TUE., DECEMBER 16, 2008
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2008 Innovators: Miles Cleret
by Richard Gehr
Thanks in large part to Miles Cleret's Soundway label, music fans are enjoying something of a golden age in West African reissues (see below for possible reasons why). Soundway's Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-6 captures a special era of Nigerian music. It was a time when buoyant and venerable highlife dance music was being nudged by feisty rock- and jazz-influenced youngsters into fascinating and fuzz-driven new directions by the likes of bands such as Celestine Ukwu & His Philosophers National, the Funkees, the Hykkers and the mighty Semi Colon.
Since releasing Ghana Soundz: Afro-Beat, Funk and Fusion in 70's Ghana in 2002, Soundway has compiled brilliant dance music from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, with more to come. I spoke to Cleret recently as he enjoyed an extended vacation somewhere in Indonesia.
How did Soundway originate?
Soundway began more or less by accident. I've always collected records, and I eventually started DJ'ing and doing parties. About 11 years ago, my wife and I were traveling in Ghana. I was in a DJ's house one day, and he played me one incredible record after another. I hatched the idea then and there of going home, putting out an album, and seeing if anybody was interested. Luckily, somebody was. But it began with my urge to save, reissue, remaster and tell the story of this great Ghanaian music.
How did you find your way to Nigeria after releasing albums of music from Ghana, Benin, Trinidad, Panama and Colombia?
I released Afro Baby [subtitled The Evolution of the Afro-Sound in Nigeria 1970-79] right after Ghana Soundz<, but our distributor went under and we lost a lot of money and sales on it. I began to realize that Nigeria's record industry was far bigger than Ghana's, and that it held a lot more secrets than smaller African music industries. Nigerian music began to feel like a giant jigsaw puzzle to me, and I spent the next five years attempting to fit all its pieces together. In the Lagos office of Phillips Records, I found a catalog that listed a lot of records I'd never seen, and I set about trying to find them. I also learned that the people who'd purchased HMV's Nigerian catalog had destroyed all the tapes, which meant that literally a third of the country's musical heritage from 1965 to 1980 was simply gone.
How did you track down the material that ended up on Nigeria Special?
The three dominant record labels in Nigeria during that era were all foreign. Phillips was Dutch, while Decca and EMI/HMV were British. They were pressured to leave by Nigeria's government when the economy deteriorated in the late '80s and early '90s, and they sold their catalogs to three domestic companies. The Decca and EMI catalogs were basically destroyed or thrown away because, at least in EMI's case, the people who bought it were more interested in their real estate than their music. Fortunately, the people who purchased Phillips's catalog bought it in order to release the music. They concentrated on the more popular titles but did keep a lot of their tapes. I found a lot of stuff on tape, although some of the juicier items weren't on the shelves.
I called all the old labels and looked at their catalogs, but most of the time the tapes were missing. I also spoke to as many older musicians as I could find. I shopped at pirate recording studios, where they'll give you cassettes of whatever you want from their record collections. I tracked down old collectors, distributors, and record shops. It was a lot of hard, sweaty legwork. I took a lot of taxis and a lot of showers.
What was the most unlikely place you found something you were looking for?
I found records in lofts, warehouses, under beds, in kitchens, in lockups, all over the place. I'd drive down a street and see an electrical shop with records hanging on a string outside. A lot of electrical shops sold records during the '70s. There's a mile-long street of electrical shops in Lagos, and I visited every single one.
What were your criteria for inclusion in these anthologies?
I wanted to paint a broad picture that summed up a unique era in Nigerian music. Everything was changing, and arrangements were becoming more complex. This was a key era in Nigerian music because it followed the civil war and preceded the bad times we all associate Nigeria with today. It was an optimistic time, too. Bands coming out of the '40s, '50s and '60s highlife old school were giving way to younger college and teenaged groups, and you can kind of hear the transition in the music. I wanted to collect tracks that sat together well even though they represented different aspects of the era — from afrobeat to bluesy highlife, and everything between.
What are your favorite tracks on Nigeria Special?
All of them. But I'd go with Celestine Ukwu's "Okwukwe Na Nchekwube," St. Augustine's "Onwu Ama Dike" and Victor Uwaifa's "Osalobua Rekpama" if I were forced to choose.
Do you feel that Nigeria Special and the other great anthologies out there hearken some sort of golden age of African anthologizing?
Music of all kinds is starting to run slightly thin on ideas. People have already mined, compiled and reissued all the old funk, R&B and jazz stuff to bits, along with reggae and lots of other kinds of music. Music fans want to hear something they haven't heard before, but it's kind of the end of the road. With West Africa, people are just exploring music that hasn't been reissued before; and this is some of the least accessible music to be dug up, remastered and have its stories told.
Do Nigerians themselves express much interest in this musical era?
Unfortunately, not really. The musicians who were around at the time are still interested, and a few DJs. People over there can't understand why I'm interested in that old, old, old music — as though it had been made in the seventeenth century or something. I guess Africa needs to look forward more than they need nostalgia. You hear American hip-hop and R&B everywhere.
What's coming down the Soundway next?
Ghana Soundz volume three, a double album of rootsier and more highlife-oriented tracks than earlier, will be out next year. Also some French Caribbean stuff, Panama volume two, Colombia volume two and a compilation of some weird 1960s and '70s music from Thailand.
Have you picked up anything interesting in Indonesia?
I haven't listened to a record for a month.
Since releasing Ghana Soundz: Afro-Beat, Funk and Fusion in 70's Ghana in 2002, Soundway has compiled brilliant dance music from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, with more to come. I spoke to Cleret recently as he enjoyed an extended vacation somewhere in Indonesia.
How did Soundway originate?
Soundway began more or less by accident. I've always collected records, and I eventually started DJ'ing and doing parties. About 11 years ago, my wife and I were traveling in Ghana. I was in a DJ's house one day, and he played me one incredible record after another. I hatched the idea then and there of going home, putting out an album, and seeing if anybody was interested. Luckily, somebody was. But it began with my urge to save, reissue, remaster and tell the story of this great Ghanaian music.
How did you find your way to Nigeria after releasing albums of music from Ghana, Benin, Trinidad, Panama and Colombia?
I released Afro Baby [subtitled The Evolution of the Afro-Sound in Nigeria 1970-79] right after Ghana Soundz<, but our distributor went under and we lost a lot of money and sales on it. I began to realize that Nigeria's record industry was far bigger than Ghana's, and that it held a lot more secrets than smaller African music industries. Nigerian music began to feel like a giant jigsaw puzzle to me, and I spent the next five years attempting to fit all its pieces together. In the Lagos office of Phillips Records, I found a catalog that listed a lot of records I'd never seen, and I set about trying to find them. I also learned that the people who'd purchased HMV's Nigerian catalog had destroyed all the tapes, which meant that literally a third of the country's musical heritage from 1965 to 1980 was simply gone.
How did you track down the material that ended up on Nigeria Special?
The three dominant record labels in Nigeria during that era were all foreign. Phillips was Dutch, while Decca and EMI/HMV were British. They were pressured to leave by Nigeria's government when the economy deteriorated in the late '80s and early '90s, and they sold their catalogs to three domestic companies. The Decca and EMI catalogs were basically destroyed or thrown away because, at least in EMI's case, the people who bought it were more interested in their real estate than their music. Fortunately, the people who purchased Phillips's catalog bought it in order to release the music. They concentrated on the more popular titles but did keep a lot of their tapes. I found a lot of stuff on tape, although some of the juicier items weren't on the shelves.
I called all the old labels and looked at their catalogs, but most of the time the tapes were missing. I also spoke to as many older musicians as I could find. I shopped at pirate recording studios, where they'll give you cassettes of whatever you want from their record collections. I tracked down old collectors, distributors, and record shops. It was a lot of hard, sweaty legwork. I took a lot of taxis and a lot of showers.
What was the most unlikely place you found something you were looking for?
I found records in lofts, warehouses, under beds, in kitchens, in lockups, all over the place. I'd drive down a street and see an electrical shop with records hanging on a string outside. A lot of electrical shops sold records during the '70s. There's a mile-long street of electrical shops in Lagos, and I visited every single one.
What were your criteria for inclusion in these anthologies?
I wanted to paint a broad picture that summed up a unique era in Nigerian music. Everything was changing, and arrangements were becoming more complex. This was a key era in Nigerian music because it followed the civil war and preceded the bad times we all associate Nigeria with today. It was an optimistic time, too. Bands coming out of the '40s, '50s and '60s highlife old school were giving way to younger college and teenaged groups, and you can kind of hear the transition in the music. I wanted to collect tracks that sat together well even though they represented different aspects of the era — from afrobeat to bluesy highlife, and everything between.
What are your favorite tracks on Nigeria Special?
All of them. But I'd go with Celestine Ukwu's "Okwukwe Na Nchekwube," St. Augustine's "Onwu Ama Dike" and Victor Uwaifa's "Osalobua Rekpama" if I were forced to choose.
Do you feel that Nigeria Special and the other great anthologies out there hearken some sort of golden age of African anthologizing?
Music of all kinds is starting to run slightly thin on ideas. People have already mined, compiled and reissued all the old funk, R&B and jazz stuff to bits, along with reggae and lots of other kinds of music. Music fans want to hear something they haven't heard before, but it's kind of the end of the road. With West Africa, people are just exploring music that hasn't been reissued before; and this is some of the least accessible music to be dug up, remastered and have its stories told.
Do Nigerians themselves express much interest in this musical era?
Unfortunately, not really. The musicians who were around at the time are still interested, and a few DJs. People over there can't understand why I'm interested in that old, old, old music — as though it had been made in the seventeenth century or something. I guess Africa needs to look forward more than they need nostalgia. You hear American hip-hop and R&B everywhere.
What's coming down the Soundway next?
Ghana Soundz volume three, a double album of rootsier and more highlife-oriented tracks than earlier, will be out next year. Also some French Caribbean stuff, Panama volume two, Colombia volume two and a compilation of some weird 1960s and '70s music from Thailand.
Have you picked up anything interesting in Indonesia?
I haven't listened to a record for a month.
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