FRANK Gossner had a secluded young life, growing up in the Black Forest of south west Germany with just a radio for company.

Music was his vehicle of escape from a mundane woody green delinquence (never heard of climbing trees, mate?).

When he grew up a bit Frank escaped the forests of Deutschland in real-life vehicles, like cars and planes.

After establishing popular strip club-themed go-go dancer parties in Berlin and New York, Frank got bored of the music he was Dj’ing and collecting and moved to Guinea in West Africa, on a grand hunt (armed with a portable turntable rather than an elephant gun) for '70s Afro-Funk.

If you fire up the YouTube you can save yourself the tedium of finishing this article; my primary reference material is a documentary (an African Funkumentary if you will) called Take Me Away Fast, directed by Leigh Lacobucci. The film follows Frank on one of his digging trips, primarily around Benin, and illustrates his dedication to record collecting and his immersion and respect for the culture and heritage of the music. At one point you see him taking part in a Voodoo sacrificial ritual to gain favour from the ancestors in his search for 45s (it seems to do the trick too).

Is this just another honky stripping Africa of it’s treasured artifacts? A case of cultural appropriation by the hipster generation?

Frank freely admits that his motives are largely selfish, he’s driven by sheer love of the music and as a DJ he wants to make others dance, but his local contacts (old musicians, DJs and enthusiasts) are full of praise for his work. In many cases the records Frank has collected contain music that was never transferred from vinyl to CD/MP3 and would otherwise be lost forever.

Seeing African funk legends like El Rego (Benin’s ‘Godfather of Funk’) and Danialou Sagbohan listen to half-forgotten tracks they recorded three or four decades ago is real nice and shows the value of Frank’s passion and dedication.

VoodooFunk.blogspot is Frank Gossner’s personal website with loads of mixes available to stream.

Next week: Record of the quarter.