October 04, 2008

The consistent highlife king

To me Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe has always been just that: the consistent highlife king. I mean, you can buy any of his albums. They are all great.

My first lp of the -unfortunately late- chief was cleverly disguised as the work of the 'People Star'. It took me a while to find out who this master of mental massage really was.
By then I had already found the first volume too.

I have never understood why the albums are called Festac Explosion 77. They were recorded four years earlier in 1973. It is suggested that the release under a different name was due to "a licensing or copyright dispute", or that this record is a 'pirate' record. There may be a link with the departure in 1973 of members of Osadebe's orchestra to form the Ikenga Super Stars.

But who cares, - after listening to this?

EDIT (June 15, 2013): I've removed the dead link...

7 comments:

  1. You have got no idea how I am enjoying your posts,
    words can't express..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for posting this. My copy of this record is hopelessly scratched and unplayable.

    "World Service" is off to an incredible start!

    ReplyDelete
  3. P.S.: Any chance you can post Vol. 1 also? I'm listening to Vol. 2 now and it's great!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I will post Vol. 1 in the near future (and more from Osadebe). I am trying to keep a bit of variation going....

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow, so many treasures here! Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Please post any Ikenga you have
    thanks
    wuod K

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you so much for posting this gem. You're a great guy yourself, you like good things

    ReplyDelete