Palm Wine Music: Koo Nimo and Osei Korankye at Afrikafestival Hertme

This great 2008 performance by Koo Nimo at Afrikafestival Hertme in the Netherlands has been around Youtube for a while, and now we have another recently posted Youtube video which presents a more complete version of this performance. The always incredible Koo Nimo is joined here by members of his Adadam Agofomma group as well as the seprewa virtuoso Osei Korankye (whose collaboration album with Koo Nimo is available on this blog). The set begins with a seprewa/guitar piece "Abube ne atebe" that features Osei, followed by a beautiful song entitled "Death is everybody's business." The performance concludes with a version of the Ghanaian standard "Yaa Amponsah" that quickly turns into Koo Nimo's own tune "Aburokyire Abrabo" (Overseas Life). In case you're interested, I've posted a full recording of this tune below, along with a translation by Joe Latham from the booklet Ashanti Ballads of Koo Nimo.

On the subject of Koo Nimo, you might like to check out this beautiful, handmade book honoring Agya Koo that was recently acquired by the Smithsonian.  The book is called Listen, listen : Adadam Agofomma : honoring the legacy of Koo Nimo, a collaboration between artists Mary Hark, Atta Kwami, and Koo Nimo himself. An article about the book is on the Smithsonian site here.

Koo Nimo - Aburokyire Abrabo

Aburokyire Abrabo (Overseas Life)

Mother, Oh Mother, your son has made a terrible journey.
Now I am stranded overseas.
Darkness has encircled me.
There can be no witness to what I endure alone.

An unsuccesful mission is a disgrace,
So how can we come hone?
If you fail, no child is named after you.
Death is preferable to shame.

Everyone has reasons for leaving his native land.
Some travel to study, or to marry.
Some go as tourists, some look for jobs.
Some seek medical treatment.

Some return, but others die overseas.
What a tragedy that is.
Why should this be?
It is our individual destiny.
Life has its bad times we have to pass through.

The cold weather gets so bitter men lose their senses.
Poverty, family problems, illness and accidents
All aggravate the stranger's sad state.
Married or single, life is not pleasant in a foreign land.

Bad company, gossip, rumours, misunderstandings,
So many troubles could be settled by speaking to the family.
There is but one consolation:
Namely that travel brings wisdom to men.

Spirits of our Ancestors,
Gods of our Ancestors,
Watch over our brothers abroad.
Let them return home safely.
To live in Europe is to understand this lament. 

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/latham/koonimo/ashball.htm

Uhuru Dance Band - The Sound of Africa (Agoro, 1975)

The Uhuru Dance Band's rare, 1975 album The Sound of Africa was recently posted in full by an ebay seller last month. Released on Kwadwo Donkoh's Agoro label, this unique album blends funk, American soul/jazz, highlife, and dance-band music much in the same vein as the Ogyatanaa Show Band (you may recongnize the Uhuru's "Yahiya Mu" which was featured on the Ghana Special compilation). Accordingly, this unique sound was largely driven by saxophonist George Amissah (Uhuru's then band leader) and Kwadwo Donkoh, who worked as a composer, arranger, and musician on this album as well as Ogyatanaa's Yerefrefre and Obra Mu Asem. At the same time, much of the lead singing on The Sound of Africa (as well as the two Ogyatanaa albums) is recognizably performed by the same individual (see "I Know My Mission" for an example). Unfortunately this singer's name remains a mystery, as does the actual relationship between this album, Kwadwo Donkoh, and the Ogyatanaa Show Band. Of course, any additional information would be greatly appreciated.


Considering the high prices that old, rare & funky Ghanaian records routinely fetch on websites like ebay (anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars), these low-quality sample recordings may very well represent the only opportunity for most of us to hear albums like the Uhuru's The Sound of Africa. Here, I've posted the album in full for your downloading convenience as offered on ebay, with track titles added and problematic clicks/skips cleaned up. However, some questions remain. For one thing, what is the correct order of the eleven tracks? Secondly, are any readers able/willing to submit a photo of the album's back cover? This would certainly clear up the question of the track order and potentially provide some additional background info.

In the meantime, take some time to enjoy this unique and diverse album.

Download

 
Update: Thanks to Akwaboa, here's a scan of this album's back cover. Track order is now revealed, along with song translations and background info about Kwadwo Donkoh/Uhuru. Excellent!

Alex Konadu - Mewu Ama Wo

More great music from one of my favorites, legendary highlife musician Alex Konadu AKA "One Man Thousand," who passed away earlier this year.  Beautiful singing, intricate guitar work, and deep Akan harmonies here on Mewu Ama Wo. You can read more about Konadu's life and music HERE at ModernGhana.com.

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Alex Konadu - Nsem Nyinaa Nyame

Wulomei - Walatu Walasa (Agoro, 1974)

Top from left to right: Leader Nii Tei Ashitey with osrama drum, lead singer Maa Amanua, and Nii Adu "Big Boy" on gome drum.

Ga cultural highlife emerged during the 1970s as an urban, neo-traditional popular music form.  The Gas are an ethnic minority in Ghana (where Akans dominate over forty percent of the population) yet they remain the majority in Ghana’s capital Accra, as they are the city’s oldest, original inhabitants.  This ethnic group is primarily bound to the costal and the urban realms, as the sea (in particular fishing) has played a central role in livelihood up until the present.  Ga musicians were involved in dance-band highlife since the early 20^th century (this variety of highlife accordingly reflects influences from Ga traditional music), yet it was not until the cultural highlife of the 1970s that Gas put forth their own style of guitar-band music.  This new music represented a desire to go “back to roots” and revive tradition.
     
Ga cultural highlife was largely the creation of drummer Nii Tei Ashitey, who founded the pioneering Ga highlife group Wulomei in 1973.  Both a traditional and dance-band drummer, Ashitey founded Wulomei as a reactionary move against the influx of foreign music into Ghana.  He states his objective as “To bring something out for the youth to progress and to forget foreign music and do their own thing” (Collis, Musicmakers 142).  Inspired by the proto-highlife Ga konkoma groups of the 1940s, the music of Ashitey’s Wulomei encorporates influences from Ga traditional music, Kru sea shanties, work songs, and Akan guitar-band music.  Wulomei’s original sparse lineup consisted of traditional percussion instruments (bells, rattles, drums), a single guitar, and a chorus of several male and female singers.  Here, the percussion section is emphasized heavily, while singing is modeled after the group call and response singing of a traditional dance/drum ensemble both in terms of form and vocal technique.  Accompanying the chorus of singers is the guitar, adding a highlife dimension to a style which might otherwise sound very much like traditional music.   

Nii Adu (AKA "Big Boy") playing Gome

The term “Wulomei” itself refers to traditional Ga priests, and the band members of Wulomei self-consciously dress in the same white cloth/hats of Wulomei priests. In this way, the band’s name and dress are strategically used to represent deep roots in the Ga community and connections with traditional music/life.  In the same manner, quintessentially Ga drums are used in cultural highlife as a means to signify ethnic ties and connections with tradition.  The gome drum is a central instrument in the ensemble, a large bass frame drum which is sat upon while played.  The musician is able to change the tone of the drum by moving his feet across the drum’s head.  In addition, the osrama drum appears frequently in Ga cultural highlife.  This skinny, high-pitched stick drum may by found in the courts of Ga kings (Mantse), where it is used as a “talking drum.” 

Wulomei - Menye Menye

Walatu Walasa (1974) is Wulomei's second album, following Mibe Shi Dinn released earlier that same year.  Released on Kwadwo Donkoh's Agoro records label, Walatu Walasa features many of Wulomei's biggest hits, including "Akrowa," "Kaafo," and the title track. John Collins writes: "Walatu Walasa means in Twi that 'you are digging and then shoveling it away,' implying that only an idiot would do both. Walatu Walasa has become a popular phrase at a time when large numbers of workers have been employed by the government to build drains in Accra. To greet a laborer with this term is to insult him, for it demeans manual labor" ("Ghanaian Highlife" p. 67). These Wulomei songs (and those of other Ga groups like Dzadzeloi, Suku Troupe, Ashiedu Keteke, Abladei, etc.) continue to be relevant and popular in Ghana today, where they may be heard playing over the radio and from street-side speakers in Accra.  At the same time, Wulomei remains in existence with a lineup of all new members, now lead by Ashitey's daughter and son.

Download Walatu Walasa

Female singers of Wulomei

Time Changes

Photo by Nana Kofi Acquah (Nanakofiacquah.blogspot.com)

I really like this short essay by writer Nana Awere Damoah about the personal significance he found as a child in the highlife song "Time Changes" by Akwasi Ampofo Adjei and his Kumapim Royals Band. This song tells the story of a teacher giving a lesson to his students on the topic of life, its theme: "time changes."

                 Read the essay HERE

Time changes - Mr. AAA  (A remake of the original song)

Time Changes  (The original song from the 1980s. Unfortunately this is only a short selection)

Ghanaian PSAs

Ghanaian song texts, whether popular or traditional, are often concerned with didactic, educational matters. Traditional/highlife songs may extol particular morals and values, while storytelling serves to impress various lessons upon listeners. In more recent times, traditional groups (such as Adowa/Nwomkro ensembles) have integrated songs into their repertoire which deal with such current topics as HIV/AIDS awareness and the dangers of reckless driving. In this same vein, hiplife (Ghana's ruling popular music) may be used as a platform for a variety of public service announcements, whether advertising politicians or raising awareness about any number of issues. 

The four very catchy, sometimes amusing videos I've posted here represent hiplife/highlife PSAs broadcast over radio and television. These songs are rather unusual, and most are incredibly catchy. First (above) is a popular commercial from 2007, which explains in musical form the logistics of the currency change which occurred that same year. Unfortunately the artist is unknown. This is also one of the catchiest songs ever!

Keep the Money Clean - Akoo Nana & Castro

Second is "Keep the Money Clean" by hiplifers Akoo Nana and Castro. As demonstrated in the video, these artists urge Ghanaians to "keep our Cedi clean" by using wallets and avoiding crumpling bills.

    Efinye - Lucky Mensah

Third, Lucky Mensah (a somewhat older highlife musician) appears in "Efinye" dressed as a sanitation worker, telling listeners to keep Ghana's cities clean.

Ntom Tom Be Wu (Aha Yede Remix) - Nana Boroo

Finally, we have a remix of Nana Boroo's popular song "Aha Yede." In "Ntom Tom Be Wu," Boroo discusses ways in which Ghanaians may avoid malaria.  Highlights include a dance party in a giant mosquito net!

Kyeremateng Stars - Owuo See Fie

Here we have a short album by Kyeremateng Atwede and his Kyeremateng Stars entitled Owuo See Fie.  "Owuo sei fie" is an Akan proverb which concerns the far reaching effects that a death may have on the family, roughly translated as "death spoils a house" or "death destroys a home."  Accordingly, the "O" of the word Owuo (death) is filled in here with an ominous image of a skull.  On this album, Kyeremateng Atwede and his group present three beautiful & deep Akan guitar-band style songs, with a counterbalance of two upbeat highlife tunes sung in Pidgin English ("Every Work Na Work" and "Yellow Woman").

Enjoy!

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Kyeremateng Stars - Eno Benewa

Akwaboa's Band - Fidie Wura

Fidie Wura by Akwaboa's Band is a beautiful, laid-back gem of an album.  The songs featured on this record are smooth and effortless, with rootsy harmonies, acoustic guitar playing, and singing characteristic of traditional Akan music and palm wine highlife.  All of Akwaboa's recordings are excellent, but this album really wonderfully demonstrates the intimate relationships which exist between electric guitar-band highlife, palm wine, and traditional Akan music.  And what a great album cover too!

 Enjoy!

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Akwaboa's Band - Fidie wura ba na wo be hunu