It was in Benin City, in the heart of Nigeria, that a new hybrid of intoxicating highlife music known as Edo Funk was born.
 
The Edo Funk Explosion Volume 1 features four songs by Sir Victor Uwaifo and his Titibitis. Four songs by Akaba Man and four by Osayomore Joseph. These are effectively the pioneers, and originators, of Edo Funk. A hybrid music that mixed traditional rhythms, highlife horns, driving drums, day-glo keyboards, and wonky guitars. It reduced everything down to the bare minimum and sounds incredible for it. The music is far less formal than the Nigerian disco that was coming out of Lagos at the same time. There is something incredibly vibrant to these recordings. The songs are tight and constructed around a repeating, almost droning riff. These aren’t dark or ominous drones. Instead, they are filled with life and ecstatic energy. Take ‘Obviemama’ by Sir Victor Uwaifo and his Titibitis or ‘Who No Man’ by Osayomore Joseph and the Ulele Power Sound for example. They sound massive. The verses are sung over these bouncy drones until the chorus. Then the main motif is changed and elongated before the band slot back into the original groove again and just play for all their worth.