Cousins of late afrobeat king Fela Kuti, the Lijadu Sisters, twins Taiwo and Kehinde, were a rarity in Nigeria at that time. Not only were they female in an industry
dominated by male artists but they wrote their own material, which was often political and always topical. Recorded at the famed Decca studios in Lagos, Nigeria, the hotbed of the Nigerian music scene at that time, the albums combine Afrobeat, Western and UK pop music and reggae.
Long out of print, these albums have never before been available on CD or digitally; they'll also be available on vinyl and all formats will include the original artwork. Remastered from recordings taken off the original vinyl LPs (the tapes have long been lost), these recordings sound as urgent and timely today as they did set against the turbulent scene of Nigeria in the '70s. They will be released on February 28 2012 and in the second and third quarters of the year.
The reason the Lijadu Sisters aren't well known today, except by collectors, is that Kehinde, while the duo was touring North America with King Sunny Ade in 1980, suffered a severe spinal injury. The accident threatened to finish the Lijadu Sisters' career, and it kept them out of the public eye until 2011, when Knitting Factory's reissue program began.
During Kehinde's recovery, the sisters' were sustained by their embrace of the traditional Yoruba belief system Ifa (which has a divination strand of arcane complexity and infinite nuance), and their study of the use of herbs in healing.
The Lijadu Sisters are still inseparable and living together in New York City, working with Knitting Factory Records to make their music available again. Here's a recent video interview of the sisters filmed in their Harlem apartment, which they've made into a Yoruba temple.
22:30
O. George
afrobeat music, fela kuti, figure 8 publicity, lijadu sisters
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22:30
O. George
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