Roy Ayers
Everybody Loves The Sunshine

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Fredrik Lavik is the soul behind the Afro 7 label responsible behind some serious East African music archiving and some cracking releases on 45 and 12 inch, from deep Swahili Funk to Kenyan Boogie. Here’s the story behind one of the best labels around.

When did you start digging records?
My mother and father had a big record collection, so I grew up listening to this format but favored the CD when that came, I remember buying lots of electronic music IDM (intelligent dance music) in the mid-90s Orbital, the Orb, Aphex Twin, Atom Heart etc. But my crave for the «rare groove» started out in the late 90-ties in Stavanger, the oil capitol, west-coast of Norway. A friend of mine had parties in his basement and he started to bring in records he had found in second hand shops. At that time we listened to a lot of disco, common popular stuff like the Jacksons, Gloria Gaynor and The Trammps, mostly pulled from compilation cd’s. One day my mate came in with George Benson ‘Give Me the Night’ lp produced by Quincy Jones, that raised some eyebrows discovering that there is loads of «undiscovered songs» on this format. A few years after this while living in Bergen I started to regularly mail with Edward Griffiths (the man behind the blaxploitation.com blog) and he started sending ebay links to lp soundtracks. That was the start of spending a lot of money on the format. But back then you could get some of todays classics really cheap, like Manu Dibango countdown at kusini for 10 dollars etc.

What Lps did you buy at first? Do you still listen to them?
I started out buying a lot of soundtracks, at one time I had complete Blaxploitation catalogue. I’ve sold a lot of it. But kept the best ; Bullitt, Inner Space, Coffy etc. I am still a fan of soundtracks, in fact last year me and my mate Tobias (who runs preservation records) thought of the idea to start issuing Norwegian soundtracks that had not been released. Next year there will be 4 soundtracks on our little project label called Moving Music.

Do you have a particular style or favourite period?
No I am very eclectic in music taste, so I can savvy anything from early blues to nineties electronic music.

Are you still digging, buying vinyl, visiting record shops?
Whenever I can, I do still dig, it’s a passion, I just came back from Hungary it was a family trip but managed to scoop a little under 10 albums.

What was your first release on Afro7?
A Somali compilation entitled “Light and Sound of Mogadishu”. It was a project that Andreas Vingaard of Frederiksberg record suggested, he had found the guy behind the label, and the music was great, all the top acts recorded with this label. Great variety and proper sound quality too not that cassette sound. Matthew Lavoie had written a great post about the label on the VOA blog so that could run for liners, we came up with a package concept and got it out.

Them Mushrooms, in picture from left Teddy Kalanda Harrison, John Katana Harrison and  Billy Sarro Harrison.
‘Bi Uru Wamiel’

What could be your editorial/esthetic line ?
Often the my plan for reissuing or releasing a record starts somewhat in my head, where I can go days thinking around an idea for a release, or layouts and combinations. And then it starts taking shape, from all perspectives, tracking down the rights holder, make sure everyone gets paid and so forth.

A leight-motiv to sum upo the identity of Afro7 ?
The basic three: a good story behind the release, good sound quality and of course the most important aspect… great music.

Did you have any references labels for reissues?
Soundway keeps breaking boundaries with issuing a lot of good contemporary music, Strut too, and Numero One Group is great, Jazzman Gerald, Frotee in Estonia, We Jazz label in Finland, recently I bough some of the Music from Memory releases coming out of Amsterdam, there is bunch of great labels.

How do you work in Africa? With a network?
I have some friends that help me out, also the Internet is great searching up people… As global as it has become nothing is impossible.

Is it easier to find old LP’s in the countryside, where everything has not yet been explored?
Digging in Finland (where I live now) you can find stuff, but most of the interesting music happened in cities, so it’s much harder to scoop the good bits in the outer perimitors.

Black Belt Symphony, in picture Somayah ‘Peaches’ Moore Khaliq.
‘Brotherman’

Afro 7 focuses on Somalia and Kenya for the moment. Is there any particular reasons?
Yes many moons ago I bought a large collection of african seven inches from Kenya, and from that lot came a lot of work, listening, countless of hours, and sorting also posting selling etc. through the afro7.net blog This also put me on the map and resulted in the Kenya Special volume 1 release by Soundway.

You release mostly 7’’ and 12’’, can we expect an album reissue soon on Afro7?
Yes I have some albums in process and even more compilations, but these things take time and it’s mostly me running things. I also run the Jazzaggression label and have a few albums lined up there, the second album from The Bird Curtis Quintet from 1969 and a reissue of a rare norwegian jazz record.

Are Afro7 limited releases or you plan to reprint any sold out releases?

No we focus on limited 1000 runs and then rather move on with new releases instead of re-runs. Most of the music is also available digitally, so the music is still obtainable.

What are the differences, in terms of sound, production, between East and West Africa?
In terms of production value inn the golden era seventies and eighties. Some of the bigger labels like Philips, EMI and Polygram had Nairobi offices, with top equipment. All the regional countries from south and west came to Nairobi in Kenya to record as it was the musical hub. Therefore there was also a huge flora of smaller independent labels running. So you have literally hundreds and hundreds of different labels operating releasing singles only, sub labels for different tribes and styles etc. Musically East has always been rooted in more congolese guitar traditional styles, soukouss, lingala and out of this benga etc.

Scorpios, from left Regia Ishag, Osman Mohammed, Adam Bulewski and Ronnie Maxwell.
‘Safar’

And the place of North Africa in all this?
When you cross the border from Kenya to Ethiopia it all changes musically, it’s more arabic / indian influenced, tempo, scales and chord changes are somewhat more atuned to our western world musical tradition, although you can find some of that in in the Taarab music that was played along the Swahili spoken coastline from The Somali border to North of Tanzania.

How can we find, discover, new references, when so many people dig the same path?
There is always something new to discover, also trends die and then they are reborn again. I’m not that worried. Go back 5 years ago on the current DJ scene, synth music and drum-machines wasn’t that hot, look now, everyone is jumping on the next untapped Zouk record.

You have just published The Scorpios. Tell us their story? How did you discover them?
It was Montreal’s finest Philippe Noël of Canicule Tropicale who posted a YouTube clip with «Yaelhajarok» in the Congolese & East African records group on Facebook, the sound of that track caught me, it had that raw edge, sounded authentic enough and with these blistering female vocals. So I contacted the guy who had uploaded it, Adam Bulewski and we took it from there, somewhat three years later, after a single the full album was out. It’s been an interesting experience, it’s a record that people keep going back to, that gets better and better the more you listen…

Is it a matter of getting out of new artists or publishing rare reissues? What complementarities? And what are the specific difficulties of each activity?
Reissues or «older» music tend to sell better, so if it’s a contemporary band starting out it’s going to take a lot of promoting, regardless of how good the music is. In todays jungle that is a full time job.

Have you received many negative answers on some of the LPs, artists, unreleased tapes, you were trying to reissue?
No not really. Well I tried to get a live recording from Stavanger released once on my Jazzaggression label. Thought this will be an easy job but one of the main soloist was very abrupt «This ain’t happening». To some degree I could relate to his conflict on the matter, if you are musician it’s not really that interesting to hear yourself playing 40 years ago (just ask any sax player) to a listener it’s different, and when it comes to jazz… It’s less technical and younger players have a certain spontaneous energy that isn’t always present later… and compositions built up around «less is more» this is a subjective matter though, based on the listener typical rare groove atuned ears will agree

Guttorm Guttormsen Quartet, from left, Brynjulf Blix, Guttorm Guttormsen, Espen Rud and Carl Morten Iversen.
‘Soturnudi’

Nowadays, there are many LP labels who follow this model, I mean more quality even if it’s more expensive… but in same time, there are also another «new» LP market, with major companies come-back and other labels, who prefer to sell cheaper. Is it the (re)creation of two camps for the LP?
There are two types of buyers too, those who’s been buying records for years. And newcomers have to go the school.

There are more and more reissues of old LPs, and more and more record labels (major or indie) now release their new artists on LP, or EP. Do you think that the reissue market could ever reach saturation point?
It’s expensive to make records so at one point when sales drop, there will be fewer of those Lionel Richie box-sets happening. Not a bad word about him or his label but his past releases are fairly easy to find on the second hand market. Also more older diggers/collectors are fed up with going to a second hand store and having to dig through reissue after reissue, so I guess there will be more diverted sections in the future. I think it’s a bit tip of the iceberg right now, with the new resurgence in vinyl, factories has also increased production tool capabilities, so prices will go down and the mill will still run… so I’m not just certain when that overkill will hit us J

What are your other next releases?
Next year we have another twelve (a lot like the previous Them Mushroom one) and a full album, Scorpios is working on a second album too. On the jazzaggression tip there is the second Bird Curtis album coming and also a Norwegian jazz record from 1971. And two more soundtracks on Moving Music.

What is the 45 you dream of reissuing?
No specifics here, but yes three more afro 7 singles are lined-up for release next year. They are all great !

Dave Grusin
Whalen Robbery (‘The Friends of Eddie Coyle’)

« Great funky soundtrack by Dave Grusin composed a few years before his more famous score for ‘The Three Days of the Condor’. A little know crime film by British director Peter Yates shot in 1973, five years after his masterpiece ‘Bullitt’ in 1968, the film is a great exponent of new Hollywood early 70s indie cinema. »
 
 

Serge Gainsbourg/Michel Colombier
No No Yes Yes (‘Mister Freedom’)

« Serge Gainsbourg did many soundtracks in France all along his career. one of his most famous being ‘Requiem Pour Un Con’ and ‘Sous Le Soleil Exactement’. This Soulful Jerk from 1968 is from a little known film by cult US photographer William Klein done at the height of the late 60’s counter culture frenzy. The track is arranged by Gainsbourg’s regular collaborator, Michel Colombier a year after he arranged Pierre Henry’s famous electronic jerks, Psyche Rock in particular. »
 
 

Frog
Witch Hunt (‘Psychomania’)

« John Cameron is behind the soundtrack of this obscure British horror film. An established pianist and producer who arranged ‘Sunshine Superman’ and Hot Chocolate’s ‘You Sexy Thing’ among others. Cameron was a skilled jazz pianist also active in the soundtrack department. He signed the scores for two Ken Loach films, ‘Poor Cow’ and especially ‘Kes’ a beautiful pastoral soundtrack featuring the flute of his regular collaborator Harold McNair. »
 
 

Max Roach
Scene B (‘Black Sun’)

« A superb, very little known jazz score by Roach featuring Clifford Jordan and Roach’s wife Abbey Lincoln. It was made for a cult ‘nuberubagu’ (nouvelle vague) Japanese film from 1964 by Kurahara Koreyoshi and shot in Tokyo. Kurahara had previously shot The Warped Ones in 1960 a film often compared to Godard’s Breathless and said to have greatly influenced Kubrick for A Clockwork Orange. »
 
 

Manu Dibango
Red Salter (‘Countdown at Kusini’)

« One of the rarest Blaxploitation soundtracks ever produced, ‘Countdown at Kusini’ is THE graal in terms of Blax soundtrack together with Bernard Purdie’s Lialeh OST. the original LP was only produced as a free “souvenir” for the film premiere in Seattle and was never commercially released. A superb blend of fender-Rhodes-drenched instrumentals and a pinch of African rhythms from the soul makossa King, it’s worth checking out, if you can find it that is. » 

Le Grand Kalle, Don Gonzalo, Manu Dibango
Africa Boogaloo

«Amazing compilation, great track. I like a lot how this track sounds like a rhythmic intersection between rumba, afrobeat and boogie. The portuguese lyrics makes it very cool. Nice “battle” between flute and alto sax, groovy till the end.»

Les Vikings de la Martinique
Super Djouk

«Very nice record, I have been DJing it a lot. Very similar to brazilian “lambada”, all instruments playing with great rhythmic feel, very danceable.»

Peter King
Mr. Lonely Wolf

«Great groove, kinda “sunny”, nice vocals, catchy melody. I love the sound of that banjo-like instrument, trumpet solo also very cool. Love how sometimes african grooves sounds kinda messy and imprecise, very organic, as they were playing at home, not worried at all, feels like it’s talking about Brasil.»

Math Samba et son groupe
Aux pays du Café

«Love this one, an afrobeat influenced soul groove. Nice flute solo, more stylish then virtuoso, very cool. The groove is deep but also kinda lay back, very cool, there’s a sensual feeling about it.»

Art Ensemble of Chicago
Rock out

«I like this track a lot, especially the mantra-like bass line conducting the music through all the changes and weird tempos that comes above it. The atmosphere is also great, with shouting voices, unstructured solos, hard groove and noises; deep and still danceable.»

Based in Paris and its suburbs, Akwa Betote has been focusing on the rise of the new multi-racial trends. His photographs have become the most telling proof of this archaeology of the modern world, creating a fusion of trends and morals, a kind of “world sound”. All the black rock communities who had been left out, have now become real and comprehensible. The camera pauses on a thousand colors in black and white.

At the same time, he published a collection of photos he did about the african and afro-american musician community in Paris during the 80’s. Those photos were the subject of an exhibition at Cabaret Sauvage in Paris (July 2015) and a you can discover part of them here at Superfly Records. Enjoy!

A track for the view…

African Cookbook by Randy Weston

http://www.billakwabetote.com/