Organ-driven Afro-beat, cosmic Afro-funk and raw, psychedelic boogie – these are just some of the flavours to be found on Afro-Beat Airways, the forthcoming collection of music from Ghana and Togo, showcasing an amazing diversity of local rhythms spiced with Afro-American funk, soul and jazz. Out on Analog Africa on 2 August 2010. Afro-Beat Airways is like a time capsule taking you on a fascinating musical journey through West Africa’s vintage Afro Sounds with 15 irresistible, danceable tracks that have been hiding for 30 years, yet were created to stand the test of time.

To document the songs as well as Ghana’s and Togo’s 70s music scene during which they were recorded, compiler and Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb crisscrossed the lengths of the two countries in search of the artists and producers. In the process he recorded a dozen interviews, scanned 90 rare pictures and transferred 120 master tapes. The evidence can be seen in the 44-page full colour booklet accompanying these 75 minutes of heavy West African sounds.

Samy Ben Redjeb, in his own words, talks about how an unplanned trip to Ghana started this compilation (when Ben Redjeb was stranded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopa, and couldn’t get on a flight to his chosen destination of Luanda, Angola, he spontaneously decided to fly to Accra instead):

“I arrived in Ghana and as on all my previous trips to Accra the first person I paid a visit to was producer Dick Essilfie-Bonzie who I simply call Mr Essiebons after his legendary label Essiebons Records. Everything happens for a reason because the disappointment of not being able to fly to Angola was soon replaced by excitement. Mr Essiebons explained that after more than a decade of being out of business he had decided “to give it another shot” and thus digitised all his master tapes for future releases. He showed me the result: a box containing approximately 80 CDs, each with a track listing – a total of 800 songs.  I was allowed to take the “surprise” box to my hotel room and started listening. I had no idea what to expect, but I was in for a treat. Previously unreleased material by Apagya Show Band and Orchestre Abass were the first few amazing tracks that I discovered and that’s when I decided to start working on this compilation.

About a year later the whole selection of songs was completed and now that I knew which tracks were going to be included, I decided to dedicate some time to find the artists for interviews and research. December 2008 and May of 2010 were solely dedicated to that process, as I flew to West Africa to meet Rob, Ebo Taylor, Nana Ampadu (founder of the mighty African Brothers Band), Issac Yeboah (lead singer of Vis-a-Vis, one of Ghana’s most impressive bands), Gyedu-Blay Ambolley (the personification of Ghanaian Afro-funk), saxophonist Ray Allen, Chester Adams (lead singer of the Uppers International) and few others. I did extensive interviews with all of them and managed to collect amazing pictures to document the liner notes that accompany the music.

While some light has been cast on the Ghanaian music scene of the 1970s, Togolese music on the other hand is relatively obscure and badly documented. However, we are working on this! In fact, we’ve already made a start – our previous Analog Africa compilation African Scream Contest showcased three Togolese artists. Afro-Beat Airways presents two more: Orchestre Abass and Cos-Ber-Zam. While Orchestre Abass developed into one of the country’s best bands, to such an extent that none other than Fela Kuti once offered them a contract to play at his Afro-Spot night club (which later became The Shrine), Cos-Ber-Zam was a one-hit wonder whose song  “Né Noya” was a monster hit in Togo but to date it is the only release by this obscure artist. The reason why I decided to include these particular Togolese tracks on the compilation is that they were all recorded in Ghana and thus they worked well in the mix.”

Tracklisting:

  1. Dankasa – Uppers International
  2. Ma Nserew Me – Apagya Show Band
  3. Me Yee Owu Den – K. Frimpong & His Cubano Fiestas
  4. Break Through – Marijata
  5. Ngyegye No So – African Brothers Band
  6. Awula Bo Fee Ene – Orchestre Abass
  7. Odofo Nyi Akyiri Biara – Ebo Taylor & The Sweet Beans
  8. Okpe See – Pagadeja Custom Band
  9. Afe Ato Yen Bio – De Frank Professionals
  10. Mumunde – Apagya Show Band
  11. More – Rob
  12. Ne Noya – Cos-Ber-Zam
  13. Neriba Lanchina – Uppers International
  14. Come Along – Ebo Taylor & The Pelicans
    Bonus tracks (vinyl only):
  15. Operation Bye-Bye – Orchestre Abass
  16. Obiye Saa Wui – 3rd Generation Band

 
Website: http://analogafrica.com