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Janka Nabay: "Eh Man Ah"

11:12 a.m. · January 25, 2012 · by Saxon Baird

In his home country of Sierra Leone, Janka Nabay is known as the “bubu king” referring to his mastery skills and notoriety as something of a torchbearer for the native style of frantic dance music. Unfortunately, a few years back Nabay was forced to flee Sierra Leone due to the tragic civil war that has taken place there.

Despite these circumstances, Nabay has continued playing bubu music stateside to surprising success, releasing an EP via True Panther last year and announcing just recently that he and his new outfit, the Bubu Gang, signed to David Byrne’s world music imprint Luaka Bop, which will release his debut full-length come summer.

Until then Janka Nabay has dropped a new song on us, “ Eh Man Ah,” off a second, forthcoming three-song EP An Letah due to drop March 20th via True Panther. The excellent new song showcases new sonically-rich territory for Nabay. Building off the energy of bubu music, the track delves into an intensely hypnotic offering full of driving bass, gritty keys and high-end guitar blanketed in reverb. Imagine Gang Gang Dance actually being from Africa with an obsession for speedy beats. If you're digging what you hear, a word of warning: the 12″ of An Letah will be limited to 500 and the CDEP limited to 250.

Janka Nabay & The Bubu Gang - Eh Mane Ah by truepanther