I n September of 2018, Samy Ben Redjeb and I set off on a 

journey to Akaba Man (R), Benin City 1985

Benin City, the capital of the Nigerian state  of Edo. Our goal was to
search for the remaining traces of Edo Funk, a musical style which had
long fascinated me. In the early 1980s, a group of musicians based in
and around Benin City developed an ingenious hybrid which crossed
Nigerian highlife with funk, afrobeat, disco and reggae  elements, but
also managed to incorporate the traditional instruments and languages ​
of  Edo culture. In contrast to the polished disco sounds emanating from
the international metropolis of Lagos, which often stayed closer to their
American influences, productions from Benin City in the early 1980s
remained rough, idiosyncratic, and very aware of their African roots.

What distinguishes Edo Funk from other varieties of Afro funk are the driv-
ing, straightforward drums and the often minimal instrumentation. The com-
positions are skeletal and repetitive, but the intoxicating highlife trance is
coloured by psychedelic sound effects squeezed from electric organs and
spaced-out synthesizers. The term “Edo Funk” appears on some of the
records of the time, but is rarely spoken by the people of Benin City;  for
them this was simply the sound of highlife in the 1980s.
oil boom of the 1970s that brought about its economic golden age. During
our daily trips back and forth across the city we would marvel at the elabo-
rate houses which had been constructed by the city’s prosperous residents,
complete with extravagantly designed windows and gates, and highly orna-
mental gardens. The sweeping shapes and detailed motifs were a fascinating
mix of tropical 1970s design and traditional elements drawn from the city’s
world-famous ancient sculpture. But they were also worn reminders of  a bet-
ter time; the showy, pretentious villas of today’s rich residents, which have
sprung up around the city like mushrooms, have none of this old elegance.

As the city grew in the 1970s, so its nightlife flourished, and a series of
bars, hotels and brothels emerged to satisfy the needs of the many travellers
and merchants passing through; of course, every good hotel and bar needed
its own band to keep the customers dancing into the night. In the aftermath
of the Nigerian Civil War, which ended in 1970, urban Nigerians longed for a
fresh, cosmopolitan sound, played on modern instruments – electric guitars
and basses, organs and, later, synthesizers – which rode the waves of
funk, rock, disco and reggae rolling across the continent.

From L to R (Benin City 1985): Akaba Man (L) and Friends, Benin City 1986
Akaba Man, Aghasagbon Edobor, Sir Victor Uwaifo, Nehizena Arase, Master Fabomo Edoleyi, I. K. Mudodo Osagie

We prepared for our trip by looking through the records we had  collected
over the years, trying to figure out which musicians  had had the greatest
influence on the development of Edo Funk. However when we arrived in
Benin City and started talking to some of the musicians, the same three
names kept coming up: Victor Uwaifo, Osayomore Joseph and Akaba Man all
seemed to tower above the rest.  And as the musicians began to reminisce
with delight about this golden age of boiling nightclubs and overbooked tour
calendars, it became clear that there was still a tremendous level of respect
for these three great artists. For many musicians in Benin City they were not
merely legendary originators of a particular style, they remained a powerful
force in the cultural life of the Edo state, as role models, supporters, band
leaders, colleagues and friends.

In the course of the twentieth century Benin City had developed into
Akaba Man,
Benin City, 1978
an important transport hub and trading center within Nigeria, but it was the
 The period of economic prosperity also
enabled more and more people to buy
record players which allowed them to experi-
ence old and new sounds from the comfort of
their living rooms. This, in turn, provided a boost
to  the local music industry. Although interna-
tional music labels such as Philips, EMI and
Decca had been producing  records in Lagos
since the 1960s, in the 1970s the industry was
overtaken by the many smaller record compa-
nies which had sprouted up across the country.
In the streets around Ring  Road, in the
very center of Benin City, one could find the
offices of labels such as Ogbodu Records,
Emperor  Records, JaJa Records,  Ebohon
Records, Why Worry Records, Emotan, Ugie,
Sonny Records, Arala Records, Matts-Records,
Picture from L to R (Benin City 1974)
Akpola's Salesman,
Ekimogun and Supremedisk. The most important
Akpola's Salesman,
Alhaja Disu (Brother of Jimoh Ogunnusi Agbede, Akpola's founder),
Akpola's Salesman,
Alber t Edobor (Akpola's Sound Engineer and Producer),
Kasali Babatunde
and most influential of the Benin City labels
was Akpola Records, the first label  founded in
the city by a Nigerian. Under a variety of names
– including Agbede, Bowo and  Akpola – the
company released hundreds of LPs and sin-
gles from musicians from the Edo  region and
beyond, eventually going on to open several
branches throughout the country.
Akpola was founded by Jimoh Ogunnusi Agbede,
who had moved to Benin City from Auchi in Etsakor
to start a business selling electrical equipment. In
the 1960s he switched to music  production and
in 1972 he set up Akpola Studio on Mission Road,
taking over production from Philips West Africa
Records. The studio quickly became one of the
most important institutions in the city’s music
industry and “Mr. Akpola” was one of the most
respected men in the town.
For most bands the recording pro-
cess was fast, and producers would
usually book no more than a day or
two for each album. Producers with
slightly more money would some-
times book the Rogers  All Star
Studios in Onitsha, the  Phonodisk
Studio in Ijebu-Igbo, or the studios of
the major labels in Lagos. While
these studios had better equipment,
they were also way more expensive.
The affordability and accessibility
of Akpola Studios caused it to play
a crucial role in the  history of Edo
highlife; we will return to this in Edo
Funk Explosion Volume 2.  
Akpola was the only recording  stu-
dio in town for most of the decade
until Victor Uwaifo set up his own
Joromi Studio in 1978. Equipped
with a modern 16-track mixing desk,
the studio inaugurated a new chap-
ter in Benin City’s musical life  and
eventually gave Edo Funk its signa-
ture sound. On the first release from
the new studio, 1978’s superbly ver-
satile album 5 Days A Week Love,
Uwaifo indulged his passion for spe-
cial effects and experimental beats,
adding elements of reggae, Akwete
and Sassakosa and, as always, test-
ing the limits of his electric guitar.
The album represented a com-
pletely new sound for Uwaifo who
changed the name of his  band to
Victor Uwaifo and  His Titibitis; the
Titibiti, or Bee  Hummingbird, is
the smallest bird in the world and
is considered the king of   birds in
Edo  mythology, due to its intelli-
gence and its size. His subsequent
albums from the late 70s and early
80s  follow the same playful, psy-
chedelic path, exploiting Moog
synthesizers, electric  guitars and
effect racks relentlessly. Even
when the rhythmic underpinning
drifts more towards disco, the
albums never lose their deep con-
nection to Edo roots  and to
Uwaifo’s own musical history.
Alber t Edobor in front of Akpola's record store
(Benin City 1975)
 Producer Tony Abolo described Uwaifo’s unusual musi-
cal trajectory in the liner notes to the album Jackpot (1980):
“ This is one album that defies definition – is it not Akwete of old, it is not
traditional music, it is not disco – rather it is all of them and much more,
it is a fresh  approach to  Nigeria music ... This album is a ‘bridge’
album as it has been packaged with folk songs (Iranm Iran, Ewere,
Knomokpanabie) done in the best disco sound around and with fla-
vour of traditional Akwete percussive sound, blended into a fresh
sound. All these are bound to satisfy the hardcore traditionalist
and the young disco goers and the ardent lovers of guitar. ” In addition
to his own recordings, Uwaifo used the resources of his studio to pro-
duce some of the strangest and funkiest records ever to emerge from
Nigeria. Through his label Joromi Records, he released Wakabout by
Mad Man Jaga and Ododo by Solo Hit, both members of his band.
Most of the recordings from Joromi Studio are characterized by a
particularly fat, creatively-mixed sound, in addition to the sonic
effects typical of Uwaifo’s own records.
Joromi may have been the preeminent Edo Funk
label, but Supremedisk and Ekimogun – both run
by Francis Akinifesi – also played an impor tant
role in the evolution of the genre. The label was
initially founded as  Ekimogun and released
primarily straight highlife, although there
were also a few Edo Funk, reggae and
disco productions. In  1983 Akinifesi
changed the name to Supremedisk and
opened branches in Lagos and Ondo.
Akinifesi remains active to this day
and is a highly revered  personality in the
Nigerian music industry.
Another impor tant label was Matts-Records, for
whom Akaba  Man released the minimal synth
tune Popular Side . Mr Matts was the nephew of
Chief Romanus Nwaementa Okonkwo, the influ-
ential founder and manager of Rogers All Stars.
Matts, who came from an  Igbo family, worked
in his uncle’s company in Onitsha from 1979 to
1982 as a way of getting into the  record busi-
ness. In 1982 he decided to star t his own label
in Benin City where commercial rents were very
cheap and the musical landscape highly varied.
At the time Matts believed that most of the city’s
labels were more interested in making money
from music than promoting the musicians, and
his label was founded on the principle of giving
the ar tists better treatment.
By the end of the 1980s, the audio cas-
sette had  replaced the record at most of the
city’s labels. The capacity for piracy of cas-
sette recordings led to considerable losses in
Nigeria’s music industry, often resulting in worse
payment for musicians, whose  copyrights were
already poorly protected. Radio and television
stations paid  hardly any  taxes, and there was
no performing rights organisation to accepted
and distribute foreign license fees on behalf of
the musicians.
After the audio cassette came the Compact Disc
which has  remained the medium of choice for
music distribution to this day.  In every shop-
ping  street in Benin City there is at least one
small music  shop stocked to the ceiling with
CDs, broadcasting the Edo sound from fat boom-
boxes by the front door out into the heat of the
city. When you walk past,  you know without a
doubt that you are in Benin City!
T he first time we visited Victor Uwaifo at
his property in Benin City we found him
chilling in his  studio in a tracksuit, relaxed
and making music. He welcomed us with a
huge smile and immediately began playing us
his latest recordings; while we were listening
he stood up, grabbed his guitar, attached it
to a belt with a swivel  and started to makes
it twirl like a fan blade while our driver and
friend Lassina launched  into an ecstatic
dance. We sat there flabbergasted. This leg-
endary figure in the history of African music,
who remains one of the most  important per-
sonalities in Nigeria, then began to lead us
through his estate with youthful enthusiasm.
The estate consists of several building com-
plexes. In one area there is something that looks
like a small for tress, which one enters through
a large metal gate decorated with instruments
and ornaments: it is here that the famous Joromi
Studio is located. The walls  and cour tyard are
embellished with huge concrete sculptures
created by Uwaifo. In addition to his musical
career, Uwaifo is also a visual ar tist who teaches
sculpture at the Benin City Academy of Ar ts.
The for tress area also contains a museum about
the culture and history of the Edo People, which
informs visitors, among other things, about the
destructive consequences of colonialism on Edo
culture. Uwaifo has remained closely connected
to his Edo roots, and has successfully incorpo-
rated the socio-political issues of his people
into his music.
Opposite the small for tress is a residential tem-
ple surrounded by huge white columns. It has its
own small chapel – the Soul Gate – and a large
reception hall. On the way to the hall we pass
Uwaifo’s car  fleet, a series of extravagant vin-
tage cars and newer vehicles scattered about
the yard in a confusing layout.  Inside the hall
we find that one side of the approximately 100
square metre space hall is fully equipped with
three large screens, on which video documenta-
ries about Uwaifo play in a loop. At the opposite
end of the room is a kind of throne on a pedes-
tal, surrounded by magnificent red plush arm-
chairs that continue along both side walls. All of
the available wall space is covered top to bottom
with prizes, honors and memorabilia that Uwaifo
has accumulated over the course of his profes-
sional career. In this atmosphere, the master can
hold cour t on a large scale, and the manner in
which Uwaifo sits on his throne with sunglasses
and tracksuit is very, very impressive. Everything
about the man and his space gives the same
impressions as his music: playful, headstrong,
bombastic, and a little crazy.
Over the course of several visits with Victor
Uwaifo, in which we negotiated contracts and
discussed his music, we got some insight into
his compound and his world, which deepened
our appreciation of his music. As the photos and
graphics on his record covers suggest, the man
is a total work of ar t, a creative genius with a
special ability to release his own fully-formed
ideas into the world.
Born to a wealthy family in Benin City in 1941,
Victor Uwaifo began his musical career at the age
of 12 on a guitar he made himself. His father’s
gramophone records and the Palmwine guitar-
ists in the city’s bars had ignited his passion
for  guitar playing and highlife. The emergence
of the guitar on the African continent during the
1950s marked a new chapter in West African
music, and the raw urban sound of the Palmwine
musicians would soon become intermingled with
traditional local styles, creating new directions
in highlife and native blues.
Uwaifo was a par t of this musical revolution from
the beginning. He received his first guitar les-
sons from the musicians in the Palmwine bars,
but improved at high speed with the help of his
older brother and a music class at his school.
He left Benin City to attend high school in Lagos
and, shor tly after he arrived, he star ted work-
ing his way into the city’s vibrant highlife scene,
learning the ropes playing for E.C. Arinze, Osita
Osadebe, Fred Coker and Victor Olaya. In the
early 1960s he made his first recordings with
bands such as the Empire Rhythm Orchestra,
The Pick  Ups, and the Central Modernaires
Dance Band.
After completing high school, Uwaifo stud-
ied graphic design at Yaba College, then worked
for two years as a designer for Nigerian television.
The steady income from his day job enabled him
to star t his own band, the Melody Maestros, in
1965, and his career as a professional musician
took off almost immediately.  Joromi , the second
single by the Melody Maestros was released on
the Philips label in 1965 and became a super-
hit, selling over 100,000 copies. It was Uwaifo’s
first gold record, and it was soon followed by
fur ther hits such as Guitar Boy & Mamywater , all
of which were composed in a new style, which
Uwaifo called Akwete.
Uwaifo has said that he sees and hears music as
a series of shapes and colors, and the Akwete
style was created in par t by translating the
famous designs of the traditional Akwete weav-
ing mills in Eastern Nigeria into his own new tone
sequence system, which could be used to com-
pose new songs. This synesthetic method was
matched by a restless sonic innovation which
sought to realise new sounds through the use of
effects devices and the creation of new instru-
ments. In addition, many of his Akwete
songs were sung in his mother tongue of
 Edo (or Bini) and made use of stories and
myths from Edo culture.
Yet the Akwete style was also highly adaptable,
as demonstrated by the singles Shadow and
Mutaba . The first was Uwaifo’s answer to “the
Twist” craze which had spilled over from the
United States, while the second was written in
response to the powerful soul wave which over-
took Nigeria in the late 1960s. By fusing the
Akwete style with popular trends, Uwaifo soon
became a Nigerian superstar and was able to
embark on his first tours of Asia, Europe and the
United States.
In 1969 Uwaifo decided to return to his homeland
of Benin City and the Edo People. Unlike cosmo-
politan Lagos, Benin City was still little affected
by the trappings of modern life and
offered an ideal location
for new challenges.
Shor tly after his return, he opened the Joromi
Hotel as a new cultural and concer t center and,
a little later, the nightclub Club 400. Using these
venues as a base, Uwaifo almost single-handedly
popularised highlife in the Edo region. Although
he was  not the first to play this new sound, his
magnetic performances triggered a powerful
musical cascade that flowed through the later
development of Edo Funk and can still be felt in
the towns and villages of the Edo People to this
day. Almost all of the musicians we spoke with
believed Uwaifo to be the greatest originator of
the 70s and 80s.
Uwaifo used his familiarity with the history,
mythology and music of Edo culture as a means
of revolutionising highlife. His first step was to
cover a  dance that could only be played dur-
ing the coronation of the new Oba of the Benin
royal family. Uwaifo thought it was a shame that
the dance could be heard so rarely and set about
transforming “Ekassa” into a new highlife style.
Ekassa No. 1 and Ekassa No. 2 were released as
a single by Philips in 1971, followed by the two
LPs Ekassa – Modern Music of African Folklore
and Talk Of The Town – Ekassa . Both became
very  popular in Benin City and sold extremely
well throughout Nigeria.

Uwaifo also developed a style known

as  Sassakosa, named for a singer who played
a special role in the royal household of Benin
at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1897,
the kingdom of Benin  was nearly destroyed by
British forces and the city was under occupa-
tion. The Oba had to flee his  palace and go
into hiding underground. The task of the
Sassakosa was to perform a special
song that would let the Oba know it
was safe to leave his hiding place.

After the establishment of Joromi

Studio in 1978 Uwaifo’s music
became even more daring in its
use of sonic effects and studio
experimentation, and it is from
this phase that all of the tracks
on this compilation are drawn.
While most people who listen to
his music outside of   Nigeria may
not be familiar with the Edo cul-
ture, Uwaifo’s unique ability to
fuse the “foreign” (Edo culture)
with  the “known” (funk) renders
his creations mesmerizing for Nigerians and
non-Nigerians alike. Edo culture, with its influ-
ential royal family, its strong traditions and com-
munities, and its highly developed sculpture and
music, is still very much  alive in Benin City and
the Edo state; for Uwaifo and the other musi-
cians of that time, it was a matter of  continuing
to develop the musical culture into which they
were born.
W hile preparing for our trip to
Nigeria, we learned
that Osayomore Joseph had
been the victim of a ransom
kidnapping the previous year.
On 3 October 2017, after one
of his regular concerts at the
Obas Palace in Benin City, he
was  forced out of his car and
taken away on a motorcycle. His
wife was shot during the  attack.
He was taken to a small island
off the coast south of   Benin City
and held captive for thirty days
until his family were able to release
him in exchange for a large sum of
money. The kidnappers treated him
so brutally that he had to remain
in hospital for two weeks after his
release. After  his recovery, the almost sev-
enty-year-old musician transformed his trau-
matic experience into the raw material for
a new album, 30  Days and 30 Nights in the
Evil Forest , which was released on CD at
the end of 2017 by his long-standing label
Supremedisk.
Over the past several years ransom kidnapping
has become increasingly widespread in Nigeria,
and the authorities have not yet been able to get
it  under control. The fact that such a popular
and politically committed ar tist as Osayomore
Joseph could be the victim of such a kidnap-
ping made many Nigerians even more infuriated
about the ruthlessness and violence of gangs
and the inability of politicians and police forces
to offer adequate protection.
We had met with Osayomore Joseph once or
twice in our hotel, but the day we visited him in
his house to conduct a long interview happened
to  coincide with the anniversary of his kidnap-
ping. This intense atmosphere was palpable
as we star ted to talked about his experiences
from the previous year and his long career as a
musician.
As with many other well-known highlife musi-
cians, Osayomore Joseph was discovered dur-
ing his time with the Nigerian military, to which
he had been drafted in 1969, at the age of 19,
towards the  end of the Nigerian Civil War. In
the early 1970s he was stationed in Lagos and
trained as a military musician on flute,  guitar
and piano. He founded his first band
in the barracks: The Creative
7. He was a very good flute
player,  an unusual instrument
for highlife bands at the time,
which gave his band its distinc-
tive sound.
Like Uwaifo, Osayomore Joseph
made his first recordings for the
Philips label. For his  first sessions
in 1973, at the Phonogram studio
in Lagos, the musicians left the bar-
racks secretly without their  instru-
ments and recorded the songs on
instruments they found at the studio.
These recordings, sung in Edo, were
released as 7” singles on  Philips West
Africa, and intended solely for the record
market in Benin City. The young musicians were
paid  a flat rate for the recording, as was cus-
tomary for new bands at the time, and had no
fur ther claim to royalties.
In 1976 Osayomore Joseph left the army and
lived in Lagos where he became par t of the
vibrant highlife and afrobeat scene. He played in
many of the city’s most impor tant venue: at the
Shrine with Fela Kuti, Chicago with T-Mac,  and
at other clubs such as the Tutu, the Surulere
Hotel and the Peoples Club. Although Fela
admired Osayomore’s flute playing and often
invited him to perform at the Shrine, the two
never collaborated on any recordings. Yet Fela’s
afrobeat sound was an impor tant influence on
Osayomore’s music, as was Victor Uwaifo, Sunny
Ade, the Ramblers Dance Band from Ghana, and
foreign ar tists such as James Brown.
In 1978 Osayomore traveled to Benin City to
appear at the coronation ceremony for the new
Oba. After the concer t, the Oba asked him if he
would return to Benin City to work for the Edo
people and their culture; it was the beginning
of a new chapter in Osayomore’s career. On
returning he set out to “funkify” traditional Edo
music  by adding elements of highlife, funk and
afrobeat. He named his new band Osayomore
Joseph And  The Ulele Power Sound, after the
Ulele, a traditional Edo dance which Osayomore
had used in his earliest recordings as the foun-
dation for a new kind of highlife.
 Osayomore Joseph, Benin City 1984
 Osayomore Joseph, Lagos 1980
 With a new name and  a
modernised sound, the
band scored a num-
ber of hits in the
early 1980s with
songs such as
Efewedo , Who
Know Man , and
Ororo No Dey
Fade . The percus-
sion-heavy grooves
formed a perfect base
for Osayomore’s rough voice
and whirring flute, and the music was well
received not only in the Edo region, but
throughout Nigeria, and even in the grow-
ing Edo  communities in the United States
and Europe where he was often invited to
perform. In addition to Polydor (Philips),
Osayomore star ted to release his music on
local Benin City labels such as Supremedisk Osayomore Joseph and fans,
Benin City 1983
or Emotan.

The liner notes of Osayomore’s records are

somewhat unusual in that they offer detailed 1990s, he turned his attention to the corrup-
and precise lists of the  musicians involved tion of Nigeria’s military dictatorships. At the
in the recording. Indeed, he goes out of beginning of the 1990s Osayomore included
his way to thank them on each record for several songs on the album Truth that indi-
their commitment, loyalty and cooper- rectly criticised the regime of Ibrahim
ation; and this at a time when many Badamasi Babangida. After Babangida lost
other famous musicians did not find it the  democratic elections in 1992 and sub-
impor tant even to mention the names sequently canceled them in order to stay
of the  band members in the in power, Osayomore’s political  statements
liner notes. became much more direct. His pointed lyrics
on the album June 12th is God’s Mandate ,
Osayomore Joseph from 1993, won Osayomore a great deal of
is, along with respect, sympathy and suppor t among the
Fela Kuti, one of populace. The government, however, reacted
the best-known with violent repression, often detaining
Nigerian musicians Osayomore for several weeks at a time with-
to express  a strong out anyone knowing where he was or even
political stance in if he was alive. These experiences proba-
his music and sing bly helped him to survive his more recent
critically about the kidnapping.
government. Many
of the lyrics on his Today Osayomore Joseph remains tough
early albums with and proud, still extremely friendly, but with
the Creative  7 dealt the traces of a long and intense life on full
with the conse- display. At each of our meetings he was
quences of coloni- accompanied by his gallant manager Frank,
alism in Africa, such who paid close attention to when Osayomore
as exploitation, slav- had  had enough of our good-natured con-
ery and racism, and versation and politely brought the meeting
in the  1980s and to an end.
A longside Victor Uwaifo and Osayomore
Joseph, Akaba Man was one of the most
important and influential personalities in
Benin City’s vibrant music scene. In the
1980s he released  more than 10 LPs and
was a central figure in the experimental
fusion of traditional Edo music with high-
life,  funk and disco; as with Victor Uwaifo
and Osayomore Joseph, Akaba Man forged
his own distinctive path from traditional
Edo music to Edo funk.
Our first meeting with Akaba Man took place
in the Benin City police officers’ club, not far
from our hotel. A  former police officer him-
self, he often visits the club to meet friends,
play tennis and relax. Yet age did not seem
to have slowed him down: he was lively and
aler t, with expressive gestures and language.
It took little effor t to imagine how he could
still deliver powerful performances with his
band, with whom he still performs  regularly.
He was a key figure during our time in Benin
City, as he still knew most of the musicians
from the Edo Funk scene and was able to put
us in touch with most of them. Many of our
meetings with those musicians  took place
in the restaurant of the police officers’ club,
where Akaba Man was happy to take on the
role of host and moderator.
He was born Roland Igunma Igbinigie and
grew up in Benin City. His family had deep
roots in traditional Edo music: “ I was born with
music  because my father was a drummer, a
traditional drummer. Ogo drum. He also sings
but not as good as my mother. My  mother
was marvelous. Whenever there was the fes-
tival my mother always featured prominently;
she would sing lead vocals and  do all the
dances. ” After finishing school, he star ted a
career as a police officer, but continued to
pursue music on the side. He star ted his own
traditional music group, the Ogbaro Cultural
Performance Group, in 1969, and worked
briefly with Victor Uwaifo and Collins Oke, but
it was only in 1976 that he left his job with
the police force and founded his own highlife
band. The band was named Akaba Man and
the Nigie Rockets; the Akaba is a traditional
bell-like instrument worn around the waist by
dancers at the Okhuaihe festival of the Ikhven
clan, and the Akaba Man was the dancer who
was allowed to play the Akaba during this
ritual. The rest of the band’s name came from
the last par t of Igbinigie’s surname (Nigie)
and a variation of his first name (Rockets).
The band released their first LP in 1977 on
the Onistha-based Son of Man Records. While
the arrangements were modern, Akaba Man
deliberately sung in the  local Edo dialect,
and used traditional instruments and rhythms
as a means of communicating directly with an
audience still closely connected to Edo cul-
ture.  Crown No. 1 was a great success and
an impor tant stepping stone on the path from
Akaba Man´s mother, Benin City 1980
traditional Edo music and highlife to Edo funk.
Akaba Man, Benin City 1977
The record sold well and the band became
well-known in Benin City; they released two
more albums on the Son of Man label.
In 1981 Akaba Man was given the opportunity
to record his sixth album in a modern 16 track
studio. The possibilities offered by this new
technology allowed him to create nuanced
arrangements in which the sound of 80s disco
and funk could be prominent without obfuscat-
ing the music’s Edo roots. The resulting album
Obo was not just a great success but a musi-
cal milestone for Akaba Man. The cover finds
him dressed in a pink suit, sitting pensively
in an oversized orange hand that  carries him
through the blue sky like an Indian god; the
word “obo” (hand) is emblazoned above his
head in  a bloated, rounded typeface resem-
bling a thought bubble. Many of the lyrics on
Obo revolve around the meaning of the hand
in everyday philosophy; for Akaba Man,
it’s a kind of concept album.
 Until the mid-1980s, Akaba Man released sev- with us, it was he who always set the tone. Nor was
eral albums on the Ekimogun and Supremedisk his business sense limited solely to music: in addi- During our two weeks in
labels, both managed by his friend Francis Akinifesi. tion to his ar tistic work, he now also makes his living Benin City, it became clear
Although he recorded at studios in Ijebu-Igbo in the construction business, and when we came to that the golden age of Edo
(Phonodisk), Onishta (Tabansi) or Lagos (Afrodisia), visit,  there was a large excavator, which he rented Funk and highlife have
his long-standing par tnership with sound engineer out to other contractors, parked between towers of long since passed. In spite
and producer  Lucky Aigbe Lebar ty allowed him to a PA system boxes in the cour tyard of his house. of this, almost all of the
develop his sound consistently thoughout the 1980s, musicians we met still per-
the time when he enjoyed his greatest musical suc- A quick glance at some of Akaba Man’s other album form regularly with their
cess. During this time, Akaba Man also operated his covers suggests that he had a lot of fun putting him- bands. In their houses,
own record shop in Benin City. self in the spotlight; even today he has retained an sheds and cour tyards
expressive way of dressing. But beneath the elabo- there were often stacks of
In addition to his considerable musical talent, Akaba rate costumes there is great depth, the sense of a PA boxes, silently awaiting
Man’s success was undoubtedly due to his business philosophical message being delivered to his audi- their next gig. Throughout
acumen. When negotiating the licensing of his songs ence through his music. Benin City and the Edo
and the conditions under which he wanted to work State, highlife musicians
remain an integral par t of
the cultural and social life
of their communities. Their
appearances mostly take
place at different social
occasions, weddings or
funeral ceremonies, and
most of the musicians do
not enjoy anything close
to the national and inter-
national preeminence that
Victor Uwaifo, Osayomore
Joseph or Akaba Man did
in the 70s and 80s. If you
walk through the streets
of Benin City today, you
can hear typical Edo
highlife from the boxes
set up in front of the CD
shops; on the other side
of the street, the auto-
tuned sounds of the young
afrobeat scene can be
heard pumping out of
bars and small mobile
sound systems. These new
beats come mainly from
Lagos, Accra and London
and are currently in the
process of conquering
international dance floors,
radio stations and stream-
ing channels, leaving the
intoxicating sounds of Edo
Akaba Man, Benin City 1983 Funk firmly in the past.

Written By Bela Patrutzi

AA No. 1 AA No. 2 AA No. 3 AA No. 4 AA No. 5 AA No. 6
The Green Arrows Hallelujah Chicken Run Band African Scream Contest Poly Rythmo Vol. 1 Legends of Benin Poly Rythmo Vol. 2
AACD 061 AACD 062 | AALP 062 AACD 063 | AALP 063 AACD 064 | AALP 064 AACD 065 | AALP 065 AACD 066 | AALP 066

AA No. 7 AA No. 8 AA No. 9 AA No. 10 AA No. 11 AA No. 12

Anibal Velasquez Afro-Beat Airways Angola Soundtrack Bambara Mystic Soul Super Borgou de Parakou Diablos del Ritmo
AACD 067 | AALP 067 AACD 068 | AALP 068 AACD 069 | AALP 069 AACD 070 | AALP 070 AACD 071 | AALP 071 AACD 072 | AALP 072 A/B

AA No. 13 AA No. 14 AA No. 15 AA No. 16 AA No. 17 AA No. 18

Poly Rythmo Vol. 3 Afrobeat Airways 2 Angola Soundtrack 2 Mestre Cupijó – Siriá Verckys Amara Touré
AACD 073 | AALP 073 AACD 074 | AALP 074 AACD 075 | AALP 075 AACD 076 | AALP 076 AACD 077 | AALP 077 AACD 078 | AALP 078

AA No. 19 AA No. 20 AA No. 21 AA No. 22 AA No. 23 AA No. 24

Senegal 70 Space Echo Bitori Shadow Pop Makossa Hamad Kalkaba
AACD 079 | AALP 079 AACD 080 | AALP 080 AACD 081 | AALP 081 AACD 082 | AALP 082 AACD 083 | AALP 083 AACD 084 | AALP 084

AA No. 25 AA No. 26 AA No. 27 AA No. 28 AA No. 29 AA No. 30

Camarão African Scream Contest 2 Dur-Dur Band Vol. 1 & 2 Jambú Mogadisco La Locura De Machuca
AACD 085 | AALP 085 AACD 086 | AALP 086 AACD 087 | AALP 087 AACD 088 | AALP 088 AACD 089 | AALP 089 AACD 090 | AALP 090

GRAPHIC D ESIGN: KATHRIN REMEST (ANALOG AFRICA)

MASTERIN G: NICK ROBBINS (SOUNDMASTERING)
LACQUERS: FRANK MERRITT (THE CARVERY)
INTERVIEW, TRANSLATION AND BIOGRAPHY: BELA PATRUTZI, SAMY BEN REDJEB AND DIEGO HERNÁNDEZ
TEXT EDITING: JESSE SIMON AND DIEGO HERNÁNDEZ

SPECIAL THANKS TO: MOUSSA DOSSO LASSINA, OBAUYI EDOBOR, TROPICAL TIMEWARP,
RADIO HOBO, JANA TROSCHKE, FRANK UGBOMAH AND KEITH SLATER