Vol. 1 – Super 5 International, 1975

🇳🇬 🎸 🌀 🎤 📀 Super 5 International arrived on Nigeria’s highlife scene in the first half of the 1970s. Their Igbo highlife, typical of the southeast of the country, takes up the codes developed by the Oriental Brothers: fairly stripped-back, and resting on an ever-present, hypnotic clave. The band was formed by Epée Mouangue Alex Ringo, an enigmatic Cameroonian singer who goes by the name Money Man. The rest of the line-up is hard to pin down, although Madona Obiagwu and Big Boy Amechi Jato can probably be named as well. This Vol. 1 came out in 1975 on Tabansi and includes, in particular, the excellent “Angelina”, sung in both pidgin and Lingala, on which highlife has never come so close to soukous. “Na Me Go Marry Me” recalls the hits of Ikenga Super Stars, and between two frenzied tracks, “Do Me I Do You” offers a moment of tenderness. This Vol. 1 would be followed by a good half-dozen albums up to the early 1980s.