UPDATE 09/30/2017

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

WE COULD'NT BE RELEASING ALL THOSE RECORDS WITHOUT YOU!!

IF YOU MISSED OUT AND WANT TO ORDER THE ALBUM GO TO OUR BANDCAMP PAGE >> parisdjs.bandcamp.com

Take part with Paris DJs in the release of the album "Africa is The Future" from FELA KUTI's tenor guitar player, OGHENE KOLOGBO.

Pre-order a limited edition vinyl (translucent green for the first 250, black for the next 250), a CD, get yourself printed a made in france collector T-shirt (with a download code printed on the back!), support our new crowdfunding campaign.

Vinyl will be released late september 2017, just at the end of this Kiss Kiss Bank Bank campaign. And more than anything, don't hesitate to spread the word around !

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Kologbo - Africa Is The Future (illustration: Bruno Liance)

Guitar legend Oghene Kologbo was born in Warri, Nigeria in 1957. His father was the well known highlife musician Joe King Kologbo. When Kologbo was a teenager, he began performing with the revolutionary Afrobeat master Fela Kuti. Kologbo went on to record more than 50 sides with Africa 70. He played the hypnotic tenor guitar lines, but often recorded bass and rhythm guitar too. Kologbo was Fela's personal assistant and "tape recorder". That is, it was his job to remember the melodies Fela would sing to him late at night, then teach them to the band at rehearsal the next day. In 1978, after a show at the Berlin Jazz Festival, Kologbo left the band (along with Tony Allen and a few others) and stayed in Berlin.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Kologbo worked with the legendary but short-lived Roots Anabo. He also toured and recorded with King Sunny Ade, Tony Allen, and Brenda Fassie, among others. In 2005, Kologbo began working with the Afrobeat Academy, Berlin's heaviest afrobeat ensemble — which later on morphed into Ghanean guitarist Ebo Taylor's and then Ghanean singer Pat Thomas' backing bands — and released together in 2007 the album "Remember Fela Kuti". In 2008 he moved to France to join Tony Allen's on tenor guitar. After nearly a year playing and teaching Afrobeat in Brazil, Kologbo came back to France to work on his new record, "Africa is the Future", produced by Loik Dury and Grant Phabao from the Paris DJs collective/label/media/store.

"Africa Is The Future" is a true collective effort, with many guests gathering forces on the project: Tony Allen, playing drums on 5 tracks (Nigeria/France), singer Pat Thomas (Ghana), deejay Joseph Cotton (Jamaica), singer Ayo (Nigeria/Germany), horn players from the Afrobeat Academy (Germany) or from Les Frères Smith (France), members of Antibalas (USA), Newen Afrobeat (Chile), etc. This is afrobeat from the 21st century at its purest, blending the originators and the descendants together !

And it's just a new beginning, with Kologbo now preparing recording projects with Paris DJs and news dates should follow soon… Since this summer, every 6 of the month is declared official "Kologbo Day" at Paris DJs, we'll thus reveal on august 6th and septembre 6th a new song from the album each time, before the vinyl release on september 29.

Good news, "Africa Is The Future" has been licensed by the P-Vine Records label and released in Japan at the end of july. We hope you'll be many to participate in this vinyl pressing crowdfunding campaign, so that we may quickly release the new tunes we've recorded with Kologbo those last months.

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Listen to two tracks from the album (a third one will be revealed on august 6, a forth on september 6) :

Find below the complete Kologbo interview we had published last year in the first issue of the Paris DJs magazine - his whole story in 10 pages !

Alas it's all in French... but don't worry a big big chunk of this interview has been translated in English and will be printed on the inside of the gatefold sleeve... and in Japanese for the CDs released in Japan!

Tracklisting :

01. You No Lie 3:59

02. Abandon Property 3:14

03. Adjoleru 4:42

04. Who Is Who 6:13

05. Africa Is The Future 4:59

06. Another Man Thing 4:20

07. Don’t Mind Them 4:50

08. My People 4:19

Credits :

Oghene Kologbo - drums (3, 4, 7), keyboards (1, 5, 6), harmonica (2) bass, percussion, tenor & rhythm guitar, vocals (all songs)

Tony Allen - drums (1, 2, 5, 6, 8)

Pat Thomas - vocals (1, 5)

Joseph Cotton - vocals (8)

Ayo - backing vocals (1, 2, 3, 5)

Ben Abarbanel-Wolff - tenor & baritone saxophone (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8)

Stu Krause - trumpet (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8)

Nicolas Sakelario - alto & baritone saxophone (4, 7)

Fabrice Fila - tenor saxophone (4, 7)

Alfred Sonou - percussion (4, 7)

Additional musicians :

Joe King Kologbo - first guitar solo (6)

Christophe 'Disco' Minck - keyboards (5)

Julien Sannicolo - trumpet (7)

Daniele Martini - tenor saxophone (4, 7)

Marcelo Morales - tenor saxophone solo (4)

Martín Perna - flute (1)

Klaus Brantmayer - flute (4)

Martin Lamarle - tenor guitar (4)

Nicolas Libertad - additional lead vocals (4)

Macarena Rozic, Francisca Castro, María Francisca Riquelme, Camila Fuentes - backing vocals (4, 7)

Serena Kologbo - backing vocals (1, 3, 5, 4, 7, 2)

1, 2, 3, 5, 8 recorded and produced by Loik Dury at Kraked

6 recorded and produced by Loik Dury at Kraked and Grant Phabao at Paris DJs

1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 mixed by Loik Dury and Grant Phabao

4, 7 recorded, produced and mixed by Grant Phabao at Paris DJs

Artwork by Bruno Liance, interior art, finishes & labels by Ben Hito

℗ 2017 Kraked / T.I.M.E.C. / Paris DJs

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T-shirts

- White "Kologbo - Africa Is The Future" HD digital printing

- White "Kologbo - アフリカは未来だ" HD digital printing

- Black "Paris DJs / Kologbo - Africa Is The Future" screenprinting

T-shirts made in France. 160g cotton, carbon-brushed for an ultra-soft feel. Double topstitch. Short sleeves. Slightly slim fit for men, slim fit for women.

Sweatshirt

- Black "Paris DJs / Kologbo - Africa Is The Future" screenprinting

Sweat shirt made in France. 100 % Cotton 380 gr heavyweight fleece non-brushed. Double topstitch. Raglan sleeve. Slightly slim fit.

If you've picked a T-shirt or sweatshirt we'll need your size (XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL, XXXL) and model (men or women). The T-shirts and sweatshirts brand is Le T-shirt Français. More info here.

KOLOGBO - Africa Is The Future CD/LP/T-shirts