Noise and rhythm

Nicholas Addo-Nettey

With Fela Kuti, the Afrobeat he brought to Berlin. For years he talked with drum workshops for children on water. Now experiencing a comeback Pax Nicholas. A visit to the Mark Brandenburg district.

It was a debacle. The audience booed and bellowed at the Philharmonie in between, as occurred in 1978 with Fela Kuti's band Africa 70 at the Berlin Jazz Festival. Too new, too free, too alien to conservative ears was the Afrobeat, this explosive mix of Afro-American funk, soul, jazz, highlife and other African styles. Even worse for Fela Kuti was that after the concert, eleven of his musicians left the band. It was the end of Africa 70 Among the deserters was next to the Star-drummer Tony Allen and the lesser-known conga player and backing vocalist Nicholas Addo-Nettey. He still lives in Berlin - in a one-room apartment in the prefab buildings of the Mark Brandenburg district.

Background of the exit, the massive state repression faced by Fela and his band were in Nigeria. In most of his songs, he denounced the neo-colonial relations in a provocative openness in Africa and the brutal military regime that ruled in his country. So he became a hero of the masses and the enemy of the rulers.

His musicians often suffered under the Patriarch Fela Kuti. "I will always revere him as my master, but there was a major contradiction: He talked a lot about liberation, but treated us like slaves," says Nicholas Addo-Nettey. The musicians were underpaid and in no way involved in the huge international success of the plates.

Nicholas Addo-Nettey came as a 17-year-old to Lagos, then the center of the African music scene. Born in Accra, Ghana's capital, he had already started as primary school children in gospel choirs and drum groups, his musical career. As a teenager, he was like most of his contemporaries in Ghana crazy according to American soul music. Otis Redding and James Brown were named by his idols. Consequently, he tried himself as a soul singer and was named Pax Nicholas. Curious, he followed the invitation of a fellow musician, who took him to Lagos in 1971 and introduced him there, Fela Kuti.

Nicholas was able to convince the Afrobeat godfather fast as drummers and singers of his abilities and was 70-member Africa. They could not possibly be any better time. Shortly after he was inducted into the band started the recordings for "Shakara," one of Fela Kuti biggest hits, the look, the international music scene for the first time allowed to Lagos. Stars such as BB King, Manu Dibango, Stevie Wonder and James Brown arrived at the "Shrine" club Kuti in Lagos over, to experience the new sound and eccentric live stage shows.

The young Nicholas saw these years of success in a frenzy, what is meant quite literally. "There have been any of us that was not nearly consistently high," he recalled today, laughing at his time in the "Shrine" and the "Kalakuta Republic", a plot of land in Lagos, the Kuti in provocative megalomania for regardless of the Nigerian state had said. There, about a hundred band members and family living under the reign of Weltverbesserers.

The military regime reacted with extreme harshness to the constant challenge to their authority, which stood for Fela Kuti and his "independent republic". During a raid in 1977 was almost the entire estate burned and thrown from a window cutis mother. She died shortly afterwards from the effects. In the same year Kuti and much of his band were arrested. Nicholas also spent nine months in prison, where he was severely beaten.

It was these conditions that Nicholas and the other musicians a year later persuaded to leave Africa 70, Africa's most successful band at this time. While drummer Tony Allen moved to Paris and there is still successful as a musician, as was Nicholas, where he had risen from large Bandjet cutis. He married a Berliner, and had two sons. He is now divorced and talking with percussion workshops for children and smaller musical engagement on water. In 2003 he formed with musicians from West Africa and Germany, the band Ridimtaksi, the course has also prescribed a Afrobeat, but except for a collaboration with the Finnish indie pop star Jimi Tenor in 2004 could still reach no greater public.

In recent years however, there was a happy coincidence. The Funk and Afro Beat DJ Frank Gossner had tracked down in a small record store in the United States a copy of a solo album of Pax Nicholas from 1973, which this time secretly and against Kuti's will with some Africa-70-musicians in the studio Cream drummer Ginger Baker recorded in Lagos was: "Well Teef Teef Know Of De Road". Nicholas says that Kuti reacted very angrily when one of his DJanes hung up the plate and he first heard them so. "Play that again," he reportedly said.

And indeed, "Na Teef" never played on a radio station and disappeared into obscurity for decades. Gossner introduced the extremely rare album to their friends at the New York label Daptone Records, which makes for some years with the soul singer Sharon Jones and the furore house band the sound of Amy Winehouse's hit album "Back To Black" provided. The retro-specialists were enthusiastic and brought a year ago a new edition of the out-lost record.

Since then, the hitherto peaceful life of Mr. Addo has Nettey from the Märkisches district, now back Pax Nicholas wants to be called, changed a lot. His album can be found in every well-stocked record store, old fellow from Africa-70-hours call after years of silence and congratulations, he is in regular contact with Neal Sugarman, one of the two heads of Daptone Records.

tagesspiegel.de

---

The translation was technically supported. Due to this there may be some mistakes in the english version, whereby the orginal version was in German. Everyone interested in the German version, check out the link. But still the english version seems to interesting to hide. Enjoy!!!

Pax Nicholas and the Nettey Family - Interview

Information

“Pax” Nicholas Addo-Nettey’s early life was spent on Fela Kuti’s Kalakuta Republic. He would eventually appear on all of Fela’s records between 1971-78, singing and playing congas like he had been since age 6. Eventually, a teenaged Nicholas even recorded solo projects on the side (much to Fela’s chagrin). In 1978 while at the Berlin Jazz Festival, Nicholas (along with Tony Allen and other members of Africa 70) decided to stay and avoid returning to Nigeria. To this day, Nicholas, now in his mid-50s, resides in Berlin with his two sons.

Na Teef Know De Road Of Teef, one of those solo projects Nicholas made in the ’70s, was reissued by Daptone and is out now. It was discovered by Frank Gossner, a collector and DJ who—for 3 years—scoured West Africa for records. Strangely enough, he found Na Teef Know De Road Of Teef in Philadelphia before leaving on his trip. But the record “remained somehow special” to Frank, even among the thousands of records he’d eventually find. He took it to friends at Daptone and, fortunately, here we are talking about it now.

Fela flouted convention, so it’s interesting to hear the product of someone who came from that environment. Imagine growing up in Kalakuta and Fela Kuti and Tony Allen are your bandmates? As expected, Na Teef Know De Road Of Teef is strong afrobeat with long songs that are swift and exuberant. It’s a lovely record from a young Pax Nicholas who was even lovelier when we recently spoke. Nicholas still gigs, still records with his current band, Ridimtaksi. Here are some of his stories.


The interview


How old were you when you started playing music?

I have always had an interest in music from the age of six. But the decision to go into music came to me at the age of 15 years.

Did you feel it was your life’s calling? Or were you just raised into it?

I would say, I was raised into it. When I was growing up there was a lot of music around me. In the church with gospel music, and in the community where people met from time to time to play traditional music with drumming and dancing.

How did you end up in Kalakuta?

In 1971, I travelled to Nigeria on the invitation of Joe King Kologbo and his family. While in Nigeria, he introduced me to his brother the late Igo Chico who was the main tenor saxophonist with Fela’s band- Africa 70. He then introduced me to Fela as a singer and percussionist from Ghana. Later I was asked by Fela to visit his shrine at the Surelere night club. The rest is history.

Were there a lot of other children there?

Yes there were other children.

What comes to you now when you think of your time at Kalakuta?

I enjoyed my time there. Thinking back, I miss the brotherhood, friendship and the daily involvement in music. My times at the republic will not be forgotten

What was everyday life like? How was Fela as a person?

Apart from all the good times that we had at the shrine, everyday life could be a bit complicated. This was due to Fela’s ongoing clashes with the government of Nigeria at the time. The Police sometimes came in unexpectedly with attacks and the like. Having said that there was also a lot of fun. Partying, playing music and enjoying the company of each other was the order of the day. It was a whole community in itself.

As a person, Fela was very kind and generous. He in turn demanded a lot of respect and accolades from the musicians and people around him. He was a disciplinarian who acted immediately to correct anyone who did not follow the laid down principles and rules that guided the band and those living in the ‘republic’.

Do you remember any lighter moments involving Fela?

Oh yeah, there were quite a number of funny stories, but one that I have not forgotten is this day at a Kalakuta show when the police invaded the republic and there I saw all of Fela’s lawyers, including himself, running for their lives. Now one would think that the lawyers were to defend him and yet they were running. One other funny thing was the way the police came. They came with cutlasses and axes and different kinds of primitive weapons and that was really funny. We had to talk and joke about that incident for many days.

How was he as an artist and musician?

As an artist and musician, I think Fela is a legend. He was a great man with ideas and dreams. He was a godfather of African music. His style, his message and his performance was unique. I learnt a lot from my close working with him.

How old were you when you joined Africa 70? How was playing with such a great band? Did they make you a better musician or did you make them better musicians?

I was 17 years old when I joined Africa 70. Playing with the band was a dream come true. It felt very good and especially at that age. It was a well-disciplined, tight and well-coordinated orchestra. Maybe the best on the continent of Africa at the time. Certainly they made me a better musician.

Did you meet any of the famous musicians ( i.e. James Brown, BB King, Stevie Wonder, etc.) when they came to Fela’s club?

Yes, I even played side attraction with B.B King and the band at Tafawa Balewa square in Nigeria Lagos.

What was the club like? Describe how you remember it.

The club was established mainly for Fela to play his music, for worship in African traditional religion and to promote and propagate his political convictions. The club was huge and well decorated with pictures of the late Dr. Kwame Nkrimah of Ghana and other African liberational leaders. He also had a picture of his mother and other items that he used during worship.

Talk about the first record you recorded—how old were you then? What was your mind like while making it? What do you think of it now?

I was 19 years old when I recorded my first album. I wanted to portray some social realities at the time. I realized that the society was segregated into people of the same kind moving together and doing things together. They understood each other better than those who were not in their circle of engagement.
It was like this: I was playing and touring with Africa 70 band a lot. When we came back from touring we always had some free time.

This time I would use to play gigs and record with the Martin Brothers. In 1971/72, we already recorded the highlife album “Mind your business” for which I composed the titles and sang without asking anything from them. That´s why they wanted to help me with my own album later. They introduced me to Tabansi, the boss of the famous Nigerian contractor and label Tabansi Agencies. Tabansi and the Martin Brothers are from the Ibo tribe and they knew each other very well. Jacob Martin, my best friend, was able to convince him to sponsor my record so that we could get it started. Now we needed a studio and the best place to record in Nigeria was Arc, the one that had been opened by Ginger Baker some years before. By that time Ginger Baker had already left, but the studio had been bought by a Nigerian and was still working. At this studio I made my first album.

Is it true Fela was so competetive that he didn’t like you recording your own music in the same studio he used? What was your reaction?

Yes. Well I felt disappointed and sad. But you know Fela was the boss and I could not do anything about it. Fela was unchallengable.

Talk about the making of the “Na Teef…” album. How old were you then? What do you think of it now?

I was 19 years when I made the album. I think it is still a great album and many should be given the opportunity to listen to it.

What is your memory of the first attack by Nigerian officials on the compound?
My memory on the attack is the brutality of the Nigerian police and soldiers at the time on innocent civilians. It was an ugly episode in the history of Nigeria politics.

Were you there when Fela’s mother was killed?

I remember faintly the day she was killed. It was a sad day for all of us.

How was your relationship with Tony Allen? How did his drumming strike you?

We have a good relationship still but we don’t play music together because of distance. He lives in Paris. He was in Berlin sometime back and we played together at concert. As a drummer I think he is one of the best Afro-beat drummers I have known.

Why did you decide to stay in Berlin?

I didn’t want to return to all the political witch hunting and police brutalities meted out to Fela and those associated with him.

How was life in Berlin immediately different than Nigeria?

Well, life was peaceful, more structured and obviously much better than in Nigeria.

Talk about your current music, Ridimtaksi—how often do you play?

It is a band made up of African and European musicians. The idea is to bring about a new Afro-beat style of music. We play on special occasions and musical events. We also have tours from time to time.

What do you think Fela Kuti’s legacy is to the world?

His Afro-beat style of music. He brought an awareness of the fusion of Jazz, funk, pop and African traditional music and thereby promoted African music to the rest of the world.

How do you remember him?

As a friend and musician, Fela left with the legacy of hard work, discipline, keeping a dream alive and obviously to keep promoting Afro-beat music. My experience working with Fela is what keeps me researching and bringing new ideas to create a modern style of African music fused with other forms of music.

Talk about the music of West Africa in general. What makes the music special to you?

What makes afrobeat special is the bringing together of different forms of music (soul, pop, jazz and classical) to make rhythm. Afro-beat is narrative and happy music with strong rhythms. That’s why it’s lasted.

Source

Published concurrently on Soul Culture, October 22, 2009 by David Ma

Pax Nicholas and the Nettey Family - Na Teef Know De Road of Teef

Artist

Nicholas Addo-Nettey was born in Accra, Ghana on August 7th, 1954. From his early childhood on he was dedicated to music: he started singing in a gospel choir when he was only 6, and later on joined different traditional and cultural groups as a dancer and percussionist. In the 60s, Ghanaian youth were crazy about American soul music, and Nicholas was no exception to the rule. James Brown and Otis Redding were his idols, and by the age of 18 he started to perform himself. Shortly after, fellow musician Joe King Kologbo invited him to the Mecca of African funk music: Lagos, Nigeria. Nicholas was not only talented but also lucky. Kologbo introduced him to Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the undisputed Godfather of Afrobeat. He was able to convince the master of his skills as a drummer and singer and in 1971 became a full member of Fela´s legendary band Africa 70 as a conga player and background singer. The first record he appeared on was “Shakara” – an international smash hit and one of Fela´s greatest. Nicholas was at the right place at the right time. In the 70s, stars like James Brown, B.B. King, Ginger Baker, Stevie Wonder and Manu Dibango came to Lagos to visit Fela’s Shrine Club to hear this new and incredibly heavy thing called Afrobeat.

While playing and recording for Fela’s Africa 70 (he appeared on all of Fela’s releases between 1971 and 1978), Mr. Addo-Nettey also always had his own thing going on the side. He released two solo LPs for the Tabansi Label with the Martin Brothers Band from Portharcort, Nigeria: Mind Your Own Business in 1971 and Na Teef Know The Road of Teef in 1973. The latter, made with Africa 70 musicians and singers, is heavy Afro-funk, recorded in Ginger Baker’s highly equipped Lagos studio, where many of Fela’s albums were recorded, as well. Obviously, Fela was not amused at all about these kinds of things, even less when he heard how strong the Na Teef… album was. Reportedly, he said, “Don’t you ever, EVER play it again!” And so it was. Despite being a killer record, Na Teef… remained undercover for more than 30 years.

The story of Na Teef… would have ended there had it not been for Frank Gossner (aka DJ Soulpusher of voodoofunk.com, a dedicated cratedigger who, in the 90s, found a copy hidden at a record store in Philly, tracked down Nicholas in Berlin, and brought the album to the attention of Daptone Records.

As for Nicholas, in the 70s he experienced life in Fela’s Kalakuta Republic, a place where about 100 musicians, dancers, friends and family members of Fela lived, played, loved, and celebrated together. It was a property in Lagos that had been declared an independent state by Fela, in open defiance of the brutal dictatorship that was ruling in Nigeria at that time. The regime, which hated Fela for his radical messages and his popularity, attacked Kalakuta several times. In one of these raids, Nicholas was arrested with several other band members and remained in prison for nine months, where he was strongly mistreated. During another army attack in 1977, Fela’s mother was thrown out of an upstairs window and killed, and the whole compound was burned to the ground. The dangerous conditions became to much for Nicholas to bear. When playing at the Berlin Jazz Festival in 1978, he and other band members, including drummer Tony Allen, left Africa 70 because they didn’t want to go back to Nigeria. While Allen moved to Paris, Nicholas stayed in Berlin where he raised two sons and continues to play music to this day. Pax Nicholas now leads his own band, Ridimtaksi, which features West African musicians, continuing to play his own fresh take on Afrobeat.

– Matti Steinitz

Source

Information by Voodoofunk

The Pax Nicholas LP was one of the first African records I ever found. It's also one of the rarest records in my posession as I don't know of anybody else who has ever seen or heard it. Which is a shame because this also is one of the best and most unique sounding Afrobeat records out there.

It was in Philadelphia in the spring of 2005. I had made a visit to Smith's Record store. All the high caliber funk 45s had been gone years ago (many of them into my own collection), but I wanted to say "hi!" to the owner Stanley Smith. When I mentioned that I was about to go to Africa to look for Funk records, he said "I have a stack of African LPs in my office, wanna have a look at them?"

Pax Nicholas Cover FrontI found a few nice pieces but the Pax Nicholas LP was by far the most interesting and unique record in the bunch. A few weeks later, I embarked onto a 3 year long digging trip through West Africa. Hundreds and thousands of records were added to my collection but the Pax Nicholas LP always remained somehow special to me.

I tried to track down Nicholas with the help of friends in Ghana and Nigeria but I couldn't find a lead. All it took in the end was a simple google-search and I had found him: Ironically, Nicholas Nettey had been living in Berlin since 1978. Nic was very enthusiastic about getting his record re-issued. I approached my old friends at Daptone Records about this and after having listened to some sound clips, they decided to make this their first African release.

Pax Nicholas - Cover BackWhen I asked Nic if there were any master tapes left, he told me that years ago, he had had a big fight with his brother during which they both ended up throwing the tapes at each other until they (the tapes) were totally mangled.

Thankfully, my copy of this record was in pristine and unplayed condition when I had found it so we were able to re-master from the original vinyl. This album will be in stores worldwide by September.

Source

Reviews


Na Teef Know De Road of Teef, the previously unreleased album from Pax Nicholas and the Nettey Family, is a seriously funky slice of afro-funk recorded in Lagos at the height of afrobeat's summit. Nicholas Addo-Nettey performed and recorded with Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Afrika 70 as a conga player and backup singer from 1971 until 1978 debuting on Shakara and leaving the band during the Berlin Jazz Festival along with Tony Allen and several others. While Allen moved to Paris, Nicholas stayed in Berlin where he continues to make funky music today.

Na Teef Know De Road of Teef was recorded at Ginger Baker's studio in Lagos, Nigeria in 1973, one of two solo albums Nicholas recorded while with Afrika 70. The album previously went unreleased at the behest of Fela who upon hearing how uncontrollably nasty the album was forbade it to be played again. As Nicholas was currently living under Fela's rule in the Kalakuta Republic, he had no choice but to obey. As a result the album was virtually unheard until Frank Gossner (voodoofunk.com) discovered it in a record store in Philly. He brought it to the attention of Daptone Records who gave the world a gift of extreme afrofunk flavor.

This album is heavy. As a percussionist, Nicholas emphasizes a rich texture of interlocking percussion that takes on the identity of the tracks. Nicholas' voice is melancholy and gloomy which matches the keyboards and guitar lines that have an underproduced raw feel. Na Teef Know De Road of Teef represents the craze James Brown unleashed across West Africa and the legions of musicians who were enraptured by the funky interpretation Africa had to offer. Pax Nicholas and the Nettey Family is a cut above the vast majority to come out of the Afro-funk wave. Nicholas and the other musicians playing on the album had the pedigree of Afrika 70, the band able to put the most unique stamp on afro-funk, and their musicianship and attitude is evident.

Source

Brooklyn's Daptone label presents an astounding reissue of the unearthed opus of Pax Nicholas, a one time drummer with Fela Kuti during the most legendary years of his career. As the story goes, Pax Nicholas was a prodigiously talented drummer and singer (as you'll find out when listening to this) brought to the attention of Fela Kuti in 1971. Fela promptly drafted Pax into the Africa 70 lineup where he remained until 1978, when he left the group to live in Berlin (where he's been living ever since) due to civil unrest and persecution at home in Nigeria. During this time in the band he had his own thing going on the side, recording two now-legendary solo LPs for the Tabansi label. The lineup included members of Africa 70 and the Martin Brothers Band, playing a potent brand of Afrobeat so strong that when Fela heard 'Na Teef Know De Road Of Teef' in 1973, he reportedly told Pax "Don't you ever, EVER play it again!", hence the LP hiding away until Frank Gossner recently uncovered it in a Philadelphia record store and turned it over to Daptone for release. At only four tracks long it's criminally short, but obviously still a massive treat for any Afrobeat aficionados and ranks shoulder-to-shoulder with much of Fela's classic material from the same period. It's heavyweight material and deserves to be heard by any ears drawn to a prime Afro-groove.

Source






Tracklist

01. Na Teef Know De Road of Teef
02. Ataa Onukpa
03. Na Six Feet
04. You