I’ve been trying to leave Tamale in the north of Ghana all day, which leaves me with plenty of time to fill you in.
What do we know about the North of Ghana? It’s fairly isolated from the south, where both major cities sit: Accra the economic heart of the country, and Kumasi, center of the dominant Ashanti culture. Culturally the north is quite different, it’s a sahelian society, the climate is much drier, hotter, and the culture is much closer to what we saw in places like Mali.
Yet there is hardly any communication with the neighboring Sahelian – Francophone – countries. The north seems like such a cul-de-sac really: artificially landlocked from neighboring Francophone countries (Burkina mostly, with Togo and Cote d’Ivoire on each side), and politely ignored for the most part from the more afluent and populous south.
That explains how isolated the culture – and music – have remained. King Ayisoba is probably the most famous voice coming from the region, although to most readers he’s probably still a complete unknown. Look up his music on myspace or iTunes, Ayisoba has an incredible voice, but will leave you thinking he has two or three!
Besides Ayisoba, whom we’ll get back to soon, there is almost no structure in place for music. Musicians stick to the traditional circuit, mostly playing for funerals and weddings, sometim. That’s for the traditional musicians, for the home studio generation there are almost no shows, no bars to play at. So not much of an industry.
Yet – and you saw this coming – TONS OF RAW TALENT. We’ve got beautiful videos which our connection won’t really allow us to post just yett, but check in soon for more.
Another no-media blackberry post… Long days, hard to find time to upload much from a computer, but here’s the low-down:
We spent the day in Tema, about 30 km east from central Accra. TONS of hits have been coming from there. Some names are emerging. We met Nana Boroo, who’s latest song plays about 3 million times a day, catchy as hell… Don’t mean to be so masochistic in our allusiveness, but rest assured, we’ll figure out a way to post this track soon – and remember its name…! We met Nana at Playboi’s studio, before the G TV crew took over. A show about Nana, who’s hit (name!? Argh!!) is enormous here. Playboi grew up in London but moved to Accra 4 years ago. He’s been producing a ton of tracks, distilling his British R’n’B / pop touch. He complains that Ghanaians are narrow minded. But he’s being modest: his style is adding a whole new dimension to the Ghanaian sound. Panji was telling me that “Afropop” sounds like it imitates the Nigerian Naija Rap sound, which itself was inspired by early, more minimal hiplife.
Nana Boroo
Playboi
Nigeria, so enormous, keeps absorbing Ghanaian culture. It’s cool to hear Nigerian singers come to Accra to record. But really the musical difference is minor compared to the coastal music vs what we’re about to discover up north… Tamale and Bolgatanga, hometown of King Ayisoba, an incredible artist we encourage you to swallow up. Great collabo with Panji of Pidgen Music. Can’t look up myspace or itunes link from this phone, but please make the effort, you won’t regret it!
Today we also caught up with Eugene aka Choir Master (pronounced kwaya masta) of Praye. He introduced us to his protege, Blaqsam. They sing together on the track Mabrewo. Glued to it here as I type. Another one we’ll surely feature soon… Join our mailing list to get it first.
Tema is teeming with music. We also met Keywa, a top “sound engineer”, aka often the arranger / producer, responsible for dozens of hits with major and underground artists. Speaking of underground and major, Rough’n’Smooth just made it. After close to a decade making music, they just got propelled into the Ghanaian stratosphere. Being in high demand means shows and endorsements. A pretty good life, although some point that the $ is still minuscule in regards to what the artists are contributing. Artists often aren’t paid for a show organized by a radio personality, in exchange for free or reduced payola. Brands bombard the cities with billboards of famous artists. The artists don’t get much for these endorsements. Everything else is a cost.
This monetary pressure on artists makes it tough for a kid from the ghetto to make it. Especially since there are too few real producers, who really enable artists to perform and record. Yet there is no shortage of raw talent. So there is a LOT to do.
Keywa
Tomorrow morning… We head to Kumasi. Say hello if you’re around!
Oh and for the real addicts among you, you should follow our twitter, I’m able to post throughout the day.
Hey African music fans! I’d like to take this opportunity to say “Miawoezor” (that’s “welcome,” or “akwaaba” in the Ewe language) to Benjamin, who has just arrived in Ghana. In honor of his trip, I decided to take a break from my samba-semba blog entries and write a little bit about traditional Ghanaian music.
The dance-drumming of the Anlo-Ewe society of Southeastern Ghana features a complex rhythmic interplay between three supporting drums and a master drum. The ensemble also includes a bell, which acts as the conductor, and several rattles, which embellish the basic rhythm played by the bell.
Check out this video of Agbadza, a traditional Ewe dance. It’s a little long, but it really captures what it’s like to attend a dance-drumming event in an Ewe village. There are great shots of the drummers at 4:45, 6:31 and 7:40.
What I find most fascinating (and most frustrating) about Anlo-Ewe music is that it’s impossible to play it alone—you need at least five people—unlike music in the Western tradition, where individual practice is necessary for group success. Drummer Kevin O’Sullivan has had a brilliant solution to this problem: he has arranged Anlo-Ewe rhythms for drum set, assigning each limb a different part of the Ewe drum ensemble. Check out his arrangement of Atsiã, an Ewe social dance:
If you’re interested in seeing it performed live (with dancers!), percussionist Amanda Duncan will be playing it on her senior recital at Cal State Long Beach on May 15th, 2010 at 8pm in Daniel Recital Hall. And if you want more info on Anlo-Ewe dance drumming, O’Sullivan’s website is one of the best resources I’ve found on the web; be sure to check it out!
These shots were taken in Nima, a predominantly Muslim neighborhood of Accra. Local musicians accepted to do an impromptu nziki (spelling?) performance for us… it was INCREDIBLE. We’ve got amazing footage, which we cannot upload just yet, but stay in touch, join our newsletter and get the updates…. peace chale!
We are in a car right now, stuck in Tema, right outside of Accra, in a pretty bad traffic jam. Good thing the tape player works, we’re listening to some gospel highlife, it makes the sun and gasoline fumes feel like a breeze… Well, almost anyway.
We’re headed to Lome to cover some of the Togolese 50th independence events, and to meet a few cats there, artists and radio guys. Togo is really not on the map at all, so we’re quite curious to find out what’s hiding there.
The road is only 3 hours from Accra to Lome, plus the past hour stuck in traffic in Tema. But hopefully we make it before dark, it would make it easier to walk across the border with the film equipment and other “obruni” (white man) apparati we’re carrying with us!!
Who’s “we” you may wonder… Ryan Lash, photographer and videographer, and myself, Benjamin Lebrave. We left Panji, Ananse and the rest of the crew in Accra. Ananse (Spider in twi) has been great, both helping us meet with artists, and laugh throughout the process. He’s a natural born comedian, we’ll post some videos of him as soon as we can.
Sorry for the lack of photos, sounds and videos: for the time being I’ve relied almost exclusively on my phone for email, which doesn’t allow me to post anything besides text. If any phone manufacturer wants to sponsor our next trip with a more advanced device, we’re down!
Music… Today we met with Pat Thomas, a legendary highlife musician, who shared his life story with us, from his early beginnings in Takoradi about 40 years ago (!) to the golden era of the late 70s, when highlife musicians often played several clubs during the same night! Highlife carries on today in Ghana, although it is quite discreet in comparison with hiplife. Highlife has basically been absorbed by the churches, the only entities able to fund live music performances. For better or for worse…
Panji of Pigen Music had some spare time this morning, so he shared some of his stories and thoughts about music, music in Ghana, where he fits in and where global fans and exposure fit in. An interesting point he made is that music made anywhere should appeal to the musicians immediate surrounding. By extension, he considers that taking an African artist and modifying his sound to appeal to a specifically western audience is doomed for failure. We couldn’t agree more!
Panji also told us an interesting anecdote explaining how he became involved with recording and production: playing the guitar along with a piano, he always had to be closer to the microphone, since the piano is louder. After experimenting with mic placement, and soon 2 track recording, he actually got pretty good at it. Fast forward 25 years (Panji started real young!), he’s still pretty good at it, and is one of the most forward thinking producers in Ghana.
Next was Dela of Hewale Sound, a great beo-traditional ensemble. After chatting with him about his past experiences sharing Ghanaian folklore all over the world, he invited us to a small concert right behind the National Theater. Balafon, djembe, cajon, calabash shaker, cowbell and flute… They got everybody dancing!! No photos to upload just yet: blackberry and wordpress still have a lot to learn from each other…
Last but not least we saw Appietus again today, and we discussed big plans together… We don’t want to jink anyx`thing, but keep his name in mind, it looks like he’ll be popping up here often.
