Oliver De Coque & His Expo '76 Ogene Sound Super Of Africa "Self-titled" A.K.A. "Omumu Onye Nzoputa (Jesu Kristi)" 1983****

My girlfriend visited Nigeria for work-related reasons. Unfortunately I wasn't able to join her, but I did burden her with a mission: to visit a legendary Lagos record shop, and bring something back. I had a list of  (mostly impossibly rare) records for her to search, but she was to ask the clerks for suggestions and trust her own instinct on which of these to follow. The only other instruction I gave her was "No Fela Kuti". I love Fela's music, but I can find a dozen of so of his records in my neighborhood record shop at any given time. I wanted something that locals listen to. This vintage store, called the Jazzhole, sells records, CDs, books, and African art, and serves coffee and small treats as well. It is a small cultural oasis in that bustling metropolis of  20+ million people (Africa's biggest city and, according to predictions, on the way to becoming the world's biggest one). My partner was quite pleased with the atmosphere and friendly service, and she left with a couple of old vinyl records and a couple of CD's for me. The state of the LP's, both vinyl and album cover, was quite sorry but they both turned out to be so wonderful to listen to that a bit of crackle was not much of a turn-off. I understand that African record owners may not treat vinyl with the reverence we music collectors in the northern hemisphere do. 

I nevertheless like the fact that these records travelled to me directly from Nigeria rather than bought online from a London or Paris warehouse. Regarding Oliver De Coque, his was a name I had never heard of. It turns out that he's a real bigshot in the Nigerian highlife music scene, and considered to be Africa's most prolific recording artist, having arguably recorded 93 albums until his death in 2008. Highlife is described in the dictionary as "dance music of west African origin that combines syncopated African rhythms with elements of jazz". It started in Ghana, and featured a lot of horns as well as that nimble guitar sound one hears overall in West Africa. Its Nigerian counterpart incorporated local traditional music, and seems to be more percussion- than brass- dominated. In time, it branched in different directions: the juju and (funkier) Afro-beat styles are characterized by the asymmetrical drumming of the yoruba musical tradition, while the so-called Igbo Highlife style is more closely affiliated with - well, obviously the other big tribe of South Nigeria, the igbo. Oliver De Cocque is considered to be one of the most important artists in the latter style. Judging from what I've heard here, his style is quite different to Afro-beat, which is, thanks to Fela's international success, what most of us would recognize as Nigerian music. De Coque's music is much more relaxed, featuring intricate guitarwork over a laid-back rumba rhythm. The guitar style and Afro-cuban influence reminded me of Congolese music, as well as another favorite West African band, Orchestra Baobab. So it made immediate sense to learn that De Coque had a Congolese guitar teacher. He was taught guitar at the age of 11, but made his first record in 1977, at the age of 30. As I mentioned earlier, his later productivity more than made up for this late start. This particular 1983 album sports only the band moniker Oliver De Coque & His Expo '76 Ogene Sound Super Of Africa on the cover, so it is sometimes refered to as Self-titled or, from the title of the first track, as Omumu Onye Nzoputa (Jesu Kristi). I guess by the title that it's (at least partly) religion-themed. A lot of African music is of spiritual character, be it Christian, Muslim, or traditional African in nature. (UPDATE: According to this blog, it's Christmas-themed, i.e. about the actual birth of Jesus Christ, not about chestnuts roasting on an open fire or whatever passes as Christmas in the Northern hemisphere). Each side of this LP is comprised by two songs and lasts for about 20 minutes overall. To be honest, it's impossible to tell where one song ends and the next begins. When I transferred the LP into MP3, I had to arbitrarily split each side where I saw fit. Speaking Igbo might have helped, but as you probably have guessed, I don't. Well, I don't know if this is a typical sample of igbo highlife or not, but I like it a lot: the vocal harmonies, the percussive instuments (which I can only suppose include the traditional ogene bells - not that I'd recognize their sound), and -above all- De Coque's masterful guitar playing. No sign of horns here, even though they're supposed to be a dominant element in highlife orchestras. The cover of the album with the singer posing like a king dressed in traditional dress and holding a scepter, is certainly typical of him; he was known as a colorful and flamboyant character in life. Another entertaing element is the inscription in the lower corner of the back cover. It goes like this: "Warning against Piracy: This time Olumo Records will leave no stone unturned. This time Oliver De Cocque and our company have sent out a full force security to look out for any person or group of persons who engage in the act of pirating our records, and report has been made to Police Headquarters. This company as well as the artiste are therefore committed to use every force in their disposal to fight and bring anybody caught to the Court of Law for prosecution". Now, I've read warnings against piracy elsewhere but never as emphatic as this. I believe it, too. I can just picture De Coque's henchmen checking Lagos' countless open markets for pirated cassettes, ready to drag the wrongdoers to justice. Seeing as the artist is dead and the the original album is long out of print, I will take my chances and post download links for you, because it's certainly worth hearing. But I'll be looking over my shoulder, for sure. You never know, maybe De Coque's enforcers are still on the loose.

**** for Omumu Onye Nzoputa (Jesu Kristi), Olu Ebube Nke Onye Nweayi, Odenigbo United Industrial Harp Club Of Nigeria, Enibe Uzo Nibe Efi