisa

00:00 Eric Akaeze "bar beach show"
07:37 Mad Man Jaga "mama wam"
12:46 Orlando Julius "kete kete koro"
18:18 Tunji Oyelana & the Lijadu Sisters "ojo"
24:31 Eji Oyewole "gele odun (oil boom)"
34:20 Pierre Antoine "kalabuley woman"
45:56 Cross River Nationale "nyong eyen unen"
51:58 Masisi "uchum"
57:21 Aigbologa Bucknor "katakata"


00:00 Super Party Brothers "kung fu"
06:25 De Frank "chicken"
10:05 Heads Funk "cold fire"
14:54 Papa Stone Kiss "spellbound"
21:40 The Super 5 "wake up sera"
26:35 Mansur "love and happiness"
30:52 Grace Ekpeyong "think of yourself"
36:06 Head Funk Band "can you do it"
39:21 Pyramid's 7 "it's never this way"
45:22 Ozobby Horn "oh jah"
50:05 The Masisi "funky music"
54:11 W. Roy "christian community"
57:27 K Three "k 3 theme"


00:00 Ralph Aire & The Irokos "lumele niluwele"
06:55 Solo Hit "imoikeme"
12:25 Tunji Oyelana & the Benders "e gbe mi"
18:21 Akaba Man & the Nigie Rockets "ogbov' omwan"
31:05 Franco Jr. "ayee menko"
38:48 Black Masters Band "wonnim a bisa"
44:25 Katakumbey "mowar wo"
50:25 Sea Boy "obi abefa ko"
63:49 Jeff Tagoe & Vis-A-Vis "no go jealous"


00:00 Boombaya "rainbows"
04:20 The Doves "flying bird"
07:51 Monomono "wake up the ded onez"
11:33 Orchestre Poly Rythmo "a o o ida"
16:20 Masisi "mama taught me to say hello"
21:10 The Musketeers "eat the meat and leave the bone"
26:32 George Lee "ibibi (am black & am beautiful)"
31:02 Sonny Okosuns & The Paperback Ltd "sound of the forest"
34:00 The Strangers "survival"
37:08 Unknown "gulder man" (instrumental version)
39:41 The Magnificent Zeinians "ije udo"
43:25 The Apostles "your business"
47:09 The Ceejebs "glorious day"
50:18 Wrinkar Experience "natural man"
53:43 The Semi-Colon "ready steady go"
56:38 Aktion "I don't have to cry"