COMING TO A FESTIVAL NEAR YOU: THE GHANAIAN GOSPEL ECSTASY OF ALOGTE OHO & HIS SOUNDS OF JOY
HIGHWAYS AND crossroads feature frequently in rock’n’roll’s many text books; bus stations have a less-storied existence, especially the one in Bolgatanga, northern Ghana. The southern tip of the traditional trans-Saharan trade routes, it’s where, in 2013, German percussionist Max Weissenfeldt began his quest to find the musicians behind a track repeatedly heard on a long coach journey from the south coast. He didn’t know its name, who it was by, or any of the lyrics – just that it had a tremendous dancehall reggae feel.
“He was asking everybody about a reggae song,” laughs Alogte Oho, the singer responsible for the tune in question, Allema Timba, “but in our culture, the Frafra, gospel music uses reggae rhythms and nobody knew what he was looking for. Reggae is Bob Marley, this is gospel. Frafra gospel.” Oho describes their eventual meeting as a “happy coincidence”: having finally found a copy of the LP, Weissenfeldt was sitting in his hotel when Oho walked in, looking for something to eat. The German drummer recognised him from the sleeve and suggested they work together.
Raised in the church, Oho has been singing gospel all his life, but with little impact beyond Frafra communities around the town affectionately known as Bolga. “North and south Ghana are musically totally different,” says Weissenfeldt. “In the north, the languages are closer to Burkina Faso or Mali; musically, they’re closer to Morocco, the Sahara sound. They use traditional rhythms, like 6/8, and pentatonic scales, they never harmonise. In the south, highlife dominates, 4/4 rhythms, diatonic scales and they harmonise a lot. There was no bridge between the two.”
While recuperating from a life-threatening motorbike crash, however, Oho came up with Mam Yinne Wa (God, You Love Me So), the transcendent 10-minute rumination on faith that made him a national star. “I was working alone,” he explains. “There are no studios, I’d program a beat and sing along. Live shows
“We have a tour of Europe this summer: 44 shows!”
ALOGTE OHO
are the same, and we only use instruments at church events like funerals. I think my first band was Max.”
Weissenfeldt’s vision – he formed Munich funk band The Poets Of Rhythm, then joined veteran Krautrockers Embryo, played on sessions for Lana Del Rey and Dr. John and currently runs the Joy Sound Studios in Kumasi, central Ghana – meshes brilliantly with Oho’s intuitive feel. Oho offers up his locally produced songs, recorded on a MIDI system, the drummer transcribes them and dreams up new arrangements. One brings catchy repetition, the other adds detail. It also helps that the German runs his own label, Philophon, which has become home to Alogte Oho & His Sounds Of Joy, the recording/touring teams that have been spreading the Frafra word beyond Africa.
“I’ve learnt how to play music, how to play with live bands – the rules,” says Oho. “And for the first time, we can see musicians from the north and south of Ghana coming together. That never existed before. We have a tour of Europe this summer: 44 shows! This has changed my life so much.”