THE HISTORY of Afro Art starts in 1996 when Simone Beedle the wife and manager of Ashley Beedle the dj, remixer and producer as an outlet for his projects. The first release was the critically and publicly acclaimed hit "Universal Jones", a collaboration between disc jockey veteran Bob Jones and Ashley. Further releases followed from Ashley Beedle, Marden Hill and Urban Farmers amongst other acts.
Life and the '90s however, took its toll on couples and Ashley and Simone split up, resulting in the label being "put to bed" for a while. to re emerge a couple of years later with a smash Black Science Orchestra tune "Keep On Keepin' On" featuring the vocals of Jenny De Vivo and the production skills of Marc Woolford.
One of the labels biggest successes however was the next Black Science Orchestra production featuring an Allison David tune "Sunshine" again featuring the production skills of Souldrummers Marc Woolford. Another mix by Pete Heller released later that year became one of the most played records of that summer.
Since then Ashley Beedle has departed to rejoin The X-Press 2 for their long awaited comeback album on Skint Records but before he left he drafted in his old friend and mentor Paul Murphy, one of the most influential and original dj's of the 1980's to oversee the label, and also released a final Black Science Orchestra E.P. featuring six strong tracks.
Phil Ashers’ highly acclaimed mix of "Space and Time" by Marc Woolfords Souldrummers' was the very first release under the new regime setting the very high standard that Afro Art has maintained since then with releases varying across all genres.
Now Afro Art has an in house production team consisting of Marc Woolford, Luke Howard, Winston Hazel and Paul Murphy and all with highly acclaimed releases recently including SuPaFiX "Ghetto:New Yorkshire", Souldrummers "Medicine Man", Dance Freak "In Dub" and Paul Murphy and Marc Woolfords "Jazz Room".
To be continued...
The Craig Charles Funk And Soul Show is broadcast live on BBC 6Music every Saturday night between 6 and 9 pm.
On last Saturday’s show William Bell in conversation AND music from Gil Scott-Heron, Laura Vane & The Vipertones, Jackie Wilson, Lack of Afro, Marlena Shaw, Quantic, Al Green, Lee Fields, Cymande, J C Brooks & The Uptown Sound, Terry Callier, The Crackles, Little Esther Phillips, The Impellers, Marvin Gaye, Smoove & Turrell, The New Mastersounds, and much more.
If you missed the show you can catch it at any time any place in the world at http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/funk_soul/
Best wishes. The Craig Charles Funk And Soul Show Team.
P.S. Next week Lonnie Liston Smith in conversation
Watch and listen to my latest single! I remixed an ancient Ottoman marching song, wicked! Supported by deejays like Gilles Peterson (UK - BBC), Pathaan (UK - BBC), Panjabi MC (UK/India), Gaetano Fabri (B), Buscemi (B) and more... Download at iTunes!
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