Browse by Artist: JULIUS, ORLANDO

Artist:	JULIUS, ORLANDO
Title:	Disco Hi-Life
Label:	HOT CASA (FRANCE)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	HC 007EP

2009 release. "Orlando" Julius Aremu Olusanya Ekemode was born in 1943 in the Osun state of Nigeria. He first learned of his musical talent studying and playing drums and flute in school, but found his true love in the sounds of the alto saxophone. As early as 19, he was involved professionally in music as both bandleader and as a "Top Ace" with Eddy Okunta's popular band in Lagos. In 1964, he released his first massive hit single with his newly-formed Modern Aces. His 1966 effort, Super Afro Soul, made him a national celebrity in Nigeria and even went so far as to influence music in the United States. The record's dramatic, highly melodic incorporation of soul, pop, and funk was very much ahead of its time, helping to shape the funk movement in the U.S. for years to come. After Super Afro Soul, Julius released a long list of records exclusively in Nigeria and from them received a great amount of local fame. He recorded this Disco Hi-Life session in 1976 with 12 musicians.

Artist:	JULIUS, ORLANDO
Title:	Super Afro Soul
Label:	VAMPISOUL (SPAIN)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$22.00
Catalog #:	VAMPI 091CD

2007 release. One of the most innovative and pioneering musicians of his time, Orlando Julius had an amazing impact on the Nigerian music scene in the sixties and seventies. This double CD package includes Super Afro Soul with Orlando Julius & His Modern Aces, and Orlando's Afro Ideas 1969-72 by Orlando Julius & His Afro Sounders. A mind-blowing mix of Nigerian highlife-style jazz, soul and funk. Orlando's first album, Super Afro Soul, originally released in 1966, is a head on collision between highlife -- the soundtrack of Independence first in Ghana and then in neighboring Nigeria -- and '60s soul from the USA, the soundtrack of African America's struggle for civil rights and equality . Orlando's Afro Ideas 1969-72 is a compilation of tracks from three albums Orlando recorded for PolyGram in Lagos. Orlando formed a much larger band, the Afro Sounders in the late '60s. They began to explore an altogether deeper, funkier highlife fusion, responding to rock and psychedelia, the deeper funk grooves that were coming from the USA and also to Fela Kuti's Afrobeat sound. The tracks are longer, the sound mellower, the rootsier grooves profoundly hip shaking.

Artist:	JULIUS, ORLANDO
Title:	And The Afro Sounders
Label:	VOODOO FUNK
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	VF 001CD

"Orlando Julius has been a well known name on the West African music scene all through the 1960s and 70s. His early work was recorded in the Philips studios under the strict supervision of their house producers who were putting an emphasis on a pleasant and swinging sound that was jugging along in a pleasant way, bridging big band highlife music with American soul. In 1972 and 1973, Orlando Julius and his band The Afrosounders visited the legendary ARC Lagos studio of Ginger Baker and what OJ and the gang put to tape there was an entirely different beast: They recorded an album packed with unadulterated, funky Afrobeat of the heaviest caliber. For the first time, Orlando and his band were able to really let loose and showcase their full power with an unfiltered impact. They laid down six epic tracks that, from a funk or Afrobeat perspective, definitely count as Orlando's strongest work but it seemed that Philips were not too happy with this result. They completely botched the distribution of this record and while Orlando's earlier and later work has all been re-issued over the past years, this, his best record has remained under the radar and virtually unknown to the worldwide community of African music lovers. Now this record is re-released with its original artwork and extensive liner notes written by Orlando Julius himself, including loads of great vintage photographs." Includes 20-page booklet, housed in a hardbound package.

Artist:	JULIUS, ORLANDO
Title:	And The Afro Sounders
Label:	VOODOO FUNK
Format:	LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	VF 001LP

LP version. "Orlando Julius has been a well known name on the West African music scene all through the 1960s and 70s. His early work was recorded in the Philips studios under the strict supervision of their house producers who were putting an emphasis on a pleasant and swinging sound that was jugging along in a pleasant way, bridging big band highlife music with American soul. In 1972 and 1973, Orlando Julius and his band The Afrosounders visited the legendary ARC Lagos studio of Ginger Baker and what OJ and the gang put to tape there was an entirely different beast: They recorded an album packed with unadulterated, funky Afrobeat of the heaviest caliber. For the first time, Orlando and his band were able to really let loose and showcase their full power with an unfiltered impact. They laid down six epic tracks that, from a funk or Afrobeat perspective, definitely count as Orlando's strongest work but it seemed that Philips were not too happy with this result. They completely botched the distribution of this record and while Orlando's earlier and later work has all been re-issued over the past years, this, his best record has remained under the radar and virtually unknown to the worldwide community of African music lovers. Now this record is re-released with its original artwork and extensive liner notes written by Orlando Julius himself, including loads of great vintage photographs." Includes a 12-page booklet.

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