1. taxi
Fela KutiThe Hykkers Onyeabor
Three of his most
seminal records
How they lead a post-war
afro-rock revolution
A look at
Nigeria’s mythical
cult icon
Nigeria
001
UK £6
Taxi Magazine.indd 1 10/08/2016 13:31:57
3. Welcome to the first issue of Taxi, an
independent music magazine that aims to
subvert the way we absorb music, by looking at
it by country rather than by genre.
Thanks to the internet, the 21st century has
become a golden age of musical discovery,
introducing people to sounds both new and old
from all over the world.
However, it has also created a culture of
instant gratification with music, whereby we
constantly sift through track after track
searching for the industries ‘next big thing’. It
may have given us access to more music, but it
has also made music more disposable than ever
before.
This is where Taxi steps in. Our aim
is to shift this fast-paced throwaway
attitude to music down a gear and delve
deeper into the new musical cultures
people are discovering, not by looking at it by
genre, but by country or region.
This is a viable concept because like me there
are people who, thanks to the internet, have been
exposed to new types of music from different
countries and they are keen to learn a more
in-depth history of this music they are
discovering.
People more and more are listening to artists
from all over the world and from different time
periods, and our first issue, focusing on Nigeria,
is a perfect example of this as many of the songs
discussed in this edition have been re-reissued
by record labels over the last decade, such is the
demand from music fans for them.
Although music magazines have been in
decline over the last decade, the huge rise
in independent magazine publishing has
shown there is still a dedicated group of
people willing to pay for print journalism,
and who prefer reading longer forms of
print journalism over digital media, which
can often provide readers with very little
substance to the stories that they are producing.
Taxi is a truly original magazine concept
targeting both the niche market of independent
magazines and anybody with a real passion for
musical discovery. I hope you enjoy.
George Ellis
03
08
10
12
2
Editorial
George Ellis
Cover Illustration
Christie Rider
CD Design
George Ellis
Christie Rider
Addtional Content
The Vinyl Factory
Uchenna Ikonne
Eothen Allaptt
Photography
George Ellis
Wikipedia Commons
Now Again Records
Afro Beatles
Interviewee
Quinton Scott
Protest music post civil-war
Afro-beat pioneer Tony Allen talks Nigeria today
Fela Kuti: His most essential works
William Onyeabor: The story behind the legend
Photo
courtesy
of
Now
Again
Records
Photo
courtesy
of
George
Ellis
Photo
courtesy
of
Wikipedia
Commons
Photo
courtesy
of
George
Ellis
Taxi Magazine.indd 3 10/08/2016 13:31:59
5. Talking
‘bout a
revolution
The story of how a new wave of
protest music helped restore
optimism to Nigeria after the
civil war.
Words by George Ellis
Photo courtesy of
Now Again Records
Taxi Magazine.indd 5 10/08/2016 13:31:59
6. When you think of figures of political
resistance in Nigeria, Fela Kuti often springs
to mind first. Such was his natural charisma and global
stardom, it’s hard not to look at him as the
symbolic voice of unrest in the country. But whereas
you would be right in thinking that Fela was often the
masthead of such protest music in Nigeria, alongside
himwereanabundanceoftalentedmusiciansandbands
sweeping across the major Nigerian cities with a
similar story to tell. Their message combined new
sounds with themes that reflected the state of
affairs the country was left in, in the wake of Nigeria’s
civil-war. These bands, often encompassing the
burgeoning afro-rock scene, were the true sound of
the Nigerian post-civil war society.
Whilst Fela was taking his message of social upheaval
to America, bands like The Hykkers, The Funkees and
The Hygrades were taking their message to the streets
of Nigeria, and having been directly affected by the
fallout of the civil-war they were ready to put their
built up frustrations and anger to use and once again
begin playing across the country. Long gone were the
soulful unitary days, where highlife, juju and native
Yoruba music dominated Nigerian clubs. A new sound
had formed, in part due to an influx of American
artists touring the country again, and partly due to the
pain and suffering many local bands had experienced
during the civil-war.
The Nigerian civil-war had ended quite
literally at the turn of the decade in January 1970. Three
years of fighting between the military backed west of
NigeriaandthesecessionisteasternstateofBiafra,leftan
estimated casualty total of around one million people.
Videos which can be easily accessed on YouTube
show the leader of the Nigerian military government
Yakubu Gowan declaring a ‘victory for common sense’,
but to the people affected by the fallout this did not
seem the case. People had simply been told to pick
themselves up and carry on with what they doing
prior to the war breaking out in 1967.
For the musicians of Biafra in the east however,
returning to their usual style of highlife and American
soul just wasn’t an option, as the war had left them
and many others with permanent scars of the horrors
they had witnessed. As Uchenna Ikonne, owner of the
comb & razor label and a Nigeria historian, said in
an interview with The Vinyl Factory “They had just
gone through almost three years of hell during which
people had lost almost everything and now were
just trying to pull themselves out of the wreckage
5
The Hykkers Pre-war when they werer a stright laced soul band, photo courtesy of Now Again Records
Taxi Magazine.indd 6 10/08/2016 13:32:00
7. and piece their lives back together. The music was just
trying to ease the pain, make people feel good about
themselves again”.
This mix of optimism for a brighter future and pain
from a shocking past would go on to define the themes
of Nigerian music across the first half the 1970’s,
however it would be familiar faces visiting from the
United States that would define the countries sound.
With the political landscape returning to some level of
normality across the country, artists like James Brown,
Jimi Hendrix and Bootsy Collins were beginning to
tour across Nigeria, bringing with them the funk driven
psychedelic sounds of 60’s America and Britain. They
bought messages of freedom and rebellion in their
songs, which captivated Nigerian audiences whose
freedoms were only just returning to them.
Artists like The Hykkers and The Funkees soon
began incorporating these distorted guitars into
their music, as these psychedelic sounds became
increasingly popular amongst Nigerians all over the
country. Musician’s like Orlando Julius, who was a
popular soul musician at the time, were even lucky
enough to perform with James Brown during the early
70’s. He even wrote a song titled ‘James Brown ride
on’ in which he declares his love for Brown and his funk
laden guitar lead music. It showcased just how much
Nigerian musicians were falling in love with this new
fuzzy and ferocious way of playing guitar. As Guardian
journalist Sean O’Hagan so eloquently pointed out in
an interview back in 2010 “For young, hip Nigerians,
the electric guitar was the symbol of all things new and
vibrant, and the psychedelic sounds filtering out from
San Francisco and London were the template for a
hybrid sound that spoke only of the future.” In an
instant, a new wave of protest music was born under
the banners of afro-beat and afro-rock.
6
Jeff Aham, guitarist for The Hykkers Circa 1971. Photo courtesy of
Now Again Records
“Themusicwasjust
tryingtoease
thepain,make
peoplefeel
goodabout
themselvesagain”.
Taxi Magazine.indd 7 10/08/2016 13:32:00
8. 7
No band optimized this shift to afro-rock and
afro-beat quite like The Hykkers. Having been driven
out of Biafra late in the civil war, they were left without
their instruments, and without a bass player or guitar-
ist. Uchenna Ikonne in his book ‘Wake up you’, which
documents this period in Nigerian music, believes it
was this change in the lineup coupled with the horrors
the band had witnessed during the civil war, that saw
about their transformation as a soulful Beatles inspired
rock band into an outfit whose sound was drenched in
both funk and tenacity. New songs like ‘I want to break
thru’ recalled the hypnotic psychedelic guitar play of a
Hendrix ballad, and it was not just their music that
changed too. Their outfits transformed from prim and
pristine to outrageously colourful, and as Fela Kuti led
the afro beat movement globally, The Hykkers were
strutting their fuzzy afro-rock on home soil.
Much similar were The Funkees, who having been
initially founded as an army band in Biafra, started to
have a big impact on the burgeoning afro-rock scenes
with their own slower and more seductive take on the
genre. Tracks like ‘Dance with me’ and ‘Baby I need
you’ lifted the funk straight out of James Brown’s
own tracks and combined it with traditional Nigerian
percussion to create a new smooth care free sound.
Sadly, The Funkees would leave Nigeria behind
in 1973 to pursue music in London, and with the
disbanding of The Hykkers later in the decade the
once thriving scene would slowly fade away.
Fela Kuti and his decades of relentless performing
and recording will forever make his music the focal
point of political opposition in this era of musical
history, and quite rightly so. Throughout his career
his music directly challenged the heart of military
oppression in a fearless manor unlike anything the
country had seen before it. However, the musical
landscape of Nigeria would have been very different
without the messages of love and revolution from the
other passionate bands and musicians found within
the country, who made it their mission to speak their
minds to the people of Nigeria at a time of political
unrest. It was they who arguably made more of a
local impact during the tumultuous political period of
the country and in a sense represent the true sound of
Nigeria’s post civil-war society.
The Hykker in a joyous mood, photo courtesy of Now Again Records
Taxi Magazine.indd 8 10/08/2016 13:32:00
9. Fela in Three3 essential records that defined Fela Kuti’s career,
according to Strut records label boss Quinton Scott
1. Fela’s London Scene (1971)
This was a unique period because he’d come to
London and was playing with a slightly smaller
band than he’d normally go out with. This was just
when he was really beginning to find his way in
developing Afro-beat, but by having this smaller
band he’d created a unique little moment in his
career, as there isn’t really anything that sounds like
this album in the rest of his catalogue. Tracks like
‘Buy Africa’ touch on themes of colonialism and big
businesses trying to muscle their way into African
culture, and its just a fantastic example of the sort
of slow-cooking tracks that Fela would continue to
make over the next decade. Because it was recorded
at Abbey Road Studios the sound of the music is
just amazing, proabably the best album production
wise that Fela ever made. It really adds to that
muscularAfro-beatsoundandtomeitsasessentialasany
record that you wil find in Fela’s collection.
3. Roforofo Fight (1972)
This one for me is spectacularly good. This is the
record that really grabbed me when I first started
discovering Fela. I remember going into Bar Rumba
and hearing Gilles Peterson playing this week in week
out. To me as a dancefloor track from Fela its just
phenomenal because there’s so much power in track,
and for me it’s up there with ‘Water Get no Enemy’ as
an ultimate anthem of Fela.
2. Shakara (1972)
Despite being recorded just a year before
London Scene this album has a very different sound
to it. There’s only the two tracks on it which are
‘Shakara (oloje)’ and ‘Lady’, but for me it doesn’t get
much better than these two. Again it’s a smaller band
that recorded these songs but it’s got a very different
feel to it, and it’s got the cross-over sound which
people always associate with James Brown and Fela,
especially with Shakara which is a really
hypnotic track which you don’t often get with
Fela’s music, so it’s quite a unique song in his catalogue
because of this.
8
Fela’s London Scene album cover. Photo courtesy of Afro Beatles Fela Kuti circa 1970. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons
Taxi Magazine.indd 9 10/08/2016 13:32:00
10. Fela KutiThe Hykkers Onyeabor
Three of his most
seminal records
How they lead a post-war
afro-rock revolution
A look at
Nigeria’s mythical
cult icon
taxi UK £6Nigeria
001
Taxi Magazine.indd 10 10/08/2016 13:32:02
