TITLE: Danger
LABEL: Knitting Factory
REVIEW: The Lijadu Sisters, Taiwo and Kehinde, are identical twins who had a fairly successful career in Nigeria as a duo and as session singers. They recorded four albums in the late 70’s, moved to New York City in 1988 (they still live there), and appeared to fall off the musical map after that. (What actually happened is that Kehinde suffered a nearly-fatal spinal injury, which prematurely ended their performing career.) Knitting Factory Records has now reissued the first of those four recordings, and is planning to release the others over the next year. The Lijadus’ 70’s music was American-inflected in a manner quite popular in Nigeria at that time, with heavy influences of funk (track 1, 3 and 4), soul (2 and 3), psych-rock (2 and 4), even reggae (5) and gospel (6). What makes the Lijadus stand out is, first of all, that they were women writing their own material and fronting a band – this was quite uncommon at the time. Additionally, their sisterly harmonies, sung in unison or in tight intervals, are beautiful and other-worldly. A great find by Knitting Factory – I’m looking forward to the whole series.
TOP TRACKS: 1 2 3 4
ALSO RECOMMENDED: 5
No comments:
Post a Comment