Nigeria Special:

Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues, 1970-6

By now, we know the drill with these double-disc compilations that come from record labels like Soundway - they're excellent on every level, from the curating and track selection, through the remastering and sound quality, into the packaging and highly detailed booklet.  The people at this label really know their craft.

This package contains twenty-six songs spread across two discs that capture the spirit of change in Nigerian music in the early to mid-70s.  There are straightforward highlife tracks, and some afro-funk, but there are also plenty of examples of artists who were experimenting somewhere between the two genres, borrowing from each.

The songs here are sung in the multitude of Nigeria's languages, and the liner notes attempt to contextualize this music within the social and political atmospheres of the country following the Biafran War.  It's an excellent collection, and a good place to start if you are interested in learning more than you'll ever need to know about Nigerian music.