Sometimes I sit and think, and sometimes I just sit
Courtney Barnett
Keywords
Reviews (3)
AllMusic
2013
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Thom Jurek
2013
"The nine tracks on this years-in-the-making compilation feature music drenched in analog synths, early drum machine sounds, and wah-wah, phase-shifted guitars and basses. It is all seductive, infectious, and timeless. On set-opener "Body and Soul," Onyeabor co-opts tranced-out, Nigerian juju music, saturates it in slow Afro-funk, and weds it all to P-Funk's call-and-response lyric and chorus; after ten minutes, the effect is consciousness altering ... Who Is William Onyeabor? may not answer many biographical questions, but it does paint a superb portrait of the musician as a highly original creator and pioneer; it adds depth and dimension to the picture we have of African music during the era".
Rolling stone
d. 15. Oct. 2013
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Will Hermes
d. 15. Oct. 2013
"He's an Igbo chieftain from Eastern Nigeria who produced eight funky, spacey, handsomely strange synth-disco LPs in the late Seventies and Eighties before embracing Christianity and ditching his career. The catalog gets cherry-picked here for a killer party mix that combines Fela Kuti's extended-groove trance states and soulman call-and-response vocals with old-school drum machines and synths".
Pitchfork
d. 8. Nov. 2013
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Andy Beta
d. 8. Nov. 2013
"Previous decades have led to re-appraisals of the likes of King Sunny Ade, Ali Farka Touré, Youssou N'Dour, Salif Keita, and Fela Kuti, and Luaka Bop's handy new set Who is William Onyeabor? (the first legitimate reissue of his music) posits the man for a 21st century audience, where his sonic sensibilities seem best suited. While those aforementioned African icons gained renown on the world music circuit for their guitar work, their distinct voices, their rhythmic innovations, Onyeabor favored an instrument rarely heard from the African Diaspora, the analog synthesizer".