Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Hedzoleh Soundz!

It might be safe to say, at this point, that the people at Soundway Records are releasing some of the best and most hard-to-find African gems right now. The string of great releases continues with a couple of rare full-length reissues including the long forgotten album by Hedzoleh Soundz simply titled Hedzoleh. This record was the collection of music the group recorded months before the band met and decided to become the backing band for African jazz legend Hugh Masekela. The group and Masekela went on to record the highly acclaimed album Masekela - Introducing Hedzoleh, which even though brilliant in it's own self, unfortunately helped overshadowed the original group's previous work. Before teaming up with Masekela, the group were a staple, playing their brand of unique Afro-funk and highlife at the notorious Napoleon nightclub in Ghana. The essence of that material and those performances can be found on this solid new reissued release which includes funky African gems like "Rekpete", "Mee Bee (When)", "Yei Baa Gbe Wo" and "Hedzoleh!" among others. Overall, the record is one of the better reissues that have been released over the last couple of years, giving life to the forgotten and lost sounds from one of Africa's most notable groups. Enjoy!

Hedzoleh Soundz - Hedzoleh!


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2 comments:

chris keys said...

love that they re released this, though a bit sad they didnt use the killer original artwork...

Alan "Afrobeat Rules" said...

Nice post, thanks for sharing that track. It's killer AfroRock !
I'm a big Afrobeat fan and have read that Fela and Masekela travelled to Ghana, where along with Fela's old business associate Faisal Helwani, they produced an LP by Masekela and Hedzolleh Soundz. Apparently that would be late 72 ... I suppose it's the album "Masekela introducing Hedzoleh" ?... is that so ? do you have any more info about Fela's involvment with Hedzoleh ?