Decca West African Recordings

With a total of 984 items, the Decca West African Recordings (1948-1958) provides a major resource for the study of contemporary African music. The majority of the recordings emanate from Ghana. The series features some virtual household names, such as highlife stars E.T. Mensah and King Bruce and The Black Beats. A large number of recordings were of Nigerian musicians, including Ojoge Daniel, Theophilus Iwalokun, Adeolu Akinsanya, and other early jùjú pioneers. However, more importantly, the collection includes more obscure artists, many of whom have long since passed away, thus providing a detailed picture of the music scene in West Africa at the time.

Each recording is accompanied by a “related image” providing a scan of the label. Recordings have been attributed country, culture/language and genre classifications where these were easily identifiable from the record label or other sources.