Juju Music is the first album released by a big record company by the Nigerian jùjú band King Sunny Adé and His African Beats in 1982. The album was created by keyboard player Martin Meissonnier, who added synthesizers and Linn drums to Adé's traditional jùjú music style. This was the first time Adé's music was released worldwide, even though he was already very popular in Nigeria, where he was known as the "biggest musical draw and juju music's reigning monarch." The album was very successful both with critics and the public, reaching No. 111 on Billboard's "Pop Albums" chart.

In 1982, The New York Times called the album "the year's freshest dance-music album." In 1990, the newspaper said the album helped start the "World Beat movement in the United States." Allmusic noted that the album gave Adé "unprecedented exposure on the Western market and introduced many music lovers to the sounds of Afro-pop."

Background

In the early 1980s, when Island Records asked Adé to release his music internationally through its Mango Records branch, he was already a famous musician in Nigeria. He owned his own record label, his own nightclub where he performed, and had a history of releasing three or four albums each year. When Adé agreed, he worked with Martin Meissonnier, a French producer who suggested that the long song structures common in Nigerian music might not appeal to Western audiences. To adapt, Adé shortened some of his popular Nigerian songs for international release, a process he found simple. He later said, "In Nigeria, we were used to recording non-stop, about 18 to 20 minutes of music. But here, music needs to be divided into separate tracks for radio and dancing. It’s like making a dress—each piece is joined together, but the lines where they meet are still visible."

The album Juju Music was followed by an international tour. Island Records hoped to make Adé a new Bob Marley. However, the tour’s setlist included few songs from the album. At a three-hour concert in New York City, the band performed only two tracks from Juju Music: "Ja Funmi" and "Eje Nlo Gba Ara Mi." Later, Tucson Weekly described Island Records’ marketing of Adé as an important moment in the growth and recognition of world beat music. It noted that this may have been the first time a major American record company fully supported an African-inspired music style other than reggae.

Musical style

Although Meissonnier changed the song structure, he did not change Adé's musical style. To people in the West, Adé's music appeared diverse, with reviewers of Juju Music noting the blending of "Jamaican dub's mixing techniques" with "Nigerian polyrhythms." They also pointed out smaller details, such as "reggae influences in the guitar playing, salsa in the drum patterns, country in the steel-guitar sounds, dub in the open spaces of the music, folk and calypso in the soft singing, and jazz and the Grateful Dead in the long instrumental sections."

At the time of the album's release, New York Times reviewer Robert Palmer suggested that Adé's Yoruban heritage might help American listeners connect with his music, as Yoruban culture has connections to many other musical traditions. Instead of listing these influences, Palmer described Adé's style as a mix of "traditional Yoruba drumming" with "modern instruments like pedal steel guitar and synthesizer."

Palmer noted that many of Adé's songs are "based on traditional proverbs" and "teach traditional values." In a 2005 interview, Adé confirmed that most of his songs "are more or less proverbs." He gave an example by explaining the popular song "Ja Funmi" from Juju Music, which Afropop Worldwide called an "instant classic." Adé said the phrase "Ja Funmi" means "Fight for me," and he explained that the song uses a metaphor: "You use your head to represent your God."

Despite the song's title, Adé's tone is not aggressive, which Palmer highlighted as a key difference from other music from underdeveloped nations. At the time, listeners expected such music to be "angry and militant," but Adé's music was instead "sweet and cool," a traditional feature of Yoruban art. In his review, Palmer described the beginning of the song "Mo Beru Agba" in detail, noting that the music changes "sounds as easily as an African breeze," while "talking drums and percussion instruments create a complex rhythm." Rolling Stone reviewer Chip Stern described the overall feeling of the album as "a distant dream of peace and shared traditions."

Reception

According to Rolling Stone, the album and its debut tours received "very positive reviews." The magazine encouraged fans of the New Romantics' soul train style to "take a look"—calling the experience "breathtaking." The New York Times described the album as "melodic, poetic, and makes you want to dance," "modern and exciting," and "hard to ignore." It was listed among the top ten "Albums of the Year" for 1982 by NME. Together, the album and tour helped make World Beat popular worldwide and created opportunities for other Afropop performers to gain international recognition.

Track listing

All songs were composed by King Sunny Adé.

• "Ja Funmi" – 7:08
• "Eje Nlo Gba Ara Mi" – 7:14
• "Mo Beru Agba" – 3:27
• "Sunny Ti de Ariya" – 3:46
• "Ma Jaiye Oni" – 5:07
• "365 Is My Number/The Message" – 8:16
• "Samba/E Falaba Lewe" – 8:07

Personnel

• Shina Abiodun – conga
• Mof