Press Release :
In 2006 Honest Jon's travelled to Lagos with the great drummer Tony Allen, to make his first recordings there since his time with Fela Kuti. the result was "Lagos No Shaking", a classic of contemporary Afro-beat. Since then, the label has commissioned numerous responses to those new sides. From legends of dance music culture like Basic Channel in Berlin, for example, and Detroit techno originator Carl Craig; and young tigers like Dizzee Rascal's Newham Generals, MIA producer Diplo in Baltimore, and carioca sensations Bonde Do Role from Rio De Janeiro. Along with these reworks came totally new recordings from Cairo, Saturn, Bogota and Kingston, Jamaica. Fresh interpretations or complete reworkings by the space jazz pioneer Salah Ragab, a street brass band descended from Sun Ra's Arkestra, highlife-inspired Afro-Colombian drummers from the maroon village of San Palenque De Basilio, and a veteran of Count Ossie's Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari. Afro-beat, dub, jazz, chalupa, electro, Bmore, highlife, techno, grime, carioca, champeta and funk from all corners of the globe, fizzing away together.


Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - Sankofa
Salah Ragab And The Afro-Egyptian Ensemble - Ole
Salah Ragab And The Afro-Egyptian Ensemble - One Tree
The shimmering, refined funk of Sankofa takes T's Losun for its departure point; the Cairo side is a burning basement session in the Ra big-band tradition, heavy on the percussion and choca with fine solos.

When the Hypnotics handed over this monster (taking a break from live collaboration with Mos Def), they mentioned something about its 'Egyptian' vibe, so - on top of the fact that a couple of them are sons of Ra trumpeter Phil Cohran - it seemed apposite to couple it with new recordings of Tony's compositions made for us in Cairo by space jazz luminary Salah Ragab, who once himself recorded and toured with the Arkestra.


Carl Craig - Kilode Remixes
Carl Craig back on Honest Jon's, in devastating form: nervy and urgent, epic and apocalyptic, kicking and funky as anything. The juiciest bits from Lagos (that drumming!) in fine and nasty Detroit style.


Waajeed - Kilode Reworks
Waajeed from Slum Village and the Platinum Pied Pipers does over T's tough Afrobeat protest song from scratch: jazzy and soulful, percussive and a little bit bruk, with stirring singing by Zaki Ibrahim.


Moritz von Oswald - Ole Remix
Wareika Hill Sounds - Reggae Land Dub
After Mark Ernestus' mix of Moyege in this series, now his Basic Channel / Rhythm And Sound partner comes to the control tower.

Moritz's deep Berlin steppers discloses dubwise traces of our original Lagos recording - the percussion of Yinka Ogunye, the singing of fifties palmwine legend Rolling Dollar, Oscar Olimbi's guitar lick - in with his own warm Oberheim voicings, additional drumming, and cool-and-deadly rhythm track. It's a tough, masterly dance record in fine Rhythm And Sound style (evoking vintage House, too) - which during its ten-and-a-half minutes seems to ponder time elapsed and journeys undertaken. Like a stepping razor, but t-u-m-p-i-n.

This Reggae Land version is the take-no-prisoners, pared-down dub of Wareika Hill Sounds' rootical rework of Ise Nla. Magnificent trombone and percussion; expert, classical JA mixing. Brings to mind those great dubs of Glen Brown's Black Man Stand Up Pan Foot.


Bonde Do Role - Awa Na Re Remix
Elewedu Of Agege - Rhythm
Riotous funk carioca blasting out of Curitiba, Brazil, by these proteges of MIA-producer Diplo, fresh from their remix of CSS.

The B-side is a new Honest Jon's recording of fuji drumming, from Lagos, future funk for true.


Wareika Hill Sounds - Ise Nla Remix (aka Reggae Land)
Wareika Hill Sounds - Uhuru Pujama
Like a dream, but authoritatively, this remix from Jamaica magnificently crosses the Afrobeat of Fela Kuti with the grounation reggae tradition of Count Ossie.

The flip, Uhuru Pujama is a new recording, another warrior charge down Wareika Hill by this veteran of Light Of Saba and The Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari.