Blessing Udeagu

With the exception of King Sunny Ade's 1984 Aura, I came to Nigerian music late -- embarrassingly so. And it wasn't through Fela. It wasn't through Now-Again or Soul Jazz. And it wasn't through any of the amazing African music blogs of the last decade or two. 

It was all because I stopped for water at a bodega on the corner of 99th Street and Lewis Avenue in Corona on a hotter-than-usual early June day in 2012, two years after I'd moved to Queens. After quenching my thirst, I took a look around my surroundings, spotting the words "AFRICAN MOVIES" in red on a yellow awning two doors down. I walked over and stepped inside.

Blessing Udeagu moved to the U.S. in 1986 and opened her eponymous tax preparation / Nigerian video and CD shop on Lewis Avenue in Corona, Queens, two days before September 11, 2001. 

On Wednesday, April 4, Bodega Pop Live on WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio played some of the most incredible pop and folk we've ever heard, all plucked from the shelves of Blessing's remarkable store.

Listen to the show now in the archives

E.K.'s Band | Original 1950s-60s recordings

Grab the album here

What can I say? Today, Jesse from Afropop Worldwide, his girlfriend, Hil, and I drove out to see about interviewing Blessing Udeagu, the owner of the eponymous shop where I found most of the Nigerian music I've shared here in the past. While we were there, Blessing's daughter told us about another place to find African music, around the corner, down the street, and a couple of blocks east.

The market -- the name of which I've forgotten, but which was something like Gift Toca -- had a locked wall-mounted display sparsely populated with a few sun-blued CDs ... and then, a few feet away, across the from the checkout counter, a whole table filled with smallish box after box of mostly Ghanian CDs. I bought ... let's say that I now have a verging-on-respectable collection of Ghanian music. Key word "verging," but still.

Take this collection for instance. Holy Effing Expletive. Terrific Ghanian music from the 1950s and '60s. Take a quick listen, if you need aural proof before clickin:

See? Told you. Now, next time I offer up a free Ghanian album and am all like "This is some sweet fine la musica, mon ami," are you going to hesitate before clicking? 

I didn't think so.

Madam Maria Anokwuru, Madam Rose Nzuruike + Obi Wuru Otu Dance Group | Nwanyi Ma Obi Di Ya

Listen to Track 2

Grab the whole album here

Ihiagwa is a Christian township of 8 villages a bit south of Owerri, the capital of Imo State (and former capital of Biafra). Obi Wuru Otu is the all-women dance group of the township, led by Maria Anokwuru. Their lead singer, on this album at least, is Rose Nzuruike.

There are four tracks on this stunning CD, two of which top 15 minutes a piece. I picked this up, along with I'm-really-not-quite-sure-how-many other terrific albums, at Blessing Udeagu, a copy shop and Nollywood DVD store in East Elmhurst that also sells used books and Christian and secular music from Nigeria in CD and VCD form.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I'll be devoting tonight's Bodega Pop Live episode to mostly Sub-Saharan African music, and in preparation, pulled the 60 to 70 related CDs I've managed to accumulate over the last couple of years off and out of my various shelves and plastic bins. And realized that, oh, gosh, I guess there's a lot I still haven't shared with you guys yet.

Better late than never? 

Celestine Ukwu | Igede

Reupped in case you missed it the first time, here.

[Originally posted on April 13, 2013.] I know I promised you more Fairuz this weekend, but it was such a warm day today I wound up spending all of it on my bike. And I think you know what that means. Yes, that's right: I wound up at Blessing Udeagu (99-08 Lewis Avenue, Corona, Queens), where I picked up a dozen or so mostly Nigerian CDs, including this mind-blowingly great collection of 70s hits by the legendary Celestine Ukwu.

From LASTFM: Celestine Ukwu began his musical career during the 1960’s with Michael Ejeagha’s Paradise Rhythm Orchestra in Enugu, capital of the former Eastern Region of Nigeria. He left four years later to launch his own band, the Music Royals. Following a hiatus caused by the Biafran war of independence from 1967-70, the Music Royals were resurrected as the Philosophers National, who distinguished themselves with a series of sparkling, subtle highlife releases during the 1970s. Sadly, Ukwu perished in an automobile accident in 1977, depriving Nigerian music of one of its shining stars.

Flashback 1 | Nigerian Pop 1970-1980

Listen to Wrinkar Experience's "Fuel for Love"


Listen to The Semi-Colon's "Slim Fit Maggie"

Reupped once again on March 23, 2015, by special request, here.

[Originally posted in June 2012.] It's true: You can't judge a CD by the lack of a cover. This is one of the greatest things I've ever found; although, truth be told, it was handed to me with a very, very strong recommendation.

So, I returned this weekend to Blessing Udeagu in Corona, Queens. The younger woman who was working there last time wasn't there; instead, there were two women, older than the first, hunkered down over a computer where they were gossiping about a mutual friend or acquaintance: "How can she put all of her life like that on Facebook?" 

When they saw me come in, one of the women asked me: "Have you been here before?" I said that I had, last weekend, in fact. "Did you buy music?" I nodded my head. "Did you like it?" Very much so, I let her know in uncertain terms. "My daughter told me about you!" she explained.

After establishing that, indeed, I was the guy who was there last weekend, the shop keep rose from the computer and came over to where I was standing by the CD rack and began pulling things off the shelf. "You need this one," she said, handing me the sleeveless CD you see above. I asked what it was. "Nigerian pop," she explained, "from the 70s." My heart began to race as she took the CD to the computer and popped it in. I nearly collapsed when I heard the first song. 

"Uh, this is great--I definitely need this!" I blurted out. She smiled and popped the CD back out of the computer.

I'm not sure how to classify this music--it doesn't sound like highlife--other than, simply, "pop." It's incredible. For those who know something about Nigerian pop, I've provided a track list below.

1. Fuel For Love, Wrinkards Experience

2. Be My Own, Founder 15

3. I've Been Loving You, The Wings

4. Nobody Fails, Ofege

5. Still Searching, Bongos Ikwe

6. Love Rock, Strangers

7. Slim Fit Maggie, Semi Colon

8. Nobody Called Me, Strangers

9. It's Gonna Be A Good Day, Blo

10. Money To Burn, Wrinkards Experience

11. She's My Choice, Sweet Breeze

12. Whizzy Ilabo, Ofege

13. Sitting On The Beach, Bongod Ikwe

14. Come Back Love, Tony Grey

15. Kissing You So Hard, The Wings

16. She's A Dropout The Apostles

17. Palmwine Tapper, Sweet Breeze

18. Dancing Time, The Funkees

19. Give The Beggar A Chance, Joni Maastrup

20. To Whom It May Concern, Tunji Oyelana

Osadebe | Classic Hits Vol. 1

Listen to "Akonam"

Get it all here.

Another stunner from Blessing Udeagu in Corona, Queens.

Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe, better known as simply Osadebe, was among the most famous Igbo highlife musicians, known for an elastic style that accommodated everything from bolero and calypso to jazz and waltz. He released about 250 songs in his lifetime, though reportedly wrote more than 500. He died in 2007 at the age of 69.

Sir Victor Uwaifo | Greatest Hits Vol. 1

Listen to "Guitar Boy"

Get it all here.

My God, but I love Queens. Have I expressed my undying love for this borough before? As far as I'm concerned, it's the greatest city in America. 

As I've hinted in the last week or so, I've been waiting for My Burmese Ship to Come In--specifically, Zaw at Thiri Video has been culling his archives for a number of CDs he says he has of older, more traditional Burmese music, which he promised to have ready for me last weekend. Well, on the appointed day I made the trip to Elmhurst ... only to find that, in fact, the CDs weren't ready for me.

But in Queens, when one door shuts, other doors open. As I wandered around the eastern edges of Elmhurst, suddenly realizing I was lost, I scooted under an awning to check the GPS on my phone. When I looked up, on another awning, two or three doors down, I saw the words "African Movies." What? Oh, my.

Blessing Udeagu (99-08 Lewis Avenue) is ostensibly a copy shop, with several photocopy machines, that also happens to be a used bookstore (there were dozens of old, dog-eared books fading in the storefront windows), a Nigerian DVD store (a whole wall of them, in fact) AND an outlet for African music, mostly from Nigeria and Ghana.

I asked the shop keep if it might be okay if I looked through the CDs. "They're African," she warned me. I nodded my head and proceeded to dig through what they had. After determining that each CD was $5, I chose a few that looked most promising and brought them up to the register. "These are in African," she reminded me. I gave her a Readers Digest version of my Ye Olde "I Happen to Like Music From All Over the World" assurance, which didn't, frankly, seem to assuage her concern that I might be buying the wrong music. With a pitying look, she put the handful of CDs I'd plucked out into a plastic bag and, shaking her head, took the money from my now visibly shaking hands.

"Sir" Victor Uwaifo is the legendary inventor of Joromi, which to my ears sounds like Highlife, which tells you just how little I know about Nigerian music. Uwaifo started recording in the 1960s and became famous for playing his guitar, live, with his tongue and feet in addition to his rather impressively dexterous fingers.

I'm supposed to check back in with Zaw next weekend; if I do, and if My Ship has come in, I'll be posting an awful lot of Burmese music in the next few weeks. Until then, if you like Nigerian music, you might want to check back here a few times in the coming days.

In other news: I think I'm going to try Twitter. Follow me here.

Prince Nico Mbarga | Aki Special

Listen to "Aki Special"


Listen to "Sweet Mother"

Get the 7-song CD here.

Another winner found Saturday afternoon at Blessing Udeagu in Corona, Queens, Nico Mbarga's Aki Special includes what I believe might be not just a couple of his own most popular songs, but at least one -- "Sweet Mother" -- that is reputedly the single most popular song of all time in Africa.

It was a song that he actually had to shop around: Both EMI and Decca rejected it and it was finally recorded in 1976 for a small local publisher, Rogers All Stars. 

It went on to sell more than 13 million copies. 

Ha, ha.

Track List
1. Aki Special
2. Christiana
3. Sweet Mother
4. Wayo In-law
5. Free Education in Nigeria
6. Onye Ori Ori
7. Nature

Gnama-Kanté | Bimolamoya

Listen to "Moussa Kaba"

Grab the whole album here

I found this lovely CD, along with a number of other pirated treasures, several years ago in a sort of drugstore / 99-cent emporium on White Plains Road somewhere between the 219 and 233 Street stops. I was on my way to Moodies Records and Tapes -- a semi-famous purveyor of reggae on vinyl, cassette and CD -- and noticed an African music store stop out the window of the elevated train. 

Only one CD came home with me from the African music store -- a 1992 pop album by Yvonne Chaka Chaka -- but while walking up the street toward Moodies, I somehow noticed that this odd sort of mish-mash store had racks of CDs. A whole aisle of them. I had no idea where these CDs had come from, other than Africa. I think I assumed Nigeria, based solely on the fact that the only sub-Saharan African music I'd previously managed to stumble onto in my travels around the boroughs was Nigerian (found at Blessing Udeagu copy and DVD shop in East Elmhurst). 

For some reason I never got around to uploading this and, in fact, had forgotten all about it until putting together tracks for tomorrow night's Bodega Pop Live show. When I heard it I dropped everything to share it with you. And, so, here we are.

Chief Akunwata Ozoemena Nsugbe | Omenana

Reup by popular demand, here.

Another wonderful item found at Blessing Udeagu (99-08 Lewis Avenue, Corona, Queens).

Abigbo Cultural Group | Ahia Ndu

Reupped here.

[Originally posted June 12, 2012.] Abigbo is dance music of the Mbaise Igbo, who live in southeastern Nigeria. I'm starting to think that the women who run Blessing Udeagu, where I found all of this recent music, are either from Igboland or have ties there. 

Patrick Radden Keefe's The Snakehead, which chronicles the rise and fall of one of the most notorious human traffickers in history, explains that, while the first wave of Chinese in America was Cantonese, the second, beginning in the 1970s, was from Fuzhou, the capital of the Fujian province. Most of the Chinese in Manhattan's Chinatown are Fujianese, if that's the right word. And most of those who aren't are Cantonese. Imagine a reverse wave of American immigrants into China, all from, say, New Orleans. And Boston.

Osadebe | Best of Osadebe

Listen to "Osadebe 77"


Get it all here.


This will likely be the last Nigerian album I'll post for a while, although I do still have a couple more I found at Blessing Udeagu. For one thing, my Burmese connection came through last week and I'm gearing up to post the lot of it. (It's fabulous.) For another, since I started posting the African music a week or two ago, the traffic on this blog has gone through the roof. I assume it's because most people wandering around the various interlinked music blogs are looking for African music, but that's just an assumption. Maybe I've just got more visitors. If the stats take a dive, I'll know for sure.


This is an odd collection of Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe--a couple of the tracks have surface noise, having been clearly ripped from LPs. There is not a single hit on the publisher's name anywhere online, so I'm guessing they're out of business, or just internet shy, which seems impossible in this day and age.


In any event, this is a pretty fabulous collection and I hope you enjoy it.

Awutolo & Fada | Ogene Nkpakija Enugwu Ukwu

Reupped by popular demand, here. [Apologies for no longer hosting a sample; but trust me, you'll enjoy it.]

Unlike yesterday's post, this morning's features what I can only assume to be Nigerian folk music. The sample track above opens with what sounds like a homemade brass instrument of some kind, not uncommon in Nigerian folk, and Awutolo and Fada laying down a terrific, complex rhythm while singing at times in a kind of call-and-response and at times in unison. The total effect is of an intricate soundscape that snaps, pops, buzzes and honks far enough above the level of ambient to keep the listener's ear keen, while never swerving into catchy hook or melody.

I found this sublime recording, along with yesterday's offering and a few other things, at Blessing Udeagu (99-08 Lewis Avenue, Corona, Queens). Perhaps it's just a coincidence, but after I posted yesterday morning's--the first western African recording to appear on this blog--my traffic shot up to rather insane levels. I typically have about 600 visits in a 24-hour period; this morning, at not quite 6:30 a.m., I already have nearly 1,200, and the day still has about 17 hours left to go.

So, uh ... you like the western African music, yeah?

In other news, I'll be reading tomorrow night (Thursday) at 6:30 at RH Gallery with Catherine Taylor and Sandra Liu at this event, which is in part a celebration for the publication of Ernst Herbeck's Everyone Has a Mouth, which I translated from the original German (some poems in collaboration with Oya Attaman and Ekkehard Knoerer). While the book has not yet been officially released (they're still hand-stitching the covers), I'm told there will be about 50-60 copies there the night of the celebration.

And, finally, I reserved bodegapop.com, which I've currently set to redirect to this blog. Ultimately, I'll be creating something that I think is sorely lacking: a portal to music blogs and other sources of information about and samples of international musics. It seems insane that no one has yet put something like this together. Write to me if you'd like in some way to be involved at: bodegapop@gmail.com.