The Funkees
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The Funkees
The Funkees were a Nigerian afro-rock group formed in the late 1960s. They moved to London in 1973 in music, 1973 and quickly gained prominence in the expatriate West African and West Indian music scene, but fragmented four years later. They specialized in Funk music, funky, upbeat, highly danceable afro-rock that often featured lyrics sung in Igbo language, Igbo, as well as English. Originating as an army band after the Nigerian Civil War, they contributed to the outpouring of upbeat music produced by young people in Nigeria in response to the darkness of the recently concluded civil conflict. In 2012, Soundway Records reissued a compilation of their recordings from the mid-1970s, leading to a resurgence of interest in the band. Members * Harry Mosco — guitar, vocals, gong * Chyke Madu — drums, vocals * Sonny Akpabio — congas * Jake N. Sollo — guitar, organ, piano, vocals * Danny Heibs — bass, vocals, percussion * Tony Mallett * Mohammed Ahidjo — vocals, percussion * R ...
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Afro Rock
Afro rock is a style of rock music with West African influences. Afro rock bands and artists in the late 1960s and early 1970s included Osibisa, Assagai and Lafayette Afro Rock Band. Style The style relies on the use of rock string instruments (electric guitars and electric bass) and guitar effects like wah wah pedal. Songs are based around a rock chordal structure and progression with a horn section, and keyed instruments such as electric piano, organ (music), organ, and clavinet. The rhythmic elements of the music are drums and bass, but other characteristically African and Afro-Cuban elements are the percussion instruments including congas, bongos, claves, whistles and other Latin percussion. Late 1960s, Super Eagles and Psychedelic Aliens were roots of afro rock. Osibisa and Assagai were founded in England. Afro rock musicians *Osibisa *Assagai *Lafayette Afro Rock Band *Cymande *Demon Fuzz *Blo (band), Blo *MATATA
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Afrobeat
Afrobeat is a Nigerian music genre that involves the combination of West African musical styles (such as traditional Yoruba music and highlife) and American funk, jazz, and soul influences, with a focus on chanted vocals, complex intersecting rhythms, and percussion.Grass, Randall F. "Fela AnikulaThe Art of an Afrobeat Rebel". ''The Drama Review: TDR''. MIT Press. 30: 131–148. The style was pioneered in the 1960s by Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who is responsible for popularizing the style both within and outside Nigeria. Distinct from Afrobeat is Afrobeats – a sound originating in West Africa in the 21st century, one that takes in diverse influences and is an eclectic combination of genres such as hip hop, house, jùjú, ndombolo, R&B and soca. The two genres, though often conflated, are not the same. History Afrobeat was developed in Nigeria in the late 1960s by Fela Kuti who, with drummer Tony Allen, experimented with different c ...
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Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mid-20th century. It de-emphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bassline played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a percussionist, often at slower tempos than other popular music. Funk typically consists of a complex percussive groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that create a "hypnotic" and "danceable" feel. Funk uses the same richly colored extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, or dominant seventh chords with altered ninths and thirteenths. Funk originated in the mid-1960s, with James Brown's development of a signature groove that emphasized the downbeat—with a heavy emphasis on the first bea ...
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Jazz Fusion
Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and keyboards that were popular in rock and roll started to be used by jazz musicians, particularly those who had grown up listening to rock and roll. Jazz fusion arrangements vary in complexity. Some employ groove-based vamps fixed to a single key or a single chord with a simple, repeated melody. Others use elaborate chord progressions, unconventional time signatures, or melodies with counter-melodies. These arrangements, whether simple or complex, typically include improvised sections that can vary in length, much like in other forms of jazz. As with jazz, jazz fusion can employ brass and woodwind instruments such as trumpet and saxophone, but other instruments often substitute for these. A jazz fusion band is less likely to ...
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Psychedelic Rock
Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound effects and recording techniques, extended instrumental solos, and improvisation. Many psychedelic groups differ in style, and the label is often applied spuriously. Originating in the mid-1960s among British and American musicians, the sound of psychedelic rock invokes three core effects of LSD: depersonalization, dechronicization, and dynamization, all of which detach the user from everyday reality. Musically, the effects may be represented via novelty studio tricks, electronic music, electronic or non-Western instrumentation, disjunctive song structures, and extended instrumental segments. Some of the earlier 1960s psychedelic rock musicians were based in contemporary folk music, folk, jazz, and the blues, while others showcased an expl ...
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Harry Mosco
Harry Mosco Agada was the lead vocalist of the band ''The Funkees'', when the band split up after FESTAC 77 Festac '77, also known as the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (the first was in Dakar, 1966), was a major international festival held in Lagos, Nigeria, from 15 January 1977 to 12 February 1977. The month-long event ce ..., Mosco released solo albums under his name. Between 1966 and 1969 and prior to the Funkees formation, Mosco was a musician with Celestine Ukwu's band. Thereafter, he founded ''The Funkees'' along with other musicians such as Chyke Madu. The band had success with two singles, ''Akula/Onye Mmanya'' and ''Akpakoro'', following the success of the singles, the band move to England to widen their audience. In 1977, the Funkees were invited to perform at FESTAC 77, following the event, the band went on a tour in Nigeria. After they returned to their base in the U.K., factions already developed among band members created a crisis that ...
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Afro-rock
Afro rock is a style of rock music with West African influences. Afro rock bands and artists in the late 1960s and early 1970s included Osibisa, Assagai and Lafayette Afro Rock Band. Style The style relies on the use of rock string instruments (electric guitars and electric bass) and guitar effects like wah wah pedal. Songs are based around a rock chordal structure and progression with a horn section, and keyed instruments such as electric piano, organ, and clavinet. The rhythmic elements of the music are drums and bass, but other characteristically African and Afro-Cuban elements are the percussion instruments including congas, bongos, claves, whistles and other Latin percussion. Late 1960s, Super Eagles and Psychedelic Aliens were roots of afro rock. Osibisa and Assagai were founded in England. Afro rock musicians * Osibisa *Assagai *Lafayette Afro Rock Band *Cymande *Demon Fuzz * Blo * MATATA
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London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as '' Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority.The Greater London Authority consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The London Mayor is distinguished fr ...
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1973 In Music
This is a list of music-related events in 1973. __TOC__ Specific locations * 1973 in British music * 1973 in Norwegian music Specific genres * 1973 in country music *1973 in heavy metal music * 1973 in jazz Events January–April *January 8 – British Rail authorities restrict Pipe Major Gordon Speirs to playing his bagpipes just one minute in every fifteen on Liverpool Street station, London, on grounds that his playing (part of a holiday campaign by the Scottish Tourist Board) "interferes with station business". *January 9 – Mick Jagger's request for a Japanese visa is rejected on account of a 1969 drug conviction, putting an abrupt end to The Rolling Stones' plans to perform in Japan during their forthcoming tour. *January 14 **Elvis Presley's ''Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite'' television special is broadcast in over 40 countries around the world. **Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh is arrested for drug possession at his Marin County home. *January 18 – The Roll ...
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Funk Music
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mid-20th century. It de-emphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bassline played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a percussionist, often at slower tempos than other popular music. Funk typically consists of a complex percussive groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that create a "hypnotic" and "danceable" feel. Funk uses the same richly colored extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, or dominant seventh chords with altered ninths and thirteenths. Funk originated in the mid-1960s, with James Brown's development of a signature groove that emphasized the downbeat—with a heavy emphasis on the first be ...
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Igbo Language
Igbo ( , ; Igbo: ''Ásụ̀sụ́ Ìgbò'' ) is the principal native language cluster of the Igbo people, a meta-ethnicity from Southeastern Nigeria. The number of Igboid languages depends on how one classifies a language versus a dialect, so there could be around 15 different Igboid languages. The core Igbo cluster or Igbo proper is generally thought to be one language but there is limited mutual intelligibility between the different groupings (north, west, south and east). A standard literary language termed 'Igbo izugbe' (meaning "general igbo") was generically developed and later adopted around 1972, with its core foundation based on the Owerri (Isuama), Anambra (Awka) and Umuahia (Ohuhu) dialects, omitting the nasalization and aspiration of those varieties. However, nobody speaks "general Igbo" natively and it isn't accepted by all Igbo groups. The largest variety of the core Igbo cluster is Ngwa. History The first book to publish Igbo terms was ''History of the Missio ...
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Nigerian Civil War
The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence from Nigeria in 1967. Nigeria was led by General Yakubu Gowon, while Biafra was led by Lieutenant Colonel C. Odumegwu Ojukwu, Chukwuemeka "Emeka" Odumegwu Ojukwu. Biafra represented the nationalist aspirations of the Igbo people, Igbo ethnic group, whose leadership felt they could no longer coexist with the Federal government of Nigeria, federal government dominated by the interests of the Muslim Hausa-Fulanis of Northern Nigeria. The conflict resulted from political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions which preceded the United Kingdom's formal decolonization of Nigeria from 1960 to 1963. Immediate causes of the war in 1966 included 1966 Nigerian coup d'état, a military coup, 1966 Nigerian counter-coup, a counter-coup, and 19 ...
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