Heavy Heavy Heavy

Gerald Emeka Pine, better known as Geraldo Pino, had an immeasurable impact on West African music, even influencing Fela Kuti as he started his career, yet he is very often forgotten. The Sierra Leonean musician was among the first to incorporate American funk and soul with different African styles, from Congolese rumba (which was popular across the whole continent at the time) to various percussive traditions, as early as the 1960s. In many ways, with his flashy, international style and modern instruments, such as his signature Hammond B-3 organ and six-microphone PA system, Pino symbolized the optimistic, modern post-colonial era that the region was entering. He became a true pop star, playing concerts as far as Kenya and holding down residencies in the trendiest clubs in Ghana and Nigeria. Heavy Heavy Heavy compiles songs from two early 1970s albums with his band The Heartbeats, and is a testament to Pino’s fiery style and his role in pioneering the West African funk explosion of the 1970s.