Ghana music reviews

This is probably the best west African CD ever.

If you love African music but do not know whish one to get, this is a 5 star CD. This is strongly recomended.

African music from Ghana and modern jazz combine to create a unique and moving listening experience on this set. The singing (on some tracks) even though in another language (Akan or Twi-Fante) conveys feeling that trancends language or cultural boundaries. I play him on my Jazz or World music shows at 1490 KOTY, Yakima Nation Reservation station in south central Washington state.

I listen to a lot of jazz and this is one of the greatest albums I have ever heard. Obo and his band reach heights only accomplished by the most talented jazz or gospel musicians, and he does so in a way that is traditional as much as it is jazz. The musicians on this album are of the highest skill and there isn't a single inconsistency in either the playing or the production. Listening to this album is a great musical experience!

Mr Mensah is a master of the Highlife form. His lyrics are blessed with good humour. How can you not be moved by the words: "Baby, cook chicken"? This is an album for the all time greats collection. The swinging Tempos are on top form. A classic from the original ET.

You will never miss the other instruments when listening to this cd. Obeng plays ONLY drums but he plays a whole range of drums from traditional West African drums to Latin congas, etc to the standard American jazz trap set. The intricate blends of these instruments and the unrelenting grooves -- each different in each song but all amazingly powerful -- are both moving and mesmerizing.

If you love African/Latin/American rhythms, BUY THIS CD! You will not find another, no matter the arrangement of instruments, that has the power of this collection.

One of the most fascinating and unique sounding of the recently-rereleased early Nonesuch Explorer albums. Ghanian highlife pioneer Saka Acquaye hosted this loose-edged, jazz-tinged jam session, which blends standard old-school highlife music (and its calypsonian roots) with playful, exploratory free jazz. American saxophonist Charles Earland is a key participant in these freewheeling. improvisational sessions, adding an authoritative jazz feel to the delicate clamour of a keening vocal chorus and erratic, seemingly chaotic percussive patterns. This is a very different sound for this musical style, although one suspects it's also truer to highlife's early, informal roots. Similar at times to Alice Coltrane's early '70s afrocentric jazz ramblings, but more focused and more fun. A cool record... definitely worth checking out!

Mr. Lobi here plays 9 solo pieces with frequently added vocals demonstrating acutely both extreme virtuosity and poetically adept musicality. He performs on two different types of xylophone, plus the well-known talking (tension-type) drum, the large snare drum normally used to support the talking drum, a Ghanian bamboo flute, and the mouth bow.

Daybreak [7:09] - 14-key gourd-resonated curved-frame xylophone (= gyil)
Entrance Song [2:35] - bamboo flute (= atentenben)
Song of the Vampire [3:47] - mouthbow solo
Song of the Celebration [7:04] - drum solo with voice: large cylindrical snare drum (= gungon or brekete), normally utilized to accompany talking (tension) drum
The Bewildered Child [5:18] - 8-key non-resonated straight-frame xylophone
Don't Mind the Body, Mind the Engine [7:21] - drum solo with lengthy vocal sections: talking "tension" drum (= luna)
Song of Military Advance and Song Condolence [8:27] - gyil
Unite Africa [5:15] - gyil
Gurigurimaniyon [9:24] - gyil

Selections #1 and #'s 7-9 are played on the 14-key xylophone known variously as the gyil, kogyil, bogyil, gyile, etc., which is indigenous to the region of NW Ghana and neighboring areas of Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast populated by the Dagara, Lobi and Sisaala ethnic aggregations. (Sisaala instruments have as many as 17-18 keys, but otherwise are constructed the same as those from the Dagaara and Lobi enclaves.)

This relatively large instrument is different sounding than the more familiar balafon, which holds sway further west in large areas of Mali, Senegal, Guinea, and the Gambia. The wood used for balafon keys comes from a different kind of tree; plus there are 7 keys per octave (usually 19-22 keys altogether); gyils are tuned with only 5 notes per octave. Because gyils have at least 3 buzzing resonators per gourd/key, they generally buzz louder and sustain longer than do balafons, which typically have either 1 or 2 buzzers per gourd/key, and thicker keys for an overall sweeter sound. The balafon repertoire is heavily influenced by Islamic music; gyil music (with its pentatonic scale) sounds entirely indigenous. It is very rhythmically interlocking, and melodically inventive.

Mr. Lobi, who's been around a very long time, might be the best in the world on this instrument (but be sure to check out Bernard Woma, who is in his 30's). One of the nicer things on this CD (if you're learning to play the gyil) is that the instrument has been recorded in stereo, the microphones placed right where you'd be hearing if you were playing. So you can relatively easily sort out what's going on, a little at a time. It still goes by very, very quickly - but because of the left-to-right orientation, the sound's not smushed together like it would be if recorded from 10 feet in front of the instrument, the way an audience would hear it. You might have to reverse the stereo field left to right (if your stereo receiver doesn't have this function, just temporarily switch the speaker wires) - most gyil players (but not all) situate themselves with the higher keys to their left. Here the microphones were placed with higher keys are on the left.

If all you've ever heard of the mouthbow is from Buffy Sainte-Marie, you're really in for a treat. Mouthbows are indigenous in all parts of Africa, as well as many parts of the world, but I've never heard anyone play like this man. The usual technique is to pluck the string, or strike it with a stick, while rhythmically adding tonal (higher, lower, etc.) notes by opening and closing one's mouth, which acts as the resonator. Mr. Lobi goes one better by using the mouth tones to add polyrhythms to the stock rhythm created by the action of plucking/striking. And they're strong and beautiful - your eyes will get bigger and your head may start spinning!

What's to say? Kakraba Lobi is equally inspiring and accomplished on the various solos he performs on the other four instruments. The track with the smaller, more quiet/dark/lyrical sounding log xylophone is particularly touching. The engineer(s) on this project used great microphones and other equipment. Their microphone placement was matchless - the sound is so good it makes me want to weep . . . well, sort of.

Skeleton Bibliography:
Larry Dennis Godsey. 'The Use of the Xylophone in the Funeral Ceremony of the Birifor of Northwest Ghana".
Lynne Jessup. 'The Mandinka Balafon: an Introduction with Notation for Teaching'.
David Locke & Godwin Agbeli. 'Drum Damba: Talking Drum Lessons'.
Mary Hermaine Seavoy. "The Sisaala Xylophone Tradition".
Malidoma Patrice Some. 'Ritual: Power, Healing and Community: the African Teachings of the Dagara'.
Mitchel Strumpf. 'Ghanaian Xylophone Studies'.
Trevor Wiggins and Joseph Kobom. 'Xylophone Music in Ghana'.

Skintight Discography/Videography:

Lynne Jessup. 'The Mandinka Balafon' and 'Teaching Mandinka Balafon' [2 cassette tapes].
Joseph Kobom. 'Xylophone Music in Ghana' [CD]
Abubakari Lunna. 'Drum Damba' [CD]
Bernard Woma. 'Dagara Bewaa Culture Group Featuring Bernard Woma' [videotape]
Bernard Woma. 'Dagara Yielu' [CD]

This music is melodic and beautiful with a great beat. We have been looking for it for ages and anyone who appreciates good music should own it.

This album is quite different from their first 3 efforts, which were darker, the arrangements and songwriting somewhat simpler. The production on Happy Children is sparkling and very modern-sounding, and the playing and arrangements first-rate. The earlier efforts have a 70's sound, but this one is timeless. A must-have, along with the first three and also Osibirock. I was very pleased to see these albums released on CD. My vinyl was in rough shape because these albums were always hard to find, so a scratched, warped version of this was all I had for years.

I'm a white dude and I 'discovered' Osibisa in Nam in 1972 and I'm here to tell you that they will take you on a trip that defies description. I saw them as a warm-up band for Earth, Wind, and Fire in '73 in Newport News, VA. and EWF were boo-ed off the stage in order to bring back Osibisa - 3 times!! - and that was at the height of EWF's popularity. If you like pure music for music's sake this band is not to be missed, period.

The exquisite quality of Mustapha Tettey Addy's drumming skills is consonant with the richly eclectic traditions of other legendary Ghanaian drummers from the Ga tribe of Accra, Ghana. Others in this rich pantheon of Ga drummers whose skills encompass all the rich percussion traditions of Ghana include the venerable Guy Warren or Kofi Ghanaba and his son Allotey Ghanaba. The extent of Tettey Addy's virtuosity is manifested in the degree of mastery he demonstrates in the equally rich but quite different drumming traditions of the Ashanti, Ewe, Fanti, and northern tribes of Ghana. Equally poignant is the transition from archaic traditional percussion music associated with very serious traditional rituals to the more exciting pieces of popular street music such as the kpanlogo riffs on this album. Tettey Addy's work in this fine album is an obvious must in the collection of any person with an interest in percussion, African, or World music.