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The Semi Colon Serves Up a 'Nigeria Special'

<em>Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-6</em> does a nice job surveying the sounds of Nigeria in the '70s.
Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-6 does a nice job surveying the sounds of Nigeria in the '70s.

Fela Kuti's musical shadow hangs heavy over Nigeria, but his country's audio coffers are crammed with many other classic head-nodders, most unheard by Western ears — at least before the salad days of the recent boom in compilations of African music.

Two recent collections from the Soundway label do a nice job surveying the sounds of Nigeria in the '70s: the two-CD Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-6 and the single-disc Nigeria Disco Funk Special: The Sound of the Underground Lagos Dancefloor 1974-79. Both comps are essential blasts brimming with dance fodder, but the former offers a more diverse array of styles — virtually all of which are embodied by The Semi Colon in "Nekwaha Semi Colon." As the song progresses, the chanted, Fela-like vocals elbow through a Cuban-tinged 4/4 Afro-pop beat, while an acid-blues guitar smacks them all with licks straight out of the Haight-Ashbury underground.

According to the liner notes in the lavishly documented CD package, group leader Lasbrey Colon is giving his bandmates shout-outs in the song, crooning, "Look at them / Semi Colon / Singing, dancing everywhere they go / Come and see for yourself." It's really a sonic billboard for the band — and for Soundway's compilations of Nigerian mega-jams.

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Christopher Porter
Christopher Porter is a freelance writer, editor and photographer based in Silver Spring, Md. He has a bad back and great hair. His work has appeared in Alternative Press, Entertainment Weekly, ESPN the Magazine, Inside Entertainment, Global Rhythm, Harp, JazzTimes, National Geographic World Music, Time Out Chicago, The Stranger, Vibe, Washington City Paper and The Washington Post. He blogs and repurposes junk at www.christopherporter.com.