{"id":42055,"date":"2019-01-16T11:27:57","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T10:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/5-nigerian-classic-albums-of-the-80s\/"},"modified":"2022-07-25T10:53:41","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T08:53:41","slug":"5-nigerian-classics-albums-of-the-80s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/5-nigerian-classics-albums-of-the-80s\/","title":{"rendered":"5 classic Nigerian albums of the 80s"},"content":{"rendered":"

A peek into 5 of the Nigerian records that defined Afropop in the 80s.<\/span><\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Christy Essien Igbokwe<\/span>
\nEver Liked My Person?<\/em>
\nLagos International Records (1981)<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

Produced by Lemmy Jackson, <\/span>Ever Liked My Person <\/span><\/i>is the Nigerian lady of Songs sixth album. The multilingual album is a 1981 hit with the most popular song, \u2018Seun Rere\u2019 being a household song and a radio anthem from the 80s to the late 90s. <\/span><\/p>\n

Christy came to spotlight for the first time in 1976, it was in a satirical NTA TV series, <\/span>The New Masquerade<\/span><\/i>. A year after, at the age of 17, she launched her musical career and released five records before hitting with <\/span>Ever Liked My Person<\/span><\/i> in 1981.<\/span><\/p>\n

Listen to the album on YouTube<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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Fela Kuti<\/span>
\nBeast of No Nation<\/em>
\n<\/b>Kalakuta Records (1989)<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

Apart from being Fela\u2019s most brilliantly titled record, <\/span>Beast of No Nation <\/span><\/i>is his first song after serving two years from a five-year prison sentence. <\/span>Beast of No Nation <\/span><\/i>was Wally Bally Badarau\u2019s second production for Fela, after <\/span>Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense<\/span><\/i>. The record is a strong and politically rebellious return party by Egypt 80. Fela\u2019s asks \u2018Wetin United for United Nations?\u2019 \u2018Who and who unite for United Nations?\u2019. Fela sees the United Nations as an unhealthy organization, a \u2018disunited United Nations\u2019. <\/span><\/p>\n

Beast of No Nation <\/span><\/i>is Fela\u2019s Post-Africa 70 political records. After nearly a decade of performance with the newly assembled Egypt 80, he has reached a more melodic and globally relative sound as against the local traditions of the Africa 70 while maintaining his loose vibe. <\/span>Beasts of No Nation\u2019s <\/span><\/i>sleeve shows Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev as devils.<\/span><\/p>\n

Listen to the album on YouTube<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

King Sunny Ade<\/span>
\nJuju Music<\/em>
\nMango Records (1982)<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

Juju Music<\/span><\/i> was what turned Sunny Ade to King Sunny Ade. 1982 was Afropop and juju sound defining year, <\/span>Juju Music <\/span><\/i>was an international hit, a timely and commercial success. The album peaked at #111 on Billboard’s “Pop Albums” chart and The New York Times described it as \u2018the year’s freshest dance-music album\u2019 and was credited in 1990 to have launched the \u2018World Beat movement in the United States\u2019. <\/span><\/p>\n

Before releasing <\/span>Juju Music<\/span><\/i> Sunny Ade has toured America and Europe and his staged act and rejuvenating dance steps has given him an edge over his juju rival, Ebenezer Obey. The release of <\/span>Juju Music <\/span><\/i>established King Sunny Ade as one of the world\u2019s greatest band leaders. His next album, <\/span>Syncro System<\/span><\/i> earned him his first Grammy Award nomination. However, <\/span>Juju Music <\/span><\/i>was Sunny Ade\u2019s most defining record and <\/span>Syncro System <\/span><\/i>mainly rode on its wave. <\/span><\/p>\n

Listen to a title on YouTube<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Shina Peters & His International Stars<\/span>
\nAce (Afro-Juju Series 1)<\/em>
\nCBS Records (1989)<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ace (Afro-Juju Series 1)<\/span><\/i> is one of the most memorable Nigerian double platinum. Released under CBS Records and produced by Laolu Akins, <\/span>Ace (Afro-Juju Series 1) <\/span><\/i>was successful because of its fusion of the dominant sounds of the period. Shina Peters and his International Stars fused Juju, Afrobeat and Fuji-style percussion.  <\/span><\/p>\n

The hit track of the album, \u2018Afro Juju\u2019 was the Nigerian dance floor song and was the heart of every \u2018owanbe\u2019 till the 90s. It mixes percussions with the saxophone, guitar and electronic keyboards. The album is SSP\u2019s debut and his most remarkable work till date. Apart from scoring double platinum, Shina won \u2018Artist of the Year\u2019 and \u2018Album of the Year\u2019 at the Nigerian Musical Awards. <\/span><\/p>\n

Listen to the album on YouTube<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Majek Fashek<\/span>
\nPrisoner Of Conscience<\/em>
\n<\/b>Tabansi Records (1989)<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

Shortly after Majek Fashek disbanded The Jastix in 1988, he signed a solo career deal with Tabansi Records and released <\/span>Prisoner of Conscience<\/span><\/i> in 1989. A track in the album, \u2018Send Down the Rain\u2019 became the most popular song of the year. <\/span>Prisoner of Conscience<\/span><\/i> is a powerful debut and Fashek won six PMAN awards in 1989 including \u2018Song of the Year\u2019, \u2018Album of the Year\u2019, and \u2018Reggae Artist of the Year\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

Majek Fashek toured the continent with his band performing songs from the album. <\/span>Prisoner of Conscience <\/span><\/i>disposed Ziggy and established Majek Fashek as the original Bob Marley incarnate. Tabansi Records was overwhelmed by the success of the record that Fashek released another album, <\/span>I&I Experience<\/span><\/i> before the end of 1989 but unfortunately, the album did not perform like <\/span>Prisoner of Conscience <\/span><\/i>and none of Majek Fashek\u2019s later records did. <\/span><\/p>\n

Listen to a title on YouTube<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read next: The 10 best Nigerian albums of 2018<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A peek into 5 of the Nigerian records that defined Afropop in the 80s. Christy Essien Igbokwe Ever Liked My Person? Lagos International Records (1981) Produced by Lemmy Jackson, Ever Liked My Person is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":19866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9400],"tags":[5167,5786],"location":[8172],"yst_prominent_words":[23486,8435,10641,8508,35060],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42055"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42055"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=42055"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=42055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}