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Sneak peak of the forthcoming twelve from Afro7 records. Two mid 80s Kikuyu Disco Bombs by Julius Kangethe. Extended Edit and Rework by Didier Selin.

KIRU STARS (Julius Kangethe BYLAW / Didier Selin extended mix) 'FAMILY PLANNING' Snippet

First release in our own East Africa reissue series. Fantastic doublesider from Somalia. Heavy backbone flipped sax and great vocals sung by the late Faadumo Qaasim. Flip it and you have the crazy Berflasana by Ahmed Sharief Yusuf. Top sound for your home stereo or play in the clubs. Limited release. American pressed 45’s with uk centre pullout (just like original Kenya singles!) Comes in custom AFRO7 silkscreen pressed sleeves. Ships in week 21.

Faduma Kassim MAJOGO

Another gem on our own inhouse label, ghetto styled female funk doublesider from the streets of Nairobi! Heavy drums, horns, synth and great vocals sung by the late Tanya Ria aka Rachel Wanjiru. Go to the frontpage for the for the full story. American pressed 45’s with uk centre pullout (just like original Kenya singles!) Comes in custom Afro7 silkpressed sleeve from Thailand. Limited release, all rights reserved. Check full audio below! Note: Ships in week 21.

Tanya Ria LOVE YOU DIDN'T WANT

The Scorpios is a a London outfit combining new and old in a classic traditional setting. First contemporary release on our own in-house label. The full length LP album is here! Package includes CD and Digital Download. Front artwork by Toronto’s own A man called Warwick! 

“Hailing from Central Sudan and now based in London after fleeing the fundamentalist takeover in that region, the Scorpios are a septet that melds Arabic rhythms and guitar chops (and a kind of swooning cyclical ecstasy) with a raw Eastern funk feel, properly dismantling cultural barriers in pursuit of a unifying rhythmic bliss. Heavy bass, synths, horns and percussions drive through traditional Sudanese forms to create a sound that owes as much to Detroit as it do to Khartoum” – Tusk
 
“The Scorpios translate Sudanese music from past decades into the now while maintaining a raw, unplugged sound.” – Thomas Gesthuizen (africanhiphop.com)
 
“Truly beautiful and hypnotic Sudanese sounds for the mind, body and soul. Clap your hands, tap your feet and then rewind.” – Rickard Masip (Tropical Treats)

The Scorpios

The Scorpios - Vintage futuristic Sudanese outfit from London - debut LP album on AFRO7 Records

Taarab doublesider killer! Harambe with it's insane R&B groove riff, flip it and you have the crazy liverpool track. Originally from mid 60s aimed for the growing tourism in Mombasa and it's regions. Both tracks officially licensed on our inhouse label. Comes in tasty Afro7 sleeve with original label design. Head over to afro7.net READ THE FULL STORY and get your copy today!

Harambe / Liverpool

Mac & Party Harambe / Liverpool - New Afro7 single!

Two tracks from the Doromy archives in Nairobi. Gkinumanze delivers a knockout bassriff in an uptempo frenzy of a tune sung by Charles Sonko from Uganda. Kizunguzungu is a a funky coastal groover from Mwenge Jazz band of Tanzania. Never before on vinyl! Head over to Afro7.net and secure your copy today!

Gkinumanze / Kizunguzungu

Kyaddondo Int Gkinumanze Mwenge Jazz Kizunguzungu - New Afro7 single !

We move to the early 80s coastal province of Kenya on the latest Afro7 dancefloor twelve! Them Mushrooms EP consists of 4 catchy synth-heavy nuggets carefully selected from two polygram singles and one private album. Comes in a super deluxe heavy cardboard made in Thailand, new coastal inspired silk pressed pattern by California multi artist Steve Roden. Mastered by the Carvery Frank! Limited release only one copy per customer!

Them Mushrooms EP

Them Mushrooms 'Msondo Ngoma'

Them Mushrooms 'Akumu Nyar Kisumu'

We bring you the latest news from the Kenyan coast! Afro7 presents Mombasa Roots… This 5-track EP features the group's synth excavations from the 80s: Karibishe, Mezea Tu (Lele Mama) and Kasha Langu. On the flip side both tracks from their late seventies private disco seven inch, What Is It That You Want and My Everything. Frank the Carvery has inserted new life in all tracks and mastered them loud for dancefloor action! EP comes in super deluxe cardboard jacket made in Thailand with silk screened coastal-inspired artwork made by California resident Steve Roden. This is the first time these tracks are being reissued. Limited release, one copy per customer. Read the story of the Band by Jumanne Thomas on Afro7.net

Mombasa Roots EP

Mombasa Roots EP - New Afro7 twelve - preorder now!

New music from Nigeria's Etuk Ubong! Call it 'Earth Musi' Raw and rhythmical drawing traditions from funk, high-life, jazz and afrobeat...with a political message!  Limited Afro7 release comes in bespoke packaging! Head over to Afro7.net to read the press release and secure your copy!

Black Debtors Single

Etuk Ubong - Black Debtors / Collaboration of Doom - 2018 snippets

New music from the Sudanese London collective. Two great numbers here, the dancefloor friendy 'Mashnea', and the slowburn Samha on the B-side. Comes with original label and bespoke silk pressed single jacket. Limited to 500 copies! Head over to Afro7.net to read the story and order your copy!

Mashena

The Scorpios - Mashena / Samha - 2018 - snippets

Fantastic new compilation of the Kenyan Afro-Rock group Black Savage, 9 tracks taken from one extremely rare LP and two singles 1975-78. Comes with digital download codes, insert and story written by Kenyan music journalist Emmanuel Mwendwa and CD with bonus tracks not available on the lp. Head over to Afro7.net to read the story and secure your copy of the lp!

Black Savage

Black Savage compilation LP 1975 AFRO7 out 13/06/18 - Snippets

Taken from the Black savage Linernotes written by Emmanuel Mwendwa  :
 
Equally notable is Sharpeville – its melancholic overtones seem to complement haunting guitar chords and a mournful bassline. The late-1970s recording could likely have been triggered by the bloody 1976 Soweto Uprising. 

The lyrics are distinct, and stand out as a socio-politico commentary on the morally illegal State of Emergency enforced by an inhuman, repressive South African apartheid regime then in power. 

“..sharpeville massacre.. open your eyes.. see the people dying.. / victims of evil.. hopeless and helpless.. see the injustice.. / open your ears.. hear the screaming.. their cries.. no protection from injustice.. / don’t you realize that it’s about time.. that we solve the situation..” sings Jack Otieno. 

Undoubtedly, the song brings to the fore, band’s spirit of activism and served as a reminder for sad memories of indiscriminate 1960 Sharpeville killings. At least 69 peaceful demonstrators were shot dead, innocent lives lost and hundreds injured.  

Despite the pain suffered by victims, the protests triggered sustained anti-government campaigns driven by black Africans fighting in the struggle against tyrannical segregation

Black Savage is out 13.06.18, follow the buy link to pre-order your copy now!

Black Savage 'Sharpeville' 1975 Afro7 Records

Four killer tracks from the 80's CBS Kenya imprint!

Afro7 is back and this time we’ve dug deep in the CBS Kenya vaults and found four fantastic soulful reggae tracks of early 80’s origin! First song is the bouncy 'FIRE' by Kenyan Black Savage Band (played out on the Worldwide show by Gilles Peterson back in the start of Summer 2018) Track two on the first side is Nigerian Sheila and Desmond Majek’s laidback soulful ‘GOT THE FEELIN’ and flip it for two fantastic tracks by the Kenya coastal outfit OVID, check out the synth drum machine laden 'KARIBUNI' and the party number 'OPERATOR'. Mastered by Frank The Carvery. EP comes in super deluxe cardboard jacket made in Thailand with silk screened coastal-inspired artwork made by California resident Steve Roden. Limited to 500 copies, one copy per customer.

CBS EP

New AFRO7 Twelve - CBS EP - Black Savage - Majek's - OVID band

The Cranes were one of Uganda’s most popular teenage bands in the 1970’s. Founded in 1965, they metamorphosed at the end of the 1970’s into the Afrigo Band which is still, up to today, the number one band in the country. What’s love and Joy, both written by singer and guitarist Tony Senkebejje, appeared in 1974 on the only Cranes’ LP ‘Top Ten Hits’.
When the album hit the record stores in Kampala, bad luck had befallen The Cranes. A month before the recording of the album their bass player Jessy Kasirivu was killed because of President Idi Amin’s amorous association with his girlfriend. Senkebejje, scared for his life, fled to Kenya, only returning to Uganda 15 years later. The song What’s love describes how confusing love can be to a young soul and is partly inspired by Kasirivu’s death. Joy is a love song for Senkebejje’s wife Rachel who followed him to Kenya and who has been singing lead and playing guitar with him in their Simba Sounds Band ever since. Both songs feature prominently in the documentary Bwana Jogoo: the ballad of Jessy Gitta (2019 – 70 min – UG/NL/FR) which investigates the death of Jessy Kasisirvu at the hands of Idi Amin‘s State Research agents. Bwana Jogoo, directed by Dutch filmmaker Michiel van Oosterhout, showcases many great 1970’s songs from Uganda while letting Uganda’s musicians of yesteryears recount fond memories of one of their own, Jessy Kasirivu. These are the folks that worked and socialized with Jessy and knew him better than most. Their accounts of the events that led to Jessy’s disappearance are riveting and haunting. It lays bare a hitherto unexplored subject and one deserving of serious interrogation and scholarship – the naked power of authoritarianism and sexual predation.

The Cranes

The Cranes What's Love/Joy New Afro7 single - snippets

Solid two sider with raw afro-funk delivered from the heart of Africa, Burundi!

Niki Dave & Afro Kids

Shoreza Inyange

Niki Dave & Afro Kids Shoreza 'Inyange/Amayaya' New Afro 7 single SNIPPETS

Spacey Kenyan disco stepper with dubby undertones, late seventies origin.

You and Me

Black Devil’s Makali 'You and Me/I Found a Note' New Afro7 single SNIPPETS

Another smash from Afro7! – Gilles Peterson

From Mac & Party aka. Yaseen Mohammes comes this fantastic Kenyan chakacha taarab dancer with a heavy clavioline keyboard hook.  mid 60’s origin

Zandale

Mac & Party 'Zandale/Kiss to Kiss' New Afro7 single SNIPPETS

The only released LP by Burundian band Amabano from 1987 has been given the Afro7 reissue treatment.
In their extensive song repertoire, the band crosses styles into funky psych territory with a good dose of guitar, but not without Congolese and Burundian folklore influences.

A must listen for fans of East African music by the most influential Burundian group of the past four decades.

The reissue comes with extensive liner notes on the band’s history and their background within the Burundian music scene.

Amsterdam Ticket

Amabano 'Amsterdam Ticket' New Afro7 LP Snippets

A collection of 12 taarab songs from 1960s coastal Kenya by Yaseen Mohamed (Mac & Party). Musically rich and unique for its time and place, this compilation is a treasure trove of songs and a feast for your ear.

Yaseen’s arrangements drew influences from Indian and Egyptian film music, rhythm and blues, jazz and Latin music. Sung with a characteristic, dark voice, Yaseen’s Swahili poetry was layered over rich percussion patterns, accompanied by the distinctive sound of the Clavioline (a proto-synth) and amplified taishokoto, a novelty harp instrument of Japanese origin that Yaseen helped popularise in Kenya in the 1940s. On many songs he is accompanied by his wife Mimi on vocals.

Compiled from the elusive Mzuri catalogue, originally released in Kenya in the 60’s, the LP comes with extensive liner-notes describing the life of Yaseen,
his musical background and the early days of the Kenyan record industry.

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Johnny Draco