King Sunny Ade Juju Music CD

King Sunny Ade & His African Beats: Sunny Ade (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Jacob Ajakaye, Segun Shokumbi, Niyi Falaye, Femi Owomoyela, Mattew Olojede, Tunde Demiola (vocals); John Okeumeu, Bob Ohiri, Segun Ilori (guitar); Demola Adepoju (steel guitar); Martin Meissonier (keyboards); Jelili Lawal (bass); Mofes Acambi (drums); Shina Abiodun (congas); Adeyemi Adisa (bongos); Alhaji Timmy Olaitan, Rasaki Alakodun, Jomoh Gbadamosi (talking drum); Gani Alashe (shekere); Michael Babalola (maracas).

Said by many to be the album that introduced America to "world music," JUJU MUSIC is a brilliant piece of Nigerian pop. The pulsing rootedness of traditional West African percussion and bells meets the tech-psychedelia of electric instruments in a cross-pollination that continues to influence Afro-pop and the worlds beyond. Late-'70s synthesizers spin trippy swirls of outer-space strangeness around blissful slide guitar lines and frenetic conversations between three talking drums as Ade and his army of vocalists warble their happy way through each verse. Call-and-response, one of the true cornerstones of African music, is present in every nook and cranny of the production--one can pick out a distinct dialogue between almost any two instruments at any given moment. Its combination of space-melodies with a heavy rhythmic base makes JUJU MUSIC a Pink Floyd record for dancers.

Recorded at Otodi Studio, Lome, Togo.