(MP002) Pedro - One Kind Of Love LP
Peter Mekwunye, having recently moved to the United States from Nigeria, self-released One Kind Of Love as a small run cassette in 1993 under the moniker Pedro. His only prior recording experience being a brief session in a friend’s professional recording studio, Peter was determined to continue making music once finding a home in Portland, OR. He assembled a basic home studio (limited to a Casio keyboard, a microphone, and a multitrack recorder) and set to work recording One Kind Of Love; a unique and personal album, filled with free-form and pop elements in equal measure, and always Pedro’s voice with it’s message of love, struggle, spirituality, and hope. Finding inspiration in traditional Nigerian music, as well as the popular sounds he grew up hearing on the radio (including Fela Kuti and William Onyeabor), and as left field as artists like Chuck Mangione and Beethoven (because he continued to create music even beyond his ability to sense it). Peter consigned copies of One Kind Of Love at record shops all over the city, but it remained mostly unheard in 1993, and certainly under appreciated. Stumbling upon this cassette and reaching out to Peter resulted in his being reunited with this music for the first time in years, and together it is our pleasure to share it with you, now lovingly remastered by Brandon Hocura of Séance Centre, and available for the first time ever in the LP format. This is revolutionary music, and it couldn’t have resurfaced at a more necessary time. As the inscription reads, “This album is dedicated to all Nigerians all over the world, and to all freedom fighters around the world.”