Black Truth Rhythm Band - Ifetayo (Love Excells All) (Remastered) (1976/2024) [Official Digital Download]

Soundway presents a remastering of the 1976 album ‘Ifetayo’ by Black Truth Rhythm Band, with the addition of the single ‘Imo’ included on the 1LP.

Soundway presents a long-awaited remaster and re-cut of the 1976 album ‘Ifetayo’ by Black Truth Rhythm Band, an important and overlooked chapter in Trinidad’s rich musical history that blends West African influences with jazz, funk and the incisive social commentary of the calypso tradition. Led by the charismatic Oluko Imo, the group drew on the strong connections to Yoruba culture and Orisa traditions in Trinidad, looking to Africa for inspiration and reflecting the burgeoning Black Power movement of the time.

Recorded at KH studios in Port of Spain, Ifetayo (Yoruba for ‘Love excels all’) was the group’s sole album release. Imo contributed lead vocals and played bass, kalimba, conga, flute and percussion, channelling music from both sides of the Atlantic into a distinctive and unique slice of Afro Trinidadian expression. Includes bonus track “Imo” not included on original LP.

"With its unshakeable focus in seeking the very best vintage music from virtually everywhere south of the equator, Soundway Records has reissued a true gem here. Ifetayo, the lone album by Trinidad's Black Truth Rhythm Band, was released in 1976, and disappeared soon thereafter – until the dawn of crate-digging culture. It is an ambitious, steamy slab of Caribbean funk that endures the test of time. Though the cut "Save D Musician" appeared on Kon & Amir's Off Track, Vol. 2: Queens compilation, and has been sampled elsewhere, this is Ifetayo's first reissue on either LP or CD. Black Truth Rhythm Band were an odd and prophetic unit. While most of the acts from Trinidad during the '70s were busy sopping up American soul, funk, and disco and offering them in clubs with their own rhythms added, these cats looked to the motherland, Africa, for inspiration. Populated by electric bass, guitar, various keys, flute, keyboards, marimbas, and steel drums, and fronted by lead vocalist Oluko Imo (who later sang for Fela Kuti's Egypt 80 band), this music is a far cry from anything that was coming from their homeland. Steel drums were usually employed as novelty instruments in island bands during the '70s as an attraction for tourists. BTRB used them instead as foundations that were essential to the ensemble's sonic architecture; they mixed them in equal balance with the rest of the instruments on any given track, adding an uncommon darkness to their rich, deep, and moody grooves. While the title track and the aforementioned "Save D Musician" are obvious starting points because of their their eerie, humid, elastic funk, the true depth of the band's genius reveals itself in "Kilimanjaro," where Latin-flavored keyboards, circular Noruba drumming, and the kinetic use of mbiras and flute accent and illustrate the polyrhythmic flow. Another stand-out here is "Aspire," where a near-Trinidadian calypso is melded into a contrapuntal series of layered rhythms, guitar vamps, and sweet, chorus-like vocals. The best is saved for last, however, when the BTRB throws everything into the pot on the eight-minute "Umbala." It crosses calypso, dread reggae, Fela's Afro-beat, and the melodic richness of Sonny Okuson with an organic funkiness that is not unlike Cymande's, only smoother. Ultimately, Soundway does it again: Ifetayo is a gem through and through."

Tracklist:
01 - Ifetayo (2024 Remastered Edition)
02 - You People (2024 Remastered Edition)
03 - Save D Musician (2024 Remastered Edition)
04 - Kilimanjaro (2024 Remastered Edition)
05 - Aspire (2024 Remastered Edition)
06 - Umbala (2024 Remastered Edition)
07 - Imo (2024 Remastered Edition)


Thanks to the Original customer!