Considering the number of labels reissuing vintage Nigerian music, it’s surprising that only one vinyl reissue label actually operates in Nigeria today. Odion Livingstone was founded in 2017 by collector Temi Kogbe and legendary producer Odion Iruoje, driven by a shared vision to unearth and revive forgotten Nigerian records.
Though now an avid collector, Kogbe wasn’t always into African music. “In the ’90s in London, I wasn’t listening to this kind of music at all. I was into jazz, drum and bass, and broken beat,” he says. A CD of old highlife music compiled by journalist John Storm Roberts piqued his interest, but even when he moved back to Lagos in the early 2000s, he had no plans to start collecting—until a chance conversation with a receptionist who just so happened to have family ties to the industry. “She told me her dad sourced records for people,” he says. He soon made friends with the vinyl dealer Big Joe, who in turn introduced him to other local curators. As he delved into crate digging, he reached out to collectors who had been pulling Nigerian records out of the country for years, one of whom gave him a bleak warning: “He told me not to bother because they’d taken everything. But I knew there must still be so much music out there.”
The partnership with Odion Iruoje was a natural fit. A key figure in shaping Afrobeat, Afrofunk, and Afrorock, Iruoje worked with artists like BLO, Paul McCartney, and Fea Kuti, producing some of Fela’s most collectible records and getting him a contract with EMI. “If you look at Fela’s music from 1968 to 1972, he produced some of the hardest, funkiest 7-inches you could find, and that was also thanks to Odion—but after that Fela wanted to do long-format music, so they parted ways,” Kogbe explains.
Kogbe was familiar with Iruoje’s work, and believed that someone who did so much and was so highly rated among collectors deserved a better quality of life, as well as to be honored and recognized for his curation: “He created the Afro sound that expressed who we were in the most natural, organic way,” says Kogbe. After initially helping him win a publishing contract with Soundway, Kogbe proposed they found their very own label, Odion Livingstone. As attested to by its iconic handshake logo, dreamed up by Iruoje, the label has become a unique platform to restore, remaster, and reintroduce Nigeria’s lost musical gems to the world. Here’s where to start.
In 1983, Livy Ekemezie released Friday Night, a bold synth-funk album that stood out as something entirely unique in Nigeria at the time. Fresh out of secondary school, Ekemezie was encouraged by his cousin Larry, a musician in the band Question Mark who had worked with Irouje, to try his luck with the famous producer. The album he crafted alongside arranger Jules Elong and bassist Frank Izuora was stripped-down yet hyper-funky, with strange effects and an off-kilter groove that caught the ears of DJs worldwide. “They were trying to capture this American sound, but it ended up sounding neither fully American nor fully African. It doesn’t quite sound like the boogie music going on at the time, it’s just three guys having fun in the studio, making something that could have been played at Studio 54,” says Kogbe. At the time of its release, though, Friday Night was a flop, and Ekemezie went back to university and his career in the oil industry. When Kogbe heard the record for the first time, he knew he’d have to give it another chance and went about trying to contact Ekemezie. “He didn’t answer for six months,” recalls Kogbe. One morning, as he was praying, Kogbe felt inspired to send Ekemezie one final message: “It was along the lines of ‘You invested in this project when you were a different person, a younger man. As a tribute, to honor that version of yourself, I believe it deserves a reissue—to let the world experience the joy of this album.’” It clicked, and Odion Livingston’s first release has gone on to be its most enduring and successful.
The early 1970s were a period of reconstruction in Nigeria following the devastating civil war. With a new sense of unity, an economic boom, and unprecedented access to international sounds through radio waves and vinyl records, young people in Lagos were keen to define their new, cosmopolitan cultural identity. Newly middle-class families, benefiting from the country’s oil wealth, could now afford to send their children to the kinds of private schools that provided musical education and instruments. Thus, the city’s short-lived but influential student movement was born. Influenced by the likes of Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page, as well as BLO, The Funkees, and Ofo and The Black Company, bands like Ofege and Grotto helped bridge global and local sounds with their fiery blend of African rhythms, soaring fuzz guitars and psyched out grooves. Not as well known internationally but just as impactful on the local scene were Apples, a group of secondary school kids who met while hanging at the various music spots in Victoria Island. Jamming in flute player Tee Mac’s famous Surulere Night Club, drummer and bandleader Frank Ikpefuran, guitarist Georges Vieira, and brothers Clifford and Gerard Nagi developed a sound that combined trippy, jazz-inflected flourishes with the rhythmic intricacies of highlife and Afrofunk. “It’s more laid back [than Ofege],” says Kogbe. The tracks on Mind Twister were recorded in Lagos, but Iruoje took them to London’s Abbey Road to be mixed, where he worked with renowned keyboardist and composer Francis Monkman to add the finishing touches.
As EMI’s A&R manager, Irouje had been at the forefront of the “schoolboy rock” scene in Lagos, scouting and producing bands like Ofege, Apples, and Question Mark. Ofege’s 1973 album Try and Love was such a big hit for EMI that the producer was tasked with finding the next big Lagos boy band. Grotto was one of those he signed, and even after graduating, the group of teenagers remained active, balancing A-Levels with frequent gigs. Unlike mostly studio-based bands like Ofege, Grotto were a regular sight on the live circuit in Lagos, and would go on to share the stage with the likes of Fela Kuti and Tee MacI. Still, their 1977 self-titled debut is quite clearly Ofege-inspired, full of psychedelic, fuzzed-out guitars, and driving rhythms. By the time they published their second album, Wait… No Hurry, Grotto had developed their own funkier, synth-driven sound, in part reflecting the evolving musical tastes of the time. The gritty, hard-hitting rock riffs are still there, but this time they are intertwined with futuristic synth flourishes, breezy jazz flute, and thick, strutting bass grooves. While Wait…No Hurry was a bigger hit at the time, the band’s debut LP, At Last, has since become something of a holy grail amongst collectors, says Kogbe.
Speaking of rare and expensive records, this one is almost as well known for its eye-watering prices on Discogs as it is for the music itself. Kogbe, a keen collector and trader, knew just how high the demand was for Gboyega Adelaja’s Colourful Environment. Rather than gatekeeping this Afrofunk gem, he felt it essential to share it with the world. “Some albums are so rare…that I knew people would be happy to have a reissue that is well mastered and with great liner notes,” says Kogbe, emphasizing that the label takes the reissue process very seriously. “There are no shady deals or signing agreements with companies that no longer exist. We always start with a conversation, whether it’s with the artist themselves or their estate, to make sure everything is done properly.”
Keyboard player Adelaja may not be a household name, but he was a towering figure in Nigeria’s music scene throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, playing with none other than Fela Kuti, Shina Williams, and Hugh Masekela. It was not long after an ill-fated tour with the South African trumpet player that he recorded his 1979 debut, a joyous record inspired by Lagos’ vibrant atmosphere and anchored by Adelaja’s signature keyboard melodies.
This compilation highlights the shift in Nigeria’s musical landscape—from ’70s highlife to more disco-orientated sounds of the early ’80s—by focusing on one fascinating label. During these years of economic boom, record labels and studios were where successful businessmen put their money, and Duomo ltd was no different: founded by a young business mogul with no prior experience in the music industry, Duomo ended up churning out dozens of big hits, thanks also to the guidance of creative director, musician, and drummer Mike Umoh. Umoh, who also appears on this compilation with two sinuous disco tracks, “Look At Me” and “Shake Your Body,” played a key role in shaping Duomo’s sound.
For Kogbe, it was essential that this release not be just another Nigerian boogie compilation. Instead, it presents a broader, more varied selection. The offbeat charm of Johnny Obazz’s “Christmas Eve” and the laid-back highlife of Christy Ogbah’s “Azonmonfe” exemplify Nigeria’s rich musical heritage beyond the well-trodden paths of rock, disco, and boogie, which in turn reinforces Odion Livingstone’s MO. “I think, in essence, this is what the label should be,” says Kogbe, “bringing out things that maybe didn’t find an audience the first time around, but giving them a second.”
