Rocafil Jazz

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About Rocafil Jazz

Led by highlife vocalist Prince Nico Mbarga, Rocafil Jazz was one of Nigeria's most influential groups of the '70s and early '80s. Their album, Sweet Mother, featuring the ten-minute, midtempo title track, remains one of the biggest-selling recordings in African history. According to Nigerian literary critic Chikwenya Ogunyemi, "'Sweet Mother'" is more widely recognized than the Nigerian national anthem. One may wish it were the national anthem, because of its ability to draw people together. Rocafil Jazz's blend of tribal rhythms and Western pop harmonies dominated Nigerian airwaves in the period before the rise of juju and Fuji. The band remained faithful to their guitar-band adaptation of West African hard-driven rhumba. Describing the group, http://www.afroplus.com wrote that the six-piece band "swings together with sweet, machine-like precision." ~ Craig Harris

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