Welcome to the Highlifeturntable. The purpose of this blog is to provide a way for people to listen to rare highlife music from Ghana and Nigeria. I plan to post tracks from my private collection along with a little commentary on what I know about the artist and what I like about the LP.


Saturday, February 21, 2015

amaica brothers band led by john okpor













For the next selection on the highlife turntable, I have selected the track Oh Chukwu Nna by the Amaica Brothers Band led by John Okpor off an O.E.I. Records release.

I've written about John Okpor before.  John Okpor was one of the great Ukwauni vocalists and appears to have had a long and varied career.   I've never heard of the Amaica Brothers Band or this label before I came across this record.

This song appears to be a reworking of the Igbo gospel song Chukwa Nna Mu.  Chukwu in Igbo culture is the source of all the other Igbo gods and controls everything on earth and the spiritual world.  Nna is another word for Fathers.  The song sounds like a praise song to the creator and father: Chukwu.  The label says the song is a Ukwauni Continental Highlife.

The three things that stand out for me are the beauty of the vocals, the simplicity of the guitar lines and the way the percussion instruments keep the tempo moving.  A beautiful little song.

I hope you like it

Ubulujaja

<

4 comments: