Ebo, Good to hear your voice. Are you in Saltpond now?
I’m in Saltpond now.
Ah, I wish I was there. It’s cold and snowing here in New York. But we’re surviving.
Well, I wish I was in New York.
I would like that too. I hope we can help make that happen.
I’ve been listening to this new album. It’s beautiful work, once again.
O.K. Thank you very much.
Tell me the story of this record.
This recording took about one year to prepare. Some of the songs were
from other works, earlier works, that we had to retouch and rearrange
to suit the modern, the current trends of music. For example,
“Krumadey.” It is about the history of people associating with a mad man
through his music. In those days, there was not so much music around.
“Yen Ara” says, “We, who are only 30, conquered one thousand. We did it.
It is us!” The people of this village, a Fanti people, who were only
30, boasted of their power to conquer one thousand Ashanti warriors. So
this has a history of the Asafo music that we play in this country.
Asafo. I remember this. This is music associated with the Ashanti wars.
You know, our music is unlike any other Western tune. It takes its
roots from the Ghanaian Asafo music. We try to get it into a danceable
form, while keeping its history and merit.
Speaking of the album overall, are all these traditional songs, or adaptations?
The ones I spoke of are traditional songs. “Yen Ara” is a traditional
song of the military wing of every Asafo company. And it is sung to
celebrate their victory over a thousand enemies. “Mumudey” also has a
history. It’s about a dwarf who lived with some people, and who could
play every type of music. He could play trumpet or sax, any type of
instrument, and he dressed immaculately. The people thought he was very
clever, so they honored him with a name and a song. They called him,
“Abiouti Konfu.” So all these songs are historical music of the Fanti
people of the west coast of Ghana.
You also have a couple of songs in English, like “Poverty” and “Mind Your Own Business.” Are these your compositions?
Yes. These are my compositions. Every song on this record that is not
traditional is my composition. “Mind Your Own Business” advises
everybody to stick to his own business and keep his nose out of other
people’s business. I think it’s fair advice.
It certainly is.
Then I have “Ankoma’m.” This is an exhibition of the fear of a loner
who has all his people dead, and is now walking on the edge, alone. But
he is capable of keeping up with his problems. All these songs have
variety. The recording is not repetitive. Every song is different, a
different mood, a different form.
What about the lead track, “Poverty”?
Oh, “Poverty.” Nobody wants to be poor in this world. As a matter of
fact, that is a statement that we can make, and we are definite about
it. Nobody wants to be poor in this world. If you are poor, you
won’t get married, you won’t get a car, you won’t get a house. So
nobody wants to be poor, and the best way for you not to be poor is to
work hard. To create. You don’t have to be rich, but only to be fairly
capable of taking care of yourself. So nobody in this world wants to be
poor.
Amen.
Amen.
So, Ebo, speaking of rich and poor, I have been reading in
the newspaper that the economy in Ghana is doing very well right now. Do
you feel that? Do you feel like less people are poor now?
Yes, certainly. But, people are still not very comfortable with what
they have to live on. Because if the economy is good, it should show up
in the living style of the people. But people are still paying for goods
and for food, high prices that they can’t meet. And the worst thing is
that the economy has hit the health system. You go to the hospital, and
then the prescriptions in the pharmacy are very high prices, and
obviously, people will die from it. It’s amazing that someone will have
to pay about 1800 [cedi] to be given some medicines from the hospital
for diabetes, and for high blood pressure. These are very high; the drug
prices are high. And that is even more threatening than the food and
other goods. Electricity as been brought down by about 30 percent and
that might help people to solve some of their problems, but personally, I
cannot say I am very comfortable with the situation.
That’s tough, Ebo. Let’s come back to the music. Where did you record this record, and who was the band?
Some of the musicians are my children. The guy who sang “Krumadey” is
my son and also “Mumudey Mumudey.” Those are my sons, Henry and Roy
Taylor. Others are Philip Arthur on percussion, Rim Akandoh, on the
drums and Emmanuel Ackon is playing the bass. Then my two sons are on
percussion and piano. These musicians have a clever way of playing my
music. And I think they did very well in the studio in Holland, in
Amsterdam. Though before that, we had a lot of rehearsals in Ghana, so
they had found it very easy to record tracks. They were well rehearsed.
It shows. What about the brass section? The brass on this record is sensational.
The brass section is a duet of a trombone and a trumpet. Long John
[Ntumy] is on trumpet, and he was very well prepared, playing classical
and jazz for the past 15 years. Then [Benjamin] Osabotey, who is on
trombone, has been playing trombone for about 30 years, since he was 15
years old.
Wow.
Yeah, and they came out of recording room satisfied with what they
did. I think they did very well recording internationally for the first
time.
That’s so beautiful, Ebo. And once again, you’ve written such
beautiful horn arrangements for these guys. Are these new arrangements
you made for these recordings? Even for the traditional songs?
Yes, yes. Some came out right. Some came out not very right, but I hope we will do better the next time.
I think you did just fine. I really like this record,
especially the brass. It’s fine work. And are you able to take band to
Europe to do concerts?
Oh yes. We thought we needed to change our repertoire for the
concerts. There are some songs that have been overplayed, and we want to
change them, systematically, with these new grooves.
Well, we want to see you here. Because it’s clear from this recording that you and your group are going strong.
Yes. We will be there.
We can’t wait! Say, I hear you had an interesting time last fall in Nigeria, playing at Felebration in Lagos.
Yes, yes, yes. Mark LeVine invited us and I joined them in Port
Harcourt, and then we came to Lagos. We really had a nice time being
part of the celebration. Mark worked very hard to get us on the program,
though the program was tight. I remember one night, I played for one minute. On the stage. That was it.
One minute? Oh my God.
Yeah, but Fela is a great man. I always wanted to follow him because
he has done very well to take highlife in another direction, in a minor
mood, and with that Yoruba feeling. He got across and was noticed. I’m
glad that there are Afrobeat bands all over Europe.
And here too.
So I congratulate Fela for having done that. He was my contemporary
in London whilst I went to the Eric Gilder School of Music. Fela was at
another school; I have forgotten the name. But we met quite a lot and
played a lot of highlife, infusing it with jazz and talking bigger about
highlife’s achievement as an international music.
When we were down there with you, you told us some wonderful
stories about your times with Fela. You know, last month Tony Allen was
here in town, and he’s still going strong.
Oh, Tony. Yeah.
He’s up to a lot of interesting things these days, making jazz records and more experimental things. He’s amazing.
Tony is a very exciting musician to work with.
So how do you feel about what’s happening with the newer
music in Ghana these days? These young stars keep rising. The music is
changing, but it’s doing quite well. Do you ever interact or collaborate
with some of these young Ghanaian artists?
Yes I do. Last month I was in the studio with
Okyeame Kwame,
one of the rappers. He wanted to do some traditional highlife and I
helped them to arrange it in the studio. I was very glad to have been
part of that collaboration, because it’s a recognition of the knowledge
of the older musicians. The younger ones are pulling the right strings. I
like the situation where the industry is developing, even though the
music is still low. Ghanaian musicians are very good musicians. I always
say that. You can always find good musicians in Ghana, even though they
don’t have any kind of formal training, like those who have been to
Berklee or Juilliard. We need formal education in music. It’s
unfortunate that the last government deleted music from the school
curriculum as a subject.
Really? That’s terrible.
That has created a vacuum of music knowledge. These guys have no
formal education, so they are using their brains and their intelligence,
and I should say that if they were given the formal education that you
get in schools like Berklee or Juilliard or other schools in Europe,
there would be much greater musicians in Ghana. So the authorities will
have to review their decision to delete music from the school curriculum
as a subject.
It is a big mistake. Music gives people so many skills that apply in other areas as well.
Yes. Yes. There is music at university. I taught at Ghana University
from 2001 to 2009. But I found it very sterile, because the musicians
come with no basic training in music. They can hardly recognize
intervals, hardly recognize chords. So they are just starting at
university level.
That’s not good. You certainly serve as a good example of how
important it is to study music, because you really did, and it makes
your work so rich.
Exactly. These musicians who have no formal education in music, as I
had a formal education in music, and Teddy Osei, who started Osibisa,
also had a formal education in music. You can see that. We were able to
go forward more than an uneducated musician.
I am glad to hear that some of the young musicians are
working with you and recognizing that the old music has a lot to teach.
Even if they don’t have a formal education, they can still learn a lot
by listening to people like you.
Yes. I was happy that Okyeame Kwame invited me to the studio to
impart some of my music on one of his tracks. In recognition of that,
many of them would now like to take private study.
That’s good. You know, I was speaking with Fela’s son Femi a
few weeks ago, and I asked him what he thought about the young musicians
in Nigeria, and he said a similar thing. They mostly haven’t learned to
play instruments. So they’re doing well now, but what happens when they
get older and they’re not the new thing anymore? If they can’t play an
instrument and don’t have skills, they will be nowhere.
Well, sure. Nigeria has great musicians, great songwriters. But I saw
some guys in Port Harcourt who could play some very nice lines on their
instruments.
Yes. You were at Chicoco, that wonderful organization started
by Mark Uwemedimo and Ana Bonaldo and members of the community. Isn’t
that a great thing?
Yes. I want to record with them. But the madame is still arranging.
When she comes back from Brazil, she will be able to organize a
recording at Chicoco.
I hope you get to do that. I would love to hear it. One last
thing, I wanted to tell you that our radio program, Afropop, is turning
30 years old this year. We’ve been on the air for 30 years. Maybe for a
vet like you, that’s not so long, but for us it’s a long time.
I’d like to be part of the celebration. You have to widen the scope! I
am highly impressed by Afropop. This institution is helping to raise up
African music. I wish Afropop a happy celebration of 30 years of
existence. Bravo!
And bravo to you, Ebo, for another great album. Thanks so much.
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Originally published by afropop.org