I'll kick off Afro Session, which will feature my favorite Afrobeat-funk-soul-cuban albums, with this truly obscure gem of deep Afro-Funk. A quick search on the internet reveals a few hits featuring track lists, etc, but there is no detailed information at all on this album anywhere as far as I can tell. Making it even more mysterious is that I cannot even remember how this holy grail of funk albums found its way into my collection.
What I do know is that Thony Shorby Nwenyi was a Nigerian with a penchant for out-of-this-world groove driven wah-wah guitar and elongated funk jams. Unfortunately, it seems for the time being that all we have of Nwenyi is this vinyl rip, though some collectors out there may be lucky enough to be in possession of the original vinyl. Collectors of African music of a similar era and older will often run up against this kind of scenario in which we know almost nothing about the musician or the music's origin. Some find it frustrating; others, like myself, think it adds to the mystery and charm. One could feel they're in possession of something truly rare.
While I cannot speak highly enough of the quality of the album through and through, there are two absolute floor shaking tracks here that I routinely select in my own DJ sets. Here's one to get you moving...
This album needs to see the light of day. I hope this post will aid in helping point things in a direction that ultimately gets this album and Thony Shorby the notoriety it and he deserves. Somebody somewhere surely must know something more, if not Thony Shorby himself. Download, share, turn your friends on...
THONY SHORBY NWENYI - SWEET FUNK MUSIC
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