Digging Africa: Voodoofunk DJ Frank

How far would you go to put your fingers into a dirty box full of dusty records? – DJ Frank went to West Africa to find his most beloved vinyl and he is sharing his rare treasures with us: On his Voodoofunk-blog, the NYC-based German delivers unique and great mixes of African Funk and Afro Beat. Even the Beastie Boys recommended his blog. So do we! And we wanted to know a little bit more about this crazy digger, who even dealt with civil-war like situations in Guinea from 2006 to 2008 just to find some old records. Did you know bugs eat vinyl? – We didn’t.

Why did you go to West Africa to dig records?

This was the only way to put together a serious collection of African records.
These things are very rare. Even in their countries of origin, these records are extremely hard to come by. I have spent 3 years traveling all over West Africa and I’m still going back at least once a year to dig up more vinyl. You can’t really buy this stuff anywhere else. Except from specialized dealers such as myself and that’s very expensive.

Why are you interested in African Funk, how comes?

I used to be into raw American Funk before. This seemed like the logical progression.
African Funk and Afrobeat is an exciting field where I can still find new records which previously were unknown to European or American club goers, and exposing people to new grooves is what I’m all about.

You also tell a lot about politics and the life of the people, like about the strike in Conakry / Guinea where you lived. Did you feel something like a need to tell the western world what was going on there?

The people I met and the things I experienced besides finding records or while looking for records were as much meaningful to me as the music and I thought I should share some of these experiences as well. For a big part, my blog also began as a personal diary and I was honestly surprised at how many people started reading it and left comments or even wrote me emails.

Which one was the most exciting place where you dug for records?

For me any place where there are records is an exciting place. The most outstanding places I’ve been to were the houses of three old radio DJs in Ghana just for the sheer volume of amazing records that I found there.
Then there was this huge warehouse full of records in South Eastern Nigeria. It took me and 5 helpers 4 days to go through everything.
One of the most beautiful places was in front of a house in N’Zerekore, a city in the Forest Region of Guinea. It was still early in the morning when a friend had taken me to this place on his moped and it was the last row of houses towards the forest. The air was filled with mist and you could hear all those birds and other forest creatures while the children were bringing out stacks and stacks of records. It was one of those rare and sudden moments of perfection that you know you will only get to absorb this once in your lifetime.

How was DJing there like? Did you also play some of the records you found there?

For a few months I had weekly DJ nights at two different spots in Conakry which was a lot of fun. I eventually gave up because I was traveling too much and also because this was a huge amount of work. Not only did I have to bring my own turntables and mixer but also my own speakers and amplifier. With some luck, the public electricity in Conakry would be on for every other night but sometimes not for 2 or 3 nights in a row, sometimes only for half a night and there were outages that could last 2 minutes or just as well for the rest of the night. This is why I also had to bring my own power generator and fuel. Although quite some people were curious about seeing the crazy white guy playing old African records, nobody was willing or able to pay any money for this so between the fuel for the power generator and the beer for me and my friends, this venture was also kind of costly…

You describe the song „Bani Wo Dzo“ from Black Santiago (Benin) as „Voodoo Funk“. How would you define „Voodoo Funk“?

There is no style called voodoo funk, I just chose this name as the title of my website. Voodoo or Vodun is the original animist religion of coastal Benin, Togo and parts of Ghana and Nigeria. The word itself is in the Fon language which has no written form. Voodoo is the English way to spell it and Vodun would be the French version. In Haiti some spell it Vodoun but it’s all the same thing and has nothing at all to do with the living dead or with horror movies. Most, if not all so called Latin rhythms originate in Benin and were originally used for Vodun ceremonies. Another ancient Vodun rhythm, the Sato with its syncopated beat sounds a lot like Funk to me.

When you are DJing do you also use CD´s, CD-R or Final Scratch/Serato?

I have my records to play them out. That’s what they were made for. I don’t use CDs and I would never take a laptop into the DJ booth. That’s because I’m a Disc Jockey and not a MP3 Jockey. I have spent a significant amount of time and work in being able to play records for you that you could not possibly hear anywhere else on this world. I think that playing such rare, original records creates a special vibe. Sure, I could record them onto CD or onto a computer but that would be like an art exhibition with xerox copies or digital prints on the walls instead of the originals. Also, if someone wants to know what’s playing, I can show them the record cover. I would not do anything to alter the sound of these records. I don’t mix. I don’t match beats. All I do is play them. That’s what they were made for. I put a record on the turntable and press the start button and that’s it. Once a song has played, I press the start button on the other record player. I want people to realize when one song is over and the next one starts. I strongly believe that a good song should be enjoyed in its entirety.

Are there people who worship vinyl or is it just an old media, about to be forgotten?

To most people, records are an old, useless commodity. With all the dust, sand, rain and heat, Africa is a pretty harsh environment for record players so generally these gave up some 20-30 years ago. Thankfully, some people still kept their records. Like you would keep a good set of tires even after you had to get rid of a car that broke down and couldn’t be repaired. I’ve never met anybody who “worshipped” records but some people keep them in a closet or stacked in a storage room. If they remain undisturbed, a stack of records can last a remarkable amount of time without the vinyl being damaged. The covers often begin to mold after being soaked by leaking rain water or just because of the general humidity. Often you would have insects beginning to breed within the stacks and eating away some of the cardboard and paper sleeves but records themselves are fairly durable.

You describe some really ugly crates you digged, which one was the most ugly one and why?

In Kumasi which is a huge city in the Ashanti region of Ghana, I went through a huge wooden box full of 45s. Most of them were without paper sleeves and completely scratched. The filth inside this box was just indescribable. I had only gone through the first few layers and already my hands and forearms were caked with greasy, black grime. This was on an early afternoon inside a windowless shack with the sun baking on its tin roof. It must have been around 50 degrees in there, I had sweat running into my eyes and swarms of silverfish and other critters crawling up my arms. This was after running around town since early in the morning and I was about to collapse. Still, you never know what might be in a box like that so I didn’t give up until I reached the bottom – without finding a single worthwhile record. Instead, after I lifted out the last stack of 45s, I was rewarded with a mummified dead mouse amidst a large pile of grainy bug excrement. I had encountered quite a good share of seriously ugly crates but this was by far the most repulsive one.

Which one is the rarest record you found in Africa?

There are a whole bunch that I’m fairly sure no other collector has a copy of. On my last trip to Nigeria, I found an album by Orlando Julius that nobody I since asked has ever seen or heard about. Even Orlando himself couldn’t remember this record before I sent him scans of the cover. And this is an LP that was put out by a big label like Philips and Orlando Julius is one of the biggest names in Nigerian music.

Orlando Julius – Disco Hi-Life

How many records do you own now after having shipped your containers full of records from Africa to New York?

I always get asked this question but I have no idea.

Where do you store them?

I have a record room that is highly unorganized. I can even go digging in there…
Some boxes haven’t been opened since I packed them back in Africa.

What will the vinyl business be like in the year 2030? Will there be just old and rare records or still new pressings?

I don’t think there’s any doubt there still will be records pressed in 2030. The music industry declared the death of the record some 20 years ago. But instead, the format never died and is now again getting more and more popular. Vinyl record sales have been on the rise for a number of years now while the music industry is losing more money every year. There will still be records even after the last major record company has vanished.
Records will outlast the corporate music industry. Mark my words.
Small independent labels like Academy LPs who put out my re-issues already sell more vinyl copies than CDs.

There is a documentary on Frank which will hopefully be realised: