The Pax Nicholas LP was one of the first African records I ever found. It's also one of the rarest records in my posession as I don't know of anybody else who has ever seen or heard it. Which is a shame because this also is one of the best and most unique sounding Afrobeat records out there.
It was in Philadelphia in the spring of 2005. I had made a visit to Smith's Record store. All the high caliber funk 45s had been gone years ago (many of them into my own collection), but I wanted to say "hi!" to the owner Stanley Smith. When I mentioned that I was about to go to Africa to look for Funk records, he said "I have a stack of African LPs in my office, wanna have a look at them?"
I found a few nice pieces but the Pax Nicholas LP was by far the most interesting and unique record in the bunch. A few weeks later, I embarked onto a 3 year long digging trip through West Africa. Hundreds and thousands of records were added to my collection but the Pax Nicholas LP always remained somehow special to me.
I tried to track down Nicholas with the help of friends in Ghana and Nigeria but I couldn't find a lead. All it took in the end was a simple google-search and I had found him: Ironically, Nicholas Nettey had been living in Berlin since 1978. Nic was very enthusiastic about getting his record re-issued. I approached my old friends at Daptone Records about this and after having listened to some sound clips, they decided to make this their first African release.
When I asked Nic if there were any master tapes left, he told me that years ago, he had had a big fight with his brother during which they both ended up throwing the tapes at each other until they (the tapes) were totally mangled.
Thankfully, my copy of this record was in pristine and unplayed condition when I had found it so we were able to re-master from the original vinyl. This album will be in stores worldwide by September.
Please go to Daptone Records to find out more about this album and about Nicholas Nettey.
