Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds & Ghanaian Blues 1968-91

We Say...

Review by Michaelangelo Matos

In the middle of the hot organ breakdown that occupies the center of the Super Sweet Talks' "Akampanye," the group's leader, A.B. Crentsil, notes, "It's a nice beat, man." He's telling us. There are a lot of them on this 33-song extravaganza-cum-overview of Ghanaian highlife-and-beyond, mostly from the '70s and all of it worth getting to know.

Soundway Records head Miles Cleret's previous three-part Nigeria Special extravaganza was the crate-digger roll of a lifetime, but Ghana Special may be even richer. It bounces between heady, raw percussion jams like Hedzolleh Sound's Jew's-harp-driven "Omusus Da Fe M'musu," smooth pop tunes such as the Ogyatanaa Show Band's "You Monopolise Me," and a jumpy near-hoedown from the Bokoor Band, whose "You Can Go" is driven by stick percussion, acoustic guitar, and the harmonica blasts of white Brit ex-pat bandleader John Collins. Honny & the Bees Band flirts with psychedelia.

Beyond Cleret's flawless selection, Ghana Special contains his canniest programming: each song moves into the next with thoughtful precision. Take the way Houghas Sorowonko's "Enuanom Adofo," which features horn interplay so hot-and-sour they make the smoking rhythms feel like an afterthought, rubs against "Bukom" by Oscar Sulley's Nzele Soundz: not only is the brass cooler (and tempered further by a flute solo that practically floats), it's driven by a precise, quick-stepping rhythm pattern that seems only like drums and congas until everything stops and the clavé comes to the fore. The fact that Basa Basa Soundz's "Dr. Solutsu" features guest saxophone from none other than Fela Kuti is nearly an afterthought: Ghana Special is just that much of a feast.