Miki Jaga & His Dance Band - Miki Jaga & His Dance Band
Notes

This one is crazy hot! Wild & loose Nigerian funk with freaky synth tendencies. Super dancing sounds. I just borrowed this gem from my new friend Jason. Miki Jaga & His Dance Band is incredibly great and fairly unknown. A total must.So, Jason is new to Portland. He will likely be keeping this Miki Jaga jam in the same crate as his William Onyeabor once he gets to spinning at the just-opened Beech St Parlor here in NoPo. With this record and a Tumblr as essential tokens of his dj steez, I can tell you— I’ma be there, wearing bells and shit. Dig it!

Release Information
Year: 1983.
Country: Nigeria.
Label: Akpolla.
Tracklist
Side A
1. Ukpovbegbanen
2. Kpalamule

Side B
1. Vbenosawenmwighaye
2. Ivba Ni Kalo
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Comments (16)

16 Responses

  1. øשlqæda says:

    dag, dig those bomber jet planes doing fly bys in the background. ‘sorry goose, but it’s time to buzz the tower!’ thx bros

  2. litlgrey says:

    What an incredible find this is!

  3. nicholab says:

    i know it, owl- the iceman cometh. those slide sounds are way beyond the chain. tight synth in some other tracks. this might just be my favorite GC post of 2011 so far….

  4. Anonymous says:

    Stupid question, maybe, bur are you positive this is Nigerian? I saw it on eBay, where they stated it was highlife from Ghana, but released on a Nigerian label… Not that it really matters, great album!

  5. nicholab says:

    you know what— i digitized this so quick, as its a borrowed LP, that i neglected to double check. thanks for the question. i shall rectify as necessary asap.

  6. nicholab says:

    yes- ghanaian group. i took the nigerian pressing at face value when i put this up. the fix is in. a much appreciated clarification.

  7. nicholab says:

    That is the info, at least, according to a recent ebay sale from goodrecordsnyc. I went ahead and changed the info/origin to Ghana, but….

    Might anyone here know? This one’s pretty much off-the-radar, and the fact that the record’s language is Bini has not helped me in my quest for definitive info in determining origin, thusfar.

  8. Hello,

    Thanks for the album! However, this recording is most definitely not from Ghana. The feel and singing style is actually quite different from that of Ghanaian highlife. Also, Edo (or Bini) is a Nigerian ethnic group. Thanks!
    -Osibisaba

  9. Holly says:

    What this is, is insane! Very, very cool. Many thanks to Jason & Nick,

  10. nicholab says:

    @ anonymous #2- you’ve got a point there. when i looked into the bini language, i saw that it is native nigeria, but with indicative roots in benin. as i have scant expertise in the bini/edo language family, i was just calling it inconclusive. once again, my only source of knowledge otherwise is the seller’s note fro the sale of this record recently via ebay. that seller (goodrecordsnyc) was saying the combo was ghanaian highlife. while i can’t speak for the depth of that soureces own knowledge, it did create doubt for me RE the record’s nigerian-ness. didn’t sound like highlife to my ears, but, once again, i wasn’t feeling wildly expert on the matter. long story short, i’m going to go with calling it nigerian until someone who knows can lay down the law on this with some serious specifics.

    @ holly, happy to know you’re feeling it, friend!

  11. gypsykat says:

    For what it’s worth, there is a photo of one Mika Jaga on this blog: http://aikamangi.blogspot.com/2009/04/makamuzi-ya-tanzanite-band-ndani-ya-bar.html

    He’s playing drums with the band at the Club Continental in Tanzania. Same guy? Perhaps!

  12. zim says:

    there’s a track by “madman” jaga on the soundway nigeria – afrobeat special – “Hankuri”. In the notes they note that Andrew Jaga played with 38 different groups in his career. So one question is are Miki and Andrew Jaga related?

  13. Anonymous says:

    pretty please re-up this sensational slice of nice.

  14. hi there, possible to re-up this as all linx are dead ?

  15. T Neeld says:

    Kind of amazing how the second track sounds like Ornette Coleman circa 1982. Amazone!

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