The Bongo Hop
La Ñapa

Tony Clarke is from Waterhouse, St. Andrew Jamaica. At the tender age of 10 he started following sound systems like Sir Mike The Musical Dragon with the great toaster Prince Ruff at the controls, and King Tubby's with the legendary U-Roy. Tony Clarke did his first recording in New York in 1971 at Hugh Hendricks recording studio called "Righteous Man" of which he played both bass and lead guitar. The band was later managed by the legendary band leader/trombonist Carlos Malcolm.Tony Clarke decided to write the song “Going Home” to reference the roots of his music. In those days and even now good reggae music that was being recorded in the United States was not receiving the approbation from home because, in Jamaica they felt that the best reggae music could only come from and be created in Jamaica to substantiate the true feeling of the genre. So he decided to go back to Jamaica and record “Going Home” at Harry J Studio with Sylvan Morris as engineer.The rhythm track was played by Lloyd Parks (Bass), Devon Richardson (Drum), Andy Bassford (Lead Guitar), Winston "Bo-Pee" Bowen (Rhythm Guitar), Franklyn "Bubbler" Waul (Keyboard), David Madden & Junior "Chico" Chin (Horns). He also recorded the cover version to “Hey Little Girl” originally done by Dee Clark. For this 12'' vinyl edition, the artwork was done with a vintage photo of Tony Clarke in front of his house at Waterhouse and extended liner notes on the back cover.

A spectacular Hi-Life album with funky digital touches from the great Ghanaian producer Frimpong Manso.Recorded in 1987 at Ghana Films Studio in Accra, the album Boafo Ne Nyame, that we can translate as “Helper is god”, is led by the great and sweet voice of K. Adusei.Five long tracks filled with hypnotic hi-life grooves and many funk inflections that go way beyond lots of standard riffing of modern Afro Funk. The track “Asem De Ye So” (There's problem on us) is a dancefloor friendly song, already known from connoisseurs and maybe a future anthem when the clubs will reopen!Manso Frimpong was born Feb 21st at Nkawkaw and sadly died Nov 23rd 2016 in Kumasi.Official licensed by his son Kwaku FrimpongRemastered by Frank Merritt at The Carvery. Pressed on Replika format.

Favorite Recordings presents Faché, a new long awaited EP by Voilaaa, including 3 brand new tracks from the Afro-Disco maestro, and tasty exclusive versions. This is also a first taste of the upcoming 4th album, which is planned to be released in September this year.The EP opens with “Faché”, and it includes all the elements of Voilaaa’s famous style and skills: killer Afro-Disco production with heavy bass, hot percussions and playful horns and keyboards, coming with French spicy vocals by longtime partner Pat Kalla. A dub version is provided then.Next track is “Trouble Travel”, which is displayed in a “Garage Version” fully exclusive to this release and perfectly tailored to kill any dancefloor. It features upraising singer Nai-Jah collaborating for the first time with Voilaaa.On the B-side, you’ll find a surprising and blowing version of Jamiroquai’s “Too Young to Die”. The classic hit taking a new life in a Tropical perfect suit, with stunning Creole vocals by Olivya (Dowdelin).Voilaaa is back and ready to delight your summer!!

** Available exclusively at The Pusher **Favorite Recordings presents a reissue of Lucas Arruda's first album, Sambadi.Lucas Arruda’s born in 1983, in a Brazilian state called Espírito Santo, near Rio de Janeiro. Coming from a musical family (his dad and older brother are musicians) he started playing and listening to music very young. At the age of 13, he was also playing professionally already.After studying electric guitar and playing in various bands, Lucas passion quickly turned into Rhodes and keyboards, expanding his musical range of skills. At the same time he started a project called Du Black, with his older brother Thiago, quickly receiving various local support from people like Ed Motta, William Magalhães (Banda Black Rio), Robert Lamm (Chicago) or Hyldon (Brazilian soul legend).From the growing notoriety obtained, the band began to work with various other artists and singers such as Tamy Macedo, or Bossa Nova’s legend, Leila Pinheiro, leading Lucas to build a recording studio with Thiago in 2011. Now 2 years after he launched this home-studio, here comes “Sambadi”, first solo album by Lucas Arruda!On this recording he also started to team up with Fabricio di Monaco (Modo Solar), who clearly became a fundamental piece, as Lucas relates: “Fabricio introduced me to Pascal Rioux at Favorite Recordings, as they released his EP few years ago. He’s a brilliant musician and a great human being.”In Lucas’ words, Sambadi is highly inspired by Rio de Janeiro. As for the musical side, the album almost sounds like a tribute to his longtime heroes like Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Marcos Valle, Azymuth, or Robson Jorge & Lincoln Olivetti. And Lucas also humbly concludes: “I really hope to honor all the guys who influenced me.”

This is a rare gem of a record from fantastic soul band THE SOUL KIDS stemming from the Democratic Republic of Congo, including covers of James Brown & The Mighty Flames' hit singles "Lickin Stick" (1968), "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" (1965), Wilson Pickett’s "Hey Jude" and a French vocal version of Otis Redding’s soul hit "Respect ".This amazing young band, which released only four 7inch singles and one album, is a great example of the influence of soul music and French pop bridging to the new Afro soul scene that the musicians of Kinshasa were involved in during the time of post-independence. Ngoma was one of the first record labels intent on providing local artists' recordings from both sides of the Congo river to the people of the DRC and West Africa. Created in 1948 by a Greek man by the name of Nicolas Jeronimidis, the Ngoma label was active through 1968, pressed in France until 1971, with a tremendous catalogue, including this historical and essential soul masterpiece!

Afro funk and Political Soul from Togo.Recorded in the beginning of the 80's and self-produced by Itadi in 1983 , this obscure album contained deep soul and controversial rare grooves backed by the 5 band members called the “Afro Funk Band de Lomé”.Itadi's music is unique, in his second album, he kept the same recipe: a mixture of soul, reggae, hi-life and Funk, with heavy lyrics which sounds like slogans and caused him big trouble after its release. He was obliged to escape the country to USA. A real definition of a revolutionary musician!This deluxe LP contains also two unreleased tracks, interview, and photos and was fully licensed with his family.Remastered by Frank Merritt at Carvery Studio.