The Good Samaritans
No Food Without Taste If By Hunger
Analog Africa
3 March 2023
Two years ago, the release of an essential compilation album, Edo Funk Explosion Vol.1, reviewed in Folk Radio here, brought waves of delight of seismic proportions to lovers of African music, courtesy of the Analog Africa label and its founder Samy Ben Redjeb. Now, Analog Africa is set to release an equally important and thrilling follow-up, their Analog Africa Dance Edition No.20, by way of No Food Without Taste If By Hunger from The Good Samaritans.
Edo Funk, a hybrid musical style, started evolving in Benin City, southern Nigeria, in the late 1970s as musicians there began “integrating elements from their native Edo culture and fusing them with new sound effects coming from West Africa’s night clubs.” Whereas the previous album illuminated the work of three ground-breaking artists, Osayomore Joseph, Akaba Man, and Sir Victor Uwaifo, the gem unearthed here by Redjeb is an ultra-rare 1982 release from one of the scene’s most prolific and influential, if somewhat shadowy, contributors.
As a multi-instrumentalist and producer, Brother Angel Philosopher Okundaye composed some of the genre’s biggest hits throughout the decade of the 1980s and is credited under several names, including Osakpamwan Ohenhen, in addition to also having worked with key Edo outfits Ohenhen & His Feelings and The Talents Of Benin. No Food Without Taste If By Hunger is, however, his own first album, recorded with his band The Good Samaritans. Recorded at the Phonodisk Studios (not to be confused with Polygram’sPhonodisc), in Igo, Ogun State, Nigeria, with resident engineers Goddy Ukono and Matthew ‘Mato’ Oghor Osiuhwu, the original release states that the album was “Written by, Composed by, Arranged by, Translated by, Producer – ‘Brother’ Angel Philosopher Okundaye, and as if that were insufficient involvement, a further credit to “Leader, Rhythm Guitar – Osas-Ohenhen” is yet another of his aliases. Other musicians involved were Almighty Isibor on harp, Goddy Asia, Sunday Bey, Taiwo (alias Showboy) on percussion and BacelOrganization, Voices Of Victory on vocals.
Issued in 1982 and originally available in only very small numbers on the Nigerian C.B.O. label. Indeed, research suggests that this was the only record ever released on this label; it became an instant rarity and subsequently virtually unobtainable. Now, however, some three decades later, this obscure gem of musical history is being made available once more, thanks to the intrepid folk at Analog Africa.
Having placed the vinyl on the turntable, beware, the only respite you are likely to get over the next 35 minutes or so will be the time taken to turn over from side one to side two, such is the infectious nature of the high-energy funk on offer, “Put on your dancing shoes and get ready to kill the dancefloor: the intoxicating highlife music known as Edo Funk from Benin City, Nigeria, is back.”
The first single taken from this reissue, Onughara, just has to be the sort of music for which dancefloors were made. Sheer enthusiasm and joy is apparent from the opening organ chords, the shimmering guitar notes, the whistles and the animated shouts of jubilation before the song really kicks off as the rousing brass kicks in and the wah-wah pedal work, percussive beats and warm vocals propel the song into the funk stratosphere.
Funky wah-wah guitar, urgent brass notes and syncopated handclaps make for a relentless groove on Ughamwen-Rhienenemwen. The power of music to communicate emotions renders the need to understand lyrics, almost all of which on this album are in Bini or Hausa, futile. The unadulterated happiness of the sound is universal. What a pity that we are not able to enjoy more than just the short snatch of the coruscating guitar solo that begins just before the track fades out.
The longest track on side one, and also the second single, Ekhueghamunu, with its rasping vocals, eschews the use of brass and is very much an electric guitar, bass and percussion-led offering that has a definite reggae-groove. Halfway into the song, there is a sudden key change and, somewhat as a surprise, what the album notes describe as “then solo rapping in English” before a return to the pulsating beats and home language brings the side to a frenetic end.
The listener is led into a false sense of a distinct change of musical style and approach as side two begins. Gaskya-Kace initially has a much more stripped-back, almost spartan sound, with merely a single repetitive guitar figure, percussive claps and insistent solo vocals. One and a half minutes in, however, the song explodes into frenetic life as exuberant brass and effervescent keys kick in, with a sublime horn solo topping things off as the track ends after nigh on six minutes of highly animated funk. For those seeking a touchstone, look no further than Osibisa at their best, who, despite being predominantly Ghanaian, also performed highlife Afro-rock in an earlier iteration in their home country as The Comets.
Penultimate cut, Bi Enu Ba Sahun has an overwhelmingly propulsive full-on sound from the get-go, which settles into a driving, relentlessly repetitive rhythm replete with busy guitar lines and a drummer working overtime. All too soon, the album comes to a close with the third single, Aikemienaru-Nanorunomwan. At seven minutes thirty-two seconds, this is the longest offering on the release, giving the musicians a real chance to stretch out. A vocal opening akin to a call-and-response gives way to silky, psychedelic guitar riffs, the sweetest of high notes from organ and a heavy melodic bass line played almost as if a lead-line. As further captivating, chugging organ playing and a thrilling guitar solo bring things to a conclusion, it is difficult to believe that dancers could match the energy of the music played here.
Remastered by Nick Robbins, as a limited edition of 2000 copies in 180-gram orange vinyl, with a silk-screen printed cover, the album is released on 3rd March and is also available as a digital download and streaming, all with the full approval of Philosopher Okundaye.
No Food Without Taste If By Hunger, with its hypnotic, bouncy basslines, sixties-style trippy, psychedelic guitars, seductive and oft electrifying keyboards, compelling highlife horns and raw, primal trance-like grooves makes for an irresistibly infectious album. Intoxicating funk music at its very best.
Order The Good Samaritans (Limited Dance Edition No. 20) via Bandcamp