Bleep

Hailing from southeastern Nigeria, Mary Afi Usuah’s record from 1975 brings together the heat-raising sounds of the highlife scene with some of the passion and soul of the US deep south. With the help of a faultless troop of players, the sounds of Ekpenyong Abasi oscillate between smoky funkadellic numbers like Call Me Your Lover, peaceful organic cuts like Afia Mma and harmony-heavy soul chapters like the titular track. While the globetrotting genre-busting is remarkable, it is Mary’s vocal performance which shines the brightest out of everything on this LP. Somewhere between Little Richard, Fela Kuti and Dinah Washington.