Ghana Special 2: Electronic Highlife & Afro Sounds In The Diaspora, 1980-93
7/10 Rare archive gems and hybrid synth-funk cuts from West Africans in European exile
SOUNDWAY
ONE of West Africa’s most enduring and adaptable signature sounds, Ghanaian “highlife” music has long sent its supple rhythms and lilting melodies, cycling guitar lines and brassy big-band arrangements rippling out across the globe, where it merged with jazz, disco, funk and reggae. This so-called “diaspora loop” e¡ect entered a prolic new chapter in the 1980s, when thousands of Ghanaian musicians emigrated in search of better opportunities, driven out by the repressive regime and restrictive economic policies of military junta leader Jerry Rawlings.
Most of these exiles headed for Britain and Germany, where they rst encountered synthesisers and drum machines, forging the Afro-pean fusion sound later branded “burger highlife”. The “burger” derives from the German word for citizen, since so many of these exiles ended up in Hamburg and Berlin. This is the widely scattered, musically di¡use generation that the excellent London-based connoisseur label Soundway attempts to yoke together on this ambitious anthology, the sequel to two previous well-received compilations, Ghana Soundz: Afro-beat, Funk & Fusion In ’70s Ghana (2002) and Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds & Ghanaian Blues 1968–1981 (2009).
There is living history inscribed in these grooves. The son of a paramount chief in Ghana, essentially one step below royalty, George Darko is now widely hailed as the godfather of highlife/eurodisco crossover for his 1983 classic “Ako Te Brofo”. His inclusion here is “Kaakyire
Nua”, a lesser track but still an infectious rolling groove of brassy fanfares and staccato guitar ri¡s with a vaguely Prince-like feel. Aer returning to Ghana in 1988, Darko was installed as a chief in his own right. He died in March this year, aged 73. Another prolic elder statesmen, Bessa Simons spent his early years in London playing with numerous artists, including legendary British Afro-caribbean fusion collective Osibisa. He is represented here by “Sii Nana”, on which his honeyed voice glides across supple rhythms and surging Hammond organ swirls. Simons remains a key gure on the music scene today, and was recently elected president of the Musicians Union of Ghana.
The “burger highlife” sound attracted disdain back in Ghana, but most of this compilation stands up well 40 years later. Not every track qualies as a cult crate-digger classic, of course, but among the healthy quota of synth-assisted Afropop gems is Starlite’s rolling, radiant, jangly “Anoma Koro” and Charles Amoah’s juicy, choppy, funk-heavy belter “Fre Me (Call Me)”. A mesmerising eight-minutes-plus blend of skeletal electro-jazz, electro squelch and airy vocal harmonies from Andy Vans, “Adjoa Amisa” sounds at times like an early Warp release. Meanwhile, “MC Mambo” by the mixed-heritage German-ghanaian collective Pepper, Onion, Ginger Salt is a borderline novelty quasirap number that oozes wonky DIY charm, like much of this uneven but absorbing collection.
Twin Infinitives
(reissue, 1990) FIRE 10/10
The sound of confusion, perfectly realised
There aren’t many albums quite as legendary, or as divisive, as Royal Trux’s second, Twin Innitives. Depending on where