it’s no exaggeration to say that geraldo pino and his band the heartbeats kickstarted the whole soul/funk/afrobeat scene in west africa. mixing highlife, funk and jazz, and using the latest equipment, they laid waste to all before them. in 1966 fela kuti was a jobbing musician, eeking out a living with highlife bands. when gerlado pino came to town, it changed his life.
“pino tore up the scene,” he recalls in an interview with carlos moore. “i knew i had to get my shit together. and fast!”