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Now into its seventh year and the 38th edition. For the uninitiated, the Roots playlist showcases an eclectic range of music from across the globe of unfamiliar, forgotten, or recently discovered, to the most upfront sounds of now, all with the common theme of being rooted in Africa.

Some of the highlights this time round include:

Fela Kuti - Expensive Shit

This track really needs no introduction. Fela Kuti is, of course, the originator of afrobeat and the man they call the Black President - a pioneering musician, whose influence knows no bounds, and a lifetime radical and political agitator against corruption in his home country of Nigeria. Expensive Shit is one of his best known tracks, paired on record with the equally iconic Water No Get Enemy, but its origin story is also one of the best in the icon’s enormous oeuvre. In 1974, in one of countless police raids on Kuti’s family compound, a joint was planted on the artist, which he promptly swallowed to dispose of the evidence. The song relates the story of Kuti’s imprisonment while the police waited for him to ‘pass’ the evidence, and the support of his fellow inmates who helped produce clean samples for the police to inspect, leading to his release without charges.

Harvey Mason - On & On

You may not know it, but I can guarantee you’ve heard Harvey Mason before. The Atlantic City jazz drummer has an insane list of session credits, providing funky rhythms for the likes of George Benson, Carole King, Minnie Ripperton, Patrice Rushen, Bill Withers, Chet Atkins, Christina Aguilera, Mary J. Blige, James Brown, Cher, Miles Davis… to barely even scratch the surface. On top of this he was a mainstay in Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters throughout the 70s. On & On was released in 1981, both as a B-side to the single, We Can Start Tonight, and on the album M.V.P. It’s got that quintessential early 80s disco-boogie sound, as electronic elements, twinkling synths, drum machine claps, and dub effects began to fuse with the staccato guitars and walking basslines of earlier funk.

Dillinger - Natty Ten To One

Dillinger is the stage name of the reggae deejay Lester Bullock, who rose to prominence with the second wave of toasters in the mid 70s. Inspired by Dennis Alcapone and his El Paso sound system, Bullock adopted the name of Dillinger on a suggestion from Lee “Scratch” Perry, after the Depression-era Chicago gangster, John Dillinger. He worked as a vocalist with a phenomenal list of producers, including Perry, Yabby You. Augustus Pablo, Joseph Hoo Kim, Winston Holness, and the legendary Coxsone Dodd. Natty Ten To One has a stunning, laid back groove and a sort of sweet but melancholy-tinged sound, with languid trumpets dragging over the rhythm section and Dillinger’s half-sun, half-toasted vocal.

Rasputin’s Stash - Sweet Vibe

This is one of those rare and life affirming moments where a reissue label is able to present something new to the world, while writing some of the wrongs of historic music industry wheeler dealing. Stories of exploitation, particularly of black and female artists, come up relentlessly when digging in the archives of music from the 60s and 70s. Even so, Rasputin’s Stash is an extreme case, with former member Paul N. Coleman reportedly never receiving a cent in royalties, for two albums and six singles, released across the 70s, thanks to shady deals and exploitative contrasts. This track, however, comes from Hidden Stash, a third album released in 2016 by the tireless reissue label, Athens of the North, which compiles unreleased recordings credited properly to the band. Sweet Vibe is aptly named, an uptempo but half-time groove creates a great amount of space for jagged guitars, sliding bass guitar, and lush vocal harmonies and synths.

Brigitte Bardot - Contact

Brigitte Bardot is best known as the darling of French new ave cinema, appearing in movies like Jean-Luc Godard’s Le Mépris (or Contempt), and as the sometime paramour of countercultural icon, Serge Gainsbourg. Contact is one of the most out there and vital products of her relationship with Gainsbourg. Released on her album, Show, at the height of the counterculture era, in 1968, the track is a driving, psychedelic rock track, written by Gainsbourg, with evident funk influences. The rhythm is driven by a relentless clave, with syncopated hand drums, jangling guitars, a repetitive Hammond organ riff, and psyched out dub effects on Bardot’s spoken word vocals.

Big Daddy Kane - Warm It Up, Kane

Crucial hip hop history! Kane was a pioneer of rapid-attack rhyming in the late 80s, at the height of the boom bap era. Born Antonio Hardy, in Brooklyn, he adopted the name inspired by the character Caine, from the early 70s TV show, Kung Fu, synthesised with another character, ‘Big Daddy’, from the 1963 film, Beach Party. He was hugely influential on both visual aesthetics of hip hop, with his high-top fades, velour suits, and four-finger rings, as well as on the pace of hip hop to come, firing rapid bars over up-tempo breakbeats, Warm It Up, Kane builds on a 70s funk break with a walking bassline, and the ubiquitous 80s vinyl hits in the hook. 

These are just some of the highlights in what I hope is an enjoyable musical journey that spans across continents, generations and genres…

A huge thanks go out to labels such as Now Again, Light In The Attic, Numero Uno and Luv N’ Haight, Analog Africa, Music From Memory, Africa Seven, Far Out Recordings, Strut, Mr Bongo and Soundway, who continue to unearth some of the most unique and amazing music that may have otherwise never seen the light of day