LEARN TRADITIONAL FILM MAKING. MONO NO AWARE is proud to offer traditional film making workshops here in Brooklyn, NY.Workshops are limited to 10 persons or less, providing an intimate hands-on learning experience. Instructors are locally-based, practicing filmmakers and artists looking to share their years of knowledge and experience. 278 Portobello Road London W10 5TE England Honest Jon's Coal Drops Yard 115 Lower Stable Street London N1C 4DR England +44(0)208 969 9822 [email protected] Established 1974.
The second album in a series of three reissues from Nigerian bandleader, was the sophomore effort by his band, following their very impressive debut,. It's tempting to read more into the two albums' titles than one probably should: while the first album focused on relatively concrete social issues (best song title: 'The World Might Fall Over'), the mood on is a bit more introspective. Sonically, this is real Age of Aquarius stuff: the grooves are at times downright spacy (note in particular the acid-drenched 'Awareness Is Wot You Need' and the only slightly less discursive 'Plain Fighting'), and even by Afro-pop standards they sometimes focus a bit too much on the extended elaboration of a single two-chord idea (note in particular the jazzily pretty but eventually rather tedious 'Get Yourself Together'). But those ideas and their elaborations are consistently attractive, and there are moments of genius here; 'Tire Loma da Nigbehin' is very lovely, and 'Ipade Aladun' surprises with its spoken word intro (a defense of the band's energetic stage presence: they may jump around on-stage as if drunk, explains, but it's only because they love the music and want to share its energy) followed by a startlingly slow, almost deliberate groove counterposed by vigorous and heartfelt vocals.
This album is more uneven than its predecessor, but very much worth hearing.
MonoMono - Give The Beggar A Chance / Dawn Of Awareness; Joni Haastrup - Wake Up Your MindSoundway and Tummy Touch are proud to present three blistering albums of Afro Rock and Funk from Nigerian multi-intrumentalist Joni Haastrup and his band MonoMono. Re-Issued For Release On CD, Download And Replica Gatefold LP Are Three Of Nigeria's Most Coveted Releases; Monomono's 1971 Debut Album, The Follow Up And Joni Haastrup's debut solo record. Soundway have been championing Joni Haastrup since day one featuring tracks on both the and releases. Most recently Joni appears as a guest keys players on, an Afro-jazz soundtrack collaboration with Remi Kabaka. Growing up in a royal household in Nigeria, Joni Haastrup began his musical journey performing for his brothers band Sneakers, then in 1965 he joined Victor Olaiya's The Cool Cats, soon renamed The All Stars Soul International. In 1966 he was quickly snapped up as a vocalist for Orlando Julius Ekemode & his Modern Aces' LP, one of Afro-beat's formative LPs.Soon after, Ginger Baker of Cream fame, while on his first visit to Nigeria in 1970, saw Joni Haastrup singing with The Hykkers, and two days later Joni was playing guitar and keyboards in Ginger Baker's Air Force's (including UK concerts in '71). The success of the collaboration led to further shows with Baker as part of the Salt project before he returned to Nigeria.byWith the help of Keni Okulolo (bassist in Victor Olaiya's All Stars in the mid-60s during Joni Haastrup's brief stint with the band) and Friday Jumbo (congeuro for Fela), Joni then launched MonoMono, one of the first afro-rock bands to come after the success of Osibisa.
MonoMono's fist album, was a huge success in Nigeria and beyond - the title track even made waves as far away as in Argentina and Peru! This is sweet afrofunk at its finest, deep and graceful, definitively more soulful than funky.The follow-up to this first album, (the english translation of 'Monomono' in Yoruba) was released in 1974, and picked up for international distribution by Capitol Records. It's an heavy blend of Afro-Funk and Psych with lots of breaks, fuzz and weird sound effects ready to be sampled, really nailing the Fela afro-beat groove while still creating it's own sound.A famous French DJ was telling me the other day how he was playing the fantastic Awareness is Wot You Need track in the mid/late 90s on Radio Nova, at a time when not much people could stand DJs, feeling they were taking the job of radio programmers.