Shango Dance Band Shango Dance Band

• 1. Position Pass Power
• 2. Women Are Great
• 3. I Need Your Love
• 4. Son Of Thunder
• 5. Alupandu-Gbe

It’s 1968 and Fela is in tears-

Fela Kuti, the genius of afrobeat. The champion of the people. Fabled for unflinchingly staring down the barrels of state tyranny, enduring beatings within an inch of his life from government stormtroopers and then getting on stage to mock his tormenters in song. What insurmountable catastrophe could have reduced this formidable titan of African music to tears?
Ojo Okeji leaving his band, that’s what.

Ojo Okeji had a sterling reputation both as a bassist and percussionist in groups like Lagos Cool Cats, Rex Williams' Nigerian Artistes, and Western Toppers Highlife Band, a favorite of Kuti's. Okeji impressed Kuti with his deft jazziness on the bass, so he was in on the spot, and the Fela Ransome-Kuti Quintet became Koola Lobitos. It was also Okeji that introduced Fela to Tony Allen.

In 1968 when the Nigerian civil war broke out Okeji left the group and joined the army. It is here where he formed a new band within the ranks of the 6th Infantry Brigade, 'The Shango Dance Band'. Shango took the fundamentals of Kuti's famous afrobeat and brought new layers of guitar and horn arrangements, while often invoking supernatural aesthetics, and maintaining a love for the US soul artists that influenced Okeji so much. Because Shango was an army band however, their records were not readily available to anyone outside of the military so their music, including their eponymous 1974 LP, remained relatively unknown even amongst the people of Nigeria.

This long lost nigerian gem is now available again thanks to Comb & Razor Sound!