Born in 1948 in Ibadan, Nigeria, identical twins Kehinde (who passed away in 2019) and Taiwo Lijadu were among the few women in that African nation who maintained successful musical careers in the 1970s. They released five strong albums in that decade, none of which are easy to obtain in the US, except for the fifth, 1979’s Horizon Unlimited, which Numero Group just reissued on vinyl and CD. (Thankfully, that Chicago label plans to re-release the sisters’ entire catalog—but not all at once, thankfully, for our wallets.) Trivia: For five months in 1972, the Lijadus toured with Ginger Baker’s band Salt; the former Cream drummer also had been playing in Nigeria with Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti.
My first encounter with the Lijadu Sisters occurred with Strut Records’ excellent Nigeria 70: The Definitive History Of 70’s Funky Lagos comp. According to that LP’s liner notes, “Orere Elejigbo” tells the story of a couple trying in vain to have a child. They visited a native doctor who instructed them to contact the god Ifa. The deity tells them they will conceive a girl and when she reaches adulthood, she should be able to marry whomever she wishes. She ultimately marries a king. The song was a coded way for the sisters to hint to the government to stop going to war and to cease destroying its citizens. The defiant Afrobeat backing—replete with Richard Archer’s jabbing bass line and the ladies’ impassioned unison singing—seriously drives home the point.
The intensely suspenseful “Erora” is an African Head Charge-like charmer with dank low end, including some of the chunkiest drum sounds outside of a Tony Allen session, courtesy of Friday Jumbo, who was part of Fela’s Africa 70 group. Drummer Laolu Akins and talking-drum specialist Soji Adenie add ballast. The Lijadus’ voices are glorious conduits to joy. “Gbwomo Mi” delivers thick Afrobeat action, with a punchy, downtempo rhythm. The sisters soar above the coiled shuffle like headstrong angels—so dulcet and vibrant.
“Come On Home” is loping, funky sunshine pop, African style, and sung in English instead of the sisters’ native Yoruba. That this stunner’s racked up about 23 million listens on $p0t1fy means that it probably received placement in a popular TV show or movie, or gained traction on TikTok, but I’ll be damned if I can find verification of that. The album ends with “Not Any Longer,” which begins with Adenie’s gripping talking-drum solo and then shifts into a slow, ultra-funky chugger with distorted, Billy Preston-esque keyboard squelches. The Lijadus’ most seductive song, it foreshadows some of Grace Jones‘ early-’80s joints.
Out of print on vinyl in the US since 2012, Horizon Unlimited was produced by keyboardist Lemmy Jackson, who also played in the great psych-rock group Blo. All six tracks here are great, and it’s hard to discern which one triggers the most pleasure. But what a wonderful puzzle to solve. -Buckley Mayfield
Located in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, Jive Time is always looking to buy your unwanted records (provided they are in good condition) or offer credit for trade. We also buy record collections.
