The latest in our series Gateways – Tony Allen and Nigeria sees our friends at Boiler Room head to Nigeria, in collaboration with the British Council, to meet two of the masters of Nigerian music, as part of Boiler Room’s Collections series. Rarely do we get a chance to pick the brain of someone who has had such a profound influence on modern music as Odion Iruoje, the man who worked as EMI’s in-house producer in Nigeria. He signed Fela Kuti to EMI and produced hundreds of pioneering records in the country, including what is widely considered to be the first Afrobeat 7in.

Joining him is master cratedigger and collector Temitope Kogbe. Together, the duo give us an incredible insight into the birth of modern West African music, from the teenage schoolboy band Ofege (who were, apparently, influenced by Francis Rossi of Status Quo) and BLO (who fused Nigerian rhythms with rock and psychedelia, drawing on Afrobeat and the Byrds) to better known figures such as Fela and Manu Dibango. The podcast also includes incredible rare footage of Fela in concert, courtesy of Knitting Factory Records and Fela.net.

Gateways continues tomorrow, when we’ll be wrapping up the series with a look at how the internet is changing Nigerian music, and a stream of an Afrobeats live show.