#funkees

The Funkees

Harry Mosco had been knocking around London for about four years when he made this album, watching his pioneering Afro-beat outfit, the Funkees go, well, defunct, and banging his head against the wall trying for a commercial breakthrough. For You Specially was originally intended to be the opening salvo for Africanium, a band Mosco started with drummer Willie Bestman in the aftermath of the Funkees’ demise. The title and album art, however, sought a clear connection with the older band. The word “FUNKEES” appears in much larger type face on the cover than Mosco’s name or the misspelled title. 

Following our recent post about Okyerema Asante's Ghanaian disco trip, we have another afro-disco gem, courtesy of Nigerian club queen - Nana Love.

Search for her online and you'll mostly find various posts about her obscurity, and lack of info.  The few bits of useful information come straight from the back sleeve: It was recorded in California, She credited as writer/arranger, and features Nigerian funk heavyweight - Harry Mosco - on the album. She was also featured on the 2010 compilation Lagos Disco Inferno (that's her on the front cover).

And that's it.

We sometimes take it for granted that we are often able to discover everything about an artist with a few clicks of the mouse.  My experience with Nana Love has reminded me of a time when all one could know about an artist was based on the info off the sleeve and record. 

Enjoy.

The Funkees: "Salam" (Now I'm A Man, 1976)

I recently wrote an article for a forthcoming issue of One More Robot, in which the Funkees featured prominently. It had been a little while since I'd listened to the band's albums, and it was nice getting back to them--this band was one of the best rock groups to come out of Nigeria in the 70s, during that country's post-Civil War musical explosion.

They formed in the eastern university and oil town of Warri, in Delta State, and the members were veterans of the Biafran Army; their connections to people who traveled abroad often gave them access to a lot of British and American records that competing bands couldn't hear. Much in the same way that Jamaican soundsystems tried to get their hands on records no one else had, band in Nigeria would try to build unique covers into their set lists to set themselves apart, so it was a valuable resource for the band.

After a series of singles, the band upped stakes and moved to London, where they recorded two LPs. "Salam" is one of the highlights of the second one, Now I'm A Man, mixing a little bit of every ingredient that made the LP interesting into a sharp proto-disco rock song.