Sunsum Band - Disco Spiritual

Here we have a short religious themed album by the great Sunsum Band entitled Disco Spiritual, released in 1981 on Gapophone records. The heart of the Sunsum Band consisted of guitarist, composer & singer Smart Nkansah (pictured on left) and treble singer Agyaaku (on right), who met while both were members of Yamoah's band in the 1960s. You can read more about Sunsum at this earlier post.

Sunsum Band - Ahoboa

I've also included a Youtube video featuring a "sermon" of sorts by none other than Smart Nkansah at the Pentecostal Baptist Church in London. Here, Smart discusses some of his religious themed compositions with the Sweet Talks (Spiritual Ghana), as well as the song "Ahoboa" off the Disco Spiritual Album. This song states: "In case you are called, or you die today, what preparation have you made for yourself? How was your judgement?" Nkansah describes "Ahoboa" as the "number one track" of his career, a song that "speaks to you direct anytime you play it."

On a side note, I'm frustrated by the preacher who introduces Smart Nkansah at the beginning of this video. He states: "You [Smart] were populating the kingdom of hell with your music. Now thank God you've met the Lord on the way to Damascus and you've changed." I like PREKESEMedia's reaction to this type of attitude on the Youtube page:

"I dont agree with the Pastor's assertion that U were leading people to Hell. No, your music was more than about what he is saying. You educated and promoted social virtues and NEVER promoted vices. Ghanaians need to change their mentality where they stereotype every secular musician as someone who is a SINNER. Who is perfect in this world? Ask the pastor to listen to some of your music to know whether u were promoting SIN as he said."                
                                                     Download Disco Spiritual

Sunsum Band - "Emmaa Bekum Mmarima" & Live Performance Footage

Here we have an album from the Sunsum Band. Formed in 1981, this group was a collaboration between guitarist Smart Nkansah (right, of Sweet Talks fame) and the tremendous singer Agyaaku (left), who achieved notoriety singing with Yamoah's Band. Nkansah left the Sweet Talks in 1976 to form the short lived Black Hustlers Band with Agyaaku, and it is this group which eventually evolved into the Sunsum Band.

I consider Sunsum Band within a category that includes similar musicians like Jewel Ackah, Amakye Dede and Pozo Hayes, artists I would describe as "transitional." I am interested in this genre of transitional highlife, straddling the old and the new through the '80s and '90s. Artists of this generation received their musical training from the "old masters" of highlife (Nkansah & Agyaaku started out with Yamoah, Dede with the Kumapim Royals, and Jewel Ackah was a pupil of Ebo Taylor and C.K. Mann).

Yet these musicians came into their own and began their own solo careers when foreign influences like disco music and synthesizers were the coolest things on the planet. So, I think this style of transitional highlife interestingly combines the synth-driven disco sound with the character and musical elements of classic highlife. To me, this is what is so appealing and unique about the Sunsum Band's highlife/disco sound.

Here I've also included some great old footage of the Sunsum Band performing "Susuka" at the famed Tip-Toe Gardens night club, taken from the rather hard-to-find documentary Africa Come Back in the "Repercussions" series. We have Smart Nkansah here on lead vocals, backed by Agyaaku and Becky B (who is featured on the "Odo (Love)" album). It's a treat to see these guys in action, so I consider this type of performance footage to be a real treasure.

Also, be sure to check out the Sunsum Band's magnum opus (at least in my opinion) "Odo (Love)," available over at Global Groove. "Mansee Madwen," the 15-minute last track, will blow your mind. I'm sure. You can also find the Black Hustlers album there.

Download 1982's "Emmaa Bekum Mmarima" Here.