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 !

Each month, we are focusing on a record label founded by an active digger. This month, Frederic Thiphagne, the soul ((with Matthieu Hébrard) behind the Sao Paulo based Goma Gringa label which recently reissued the infamous Tribo Masahi LP but is also well-known for spreading the works of highly-acclaimed new acts such as Meta Meta and Thiago Franca.

When did you start digging records?
I first started buying cassettes and CDs as a kid/teenager around 1995. I was looking for French Hip Hop like IAM, NTM, Oxmo Puccino, etc… I now regret I did not buy those on vinyl from the start! Then I spent some time listening to UK Big Beat. I remember very well of those Future Sound of UK compilations, Freestylers, Lo-Fidelity All Stars, Propellerheads, Chemical Brothers, etc… I quickly got back to Hip Hop and started buying vinyl records. I guess it was in he early 2000s.

What Lps did you buy at first? Do you still listen to them?
I was buying almost exclusively Hip Hop or Hip Hop related stuff. Classic 90’s Hip Hop and Turntabilist/Electro like Quantum Projects, Ninja Tune releases, etc… I cannot really remember what was the very first LP I bought but I can remember very well of that trip I made to Amsterdam with my good friend Remy. I was doing BMX Flatland and there was a very important competition happening in Amsterdam. So we went there by bus and checked the record stores! I can still feel how exited I was when I first entered the Fat Beats shop! They had everything I was looking for! But the 2 LPs I still have and still listen to from time to time were ‘O.S.T.’ by People Under The Stairs and ‘Bombay The Hard Way’ by Dan the Automator and DJ Shadow.

Do you have a particular style or favourite period?
I try not to have any boundaries since I believe that every single musical style/period has great stuff to be listened to. Yet, I am currently very much into 50s and early 60s recordings, especially from the French West Indies and Brazil. I am digging a lot into 78rpm! I love them! I deeply love the way those recordings sound, the voices, the horns. It is the only music that really relaxes me at night, with a glass of wine or a fresh beer after a good day of work. Actually, It also works with Jazz and African music‚ but right now I am really into those 50’s sound!

Since you made a move to Sao Paulo, are you still digging, buying vinyl, visiting record shops?
Yes of course! I mean, when work gives me enough time to do so!

Why did you create Goma Gringa Discos? What was your first release?
Well, the point is that when I arrived in Sao Paulo, contemporary record labels like Jazzman, Soundway, Analog Africa were absolutely not represented here. You couldn’t find any releases from those labels. So I started importing them and created Goma Gringa. I quickly met Matthieu who told me of his wish to eventually enter the business. We became partners and created the label together. Then we realized that instead of racking our brains with import red tape (It is really complicate to import goods to Brazil), we should build a record label and press records here instead of importing them. Everything stemmed from that idea! Then we quickly wanted to make our own record instead of simple replicas of what was being released in Europe. Six months later we released our first LP, the extended version of Fela Kuti’s ‘Sorrow, Tears and Blood’!

Why did you choose this name : Goma Gringa Discos?
That name appeared while I was importing records. Goma laca is the name given to the material used for 78rpm records. So the word “Goma” refers to records. And “Gringo” is the “popular” word for foreigner. The combination of both words represented not only my character but also the records I was dealing with since they were being imported. The funny thing is that “Goma” in Brazilian Portuguese can also mean “Home” : “Vem pra goma!” means “Come home”! And I was selling my records mainly from home so it was still matching! When it turned into a label, we decided to keep that name.

What could be your editorial/aesthetic line?
We opened the label with 2 editorial lines. We now have 3 which are the African music from the 60’s/70’s, the Brazilian contemporary music and reissues of Brazilian music from the 60’s and 70’s.

How do you decide on the choice of reissues/issues? For instance The Fela and Poly-Rytmo LPs?
Well, we wanted to have as a first release an African LP. Since Fela is very-well considered here it was the best starting point we could have dreamt of! Then we made the Poly-Rythmo record which is actually a compilation of Analog Africa compilations. This project is the perfect illustration of what we intended to do in Brazil; Brazilian versions of European label releases.

Could you tell us more about the story behind Tribo Massahi : how did you discover it? Who are they? Are they still alive?
From what we have found until now, only one musician is still alive, the guitarist Ruy Barbosa. Embaixador has unfortunately passed away on the 27th of December 1996. They were a band like any other I would say. I mean, they have that very specific sound to them but apart from that, they were like any other band, playing and looking for more gigs! There was a lot of urban legends around this record, like for example that they were a band of Nigerian musicians that Embaixador would have met some night and that they would had gone to a studio and spent the night there, getting high and finally recording a one take record. None of those stories are true. If you want to know the truth, the easiest way is to grab a copy!

Where do you place them within your catalogue? In the middle, between your Afro Tropism and your Brazilian moods?
Yes, It’s an Afro-Brazilian record. It links both continents. So It was a perfect start to open that Brazilian reissue series!

What is the best deal/business: to make reissues or to produce/coproduce new records?
I think that there is no best deal when you talk about an independent record label. What moves us in the very first place is the love of music and some kind of necessity to make things happen! For us at Goma Gringa, every single penny won is reinvested in the label and in new projects. Mathieu is working as a teacher and myself as a Designer/Art Director.

How do you find brand new talents? On the internet? On stage? Through friends?
I guess like everyone, by being curious. But we have the chance to be surrounded by the amazing Sao Paulo music scene. The musicians are all friends and work with each other. Every single project is great and interesting! I am talking about Meta Meta (Kiko Dinucci, Juara Marcal and Thiago Franca), Rodrigo Campos, Romulo Fres, Marcelo Cabral, Gui Amabis, etc… They are all amazing musicians and singers! We sincerely feel blessed to evolve with them and release their records!

You have released records by Meta Meta and their saxophonist Thiago Franca. What do they represent within the Brazilian scene? How would you explain their success in Europe?
Well everyone calls them the new Sao Paulo Avant Garde scene. It is a bit pretentious, and I don’t think that they really like to be named like this. But that is what they actually are! I mean, a new scene, a new generation of musicians, connected to one another and producing their very own music, without copying what is happening here and there. And since they are all excellent musicians, singers, composers, etc, the result is a very unique sound, very genuine music. Their music! I mean, you cannot find the Meta Meta sound anywhere else. It is just them! And it is incredibly good, deep, beautiful and honest. They deeply are what they play. I guess that is why they are now finding success both in Brazil and in Europe.

Meta Meta trio: Kiko Dinucci, Juçara Marcal and Thiago Franca

What is the most exciting part when being given an artwork job? How do you go about it? What is your most accomplished project in that aspect?
To think of it along with the graphic production. Printing process, paper, finishing, etc… That is what excites me the most nowadays! And that is a space where I getting lot of satisfaction. I am a former photographer. I have always had one foot in music and the other in image, trying to make both meet. So all this graphic production part is a real pleasure to me! I am happy with all our projects, except maybe for Fela. It was nice but could have been better. It was our first project, no problem!
There are two things I am particularly proud of. First is to have been able to produce hard-cardboard paste-one covers here in Brazil. The first we did was Thiago Franca’s ‘Malagueta, Perus e Bacana’ LP. He really looks gorgeous and it is the first cover of that type to be produced in Brazil in 50 years! Now we even have several versions of that hard-cardboard cover!The other project is the Poly-Rythmo cover! That one was mad! 100% typographic print! Which means mounting letter by letter each word, each element of the cover using the exact same technics that were used in the 60s and 70s. We decided to do this for 2 reasons, first because I had just discovered those LetterPress techniques so I was eager to work with that and because I had as a graphic reference a Poly Rythmo 7 inch printed using that same technique. We did everything! Mounting the types, we made what we called a ‘cliché’ to print the picture and we even input the text on the back cover with Linotype! Probably the last machine still having a commercial activity in Sao Paulo… That was so great! This machine is like the very first Twitter. It produces lines of text. So, in the early 20th century, when it first appeared, it was a revolution within the newspaper world! From “line per hour” the speed moved to “line per minute”. So everything got way faster! It then allowed newspapers to have morning and evening editions. Back in those days, the New York Times had 400 of those machines! So, yes, this project was so great and so cool and the result is really quite unique!

What could be the label’s leitmotif?
Well, our logo is Goma Gringa Discos “musica com sotaque” which means “Music with accent”. So I guess this is quite our leitmotif since we are looking for good music with a special foreign touch, that special accent that make it unique.

Have you received many negative answers on some of the LPs you were trying to reissue?
Actually, we have the chance of living in Brazil, where none of those contemporary labels are available. So we do not represent any kind of competitive threat to anyone. This helped us a lot! That is basically why we were able to release the Fela or Poly-Rythmo LPs. Actually, the only negative answer we have received so far was for a record controlled by Universal who don’t license to anybody. A pity since they barely one third of the titles they control.

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 LP reissue market could ever reach saturation point?
No, I don’t think so. There are more and more reissue and record labels also because there are more and more buyers. I think that there are several niches inside the niche market of vinyl records. I think It’s good and important that the music is being made available on vinyl again. And that goes from super classics to rare obscure and special records.

What are your next releases?
Many contemporary Brazilian records planned. The new Thiago Franca has just been released. Then we have Juçara Marçal’s ‘Encarnado’ and the new Rodrigo Campos planned! For the rest, you will have to stay tuned!

What is the LP you dream of reissuing?
Ahaha! I will let you know when I will have signed and ready to be re-issued! I don’t know, maybe a French West Indies compilation of the early recordings done there (late 50’s/60’s). That would be really cool…

gomagringa.com