With practically everything available at the click of a mouse these days. it's easy to forget that there is still stuff out there that has yet to be found by diggers or reissue labels. The scenario usually goes like this: a fiend of a particular type of regional music, not satiated with what little there is that is readily available, sets out to find stuff for their collection. They have a list of what they're looking for, but that list grows as they get closer to the source. Other stuff from the same label, or producer, stuff by the backing musicians, or other acts in the same scene that they didn't know existed when they were making their lists. When they get to their destination they start knocking on doors, meeting people at popular hangouts, meeting the "I know a guy" type acquaintances, radio stations, flea markets, etc. They start scooping stuff up, usually more than they intended because "I came all this way...". They go home with their stash and start evaluating what the fuck they scored. They already know what's already available, otherwise their hunt would have been truly aimless. They were looking for the stuff that hadn't been found.
So, being a fiend of whatever type of regional music it is, after digesting their take they decide that they have enough material to approach a reissue label (if they hadn't already done that prior to their excursion). The label says "Ooh yeah, we can put that out" and commence all the licensing and clearance stuff that reissue labels have down pat. A record is released and now, all of a sudden, they've found that there is a demand for the music. The original musician(s) (sometimes retired at this point) have found that they were right all along. Their music was just incubating in the dusty backrooms of records stores, garages, and radio stations in Nowheresville, Africa waiting to be heard.
In the case of Ebo Taylor, his stuff was sitting in Ghana. Diggers found it, and there was a demand. Taylor was tracked down by musicians of the Afrobeat Academy and was soon back in action, first with a new album (Love and Death, 2010), and then a series of reissues, records previously available only in Ghana, some in numbers as low as 500 copies. Taylor had been active in his native Ghana since the fifties but it wasn't until Love and Death that he gained worldwide attention. This happened when he was 75 years old.
So, being a fiend of whatever type of regional music it is, after digesting their take they decide that they have enough material to approach a reissue label (if they hadn't already done that prior to their excursion). The label says "Ooh yeah, we can put that out" and commence all the licensing and clearance stuff that reissue labels have down pat. A record is released and now, all of a sudden, they've found that there is a demand for the music. The original musician(s) (sometimes retired at this point) have found that they were right all along. Their music was just incubating in the dusty backrooms of records stores, garages, and radio stations in Nowheresville, Africa waiting to be heard.
In the case of Ebo Taylor, his stuff was sitting in Ghana. Diggers found it, and there was a demand. Taylor was tracked down by musicians of the Afrobeat Academy and was soon back in action, first with a new album (Love and Death, 2010), and then a series of reissues, records previously available only in Ghana, some in numbers as low as 500 copies. Taylor had been active in his native Ghana since the fifties but it wasn't until Love and Death that he gained worldwide attention. This happened when he was 75 years old.
~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:Ebo Taylor - Ayesama mp3 at Bama Love Soul
Ebo Taylor - Victory mp3 at Mixtape Riot Go there to get it. It's worth the trip.
Ebo Taylor - Mizin mp3 at Mixtape Riot Go there to get it.
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