The highly sought-after 1975 album Body Music was recorded and released by Afro Funk, a relatively obscure band of West African ex-pats living in the UK. London already had a vibrant African music scene by the time Osibisa started to cross-over which brought to England another wave of aspiring African musicians with dreams of international stardom.
Unfortunately, Afro Funk's Body Music recording proved to be a little too raw and rootsy to click at the time and the promising debut LP became the group's tombstone. However, in the years since, Body Music's hard driving jams have made it a prized collectible, drawing huge sums from jet-setting European club DJs willing to pay a premium for a slightly different take on Fela Kuti's brand of highly politicized Afrobeat to keep dancefloors filled.
Obanya Special by Afro Funk
After its small private press release in London on Kabana Records, Body Music was also released in extremely limited quantities by Kojo Asare's Chairman Records in Ghana. Despite the well-crafted mix of various West-African styles and American funk, without the support of a major label it quickly vanished. Today copies rarely surface and when they do, you can expect to pay in the mid three-figures and up. So it's very good news that Secret Stash is reissuing this tough-to-find classic on vinyl (including a digital download card). There's a limited 200-copy numbered pressing on blue and white splash wax housed in a screen-printed sleeve now available for pre-order exclusively from the Secret Stash site.Note: All of Secret Stash's prior pre-order exclusives have sold out in a flash so grab it while you can.
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