We were delighted to have Sudanese funk group The Scorpios return to OTO after their self titled album came out in spring on Afro 7 - a great new label that focuses on "new and old music from East Africa", so we're especially pleased to make this one available. The collective is made up of Sudanese and European talents based in West London, and together they take a new stance on traditional Sudanese forms. They meld bass synth, horns, percussion and gorgeous vocals to drive new energy into haqibah scales, and though you can hear the influence of Sharhabil and His Band and Abdel Karim el Kably in their mix, they're really pushing it somewhere else.
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Dawid Frydryk / trumpet
James Connor / percussion
Michael Ofiri / drums
Ronnie Maxwell / bass
Adam Bulewski / rhythm & lead guitar
Abdelsalam Kamaleldin / lead and rhythm guitar
Ragaia Ishag / vocals
Izumi Kobayashi / keys
Sue Lynch / sax
Ahmed Mohamed Ali Osman / percussion & vocals
Karl Amata / percussion
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Tracklisting:
1. Yadob Yadob
2. El Sheikh Sairo
3. Yaelhajarok
4. Haja
5. Benreed El Etam
6. Meshena
7. Kifaya Mosa
8. Garnar Alsebou
9. Saparna
10. La Shaftak Tabel Elshoog
11. Safar
12. Yadob Yadob
13. End Song
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Recorded live at Cafe OTO by Adam Matschulat on 23rd June 2017. Mixed & mastered by James Dunn. Original photo by Laurent Orseau. Artwork by Oli Barrett.
Available as 320k MP3 or 24bit FLAC
The Scorpios performing Eujoaideen live at OTO in January 2016 (NB - this is not the same night as the release)
Hailing from Central Sudan and now based in London after fleeing the fundamentalist takeover in that region, the Scorpios are a septet that melds Arabic rhythms and guitar chops (and a kind of swooning cyclical ecstasy) with a raw Eastern funk feel, properly dismantling cultural barriers in pursuit of a unifying rhythmic bliss. Heavy bass, synths, horns and percussions drive through traditional Sudanese forms to create a sound that owes as much to Detroit as it do to Khartoum. - Tusk