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| Pitchfork |
 Earlier this year, Soundway treated us to Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-1976, a double-disc compilation that served as a snapshot of the country's popular music scene in the 1970s, taking in sounds from the traditionally rooted to the progressive and experimental. There was a great deal of affinity between the scenes in Nigeria and Ghana during that era, owing in part to their shared history of British colonization and the free flow of people back and forth between the two nations. During a period of exile, Nigerian Afrobeat king Fela Kuti sheltered in Ghana, and many of Ghana's musicians did stints in Lagos and other Nigerian cities. The horn-heavy dance band highlife sound that developed in Ghana was easily exported by E.T. Mensah to Nigeria in the 50s, and the two countries keep up their musical dialogue even today.So now Soundway gives us Ghana Special, a two-disc, 33-track companion to the Nigerian volume and a successor to the label's two Ghana Soundz compilations from several years ago. Where Ghana Soundz focused on heavy funk and Afrobeat, this draws from a much wider spectrum, providing a panorama of the country's pop music. The influences range from local rhythms and age-old songs and the divergent palm-wine and big band highlife styles of Ghana itself to American blues, soul, and funk, European and American rock and psych (the Barbecues quote "Black Magic Woman" in the organ solo of "Aaya Lolo"), Cuban pachanga, and Nigerian Afrobeat. The cycling guitars of highlife are sometimes tinged with a bit of wah pedal, and wild analog synthesizers rub shoulders with hand drums whose design hasn't changed in centuries. Highlife's two strains-- the upper class big bands with their horn sections and lower-class palm-wine with its simple guitars and socially observant lyrics-- essentially merged during this period, as record players became widespread, economic decline made it tough to keep the big bands together, and technology changed everything....full text |
| Allmusic |
| The U.K. label Soundway Records has vaulted itself to the head of the pack within the narrow field of African anthologies. They specialize in hard '60s and '70s funk, disco, and rock from West Africa, as heard on their Nigeria Special series as well as the earlier Afro Baby and Ghana Soundz sets, not to mention a disc devoted to the best-of Nigerian singer-guitarist Sir Victor Uwaifo. This latest volume, a two-CD set of funk and rock from Ghana all recorded between the late '60s and early '80s, is a churning sea of polyrhythms, chanted vocals, thick, distorted organ sounds, blaring horns, and scorching guitar that are equal parts James Brown and No Wave. Indeed, there are tracks here that sound like an African take on the jagged N.Y.C. funk of the Contortions, while others adapt the innovations of legendary Nigerian bandleader Fela Kuti (who appears as a guest on one track). Of course, it's not all raucous shouting and distorted blare; there are some extraordinarily skillful jazz-funk records here, like the Sweet Talks' "Akampanye," with a stinging trumpet solo, or the jazz flute (and beautifully clear, bell-like vocals) of Christy Azuma & Uppers International's "Din Ya Sungri." A few songs ("Them Go Talk Of You," "I Go Die for You," "You Monopolize Me," "You Can Go") are sung in English, but most of the others will be incomprehensible to a U.S. listener -- and it won't matter one bit, because the rhythms and melodies are so overpowering and forceful that the music functions as pure limbic imperative. If your ass isn't shaking when this stuff is on, seek medical attention....full text |
| Bolachas |
| “Thirty-three more songs over two discs that add to the proof that West Africa was a hotbed for music from the late ’60s through the ’80s. It probably is now, too, but the focus of many an anthology recently has been on those 20 years. Ghana Special was produced old-school, with producer (and Soundway honcho) Miles Cleret driving around Ghana, asking DJs, collectors and record-shop owners to contribute their stashed vinyl and cassette gold. A generous selection of B-sides and un-issued album cuts is included, so this is a set in which folks from Ghana might also dig up some revelatory gems. High-Life, that unique African blend of rock, funk and party soul, is featured prominently, though most of the tracks are a hot stew of fused rhythms. If you have tasted that stew before, names like the African Brothers International Band, Fela Kuti (in a cameo), the Mercury Dance Band and the Sweet Talks may ring a bell, but no matter. Anywhere you set down the needle on this set will land on a winner. Bokoor Band’s “You Can Go” and “You Monopolize Me” by Ogyatanaa Show Band are personal favorites. Ghana Special is another historical document of what has been a long-overlooked peak period in world music. West African fusion of blues, rock, psych and funk over a period of 20 years or so starting in the late ’60s was one of the most inspired uses of the lessons of Western rock ever. This anthology is only a glimpse of what it was all about.”...full text |
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