Osibisa
The Warrior / Uhuru

Tokyo based band and Afrobayashi pioneers Ajate are back with their third album: experience the explosive encounter of Afro groove and Japanese traditional Ohayashi music! During a stay in West Africa in the late 2000's, Japanese musician Junichiro "John" Imaeda was taken aback by the similarities he felt between the Afrobeat that resonated in the streets of Accra, and the sounds of the "Ohayashi", the music played during ancestral Japanese festivals, in which John had participated since his childhood.On his return to the archipelago in 2009, Imaeda created Ajate, a collective of ten passionate musicians. Together they started crafting music that moves from one world to another, with intertwined roots. The drums, flutes and bells are joined by curious instruments handmade by John himself with the essential material of the Japanese countryside: bamboo. The "Jaate", an amplified xylophone-balafon equipped with piezoelectric sensors on each of its keys, or the "Piechiku", a bamboo version of the Malian "Ngoni" or the Gnawa "Guembri", equipped with shamisen strings and connected to an arsenal of guitar pedals, give Ajate an absolutely unique sound. Powerful and catchy Japanese female and male vocals bring the final touch to an incredible groove where Afrobeat and Ohayashi music are woven together so seamlessly that Ajate has managed to capture a truly distinct fusion. The band sings about the power of human connections, the force of being and living all together, the joy of sharing, and the beauty of life. Ajate's music is a magnificent example of the way sounds are able to migrate in contemporary music.The band's explosive live performances have taken Ajate to the most prestigious stages in Japan, such as the Sukiyaki Meets The World and Fuji & Sun festivals. The release on French label 180g of their "Abrada" and "Alo" albums, in 2017 and 2020 respectively, opened the doors to Europe, with memorable shows at the Transmusicales de Rennes festival - followed by a session on KEXP (Seattle, USA) - at Jazz a Vienne, and at WOMAD UK, among many others. With their brand new album "Dala Toni", Ajate prove once again that they are at the forefront of global music "made in Japan".

Pursuing their explorations in the vast corridors of international Funk and Disco music, Favorite Recordings and Bruno "Patchworks" Hovart present us Voilaaa.Following a first 2 tracks single acclaimed this summer and clearly revealing the Afro-Disco inspiration of this new experience, here comes Voilaaa’s first album, titled On te l’avait dit.Under the imprint of the label and after their long years of collaboration in the achievement of projects such as The Dynamics, Mr President, Mr Day, Patchworks Galactic Project, or Taggy Matcher, the insatiable French producer therefore returns to his first love and specialty, Disco music, staring this time at the African and Caribbean influences.Indeed, as everywhere in the 70s and 80s, Funk and Disco movements were extremely influential in these regions, and in most cases, the combination of the festive, yet sometime futile nature of Disco, and the instinctive, deep, sometimes rough nature of African music, sounds like a perfect balance. Aiming to find back this energy and specific sound, Patchworks quickly began producing a few tracks; Using his unique and ruling beats and bass lines as foundations, this time he dresses all with guitars, keyboards and brass distorted with vintage and DIY effects pedals and boxes.Surrounded by a very dynamic music scene, where there is no shortage of artists with African origins, Patchworks decided to work with local singers, even if it means to accompany them on unusual musical paths. A more than successful bet with a result surprising of authenticity, as it’s unveiled recently with two explosive titles alongside Sir Jean and Pat Kalla, both from a musical background as rich than different.The 10 tracks of the album are instantly up to expectations, chaining hit after hit tirelessly, and offering a few more brilliant collaborations with Renaud Bilombo, but also label mates Hawa and Fouley Badiaga. With this new escapade, Patchworks and Favorite Recordings make a strike again and confirm them a little more if needed, as the true warrant of the modern dancefloors’ loyalty to the spirit of their mythical ancestors ... Voilaaa tout (Thaaat’s all)!!

There is a parallel, submerged dimension in which musicians meet when they improvise. Sound microcosms emerge in those moments, and this is precisely the magic that BOTTAZZ! wanted to photograph in their first album: BOTTAZZ! VOL.1.A "live" album, capable of transmitting spontaneity, sonic truths, empathy, feelings; ingredients that are difficult to transmit by recording the instruments individually or with other techniques.Recorded in the historic "Auditorium 900" studios, a true time machine, as well as an institution for music in Naples. Auditorium 900 took up the challenge in the figure of sound engineer Fabrizio Piccolo and from here the sound of BOTTAZZ was born!A sound made up of lysergic Funk trips, 70's influences in all possible nuances: from progressive funk to Santana's Hispanic rock, up to touching its darkest and most hidden latitudes; audio waves influenced by the soundtracks of the cinematography linked to those times, organs, synths, percussion and wah wah guitars, which generate a melting pot in which nothing is taken for granted.BOTTAZZ! VOL.1 is a ship's diary, a journey into which each sailor has inserted its own emotions accumulated over the years, thus giving us a sincere and genuine record.Happy navigation.