(afrobeat, funk) Yaaba Funk - Afrobeast - 2010, MP3, VBR 198 kbps

Highlife music originated in Ghana in the 1800s and enjoyed a golden age during the 1950s and 1960s. The defiant orchestra of talking drums, xylophones and calabash shakers layered with lutes, fiddles, penny whistles and all manner of small portable instruments provided the perfect soundtrack for a continent – chafing at the constraining binds of colonialism – to express their hunger for independence.
London band Yaaba Funk have continued the tradition of mixing and blending by melding highlife, afrobeat and funk with the bass-heavy sounds that exemplify much of London music to create a new offshoot.
Their debut album, Afrobeast, comes four years after the band’s formation. It opens with the glowing introduction, Me Nye Me Dofo, a warm, funk-soaked track dominated by guitar phrases that taste of sunshine and open-air revelry.
Afrobeast takes highlife from the sun-scorched streets of Ghana and roots it in the urban grind of London, adding a compelling new chapter to the continuing story of a genre that galvanised a generation, underscored a movement and prevails despite the current trend for all things western. Along with delivering an accomplished album Yaaba Funk have further succeeded in capturing the energy, excitement and gaiety of their live performances. Listening to their album is like bringing the party home with you.
Refreshingly there are few concessions to contemporary dance-music trends, as it's all about the natural push and pull of a dynamic live band. But there's also a couple of digital-only remixes available for the hard of dancing.

This London 10-piece get the whole Afrobeat/hi-life mix just about right with a loose, natural sound driven by a fluid yet intense rhythm section, bursts of on-the-nail brass, and plenty of light and shade in the vocals, which are shared by Richmond Kessie and Helen McDonald.