Here’s some excellent news for your Friday afternoon: David Byrne’s Luaka Bop have confirmed that they are the first record label to successfully license the music of William Onyeabor, the elusive Nigerian artist who self-released eight much-bootlegged albums of pioneering electro-funk music between 1978-85, before leaving music behind for good.
After extensive work attempting to get in touch with Onyeabor and his associates, Luaka Bop have managed to secure rights to 13 tracks (for the vinyl release; CD and digital will have nine), which will get released as Who Is William Onyeabor? on October 14, the fifth release in their World Psychedelic Classics series. Following on from this, the label will be celebrating the release by putting out a set of collaborations that Caribou, John Talabot and Devendra Banhart and others have done with the material.
However, excitingly, Luaka Bop have put one track, ‘Good Name’, from the release up for download in exchange for an e-mail address – get hold of it below and stay tuned to the site for more Onyeabor coverage:
