Soundway return once more to the Caribbean and are proud to present ‘Ifetayo’ by Black Truth Rhythm Band originally released in 1976. Led by the charismatic Oluko Imo, ‘Ifetayo’ was the only release from the Afro-centric, Trinidadian band and is re-issued here for the first time on CD, vinyl and digital. Whereas most of their peers at the time were looking to the funk of the USA & James Brown for inspiration, Black Truth Rhythm Band looked to Africa, fusing rhythms from Africa & the West Indies with elements of jazz, funk, calypso and soul.
From an early stage in their career it was the African influence that set Black Truth Rhythm Band apart from other West Indian bands. Formed in 1971, the group looked further a field than the USA for their influences, more specifically to Africa, even going as far as giving themselves African names and dressing in African clothes. At the time finding African records in the West Indies was particularly difficult, making the bands choice of influences even more rare.
In 1975 Imo took his musicians into the studio to record the album ‘Ifetayo’. Imo played bass, kalimba, conga, flute and percussion as well as lead vocals. The album was released the following year in 1976 and despite being released in the US, remained an underground, albeit unique and forward thinking record that has remained out of print for years now.
‘Ifetayo’ was to be the only release from Black Truth Rhythm Band but Imo continued his music and love of African rhythms, going onto record with Fela Kuti in 1988 and later on perform with members of Fela’s Egypt 80 band.
All formats comes with a non-album bonus track. The vinyl edition comes with bonus 7″
Soundway Records was conceived in 2002 by label owner Miles Cleret whilst returning from Ghana with a hoard of dusty old 45s and LPs that had mostly not been heard outside the former Gold Coast since their original release. Planned on a whim the trip was not one of the carefully planned research expeditions that Miles would later embark on to any number of far-flung tropical destinations. On the contrary he left England with no idea of what he might find or that it might be the start of a career in the record business.
Although the label has it's roots in West Africa the scope has grown to include many other parts of the tropical belt with the aim of making available recordings that have in most cases never been available outside of their original countries and often not even there for over 30 years. Over the years Soundway's modus operandi has been to approach the music from a different angle from many of the more established \"World Music\" labels. By focusing on more obscure artists as well as big names and often concentrating on progressive recordings more in sync with Cleret's generation and background in DJ culture and dance-music. Styles have included afro-beat, funk, highlife, ethio-jazz, molam, calypso, cumbia, champeta, biguine, latin-jazz and disco as well as many unclassifiable recordings.
Since 2012 Soundway has begun releasing new material from a carefully selected handful of contemporary recording artists including acclaimed acts Ondatropica, Bomba Estereo and Ibibio Sound Machine
