Monomono

Monomono - Nigerian 1970s afrobeat

Group from Nigeria

Genres: afro-funk, afrobeat, highlife, ambient, techno, minimal, electro, Rave

About Monomono

There are at least two groups named Monomono: (1) Despite a reputation as one of Nigeria’s most successful and best Afro-Beat boom bands, information about Monomono remains scarce on the Internet. Even the normally dependable, All Music Guide, lacks a bio on the three-piece outfit. I’ll presume it’s due to Google searches yielding results on “the kissing disease,” not Monomono’s definition in Yoruba: Dawn of Awareness. Fronted by golden-throated frontman, Johnny Haastrup (also known as Joni), Dawn of Awareness saw release on Capitol/EMI in 1974. Unsurprisingly, it takes direct cues from Nigerian funk overlord, Fela Kuti, who’d previously employed Monomono co-founder, Friday Jumbo, as a conguero. In fact, the album cover even offers, “thanks to brother Fela, for the little hint that did a good job.” But rather than succumb to sterile imitation, Monomono cook up their own sound, opting for a comparatively poppier aesthetic (meaning most tracks run in the four to six minute range). Nonetheless, if you dig Fela, you’ll love this, with star-scraping vocals, infinite organ lines, polyrhythmic drums, and supernal sax riffs, all snipped from the same sokoto. (2) A swedish sound art/noise/spoken word/poetry duo consisting of Lars Carlsson and Fredrik Nyberg. They released the album ADSR in 2011.

Taken from Last.fm

43,395 listeners  ·  161,324 plays via Last.fm

On RadioStar

4
stations playing
3
countries
5
tracks tracked
most active station (Germany)

Monomono — Top 5 songs

Artist Song title Like / Dislike
Monomono Kenimania
Monomono Ipade Aladun (Yoruba)
Monomono The World Might Fall Over
Monomono Adele (C1)
Monomono Tire Loma Da Nigbehin
Kenimania
Ipade Aladun (Yoruba)
The World Might Fall Over
Adele (C1)
Tire Loma Da Nigbehin