Jacob Nguni

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Nguni & Cameroonian Music Legend Sam Fan Thomas

December 26, 2004: Jacob Nguni and Sam Fan Thomas at the Crystal Night Club, Wasington, D.C.

Popular DJ Kenny Vega,Nguni, S.F. Thomas, Moneyman and Julio at Crystal NiteClub

Sweet Mother is Africa's Anthem

Sweet Mother by Prince Nico Mbarga has been voted Africa's favourite song by BBC readers and listeners.

Chosen from a shortlist of 10, the 1976 hit celebrating motherhood won with more than 27% of the vote.

The wedding song Vuli Nadlela by the wild child of South African music, Brenda Fassie, who died earlier this year, came in second.

"We weren't surprised by the result. It's a timeless classic," said Joseph Warungu, who organised the poll.

"It's not just about the lyrics. There's something about the singing guitar that gets you," he said.

Album Review: Aki Special

"If you forget your mother, you have lost your life," croons Nigeria highlife star Nico Mbarga in one of African music's biggest hits, the classic 10-minute midtempo dance rave "Sweet Mother." Mbarga was the most successful translator of West African horn-driven rumba to a guitar band. Mbarga's Rocafil Jazz group may lack bop syncopation, but its six members nonetheless swing together with sweet, machinelike precision. Released originally in the late seventies, before juju and fuji became Nigeria's predominant styles, the tracks collected on Aki Special collectively mark one of the most fertile periods of African music--with tribal rhythms and proverb-studded vocals combined with Western pop harmonies to create ecstatic dance music for both the body and, as suggested by "Free Education in Nigeria," the body politic. --Richard Gehr

Courtesy Amazon.com

Prince Nico Mbarga: A Brief Look

Born to a Nigerian mother and a Cameroonian father on Jan 1, 1950 in Abakaliki, Nigeria, Prince Nico embraced the musical traditions of both cultures.

Prince Nico's music was inspired by the five years he spent in Cameroon during the Nigerian Civil War in the late 1960s.

He played the xylophone, conga, drums, and electric guitar in school bands and he made his professional debut as a member of a hotel band, the Melody Orchestra, in 1970.

He formed his own group, Rocafil Jazz, after returning to Nigeria two years later and performed regularly at the Naza Hotel in Onitsha. In 1973, Nico and his group released a single which was met with little fanfare but their second single, "I No Go Marry My Papa," became a regional hit.

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Buy Classical Nico Mbarga CD

Eight timeless songs including:
1. Music Line
2. Sweet Mother
3. Aki Special
4. Simplicity
5. Christiana
6. Na Ma Choice
7. Happy Birthday
8. Sickness

$12.00 plus SH
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Jacob

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Jacob & Friends

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Showman in Making: The Young JN at Sasse