Strut proudly presents the first-ever reissue of a landmark 1974 Ghanaian highlife classic Sikyi Highlife by Dr K. Gyasi & His Noble Kings, originally released on Essiebons.

Listen: listen.k7.com/d96e1a42-2881-485d-b4ee-a4d152bb4907



Tracklist
Side 1
Medley:
YEDE ABA
MENE MENUA MIENU
SABARIMA
EBIA NIE
AMINTIMINIM
SIAKWAA
NANA AGYEI

Side 2:
Medley:
EFIE NE FIE
NYANKONTON NKO NYAA
KWANKWAASEM NTI
EGYA ANANSE YI WONAN BAAKO
KWAADEDE MEYARE MEREWU
EDA A MEWU

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lim. Yellow & Orange Vinyl LP
Strut proudly presents Nuclear War, a powerful collaboration between UK collective The Heliocentrics, Sun Ra Arkestra legends Marshall Allen and Knoel Scott, and vocalist Bilal - issued on limited-edition “hazardous” orange and yellow vinyl exclusively for Record Store Day 2026.

Tracklist

Side A
Nuclear War
Where Pathways Meet


Side B
Angels & Demons At Play
Astro Black Ft. Bilal

https://soundcloud.com/strut/sets/the-heliocentrics-marshalll-allen-knoel-scott-ft-bilal-nuclear-war/s-58Rc2hElR1I?

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As the world sinks deeper into screens and algorithms blur the line between creation and imitation, Nubiyan Twist return with "Chasing Shadows", a record that reclaims the pulse, warmth and spontaneity of human connection. The band"s fifth studio album is a rich and restless blend of jazz, afrobeat, hip hop and electronic textures, exploring the space between the organic and the digital. It"s music that moves, sweats, and breathes, made by real people in real rooms with heavyweight features bringing together varied voices from the music community which they inhabit. Following 2024"s acclaimed "Find Your Flame", "Chasing Shadows" pushes the band"s sound further into new soulful territory under Excell"s expert guidance, featuring bright new vocalist Eniola and a glowing cast of icons and innovators. On "Chasing Shadows", Nubiyan Twist continue to look outwards with their music but keep the focus firmly on humanity and positivity. It is an album which crosses continents and which shamelessly celebrates our collective strength.

Tracklist
1.1Azimuth
1.2Red Herring (Ft. Booty Brown)
1.3Chasing Shadows (Ft. Fatoumata Diawara)
1.4How Far (Ft. M.Anifest)
1.5Body Flows
1.6Mlonje: Voices Joined (Ft. The Zawose Queens)
1.7Echoes
1.8Message (Ft. Mr.Williamz)
1.9Sunlight
1.10Rhythm of You (Ft. Joe Armon-Jones)

Listen: https://listen.k7.com/8e73a364-4743-4287-b882-89f4618fdd3b



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As the world sinks deeper into screens and algorithms blur the line between creation and imitation, Nubiyan Twist return with "Chasing Shadows", a record that reclaims the pulse, warmth and spontaneity of human connection. The band"s fifth studio album is a rich and restless blend of jazz, afrobeat, hip hop and electronic textures, exploring the space between the organic and the digital. It"s music that moves, sweats, and breathes, made by real people in real rooms with heavyweight features bringing together varied voices from the music community which they inhabit. Following 2024"s acclaimed "Find Your Flame", "Chasing Shadows" pushes the band"s sound further into new soulful territory under Excell"s expert guidance, featuring bright new vocalist Eniola and a glowing cast of icons and innovators. On "Chasing Shadows", Nubiyan Twist continue to look outwards with their music but keep the focus firmly on humanity and positivity. It is an album which crosses continents and which shamelessly celebrates our collective strength.

Tracklist
1.1Azimuth
1.2Red Herring (Ft. Booty Brown)
1.3Chasing Shadows (Ft. Fatoumata Diawara)
1.4How Far (Ft. M.Anifest)
1.5Body Flows
1.6Mlonje: Voices Joined (Ft. The Zawose Queens)
1.7Echoes
1.8Message (Ft. Mr.Williamz)
1.9Sunlight
1.10Rhythm of You (Ft. Joe Armon-Jones)

Listen: https://listen.k7.com/8e73a364-4743-4287-b882-89f4618fdd3b



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Strut proudly presents the debut album from producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Momoko Gill. Fresh from her critically acclaimed collaboration Clay recorded with cult electronic artist Matthew Herbert, Momoko steps forward in her own right for the first time with her remarkable debut solo album.

Listen: listen.k7.com/a3aef2bd-1ccc-4c12-b4c1-227a8e216711


TRACKLISTING
LP:
A1. SATELLITE
A2. NO OTHERS
A3. HEAVY
A4. REWIND/REMIND
A5. SHADOWBOXING
A6. TEST A SMALL AREA

B1. 2CLOSE2FARR
B2. ANYWAY, I’M DROWNING
B3. WHEN PALESTINE IS FREE
B4. RIVER
B5. INEFFABLY

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Strut proudly presents the debut album from producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Momoko Gill. Fresh from her critically acclaimed collaboration Clay recorded with cult electronic artist Matthew Herbert, Momoko steps forward in her own right for the first time with her remarkable debut solo album.

Listen: listen.k7.com/a3aef2bd-1ccc-4c12-b4c1-227a8e216711


TRACKLISTING
LP:
A1. SATELLITE
A2. NO OTHERS
A3. HEAVY
A4. REWIND/REMIND
A5. SHADOWBOXING
A6. TEST A SMALL AREA

B1. 2CLOSE2FARR
B2. ANYWAY, I’M DROWNING
B3. WHEN PALESTINE IS FREE
B4. RIVER
B5. INEFFABLY

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Ajomasé is the groundbreaking debut album by legendary Nigerian percussionist Gasper Lawal. Originally released in 1980 on his own label CAP, Strut are proud to now bring this unique album back to the racks.

Listen: listen.k7.com/63a1f322-4080-4795-8995-5acdf8777083


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From the crypts of Parisian funk obscurity comes the long-lost Halloween holy grail, Disco Frankenstein from Ice AKA Lafayette Afro Rock Band. A teasing album of horror-disco oddities, pressed on blood-stained black-red vinyl LP. Our special edition release for Halloween 2025

Listen: listen.k7.com/32fce7b1-89fd-4e25-8964-d3f42aea14dc


Tracklist:

A1. City Beast - Ice
A2. Disco Vampire - Ice
A3. Godzilla
A4. Creature From The Freak Lagoon
A5. Disco Frankenstein

B1. Dr Beezar "Soul Frankenstein"
B2. Zeke The Zombie
B3. Vampire Blob
B4. Igor's Reggae
B5. She Devil

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A landmark recording from one of Ghana’s great musical architects, Ebo Taylor’s 1977 self-title release marked the first solo LP by the legendary guitarist, arranger, and composer after years behind the scenes shaping the sound of modern highlife.

Listen: https://listen.k7.com/43913d58-98b2-4916-b06e-9dfbd6105dad

Tracklist
A1. Saana
A2. Ntsir A
A3. BRA

B1. OHYE ATAR GYAN
B2. heaven
B3. AMPONSAH

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Strut presents Mulatu Plays Mulatu, the first major studio album in over 10 years from the father of Ethio-jazz, Mulatu Astatke.

Tracklist
Vinyl:
A1. Zelesenga Dewel
A2. Kulun
A3. Netsanet

B1. Yekermo Sew
B2. Chik Chikka
B3. Motherland
B4. Yekatit

Listen: listen.k7.com/ae404432-cbfc-45cf-8ee4-958f2945bef9

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Strut presents Mulatu Plays Mulatu, the first major studio album in over 10 years from the father of Ethio-jazz, Mulatu Astatke.

Tracklist
CD / Digital:

1. Zelesenga Dewel
2. Kulun
3. Netsanet
4.Yekermo Sew
5. Azmari
6.Chik Chikka
7. The Way To Nice
8.Motherland Intro
9. Motherland
10. Mulatu
11. Yekatit

Listen: listen.k7.com/ae404432-cbfc-45cf-8ee4-958f2945bef9

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Strut Records proudly presents the official reissue of Hidden Fire Volumes 1 & 2, the final album released by Sun Ra on his El Saturn label in 1988.


Listen: listen.k7.com/1c1cafdc-38a4-416b-bd99-1070d9c14e3d
Tracklist:
A1. Retrospect - This World Is Not My Home
A2. Hidden Fire Improvisation
B1/B2. Hidden Fire Blues

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Vinyl LP + insert
An electrified meeting of minds, Candy Girl is a lost 1975 session by jazz pianist Mal
Waldron, recorded in Paris with core members of the mighty Lafayette Afro Rock Band, the
American funk unit who had made France their home and whose deep grooves would later
be mined by generations of hip-hop producers.

TRACKLIST
A1. Home Again 05:20
A2. Red Match Box 09:35
B1. Bits And Things 09:05
B2. Dedication To Brahms 06:20
B3. Candy Girl 03:30

Listen: listen.k7.com/98feffb8-7b4b-432b-a986-4de530e35d2d

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Strut present a new single vinyl reissue of Vambe"s sought-after privately pressed album from 1982, Drumland Dreamland. A self-taught drummer, inventor, and sonic experimentalist, Vambe holds a unique place in British music. The creator of his own instrument, the drumgita (pronounced "drumguitar") or string-drum, he aimed to create music that had never been previously made to pursue access to the fourth dimension and forge a radical new musical language - intuitive, polyrhythmic and metaphysical. Drumland Dreamland is deep and haunting; a dense tapestry of layered percussion, time-warped tape loops, and spiralling drumgita figures, all underpinned by hypnotic improvisations from Brazilian pianist Rafael Dos Santos. It is both ecstatic and unsettling, a landmark recording in black British experimental music.

Tracklist
1.1Drumsong (One)
1.2Drumsong (Two)
1.3Drumsong (Three)
1.4Strumelody
1.5Drumelody (One)
1.6Drumelody (Two)
1.7Ydolemurd
1.8Hum Drum Dring (One)
1.9Hum Drum Dring (Two) The Freedrum Song

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Strut now present a new single vinyl reissue of Vambe"s privately pressed original album from 1982, Drumgita Solo. A self-taught drummer, inventor, and sonic experimentalist, Vambe is a unique figure in British music. The creator of his own instrument, the drumgita (pronounced "drum-guitar") or string-drum, Vambe intended to create a kind of music that had never been made in order to pursue access to the fourth dimension. The album plays with time, mixing hypnotic, trance-like drumgita pieces with the same segments played backwards. You can hear echoes of African drumming traditions, minimalist repetition, and tape-manipulated musique concrète - but ultimately, the album defies genre. It is a solitary voyage, spiritual and futuristic.

Tracklist
1.1Intro
1.2Drumgita
1.3Ancient Boogie (Mantra)
1.4Artnam
1.5Mantra
1.6(One) Boogie Home Going
1.7Going Home Boogie (One)
1.8Un Minuto (One)
1.9Un Minuto (Two)
1.10Going Home Boogie (Two)
1.11Going Home Boogie (Three)

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Repress!

Italian jazz trio Collettivo Immaginario announces the release of their second full-length album, 'Oltreoceano'.
Known for their slick sound and energetic live performances, their style is firmly rooted in the jazz tradition of collective improvisation, through which they have developed an agile, kaleidoscopic sound. The trio’s unique fusion of funk, jazz, and 70's electronica continues in the trio’s latest release, forging connections across oceans through the universal language of music.
Consisting of founder Tommaso Cappellato on drums and percussion, Nicolò Masetto on electric bass, and Alberto Lincetto on rhodes, piano, and synths, Collettivo Immaginario have become rising stars in the Italian festival scene, from the streets of their hometown in Italy to the diverse audiences in Los Angeles, London and Milan.
Subtly paying homage to genre-bending giants like Azymuth, Lonnie Liston Smith, Herbie Hancock, and Hermeto Pascoal—alongside Italian film music legends Piero Piccioni and Piero Umiliani—their sound moves effortlessly between the heat of the club and the cinematic allure of evocative film scores, infused with touches of spiritual jazz.


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Black Vinyl! Repress!


Orbits, the sophomore LP from The Circling Sun, channels the cosmic energy of '70s spiritual jazz, filtered through synths, layered percussion, and ethereal choirs. The Aotearoa collective expand their sonic universe with nods to Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Azymuth, and ambient jazz — offering deep listening for jazz heads and newcomers alike.

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Sabor de Amor is the fourth album from Brazilian soulman Hyldon, singer and instrumentalist, who formed, alongside Tim Maia and Cassiano, the legendary triad of Brazilian soul music in the 1970s. Sabor de Amor (Continental, 1981) is perhaps his most consistent work. On it, Hyldon is back once again by his trusted buddies Azymuth with a stellar lineup of musicians, including Alexandre Malheiros (bass), Ivan "Mamao" Conti (drums), Sérgio Carvalho (Hammond organ and Fender piano), Zé Roberto Bertrami (synthesizers), Antonio Adolfo (Yamaha piano), Marcio Montarroyos (flugelhorn), Renato Piau (guitar), Mario Monteiro "Picolé" (drums) and the Grupo Alma Brasileira (percussion).

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The Aachen Jazz Files

A collection of essential jazz from the NABEL record label (1980-1994), compiled by miche & Rainer Truby.

The Aachen Jazz Files celebrates the pioneering spirit of NABEL Records—one of Germany’s most underrated yet influential independent jazz labels. Founded in 1980 by Rainer Wiedensohler, NABEL became a home for innovative musicians blending classic acoustic jazz with fusion, Brazilian rhythms, and avant-garde flourishes.

This compilation collects some of the label’s finest moments, including the soulful and Latin-tinged brilliance of Monika Linges Quartet (whose album *Floating* was reissued last year by PANORAMA Records for RSD Black Friday), the cosmic jazz explorations of John Thomas & Lifeforce, the deep jazz-funk grooves of Hipsters In The Zone, and the stunning, expressive vocals of Maria João’s quintet.

Nestled in the far west of Germany, near the Dutch and Belgian borders, Aachen has long been a hidden gem for jazz lovers. Its vibrant scene, fueled by music schools and the legendary Malteserkeller jazz club, cultivated a unique sound that resonated far beyond its city limits. In fact, the city didn’t just birth a jazz movement—it also lays claim to opening Germany’s first discotheque in 1959.

From London to Tokyo, NABEL’s releases became secret weapons for jazz DJs seeking deep, danceable cuts. The label’s trademark blend of acoustic jazz, fusion, and Brazilian influences made its way onto turntables in underground clubs and festival stages worldwide.

Expect elegant samba jazz, spiritual grooves, and modal masterpieces that capture the essence of NABEL’s golden years. Monika Linges’ contributions shine with her rich harmonies and heartfelt compositions, while John Thomas & Lifeforce deliver a perfect storm of fiery instrumentation and deep soul. Maria João’s early recordings showcase her extraordinary vocal range, and Hipsters In The Zone bring a forward-thinking, acid jazz-infused perspective to the NABEL sound.

As co-compiler Rainer Truby puts it:

'NABEL Records always had this special ‘Aachen sound’—a jazz flavor that carried its own energy, somewhere between the cool sophistication of fusion and the warmth of Brazilian music. It’s a pleasure to finally bring together some of these classics in one essential collection.'

Compiled by miche & Rainer Truby.

PANORAMA Records is a London-based label dedicated to unearthing and reintroducing rare and essential music to new generations. With a focus on jazz, funk, and global grooves, the label has built a reputation for high-quality reissues that capture the spirit of the originals while providing fresh context for today’s listeners. Their past releases have garnered support from tastemakers like Gilles Peterson, Patrick Forge, and Mr Bongo DJs.

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After a critically praised debut in 2023 and numerous tours across Europe, Yalla Miku returns with “2”, a new record that further asserts their unique identity. Still based in Geneva, the band moves forward with a reimagined lineup — not as a departure, but as the natural continuation of a project envisioned from the start as a space for encounters, movement, and musical reinvention.

https://soundcloud.com/bongojoerecordshop/sets/yallamiku2/s-8wXtpMdAeo5?si=f9c94fa7be864aa6919d89816d700147&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Tracklist
1.1Al Sayf
1.2Alemuye
1.3Maximum Self-Care
1.4Le Palais de Bachar
1.5Embeyto
1.6Il fait trop cuit
1.7Scarlett Chien
1.8Post-Aventures
1.9Al 3Mal
1.10La Tour Eiffel

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Reissue of the legendary 5-track first LP from horn wizard & original underground FM radio DJ Young, featuring soprano sax, clarinet, and electronically-processed bass clarinet. An enjoyable outing from a neglected musician. Cosmic afro mimimal electronic winds recorded in late 1970s San Francisco. Thankfully, Isophonic Boogie Woogie is as weird and as wacked as all the above business would lead you to believe. Originally released in 1980, Isophonic Boogie Woogie was the first realization of Young's unique version of free jazz music, which he referred to as "Afro spiritual minimal electronic space music" which on closer listening is WAY more spot on… Some of the coolest, weirdest, most far out free jazz we've heard for sure (Aquarius Records from the U.S)

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UK supergroup Flock return with their anticipated sophomore album ‘Flock II’. Comprising an exceptional line-up featuring Bex Burch (fresh from her debut solo album on International Anthem), Sarathy Korwar, Tamar Osborn (Collocutor, Dele Sosimi, Unknown To Known), Danalogue (The Comet Is Coming / Soccer96) and Al MacSween (Kefaya), the new recordings showcase Flock’s ability to push the boundaries of the composition process and craft unique tracks based on their collective spirit.

Tracklist
1.1Druidstone Incantation
1.2Turned Skyward
1.3Cat's Paws Effect
1.4Meet Your Shadow
1.5Large Magellanic Cloud
1.6No One Is Spared Who Goes Down The Deep Well
1.7Dance Until You Shatter Yourself
1.8A Thousand Miles Lost
1.9Capillary Waves
1.10Edge Of Empty

listen: https://listen.k7.com/9203b88a-600b-45e1-9345-af6c0e0943d9

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Recorded remotely during 2021-2022 the album took shape in the form of mutual compositions, gradually developed and embellished online. Final recording sessions took place at the majestic Chale Abbey Studios on the Isle Of Wight with Moses Boyd (drums), Tom Herbert (bass) and Siobhan Cosgrove (flute, clarinet) adding elements to several pieces. Tracks include the reflective, wistful single "Viento Calido" and drifting ambient piece "Sabena", a beautiful tribute to Gigi"s wife who sadly passed away during 2022. Greg Foat has recorded prolifically in recent years including acclaimed albums Symphonie Pacifique (2020) and The Mage (2019). Best known for his 1986 ambient masterpiece Wind and as a member of Gaussian Curve, Gigi Masin has enjoyed a revival in recent years through his Calypso album on R&S"s Apollo label and renewed touring. Dolphin represents Greg and Gigi"s first landmark recording collaboration together. "I first heard Gigi"s album Wind in 2016," remembers Greg. "I was living in Miami and I heard it playing one Summer evening. Since then, it has always been in my mind to be able to record together."

Tracklist
1.1Lee
1.2London Nights
1.3Love Theme
1.4Dolphin
1.5Sabena
1.6Leo Theo
1.7Viento Calido

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Two years after he first appeared on Balmat with 1977, Mike Paradinas returns with 1979. The sense of continuity between the two records is clear, and not just from their titles. Both capture the Planet Mu head venturing into the wilderness, seeking something—half-formed memories, thoughts caught in midair—in some of the most abstract, searching music he has released.

Just like 1977, 1979 surveys a synth-heavy array of ethereal soundscapes, ominous crevasses, and strange, psychedelic fugues. Like its predecessor, the new album’s atmospheric cast sets it apart from much of the work Paradinas has released as µ-Ziq on Planet Mu. It’s not strictly an ambient record, but it’s close, as close as this famously mutable artist ever comes to inhabiting a particular genre.

Paradinas’ inspiration for the record began on visits to the Spanish cities of Ávila and Majadahona, where his family hails from. That might account for the sense that there are spirits flitting through this music, presences you can intuit if not quite grasp. But 1979 is also a record to meet on your own terms, and to find your own meanings in.

It’s a stunning record, every track a world unto itself: the mysterious contours of “Majadahonda at Dawn”; the playful melodic fillips of “Clari”; the airy melancholy of “Galletas”; the full-scale breakbeat abandon (yes, you read that right) of “Houzz 14,” the rarest of dancefloor detours for Balmat. There are echoes of classic braindance and isolationist ambient and golden-age IDM; there are easter eggs and recurring themes and hidden symmetries. Every time we listen, we discover something new. Despite what the title might suggest, it’s less a trip back in time than a portal to another universe, a destination for(to?) which only Mike Paradinas knows the exact coordinates. – Philip Sherburne, Balmat

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Seminal sounds from the golden age of Ghanaian music. Highlife, rock, and soul collide and merge with tradition and culture. New styles meet old styles. A new generation renews old musical customs. New fashions meet old fashions, creating new fusions. Features rare tracks from Hedzoleh Soundz, Ogyatanaa Show Band, Honny & the Bees and early Ebo Taylor (Asaasa Sa). These tracks were originally available on vanishingly rare 70s pressings, then a highly collectible 5LP box set released in 2009.

This special vinyl edition is produced in conjunction with the James Barnor archive, featuring a previously unpublished 1976 photo from the archive of Ghana's most famous photographer

Comes with Obi-strip.

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180 G. BLACK VINYL WITH LINER NOTES IN CREOLE, FRENCH, ENGLISH

Originally released in 1979, "Spiritual Sound" lives up to its name, a soaring, triumphant album, six tracks of spirit magic from Guadeloupe.

Telluric, intense, terribly alive, the gwoka drums of Guadeloupe carry the identity of a painful and fervent island. Marked forever by the crime of slavery, Guadeloupe's créolité cherishes the ka drums and their natural environment: the low-pitched boula drum with male goatskin, the high-pitched soloist makè drum with female goatskin, the chacha, ti bwa, triangle, calabash and other percussion instruments that surround them, and the voices - the fiery, proud, timbred, urgent voices of the gwoka.



This album is also a legend for its voices: in his then dazzling youth, singer Lukuber Séjor was one of the first gwoka artists to largely feminize the chorus of répondè, who converse with his text delivered in a straight and powerful voice.

And everything here sets new standards. In 1979, Mizik Filamonik - Spiritual Sound proclaimed a spiritual patriotism of ferocious intensity. The album by Lukuber Séjor - whose spelling alone is a battle - sets out to give Guadeloupe the intangible weapons of self-respect and self-knowledge, through a singular practice of traditional music.

The genesis of gwoka music is less straightforward than one might imagine... The drums performed the servile task of accompanying the work of slaves in the fields and during the “corvées” imposed by the administration, before being freely practiced by the common people after the abolition of 1848. At the heart of the conviviality of the Guadeloupeans furthest from the cities - geographically and socially - the gwoka drums come out for carnival, funeral wakes and neighborhood celebrations, but also during strikes, fits of anger and armed vigils of the riots and revolts that have punctuated the island's history. For generations, governors of the colony and then the prefects of the overseas department of Guadeloupe have been viewing the gwoka as a potential for turbulence and a threat to public order.

But as the Beatlesmania, “chanson engagée” and rock revolutions unfolded in Europe, young people turned to the drums of mizik a vié nèg (“bad negro music”, in Creole), which Guadeloupeans had learned to despise by following the “assimilation” process advocated by the school system and most of the political class. At the end of the sixties, in a Guadeloupe mourning the deadly repression of the May 1967 social movement, they played traditional music, refusing to wrap it up in tourist prettiness and madras folk costumes. Instinctively, they played a rough and contemporary gwoka, led by the incendiary Guy Konkèt. This was the era of decisive 45 rpm records such as Robert Loyson's Kann a la richès, which brought to light the fieriest words of union rallies.

At his home in Sainte-Anne, Lukuber Séjor played with flautist Olivier Vamur and his brother Claude Vamur, who cobbled together a drum kit from tin crockery and became, a few years later, the most influential drummer in Kassav'.

These were the years of the Bumidom program, when young Guadeloupeans were encouraged to emigrate to mainland France. At the age of twenty, Lukuber Séjor embarked on the liner Irpinia, disembarking at Le Havre and taking the train to the Gare Saint-Lazare - the route taken by thousands of young West Indians who went on to study or looked for work, all the while trying to maintain a link with their homeland. In this case, it's at the Antony university residence, where Lukuber played the drum and participated in a thousand gwoka updates and aggiornamentos, while exile reinforced the need for a spiritual link with the native land.

In 1978, Guy Konkèt played at the Salle Wagram, a historic event for West Indian music. After serving as répondè - i.e. backing vocalist - on one of his home-recorded albums, Lukuber joined his live band. Little by little, he became one of the key artists on a circuit parallel to French show business. At a student party in Caen, he met a young woman from Martinique who, at the time, was more motivated by her ambitions as a visual artist than by her vocation as a musician. Her name was Jocelyne Béroard and, a few years before she plunged into the Kassav' adventure and became the greatest West Indian singer of her generation, she designed the cover of Lukuber Séjor's LP.

This ambition was obvious and imposed its will. A more or less regular band was formed, with Roger Raspail, Rudy Mompière and Éric Danquin on ka drums, Claude Vamur on ti bwa, Olivier Vamur and Françoise Lancréot on flutes and Annick Noël on keyboards. Lukuber Séjor is set on wanting to extend the gwoka palette to other instruments, as the jazz-rock revolution opens a thousand new doors. Annick Noël will play a wide range of timbres and textures on electric piano and synthesizer. Another novelty: the répondè are two men and two women, Roger Raspail, Olivier Vamur, Françoise Lancréot and Maryann Mathéus ...

Mizik Filamonik - Spiritual Sound is a self-production in which the singer and leader sank all his savings, allowing him no more than a single day in the studio. The first side is more of a musical manifesto, with the first two tracks, Éritage and Penn é plézi, being instrumentals. The third, Son, forcefully celebrates the need for Guadeloupeans to connect with the gwoka. In fact, Jocelyne Béroard's cover shows a tambouyé in the shadow of a cloudy sky, against which a radiant sun is rising and whose light will soon flood the entire landscape. The silhouette and face of this man strongly evoke the immense Vélo, master of the ka, rejected at the time on the fringes of society.

The second side of the LP is surprising. Formally, three tracks are explicitly linked like the three parts of a triptych. Primyé voyaj evokes the appalling tribulation of Africans deported as slaves to Guadeloupe; dézyèm voyaj speaks of the Bumidom program and the economic, political and social forces driving young Guadeloupeans towards the mirage of prosperity in France; twazyèm voyaj closes the cycle with the emigrants' return from Europe after years away from their island...

This gwoka, obsessed with the need to save Guadeloupe spiritually, appeals far beyond the politicized audience. Mizik Filamonik - Spiritual Sound instantly became a classic, although Lukuber Séjor never really made a career for himself as a musician.

After all, the album was released in 1980, with no promotional resources in France or Guadeloupe - and therefore no concerts. The thirty-two-year-old author, composer and performer made his own third trip back to Guadeloupe. He set up a small woodworking business, which he lost in Hurricane Hugo in 1989. His other activity, teaching in a medical-educational institute, became the core of his professional life. He continued to be an active campaigner - a campaigner for the Creole language, a campaigner for the reawakening of identity, a campaigner for special education, a campaigner for a thousand causes that he ignited with his generous and perceptive enthusiasm, such as the defense of breadfruit fries...

The echoes of his 1979 album have not died down. Of course, the use of Penn é plézi as the theme tune for Radio Guadeloupe's funeral notices from 1980 to 1992 kept him in the collective memory, but he continues to sing and compose sporadically, as with his all-female

vocal group Vwapoulouéka... Still convinced that music is a means of liberating the spirit, he continues the journey of a young man eager to deploy the power of Creole music and language.

Bertrand Dicale

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