Mr Bongo Ebo Taylor & Uhuru Yenzu – Conflict LP
One of Ghanaʼs finest producer and arrangers,
Ebo Taylor was involved in a lot of the afro-funk to emerge from the country in the 70s
working with bands such as Apagya Show Band and fellow musicians
such as C.K. Mann and Pat Thomas.
Conflict was originally released in 1980
and is finally seeing a long overdue reissue on Mr Bongo,
following a partial remake as part of Taylorʼs 2009 Love and Death album.
The five tracks that make up Conflict are a perfect example
of Taylorʼs trademark approach that saw him inject a heavy dose of funk into
Ghanaʼs traditional highlife grooves in an attempt to move away from what he saw
as the musicʼs more traditional qualities.
The album opens with the highlife of You Need Love, a track with catchy chants,
horn riffs and guitar licks, and soon moves into funkier territories
starting with Love and Death and then What Is Life?, a song with thicker grooves
and a flute offset against the horn section.
Christ Will Come is a highlight combining percussion with funky drums,
flute and horns to devastating effect for what is essentially a bit of
an apocalyptic jam heralding Christʼs return on judgement day.
The album closes with Victory. Based on a traditional song of the Asafo people,
the song puts forward the horn section over a rapid groove and calls for the unity of all mankind.
Taylorʼs arrangements and funky grooves combined with lyrics that touch
on subjects ranging from love to religion make Conflict a stand out opus
of Ghanaian afro-funk thatʼs ripe for rediscovery.
Mr Bongo
(EN)Mr Bongo started life in 1989 as a small record shop underneath Daddy Kool’s Reggae Store on Berwick Street in London. They were the first shop to sell vinyl releases from independent hip hop labels such as Def Jam, Rawkus, Nervous and Big Beat outside of the USA. Mr Bongo also became an established bearer for hard-to-find, classic Latin music, particularly Brazilian, outside of the Americas.
Over the following years Mr Bongo moved three times within Soho and opened in Shibuya, Japan. They moved their first office to Brighton in 1999 and closed all other shops in 2003.
Their recording roster features some of the finest Brazilian, Latin, reggae, African and Jazz artists including Ebo Taylor, Hollie Cook, The Skints, Jorge Ben, Joyce, Seu Jorge, Prince Fatty, Incredible Bongo Band, Terry Callier, Arthur Verocai and Marcos Valle amongst many, many others.
(DE) Mr. Bongo begann sein Leben 1989 als kleiner Plattenladen unter Daddy Kool's Reggae Store in der Berwick Street in London. Sie waren der erste Laden, der Vinyl-Veröffentlichungen von unabhängigen Hip-Hop-Labels wie Def Jam, Rawkus, Nervous und Big Beat außerhalb der USA verkaufte. Mr Bongo wurde auch ein etablierter Anbieter für schwer zu findende, klassische lateinamerikanische Musik, insbesondere brasilianische, außerhalb Amerikas.
In den folgenden Jahren zog Mr Bongo dreimal innerhalb von Soho um und eröffnete in Shibuya, Japan. Heute sind sie in Brighton zu finden.
Ihr Programm umfasst einige der besten brasilianischen, lateinamerikanischen, Reggae-,
afrikanische und Jazz-Künstler, darunter Ebo Taylor, Hollie Cook, The Skints, Jorge Ben, Joyce, Seu Jorge, Prince Fatty, Incredible Bongo Band, Terry Callier, Arthur Verocai und Marcos Valle und viele, viele andere.