Album Details

• Artist: Sir Victor Uwaifo
• Album: Guitar-Boy Superstar 1970-1976
• Label: Sound Way
• Year of Release: 2008
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2008-08-08

Lo and behold, right in the middle of my recent obsession with African funk, this drops into my lap. Sir

Victor Uwaifo is surely one of the smoothest, funkiest MFs you will ever hear. "Guitar Boy Superstar" is a

generous survey of what made the man THE MAN. Damn, Nigeria must have been a greqt place before

the shooting started.

Apparently the man has used every ounce of his time with us, from making his own guitar at twelve, to

being at various times a poet, painter, sculptor and Commissioner for Culture; this openness and daring

more than applies to music.

From smooth soul jams like "Kirikisi" to the testifying psych-funk of "Idogo," which features an opening

ode to booze in English, followed by a killer mellow groove that blends into a crazy guitar riff and tribal

call & response goodness. The hypnotic drone of "Edge Natete" is holy and loose, like the Grateful Dead

in theory as opposed to in reality. A tasty horn section mimics the main riff, then takes off on its own.

Throughout the nineteen tracks, whether working up a sweat and kicking it down to slow dance mode,

Uwaifo's playing is sweet and ragged, and full of soul. He appears to mastered whatever he was hearing

both locally and from abroad in the early to mid 1970s, though there is nothing retro here-it is all

serious party music.

Pick up "Guitar-Boy Superstar" and meet your new guitar hero, one who doesn't overpower, but

saturates tunes with his tone and imaginative riffs. You need to know Sir Victor.

User Reviews and Comments