- Oluko Imo's career as a recording artist was as sporadic as it was exemplary. In 1976, his Black Truth Rhythm Band released their only album, Ifetayo, which was a calypso record with an emphasis on West African music. Imo's best record, the disco soca seven-inch Praise-Jah, emerged two years later. In the mid-'70s, soca—the Lord Shorty-engineered successor to calypso—was emerging in Trinidad, Imo's home country. US soul and funk were staples of Trinidadian radio, and Haitian and Jamaican music was popular, too. But Imo was drawn to West Africa, a region whose highlife sound bubbled on the surface of his catalogue.
Where Ifetayo merged calypso with funk and Afrobeat in an easygoing style, Praise-Jah turned towards disco with earnest spiritual overtones. On the vocal version, Imo and an uncredited female singer trade devotional chorus and verse over organ funk, sweet synth harmonies, churning bass and dub-style sparks. Between her crisp shouts of "praise him," Imo plays trumpets, drums and cymbals, as though his instruments might have the agency to respond. Later, he sings, "Let everything that breathe the breath of life / praise, praise He, the Lord."
Invisible City Editions, run by Brandon Hocura and Gary Abugan, has reissued rare music from Zambia, South Africa and the US, but it has given special focus to Trinidad. The 12-inches the label has sourced from the Caribbean island have what Abugan calls a "refraction of styles." Stephen Encinas' Disco Illusion and Michael Boothman's Touch were disco records with alien touches. Soca, disco, dub and gospel come together with the same ineffable clarity on Praise-Jah.
TracklistA Praise-Jah
B Praise-Jah (Version)