Ernie's African Odyssey Pt 23 - Ghana

After a break from our travels for the festive period we are back on the road, and what a first stop of the year we have! We're in Ghana, one of Africa's musical powerhouses in my opinion. Wading through my large collection of Ghanaian music to narrow it down was always a pleasure and never a chore, but involved a lot of time and some tough decisions. 

For example, I have excluded from the audio clips those artists who have featured on the blog over the last couple of years. Which means that current stars like King Ayisoba and Alogte Oho have been 'relegated' to the videos while the highlife greats Sweet Talks miss out completely (although I have reactivated the links in the previous post in which they featured).

So if they haven't made it through the rigorous selection process, who has? Well, Fred Tetteh & His Continentals for a start. Quite correctly, because for me they really were where it all began. 

Back in 1979 when I was 16 I moved back to the UK after seven years in South Africa. I selected "Lie Lie Fight" at random from a small selection of 7" singles in a shop at Nairobi airport during a refuelling stop on the flight from Johannesburg to London. It was the first African record from anywhere apart from South Africa that I ever bought, and has a special place in my heart for that reason.

"Lie Lie Fight" was released in 1970 on the famed Essiebons label, which was established in 1969 and during the 1970s became a major force in Ghanaian music. It played a particularly important role in developing highlife music, with many of the leading names appearing on its roster at various points. 

In 1973 and 1974 Essiebons released a series of stonking singles by the short-lived Apagya Show Band. The Show Band's importance outweighs its output as it brought together three men who would go on to become some of the biggest stars of the scene - Ebo Taylor, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley and Bob Pinodo. 

All three are still with us and Messrs Taylor and Ambolley are still pretty active at the ages of 87 and 76 respectively. Ebo Taylor's most recent album "Yen Ara" came out in 2018; today's track comes from its 2012 predecessor, "Appia Kwa Bridge". Gyedu-Bley Ambolley's most recent album "Gyedu​-​Blay Ambolley and Hi​-​Life Jazz" came out just over a year ago; today's track was first released back in 1988 on an album called "Sinigwe Soca".

The 1970s were a golden age of Ghanaian music, with significant live scenes and recording facilities. One of the finest albums of the era was "This Is Marijata", the 1976 debut album by Marijata. As the blurb on the Bandcamp page says "it is pure, rootsy, raw, driving African funk music of the highest order".

The golden age came to an abrupt end in 1981 when a military coup was followed by a two year long dawn to dusk curfew in Accra and Kumasi. During that time many musicians emigrated, with quite a few of them heading to Germany. There they mixed Ghanaian highlife with German electronic and disco sounds to create a style that became known as 'Burger highlife'. Perhaps the pre-eminent exponent was Nana Tuffour. "Sikyi Medley" was originally released in 1987, and you can find it on a 'best of' EP of the same name put out by the Kalita label in 2018.   

The 1990s saw the emergence of 'hiplife', which as the name suggests incorporated elements of hip-hop into highlife. Reggie Rockstone (or Reginald Osei to his dear old Mum) is rightly or wrongly acclaimed as 'the Godfather of Hiplife'. Today's selection comes from his 2004 album "The Last Show" and features the vocals of one KK Fosu. Me neither.

We end, as all things must, with some Mandatory African Reggae. With a cool name like Y-Bayani & Baby Naa And The Band of Enlightenment, Reason & Love this lot were always going be included, and the fact that their album "Nsie Nsie" (2020) is a bloody good record is simply a bonus.

"Lie Lie Fight" - Fred Tetteh & The Contintentals

"Mumunde" - The Apagya Show Band

"Ayesama" - Ebo Taylor

"Atwer" - Gyedu-Blay Ambolley

"Break Through" - Marijata

"Sikyi Medley" - Nana Tuffour

"Ah! Fa Me Bone Ky3 Me Wai" - Reggie Rockstone featuring KK Fosu

"Asembi Ara Amba" - Y-Bayani & Baby Naa And The Band of Enlightenment, Reason & Love