THE GHANAIAN RESPONSE TO THE ‘WORLD MUSIC’ BOOM

by JOHN COLLINS

 

 

FOR CONFERENCE ON  “WORLD MUSIC AND SMALL PLAYERS IN THE GLOBAL MUSIC INDUSTRY” ORGANISED BY THE INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, COPENHAGEN 19^TH - 20^TH AUGUST 2005

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

  During the  fifties to early seventies Ghana led the way in West Africa with its  popular highlife and Afro-rock music  and with its  viable  recording and music production industry.   However things began to decline from the late 1970’s due to a corrupt military government followed by two coups, several years of  night curfew and the imposition of massive import duties on musical instruments.  Into the contemporary music vacuum came Ghanaian gospel-music (as the churches were not taxed) and hi-tech drum-box  and synthesizer  forms of local music (burgher highlife and hiplife)  that did away with large expensive bands. By the mid-1980’s the live commercial music and entertainment scene was almost at a stand-still.  exactly at a time when there was a growing international interest in African music. However, the Ghanaian non-commercial gospel-music  or computerized forms of music that appeared in the 1980’s and 90’s were too hi-tech for the psychology of the World Music fans,  who were demanding more so-called ’authentic’ African sounds.

Although  Ghana was initially unable  to benefit much from the early World Music    there have, however,  been a number of very important  positive spin-off from this international phenomenon.

One impacts directly on Ghanaian musicians  themselves  Hundred of foreign musicians, students and World Music fans  are coming to study African performance at Ghana’s universities and the literally scores of private drum and dance schools, beach resorts and  folkloric groups  that have sprung up since the late 1980’s. World  Music has also encouraged a small number of local musicians to continue with the older forms of live performance highlife  and not follow the hi-tech ‘canned’ and ‘mimed’  approach to musical performance and production .  And abroad there are literally hundreds of Ghanaian musicians in Europe, America and Australia involved with World Music outfits or teaching African music  at schools and colleges.

Another impact results from the use by the American  ‘World Music’ star Paul Simon of an old Ghanaian song in his ‘Rhythm of the Saints’ album – the substantial royalties  from which was used in 1991 to help establish the Ghanaian National Folklore Board of Trustees that is making an inventory of Ghanaian folklore and monitoring its commercial use by foreigners.

The lucrative World Music industry has also  led to  the  Ghanaian  government reconsidering the role of popular entertainment, largely sidelined by successive governments over the last twenty-five year or so. The Ministry of Tourism  is also behind this move as over the last five years tourism has become the third largest  foreign exchange earner for Ghana with ten percent of  tourist revenue being spent on entertainment. This move to elevate the entertainment sector has also been encouraged since June 2000  by the  World Bank initiative to assist the music industry of six African countries, including Ghana. As a result in2004r the Ghanaian government reduced the massive import duties on musical instruments that has cripple the local live music industry for over  twenty  years. Furthermore, this year the entertainment industry is being added to the current Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy and the Ghanaian Parliament is currently working on a new copyright bill to curb music piracy.

 

To examine in detail  the situation of Ghanaian music  in relation to World Music I will divide this paper into two main  section. Firstly the  breakthrough of African music into the world record market in the early 1980's and various reasons for this. The invention of the word 'World Music' in 1987. The growth expansion of the World Music sector of the international music industry, the World Bank interest in World Music and assisting the music industry of six African countries and rise of a double  music market for the African music industry: internal African sales of hi tech studio-band music that is currently fashionable with youth of many African countries, and the international sales of  live performance African music for World Music fans . In the second section of the paper I will look at the impact of the boom in World Music on  Ghana in particular

 

But first let me say a few word about my observation from working as a musician in the Ghana from the late 1960’s  when  new popular music styles began to emerge, like  Afro-rock, Afro-soul  and Afro-beat, which almost became internationally  recognized as early as  the 1970’s

 

 

 

 

MY OWN WORK IN AFRICAN POPULAR MUSIC  FROM  BEING BASED IN GHANA SINCE LATE 1960’S

 

 

In 1969, at the time that I first began working as a musician in Ghana, highlife was the dominant commercial    music style only of the country and although it had never become international  it  had, during the 1950’s and 1960’s, become popular in many African countries, particularly Nigeria. Many of the youth were also interested in imported rock music and soul and the various  ‘psychedelic’  and ‘Afro’ fashions that went with them. The fusion of these imported ‘pop’ dance-music styles  into local idioms (such as highlife and makossa) subsequently led to the emergence of Afro-fusion music in the early 1970’s. There was the Afro-rock music of the London based Ghanaian group Osibisa that had a string of record hits in Europe in the early to mid 1970’s. Their successful Afro-rock  resulted in a host a similar bands being set up in  Africa, particularly  English speaking countries. [1] Then there was the Afro-soul music of Segun Bucknor of Nigeria and also Manu Dibango of the Cameroons; who settled in France and had a big hit in 1972 in the USA with his ‘Soul Makossa’ album in the early 1970’s. At the same time Fela Anikulpo Kuti of Nigeria was putting his Afro-beat sound together in Lagos, a music style that was quickly taken up by music groups in neighbouring countries such as Ghana (Big Beats and Sawaaba Sounds) and Benin (Polyrhythmic Orchestre)

 

This Afro-fusion music was taken abroad by African bands and artists who became resident in Europe and the United States:  Osibisa, Boombaya and Super Combo in London, Manu Dibango in Paris  and  Hedzolleh and Ofo and the Black Company in the States. However what really made this music popular outside of Africa, particularly in Europe in the early 1970’s, was that it provided a dance-music to  pop music fans  at a time when western rock music was moving away from providing music for dancing,  to one of putting onstage  stunning displays of virtuosity by rock ‘superstars’ for passive watching  audiences. Soul music was not then so popular in Europe Disco and reggae had not fully surfaced and so there was in western Europe a temporary dance vacuum in the popular music scene– which Afro-fusion – and Osibisa’s Afro-rock in particular – helped fill.

 

However the drum-machine disco music of Kraftwerk and Donna Summer and others then became fashionable in Europe, followed by ska and then reggae dance music. These filled the dance vacuum and Afro-fusion bands   lost their popularity in Europe and   the most famous, Osibisa, had to start making tours to Asia and Australia. In the United States and except for Manu Dibangos one off Soul Makossa hit, Afro-fusion music did not really make an impact at all in the seventies, as the States had its own soul, motown and other black dance- music, and so never suffered the dance vacuum of European popular music.

 

So African music almost became a ‘world music’ in the 1970’s but because of the waxing of disco and reggae it took another ten years for this to happen.  In this next section of the paper that deals with the emergence of the African component of World Music I will first look at the general reasons for the growing international interest in highlife, Afro-rock, Afro-beat, juju music, soukous, chimurenga, South African Township music and other forms of ‘Afro-pop’ since the early 1980’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WORLD MUSIC : THE GENERAL REASONS FOR THE BREAKTHROUGH OF AFRO-POP MUSIC  IN THE EARLY 1980'S

 

 

• FIRST:     Afro-pop is a logical extension of the global emergence of the black dance-music of the Americas and Caribbean that began in the late 19th century: from jazz, blues and the samba right up to today’s reggae, rap and salsa.  Put the other way round, the gradual internationalization of the black popular music of the Americas ultimately paved the way for the popular music of Africa itself going global.

 

• SECONDLY: Afro-pop is intrinsically global.  Unlike traditional ethnic African music that is usually located in a specific local culture, contemporary African popular music    is a fusion of African, Western, Black American and in some cases Arabic and even Indian influences. It is therefore intrinsically an international idiom suitable for an international audience..
• THIRDLY: there has been a growing interest in African music by jazz and rock stars. From the 1960’s modern jazz musicians such as John Coltrane, Max Roach, Sun Ra and Randy Weston   became interested in African music. The residency in the United States of Ghana’s Kofi Ghanaba (then known as Guy Warren) and Nigeria’s Babatunde Olutunji played an important role in this development as these percussionists interacted with the jazz fraternity as early of the 1950’s in the case of Guy Warren.[2] From the seventies British and American rock stars also began visiting Africa: the drummer Ginger Baker [3], Paul McCartney of the Beatles [4], Sting and Stuart Coplan of the American band Police, Mick Fleetwood [5] and rock composer Brian Eno [6]. Then there was Paul Simon who released his African influenced smash-hit ‘Gracelands’ album in 1986. Around that time the radio journalist Sean Barlow visited Ghana and in 1987  he and George Collinet  started up the Afro-Pop program of Public Radio syndicated on 30 US radio stations.[7] More recent visits to Africa by UK pop musicians include those of Damon Alban of Buzz and Gorilla and of Jamie Cato and Duncan Bridgeman of Faithless and One Giant Leap.[8] There is also today an enormous interest by American and European  ‘techno-music’ d.j.'s and dance-fans in Fela Anikupalpo-Kuti’s Nigerian Afro-beat music, which they use to create their electronic dance-floor grooves.

• FOURTHLY:   In spite of what I said earlier about reggae dance taking the wind out of Afro-rock in the early 1970’s and therefore helping delay the early 1970’s internationalization of African popular music, in the 1980’s reggae rather helped the current global interest in Afro-pop. Indeed Jamaican reggae and rastafarianism acted as a stepping-stone to African music for many western musicians. The back-to-Africa theme in rastafarianism and reggae has, since the seventies, encouraged many West Indian and white reggae bands to look towards Africa music for inspiration. Some artists actually visited African: Jimmy Cliff [9] visited Nigeria, Misty and Roots and Greg Isaacs visited Ghana, Bob Marley played at Zimbabwe’s  1980 independence whilst members of  the American band Police made several visits to Africa.
• FIFTHLY Another way that reggae facilitated the international interest in African music was through the white reggae bands (like Police) and British  two-tone bands of the 1980’s. The latter  (such as the Beat, Selector,  UB40 and the  Specials) consisted of white and West Indian musicians and these two-tone bands created simple cross rhythms  by combining  the percussive reggae upbeat (or ‘back-beat’)  with the rock downbeat;  or by the  white rock guitarists playing on the four beats of  the bar, whilst the West Indian guitarist ‘skanked’ on the off-beats .[10] As mentioned these two (rock and reggae) opposing rhythmic techniques created a simple cross-rhythm, enhanced the idea of rhythmic space [11] and opened up the polyrhythmic imagination of western pop musicians and their dance-fans. [12] It is no wonder then that any western pop musicians and fans became drawn towards and inspired by the more sophisticated polyrhythms f African dance music, both traditional and popular.[13]    When Bob Marley died in 1981 the manager of his Jamaican/British Island Records company, Chris Blackwell, decided to look for the next super-star in Africa rather than the Caribbean and indeed in  1983  this independent reggae label chose  Nigeria’s top juju-music star, Sonny Ade,  who began to tour and release records in Europe.  This leads us on to the next topic of  the role of the independent record labels in the growth of Afro-pop and World Music  

 

 

WORLD MUSIC:  THE INTEREST OF INDEPENDENT RECORD LABELS IN COMMERCIAL AFRO- POP AND THE  INVENTION  OF ‘WORLD MUSIC’  IN 1987

As mentioned, after the death Bob Marley Island Records turned to African for its next big star – and chose to promote international tours by the Nigerian juju-music super-star Sonny Ade whose album ‘Synchro-System’ (juju music influenced by Afro-beat) sold well on the international market. Another British independent label, Virgin Records, also released an early successful Afro-pop hit in 1982 called ‘Sounds Afrique’, which consisted of a selection songs from old master-tapes of the East African version of  Congolese soukous music that had been discovered gathering dust in a Kenyan recording studio by the British musician Ben Mendelsson. From 1983 other British independent labels moved into the African popular music business such as Sterns African Records [14], Earthworks, Oval, Real World and Globestyle - which by 1992 numbered fourteen.  Unlike the earlier companies operating in Africa such as Decca, EMI and  Phillips/Polygram, whose African releases were mainly for the internal African market, these independent labels catered for the growing number of white Afro-Pop music  fans. Paris also became an early center for African popular music industry

These British independent labels initially endorsed  music coming from English speaking Africa and later added Francophone African material coming out of  independent record companies in France,  as by the late 1980’s Paris had also become the ‘Mecca’ f or musicians from French-speaking African countries.  By  the 1970’s France had  four million immigrant from its African and Caribbean colonies - and  by the late 1970’s there were hundreds of African musicians in Paris whose  small market was catered by established  companies such  as Sonodisc,  Pathe-Marconi, Son Afrique and Melodisque. However, things took a quantum leap in 1981 after the   multi-cultural approach of the Mitterand government, whose Minister of Culture, Jack  Lang, helped fund and organise tours by African bands. As a result many new French independent Afro-pop labels appeared: like Syllart, Celluloid, Gefraco and Cobalt, Toure Jim, Wotre Musique, Ngrapy, Mayala and  FNAC.

It was only after the pioneering work of these British and French independent African pop labels that the big record companies such as  HMV, EMI and Warner Brothers began to move into African music. For instance Warner Brothers 1986 release of Paul Simon’s South African inspired Gracelands album which sold fourteen million copies and triggered san interest in African popular music in the United States. Subsequently the big distributors began to setup World Music sections in their mega music stores - and as they say the rest is  history. 

The word ‘World Music’  itself was coined by a group of independent recording companies and popular music journalists in London in 1987  to broaden the marketing  potential of African popular music or ‘Afro-pop’ as it had been originally called. There were two meetings held in London in 1987 in connection with this name. The first  was at the Café de Musicians in South London called by John Harlow the editor of  the Africa Beat magazine. The second was held a little later on  June 29^th 1987 at a North London pub called the Empress of Russia at which a  group of independent record labels  decided on the name as a marketing ploy. I  was present at the first meeting  and  opposed the change of name from Afro-Pop to World Music as I and Charles Eassmon[15] thought it would obscure  the fact that African dance music had became mainstream rather than being an ethnic brand of music and  we thought this new word  would sideline the  fact that it was African popular music that was the engine or  battering ram that  had created this new slot in the international record market . We  were told the name ‘Afro’ was outmoded and a new word was needed.

 At first some of my reservations about the new name were confirmed. For instance I knew some African run  Discos in the UK were suddenly considered  too narrow by World Music audience.  Furthermore,  the  pioneering layer of Afro-pop   writers and radio and newspapers journalists  were quickly pushed aside by  armchair experts and reggae journalists who  suddenly became African experts

Nevertheless and whatever name , the fact is that African popular music has created  a new marketing slot in the global music market and even today  a significant portion  of all World Music releases are of African music. Despite the change of name from ‘Afro pop’ to ‘World Music’ this new slot in the international record market has benefited Africa and African musicians in many ways:  a topic to which I will now turn.

 

 

 

WORLD MUSIC: SOME POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES FOR AFRIXCA AND AFRICAN MUSICIANS IN GENERAL

 

 

POSITIVE CONSEQUENCE ONE:  GROWTH IN INTERNATIONAL SALES OF AFRICAN MUSIC

Up to the 1980’s and with a few exceptions[16]  international sales of African music was generally quite small and was limited  too small shops catering for African students, and those interested in ethnic  music.

 

From this almost minimal international sales in the 1950’s to 70’s  the market expanded during the 1980’s into a multi million dollar one by 2000  The following figures are one I put together for   the World Bank in 2000 [17], based on late 1990’s figures.  I estimated that the African  component of World Music is around 25 percent [18]  -   and the total revenues from the sales and royalties of this African segment of World Music sales and royalties was almost  1.5 billion dollars a year.

 

MUSIC AND ROYALTIES LATE 1990’S SALES

 

MUSIC SALES 

Total global music sales                           =  36,000,000,000 (thirty-six billion dollars)

Total global ‘World Music’  sales 1999   =   5,000,000,000   (five billion dollars) [19]

African component of above ( 1/4^th)    =   1,250,000,000 (one and a quarter billion)

 

1)      ROYALTIES

Total Global royalties in 1997  [20]              =    6,300,000,000 (six point three billion)

World Music royalties (14% of above )     =       880,000,000  (approx.)

African component of this (1/4^th )              =       220,000,000

 

TOTAL MUSIC SALES & ROYALTIES (1,250,000,000+220,000,000) =   $1,470,000,000

POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES TWO: WORLD BANK INTEREST IN AND ASSISTING THE AFRICAN MUSIC INDUSTRY

By 2000 and due to the growth of World Music market the World Bank had recognized the positive economic benefits of the local music industry for African countries and a one day workshop was put together  at their headquarters in Washington DC  (20^th June, 2000)  to discuss ways of assisting the music industry in six African countries  (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Mali).Besides the World Bank their were representatives  from EMI, IBM, the  World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO),    as well as a music expert and economists. I was invited by World Bank through them knowing of my American book West African Pop Roots. [21]  Areas discussed were soft micro-credit loans for the musicians, bands and clubs and for the setting up of digital studio-cum-websites in Africa for distributing locally produced music (by MP3, Napster, etc).  Also discussed was the possibility of direct grants for reviewing   copyright legislation, upgrading and making transparent African royalty collecting organizations, supporting music unions, providing free legal aid for poor musicians and for providing music educational equipment. The meeting was held over a second morning where Ghana in particular was discussed and the main thrust of my argument to them was the need for the world Bank to support the live music industry in Ghana, which had partially collapsed during the late 1970s and   1980s and was vital for both the local tourist industry and for expanding the /Ghanaian content of World Music sales. However as at the time Ghana did not have any clauses in its dealing with World Bank c concerning the commercial music and Entertainment sector. Senegal  (which did already have such clauses) became the first recipient of this initiative: receiving just over five million dollars. (SEE APPENDIX A) FOR MORE DETAILS)

 

 

 

POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES THREE :GIVES AFRICAN MUSIC A DOUBLE MARKET

Besides the internal African market   there is now a   second international one deriving from World Music sales and royalties. This double market includes Africans (especially the youth) turning towards hi-tech music and World Music fans who want what they consider ‘authentic' African music. The reason for this difference is that western World Music fans have become over-saturated with hi-tech music and are looking for ‘back-to-root’s, ‘live’ and ‘unplugged’ music. On the other hand, African popular music fans are rather fascinated with artificial hi-tech sounds, which to them symbolically represent  modernity  and which  they hope will help them leap-frog into 21st century. This difference between   the internal modernistic African one and the romanticized  World Music marketing profile has been commented on in a polemical way by some writers. For instance in a recent issue of the British music magazine Songlines    (March/April 2005)  called the Great Debate, the British-based Nigerian commentator Bisi Adepegba [22] accuses World Music fans who hate computerized African music and are searching for ‘authenticity’ as being  musical  neo-colonialists and patronizing  of Africans.

 

My own position on this difference from living in Africa is to take a less polarized view, and treat the two psychological profiles of African music buyers (i.e. internal African and international World Music) as a positive development for African musicians; for it allows them to tap into a double market that puts money into their pockets.  So it is not a question of political correctness s but the livelihood and survival of African artists that is involved.  Some African musicians are already  tapping into this double market. For instance, the famous Senegalese singer  Youssou N’Dour often makes two mixes of his songs in his Studio in Dakar. For the local market with its hi-tech taste he  uses drum machines and  synthesizers, whereas for the World Music market  he uses live drums and a  large horn section. Far from being a touristy ‘hotel singer’ as   Adepegba’s claims,  Youssou N’Dour is rather a sophisticated artist who understands the various psychological profiles of his fans and is therefore able to cater for these differences

 

In the rest of this paper I will deal with the effects of the World Music boom on  Ghana in particular .

 

  

 

 

SPECIFIC STORY OF GHANA AND WORLD MUSIC.

 

 

 

POSITIVE EFFECT ONE.: WORLD MUSIC AS  BOOST FOR THE TOURIST INDUSTRY,

Twenty years ago tourism in Ghana was literally at a standstill, largely due to political instability, the problems of artificial exchange rates and resulting black market,  and shortages of even basic commodities  But particularly after  the IMF initiated Structural Adjustment Policy of the late 1980’s tourism   dramatically increased in  Ghana -  so that between 1992 and 2002 the number of tourists entering   the country each year doubled. In  2003   550,0000 tourists visited Ghana   and in 2004 650,000 came.  In 2000 foreign tourism generated $350 million for Ghana and in 2004 $800 million, making tourism the third largest foreign-exchange earner for the country - after gold and timber. The Minister of Tourism, Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, claims that  by 2007 tourism is expected to attract on e million visitors a year to Ghana,  generate $1.5 billion  in foreign exchange and create 300,000 local jobs: making tourism  the largest employer  in formal sector after  agriculture, trade and industry. [23] 

 

It has been estimated   that ten percent of the foreign exchange that international tourists actually spend is on recreation and entertainment  – and this brings us to the topic of a new and growing sector for Ghanaian tourism. This is the impact of what might be called 'World Music tourists'   who come to Ghana for its highlife and popular night-club music, and its traditional folkloric groups performed at local festivals and ceremonies - as well as and onstage   at hotels and beach resorts. Some of these World Music tourists, as I will mention in a moment, also come to artistically or academically study local music and dance.

 

World Music fans and indeed foreign tourists in general enjoy live performances of bands with a strong indigenous African flavor, and so any for them will obviously This is why the current Ministry of Tourism has recently put its weight behind moves in the country to facilitate increase in the number of live bands and night-clubs that cater for them. One such move the Ministry supported was the government decision in early 2004 to reduce the high import duties on musical instruments which has been crippling the local live music industry over the last twenty years or so.

 

 

 

POSITIVE EFFECT TWO: THE PAUL SIMON FACTOR IN THE CREATION OF THE GHANA FOLKLORE BOARD

 

In October 1990 Paul Simon followed up his 1986 South African-oriented ‘Gracelands’ album success   with another  album on the WEA Warner Brothers label  called ‘The Rhythm of the Saints’. For some of the songs in this album he collaborated with the Ghanaian bass player Kofi Electric and the Cameroonian guitarist Vincent Nguni. One of the songs of this American songwriter called  ‘Spirit Voices’ was partly based on the melody and rhythm of the old Ghanaian highlife song ‘Yaa Amponsah’, the name of a beautiful lady dancer of the 1920’s.   Being a well meaning and honest person Paul Simon therefore contacted the Ghana Embassy in New York who advised him to send the  initial 16,000 dollars royalties then collected (now over $80,000) to the Ghana Copyright Administration that came under Ghana’s equivalent of a  cultural ministry,  the National Commission on Culture ( N.C.C.)

 

Under its then Director, Dr. Mohammed Ben Abdullah, the N.C.C. set up a committee to look at the exact origin of the song Yaa Amponsah which  was first recorded by Kwame Asare (Jacob Sam)  and the Kumasi Trio in 1928 for the British Zonophone Company  (later incorporated  into  EMI). Indeed, Paul Simon had been advised by Ghanaians in the United States that the Yaa Amponsah  was  Kwame Asare’s composition and so this American singer had ear-marked the sixteen thousand  dollars for him via the Copyright Administration. The N.C.C. for various reasons [24] deemed the Yaa Amponsah song an anonymous folkloric work. And therefore in 1991 Paul Simon’s money was used to establish the National Folklore Board of Trustees that (then) had close ties with the Ghana government’s Copyright Administration. The Folklore Board was charged with making an inventory of all of Ghana’s tangible and intangible folkloric works (not just music) and to monitor its commercial use by foreign artists and companies from the industrial nations who would in the future have to seek permission from and pay a fee to the Board. [25]

 

Although Paul Simon’s money was put to good use there was one unforeseen negative result. The copyright lawyers on the Folklore Board wanted to extend this folkloric license from foreigners to Ghanaians, and in this they were vigorously opposed by some of the performing artists on the Board (the musician Koo Nimo, the poet Kofi Anyidoho and myself - a member from 1991-7). Despite stiff opposition from many members of the Ghanaian artistic community the folkloric license clause for Ghanaians was  then incorporated into the new copyright bill and even today the issue has not been fully resolved. ( SEE APPENDIX B  FOR MORE DETAILS) 

 

 

 

POSITIVE EFFECT THREE   THE INCREASING NUMBERS OF FOREIGN MUSICIANS

VISITING GHANA AND/OR COLLABORATING WITH GHANAIANS

 

From the late 1970’s to mid 1980 there were few visits by foreign musicians to Ghana due to the economic and political problems of the time. However, there one or two exception. In 1980 there was a visit by   Brian Eno  (who actually stayed with me for a few days) and helped a local producer, Faisal Helwani, record the Edikanfo Afro-rock  band. The same year Mick Fleetwood  (the English drummer of Fleetwood Mac) came with a 24-track studio and in collaboration with the Musicians Union of Ghana and the Ghana Arts Council made  a film called ‘The Visitor’ that involved  several Ghanaian artists and bands. During the 1980's there were also some notable collaborations between Ghanaian and western World Music stars working outside of Ghana. One already mentioned was Paul Simon who on his 1989 album Rhythms of the Saints worked with the Ghanaian bass player Kofi Electric (and Cameroonian guitarist Vincent Nguni who had resided in Ghana for a time). Another was Nana Danso Abiam and his Pan African Orchestra that worked in the UK with the   ex-Genesis rock musician Peter Gabriel, performed at his 'WOMAD' world music  festival and released the 1988 World Music chart hit   'Opus One'  on Gabriel's Real World label.

By the early 1990's the effects of the liberalisation of the Ghanaian economy led to increasing numbers of foreign visitors coming to Ghana - including musicians,   For example in 1991 the first of a series of PANAFEST  or Pan African Festivals   was initiated  by the government that over the years brought in many thousands of African-American tourists  – including musicians such as    Steve Wonder, Public Enemy, Dionne Warwick and Isaac Hayes.

From the USA and Europe has come the jazz musicians Randy Weston and Max Roach (the latter visiting the Ghanaian master drummer Kofi Ghanaba/Guy Warren) as well as the German percussionist Robin Schulkowsky who recorded with Kofi Ghanaba. From the United States has come Caron Wheeler of the Soul 2 Soul band, Jermain Jackson (Michael Jackson’s older brother) and Shaggy. Then in 1999 Jamie Cato and Duncan Bridgeman of the British pop band Faithless came and worked with Ghanaians [26] and subsequently released a DVD in 2003   called One Giant Leap which won two grammy awards. Another more recent visitor from the UK was the Black British sax player Courtney Pine. Many artists have also come to Ghana since the late 1980’s from the Caribbean: Misty and Roots, Musical Youth, Greg Isaacs, Kassav,  Culture  and Rita and Ziggi Marley. Infact, Rita Marley has actually settled in Ghana and has built a recording studio in the Aburi Hills near Accra.

 

 

POSITIVE EFFECT FOUR : WORLD MUSIC  HAS HELPED GENERATE REVENUES FOR

TOURING GHANAIAN BANDS AND  GHANAIANS RESIDENT ABROAD 

Besides foreign bands coming to Ghana, since mid 1980’s and with the rise in interest of World Music an increasing number of Ghanaian based artists and bands have toured in the US, Europe and Japan.[27] Furthermore, many Ghanaian performing artists have been resident abroad or are still abroad. Some are members  (or leaders) of African traditional and popular music bands, whilst others are solo artists, session musicians, members of cross-over World Music bands, or teach African drumming and dancing in schools and colleges.

The following is a list of some of the musicians who by the  mid-1980’s and 90’s had permanently settled abroad or had spent extensive periods abroad.  USA: Obo Addy,  Yacub Addy (Odadaa Band), Amartey Hedzolleh, Okyerema Asante (with Paul Simon and Mick Fleetwood), Jerry Hansen (Ramblers) , master percussionists Kobla and C.K. Ladzekpo, Kwarshi Amuvor, C.K.Ganyoh, Gideon Foli, Godwin Agbeli, Kwasi Baidoo, Adjei Abankwah. CANADA: Pat Thomas, Alfred Schall (Wanaa Wazuri Band), Nana Yaw Boakye (Nakupenda) , Bishop Okele (Officials). DENMARK: Afro Moses (O’Jah) ,  Henry Soloman (Zebra). UK: Alfred Bannerman,   Nana Tsiboe, Atongo Zimba, George Dzikunu, Ray Allen, George Lee (now in South Africa),  the late Jon Kay, Mike Osapanyin (Kabala), Kwabena Oduro Kwarteng (Highlife Internationals), Kofi Edu, Ben Brako, Sol Amarfio and Teddy Osei (Osibisa), Lord Eric, Ben Baddo, Nii Abbey Mensah’s Abladie Ga Cultural Group.. HOLLAND: Kofi Ayivor, Sloopy Mike Gyamfi (Sankofa), Charles Tetteh. AUSTRALIA:  Little Noah (Kotoka Mma),  Eddie Quansah (the Black Trumpet) , Aweke Glyman, Kojo Ashakan. FRANCE: B.B. Brew, the  late Stanley Todd. AUSTRIA: master drummer Mustpapha Tettey Addy. GERMANY :  highlife musicians Daddy Lumba, George Darko, Rex Gyamfi, Bob  Fiscion, Allan Cosmos Adu, Charles Amoah , McGod, Lee Duodu, Bob Pinado and the  Adesa Cultural Group .

 

POSITIVE EFFECT FIVE:  WORLD MUSIC TOURISTS HAVE FACILITATED TRADITIONAL GHANAIAN MUSIC AND PROVIDED AN INCOME FOR ITS PRACTITIONERS:

 

Here we will look at the areas of the ‘folkorisation’ of Ghanaian traditional  music and dance : that is taking indigenous performance out   of its ethnic and communal context and putting it on stage, into class-rooms or into recording studios. This ‘folkorisation’ process really took off  after independence in Ghana in 1957 when Nkrumah initiated national  festivals, established  an Arts Council and Ghana Dance Ensemble and began the teaching of traditional African music in schools and universities  (like the Institute of African Studies and  School  of Performing Arts).

 

However there is now is now an  expansion of folklorisation,  from its role in governmental national culture as policy to it being linked to private commercial and educational initiatives. This began in the late 1980’s with the   boom in Ghanaian tourism (including World Music tourism) when many  folkloric ‘cultural’ and ‘neo-traditional’[28]  groups were encouraged to perform at beach-clubs and hotels through the interest of the foreign visitors. Furthermore,  many  private or non governmental (NGO)  cultural centers began to be  established  to teach traditional  music and dance[29]  many of them being allocated at beach resorts, the very first being the African Academy of Music and Arts (AMAA) set up at the fishing village of Kokorobite in thelate 1980’s by the master-drummer Mustapha Tettey Addy . There are also local cultural groups that double up as teaching units for foreign visitors from time to time [30] Although not within the private sector it is interesting to note that since the 1990’s literally hundreds of foreign drum and dance students each year attend  the University of Ghana School of Performing Arts at Legon.

Many think that the tourist industry can only have a bad effect on traditional culture, the it makes it less ‘authentic’:  waters-it down and pre-packages it,  so to speak. However there is a positive  side to this, which is that  the tourist and World Music interest in traditional African music financially encourages young people to learn  the performance skill of their elders, which otherwise might have been lost. . 

Many of the cultural and folkloric groups that perform at hotels, beach resorts, cultural centres  and educational institutes also  sometimes record. The 1988 ‘Opus One’  World Music hit of the Pan African  Orchestra has already been mentioned  and since the 1980’s the famous Ga drummer Mustapha Tettey Addy has released a string of records and CD’s on the German Weltwunder label.  Many other folkloric and neo-traditional groups bands and artists  have been releasing materials in the last ten years – and here I will just mention a few. There is the university based neo-traditional group Hewale [31]  that combines local instruments from the different region of Ghana that has made two cd’s since 2000. There have also been recent local cassette releases of Akan Nwonkoro music by groups such as  Onyame Krabae [32]. Another Akan style is that of Osei Kwame Korankye  who has been reviving, teaching and recording the almost defunct  seprewa harp-lute at the university of Ghana.   From the Ga area has come the  Sensational Wulomei  whose records  combines local percussion with the highlife guitar, and  Ebaahi  Soundz who released its fifth album ‘Naa Daniowie’ in 2005.[33] From upper eastern Ghana are  the African Showboys,  a group of brothers who have been performing Frafra music onstage since the 1980’s and have recently released a CD in the States. From the Upper Westt Region of Ghana   has come the internationally recognised performer and teacher of the Dagari  ‘gyil’ pentatonic wooden xylophone, Kakraba Lobi who has released two CD’s in the States since 2000. Finally there has been a resurgence in recording sales of folk guitarists like Koo Nimo,  Kwabena  Nyama,   Kwaa Mensah and others  who have   been releasing  the   old ‘palmwine’  version of highlife in recent years.  (FOR DETAILS OF THESE RECORDINGS SEE  APPENDIX  D)

POSITIVE EFFECT SIX : THE WORLD BANKS INTEREST IN WORLD MUSIC HAS ENOURAGED THE GHANAIAN GOVERNMENT TO INCLUDE COMMERCIAL MUSIC IN IT OFFICIAL POLICY

 

Although Ghana’s first leader, Dr. Nkrumah, included the commercial music and entertainment sector as he recognized the role of popular performers in the independence struggle[34],  subsequent  governments took little official interest in this sector, despite of the rise of tourism and the World Music phenomenon from the late mid/late 1980’s.

 

However, under the present Kuffour government there has been a change, which is partly a result of the 2000 decision by the World Bank to give grants and soft loans to the African music industry – and indeed linking this World Bank music initiative to the Ghana Poverty Reduction  Strategy (GPRS). This was first muted when  in 2002  when  a number  of meetings and correspondences were established by John Collins and officials of some of Ghana’s music unions and associations[35]   with the Minister of Tourism (Mr. Obetsebi Lampty), the Minister of Finance (then Mr. Kwesi Nduom)  and the World Bank Desk (Mr.  Kofi Tsikita ). The new Country Director of the World Bank in Ghana  Mr. Mats Karlsson (himself a musician ) expressed a keen interest in the idea.

 

In early 2004 President Kuffour’s own interest in the music industry became evident when he reduced the import duties on musical equipment that has crippled the music industry for so many years. However, it was in  2005  that the music industry sector was added to the Ghana  Poverty Reduction Strategy, after a team comprising Prof. Komla Amoaku and Korkor Amarteifio  of the  Institute of Music and Development  and Prof. Collins come together to conceptualize and organize a workshop on the theme  Mainstreaming Music in Ghana’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Program. They first met and discussed the matter with Dr. William Ahadzi of the University of Ghana and member of the GPRS team. This was followed  by a  two day  workshop held at GIMPA  in Accra and the Chances Hotel  at Ho on 30/31^st April 2005. Those invited included thirty musicians,  music producers,  journalists,   artistic managers,  and representatives of music unions, the  legal profession, academics,  the government GPRS review team and Development  Partners. A committee was setup at the workshop and the recommendations were submitted to the GPRS review team for inclusion in the GPRS. The Ministry that will   oversee this new commercial music sector will be the Ministry of Tourism.

 

 

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APPENDIXES

 

APPENDIX A

SYNOPSIS OF WORLD BANK MEETING PRESS REVIEW

In Washington DC on the 20^th of June 2000 a one day workshop was held by the World Bank and the Yale based Science Policy Center  (Director Frank Penna) to discuss the commercial growth potential of the music industry in Africa – focusing at first on in six African countries  (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Mali). The World Bank spends between $265 and$300 million a year on loans and aid to aspects of culture, but so far none on the African music industry – in spite of the World Music sector (that includes African music) having expanded 40% a year for the last five years in the United States and  now comprises  14% ($5 billion) of global record sales.

                At the meeting the World Bank was represented by Ms. Kreszentia Duer of its Social Development Section and Michael Finger the leading economist of its Poverty Reduction  and Economic Network (PREN) department. Others involved included the following.: Gerald Seligman of EMI,   Coenrad Visser who  is the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) representative for South Africa, Jerome Reichman of the Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and an expert on folkloric copyright, Phillip Hardy the founding editor of the UK  Music and Copyright magazine, the musician and musicologist John Collins who teaches at the University of Ghana,  Scott Burnett the Marketing Executive for Global Media of IBM, and the economist Keith Maskus of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Others were the Nigerian WIPO representative Ms. Funkasi Koroye-Crooks, Jayashree Watal of the Institute for International Economics and the economist and Nobel prize-winner Amartya Sen of Trinity College of Cambridge University, UK. An indication of the World Bank’s interest is that the Bank’s Director, James Wolfensohn attended the pre-workshop lunch.

                Areas discussed were micro-credit loans for the musicians, bands, clubs and recording studios in the six African countries; the setting up of digital studio-cum- websites in Africa for distributing locally produced music (by MP3, Napster, etc) and the modalities for collecting royalties from them; technical assistance for African royalty collecting organisations.

The main point that Professor John Collins made at the meeting concerning Ghana was that even though it produced Africa’s first distinctive genre of popular music  (highlife that goes back to the 1880’s) and had a pioneering African music industry at independence  - highlife music is almost completely absent in the lucrative World Music market that has emerged since the early 1980’s. Reasons for this include political upheavals and economic problems in Ghana, a musical brain-drain and super-taxes on the music industry. As a result local gospel music ( of the untaxed churches) has filled the vacuum, or cheap to run/produce local techno-pop styles have emerged: such as disco-like ‘Burgher Highlife’ or the current wave of ‘Hip-Life’ ( i.e. Hip-Hop Highlife). Unfortunately local gospel is internationally non-commercial and local techno-pop does away with live musicians (drummers, horns, etc) so is not appreciated by World Music fans, who prefer a more live, indigenous-oriented and ‘authentic’ sound. Ghana therefore needs inputs from the World Bank that will enhance the live music industry by providing band equipment to schools, give grants to local musical NGO’s and micro-credit loans to bands, night-clubs and live-format recording studios (of which there are practically none in Ghana). This will help Ghanaians create an exportable form of highlife that can tap the present World Music market and gain Ghana precious foreign exchange.

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APPENDIX B

 

SYNOPSIS OF PROFESSOR  JOHN COLLINS PAPER ON THE PROBLEMS OF APPLYING COPYRIGHT TO GHANAIAN FOLKLORE.   HELD AT THE INTER-FACULTY LECTURE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA ON THE 6^TH DEC 2001, CHAIRED BY PROF. KWESE YANKAH

 

The new Copyright Bill now before Parliament includes clauses that will, if passed, demand that Ghanaians obtain permission from and pay a royalty-tax to the Government for the commercial use of their own ancestral folkloric tradition.( and indeed even all of public domain material). More precisely that Ghanaians who, without a government permit, dare commercially use, sell or distribute Ghanaian folklore or translations, adaptions and arrangements of it will, be fined and face up to  two (now three) years in jail.

 

These totalitarian clauses in the new bill will create a terrible situation for the future well-being of Ghana’s culture   which requires a constant dynamic recycling to stay alive in the Global Village. And in our modern world cultural recycling also includes commercial recycling.

 

Specific problems this folkloric royalty tax  will cause include:

·         The stunting of informal interpersonal, oral and informal cultural creativity; including generational cultural adaption. For this tax will act as a disincentive on Ghanaian    youth to develop their indigenous roots, for  as they are taxed out of their own culture  they will be ever more inundated by free Western culture .

·         Then what about the same folklore that occurs in Ghana and a neighbouring African country. Who exactly owns the agbadza and Gahu traditional drum-dances of Ghana, Togo and Benin,  or the kente cloth  of Ghana and the Cote D’ívoire.

·         This government ownership of folklore vis-a-vis its own Ghanaian nationals  could also lead possible future conflict between the central government and the cultural localities as to who own what: like who owns the adinkra symbol - the Asantis or the state.? 

·         The law is a totalitarian one that probably contravenes conventions on human rights. For how can a democratic state own the folklore of it own people: it can surely only be a custodian. So these folkloric clauses in the new bill may touch on matters concerning Emile Short and the Ghana  Commission on Human Rights  and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).

·         By putting brakes on Ghanaian folkloric development these clauses may enhance the influx of free western cultural and folkloric norms, and other components of Western ‘cultural imperialism’ that are already flooding into Ghana.

·         African folkloric music and dance form an important component of the lucrative  international ‘World Music’. market that currently generates 1.5 billion dollars a year. Government disincentives on the Ghanaian commercialisation of local folklore will interfere with the growth of this potential non-traditional export – and may also negatively impact on the Ghanaian tourist industry as well

 

How did we arrive at this sorry state of affairs. Well, as they say the ‘road to hell is paved with good intentions’. And in this case it was the World Intellectual Property Organisation  (WIPO) that in the 1980s recommended that, in the light of the extreme economic imbalance in the world, developing nations should nationalize their folklore in respect to its commercial exploitation by Industrial ‘First World’ nations. For up to then folklore from any country had been considered a common heritage’’ for anyone to use freely: which put the industrial nations at an advantage. In short WIPO recognized that the world is not an equal playing-field and made some sensible recommendations to protect and compensate developing nations whose folklore was being commercially exploited by companies in the industrial nations. However, WIPO in its 1989 report on the ‘Protection of Expression of Folklore’ makes it quite clear (pages 10,11) that this protection/taxation of the folklore of developing nations should only  apply ‘outside the country or origin’. It was never meant to be applied internally  

 

Ghana was about one the first countries to carry out legislation in line with WIPO. In the 110 Copyright Bill of 1985 a provision was made to collect foreign folkloric royalties and in 1991 the National Folklore Board of Trustees was set up to make an inventory of all Ghanaian folklore and monitor its commercial use abroad. Indeed, monies were collected by the Board from the famous American singer Paul Simon and from the Japanese JVC company.

 

However in 1996 the Folklore Board, then attached to the government Copyright Administration,  decided to go beyond and against the WIPO recommendation and extend this idea of folkloric permit and tax to Ghanaians as well as foreigners, using an ambiguity in the original Bill 110 that does not state whether the person who has to pay the tax  is a Ghanaian or not. The simple inclusion of the word non – Ghanaian in the original 1985 bill would have nipped in the bud this  idea of applying the tax/permit  internally . Furthermore, This folkloric tax on Ghanaian motion was passed in spite of the repeated objections from Board members. These were  three voting members; namely the   folk guitarist Koo Nimo, the musicologist Professor John Collins and the poet Professor Kofi Anyidoho -  and the Board’s  honorary patron professor J.H.K. Nketia, who in a speech at a  National Commission on Culture/Folklore Board  Seminar in Tamale in  August 1994,  was particularly concerned with the future potential for state versus localities tensions mentioned earlier. In the light of the Board’s 1996 decision, in 1997 the Copyright Administration went on to prepare a draft bill on Copyright  in which the role of the government Folklore Board and its role in issuing folkloric permits collecting royalties is clearly spelled out. This Bill was first presented to Parliament  in 2000,  but its passage was delayed due to the elections – and so to it is now going before Parliament for the second time.

 

However it hasn’t been all plain sailing for those in favour of an internal folklore permit and tax, as  a number of   organizations have objected to it. These include the Ghana Association of Composers, Authors and Performers (GHASCAP), the Ghana Old Musicians Welfare Association (GOMWA) and the Ghana Songwriters and Composers Association (GSCA). Most surprising the majority of the New Folklore board (formed in 1998) are against a folk-tax on indigenous people,  and like GHASCAP and  GSCA sent these objections in writing  to the parliamentary sub-committee concerned when the new bill was first presented last year.

 

After Professor Collin’s lecture Carlos Sekyi and Charles Amoah of GHASCAP and Stan Plange of GOMAWA/GSCA said  Ghanaians will end up being unfairly taxed for commercially utilizing the heritage of their forebears. Indeed, Carlos Sekyi went on to say that in the very near future Ghanaian musicians and performing artists will wake up one morning and find that will have to go to jail if they refuse to pay the government  for music their own grandfather’s taught them in their own family  houses. This fate will also extend to other who similarly by-pass the government and directly tap local folkloric culture: whether dancers, actors, writers, poets, graphic artists, fashion designers, painters, sculptures and local film makers. Creative Ghanaian artists who want to freely develop their own indigenous roots had better wake up.

 

Since this paper was read the new Copyright Bill, with the contentious folkloric license/tax on Ghanaians clause, was passed by Parliament in late 2004. But in early 2005 t a group of concerned artists (COCCA) managed to delay the signing of the Bill by the President. It was finally signed, but there has been the assurance of an accompanying Legislative Instrument to the Bill that will exclude Ghanaians from paying this folkloric tax

 

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APPENDIX C

 

LIST OF GHANAIAN WORKS CURRENTLY ON WORLD MUSIC MARKET

(MINUS TRADITIONAL MATERIAL  SEE NEXT APPENDIX D)

 

Although Ghanaian music does not have as high a profile on the World Music market as say the music of Mali, Senegal, Nigeria and South Africa, it is still  considerable. And since the success of the Pan African Orchestra 'Opus One' release in 1988 (on the UK Realworld/WOMAD  UK)     a considerable amount of Ghanaian material has found its way onto the World Music shelves in American, Europe and Japan.

SOME  RECENT GHANA WORLD MUSIC MARKET RELEASES  SINCE  1990’S E.T. Mensah: Day by Day & All For You/ King Bruce and the Black Beats/Guy Warren Ghanaba ( RetroAfric, UK). Rough Guide to Highlife (Rough Guide Music, UK). Afro-Rock (Kona Records UK).. Music in Ghana (Pamap Germany).Ghana Soundz (Soundway UK). Guitar and Gun  (Stern's/Earthworks, UK). Highlife All Stars (Network Germany).Vintage Palmwine/Kofi Ayivor: Rhythmology  (Otrabanda Records, Holland).Electric Highlife (Naxos, USA/Hong Kong). Popular Music Ghana 1931-57  (Disques Arion Paris). Okyerema Asante and the Uhuru Band: Crabs In A Bucket (Asante/Oyigbo label, USA). Rocky Dawuni: Crusade & Awakening (Aquarian Records, Ghana/USA). Afro Moses: Makoloa & O’Jah (Riddimtrax Records /GMF Label Denmark). Sloopy Mike Gyamfi: Telephone Nkomo & Asem Kakra (Holland). Nat Brew:Wogbe (Amanazeba Productions).The Shrine: Afrobeat (Ocho UK).The Highlife All Stars (Network Germany). Eric Egyeman:Ghana Gold: (Music and Words, Holland). Smilin Osei: Alarm Blo (Dakar Sounds Holland). Nana Tsiboe and the Supa Hilife Band: Ahom & Asem Ni  (Tuntumi,UK).Amartey Hedzolleh (Millenium Anthem Productions, USA). One Giant Leap (Palm Pictures, UK). Alex Konadu:Greatest Classic (Sam Records). A.B.Crentsil:Menba Bio Nakasi (Afro Records 2005).Daddy Lumba:Poison (Lumba Productions).Best of Highlife  (Joe Etti Productions/Melodie Distribution).Jewel Ackah :Butu Sela (Katanga Productions, US). Nana Acheampoing:Greatest Hits. West African (Nigerian) Highlife Bands:Salute to the Pioneers (Spirit Records USA). Ramblers:Timbuctu (UK). Sweet Talks:Popular African Music Compilation (Gunter Gretzt Productions Frankfurt Germany). King Onyina:Popular African Music Compilation (Gunter Gretzt Productions). Nana Tuffour:Genesis (Shuffle Music, Germany). Pat Thomas Retrospect :Sika Ye Mogya (Tropic Vibe USA).Terry Bonchaka:Ghana Ladies( Tropic vibe, USA). Best of Lee Duodu and Cantata (Nakasi Record Productions). African Brothers Greatest Hits (USA). Kofi B :Aserewa (Slip Music/Despite Music/Owusek Productions, New York). Dada K.D.:Mehura. (Tropic Vibe USA ). Kofi Bentsil ans the Western Diamonds Band:Passanga Highlife Boogie (Sterns, UK). Nana Tuffour :Sankofa (G Money Productions, USA).Early Guitar Music from West Africa 1927-9 (Heritage Records UK). Eric Agyeman : Highlife Safari (Sterns). Kwadwo Donkor Presents Uhuru: Sounds of Africa (Agoro Records, Ghana).Lord Kenya:Sika Mpo Nfa Neho (Mount Kenya Productions). Blay Ambullay: Son of Africa (Simigwa Records US). Kari Bannerman :Ghana Gone Jazz (Seprewa Records,UK) Soul and Spirit (Bibini Music, Ghana )

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APPENDIX  D

 

SOME RECENT  NEO-TRADITIONAL/.FOLKLORIC/ RELEASES  SINCE  1990’S

 

1.        George Aingo ‘ The Roots of Highlife’. Heritage, UK.

2.        ‘The Kumasi Trio’ 1928 folk guitar. Heritage, UK.

3.        Obo Addy   releases include ‘Afieye Okropong’, ‘Wonche Bi’. Akula Records, USA

4.        Adesa Cultural Group  ‘Akoma’ (Peter Weigelt’s Grenzland Studio Germany 2004.

5.        Mac Tontoh and the Kete Warriors ‘Nana  Eba’. Amamanas Productions, UK.

6.        Kakraba Lobi xylophone (gyil)  ‘Song of Nhira’  CD   USA  Manadara Music, 2001.

7.        S.K. Kabraba   ‘Gandayina’

8.        Hewale   ‘Bayuke’ and then in 2005 ‘Trema’(Cowry Shells)  Peogal and Co, Ghana

9.        Osei Korankye  ‘Me Eye Wo Ase’ CD release 2001.

10.     African Showboys ‘Brother Bold’.  US 2005.

11.     Sogo Cultural Group  “Uno Went Ne ‘ CD 2004.

12.     Kusun Ensemble ‘Nokoko’(Something-Something). Recorde/distributed  by Pidgin Music 2004/5.

13.     Onyame Krabae Nwomkro (i.e. Nnwonkro) Group cassette Addai  Cutless release circa 2000. 

14.     Vintage Palmwine, Holland Three legends of old Ghanaian acoustic ‘palmwine’ highlife (Kwaa Mensah, Koo Nimo and T.O. ‘Jazz’ Ampoumah.Otrabanda, Holland, 2003.  

15.     Koo Nimo ‘Tete Wobi Ka’.  Human Songs Records, US, 2000.

16.     Koo Nimo ‘Osabarima’. Adasa label,  re-issued  by  Sterns 1990.

17.     Kwabena Nyama.  ‘Sunday Monday’. Arion Disques 2000.

18.     Kwabena Nyama ‘ Ghana Palm Wine Music’. Buda Music, Paris.

19.     Atongo Zimba  traditional Ghanaian lute player, ‘Savannah Breeze’.Hippo Records, Holland,  2004.

20.     Mustapha Tettey Addy ‘Secret Rhythm’, ‘Come & Drum’, ‘Smart Boys’. Weltwunder, Germany.

21.     Kakraba   Lobi  ‘Song of Legaa’ and  ‘Song of Nhira’. USA  Manadara/Kalaeidoscope Music  USA, 2001 and 2004.

22.     Captain Yaba ‘Yaba Funk’  RetroAfric, UK re-release of  a 1996 album of traditional Ghanaian lute with Ninkribi band  called  ‘Tinanure’, recorded at the ARC Studios in Tema,  Ghana.

23. Bewaare – ‘They are Coming: Dagaare Songs and Dances from Nandom, Ghana’  and ‘In the Time of My Fourth Great-Grandfather: Western Sisaala music from Lambussie, Ghana’ . Both on Pan Label   1994

24.     ‘Akom:  The Art of Spirit Possession’. Akan religious drum music. Village Pulse.

25.     Aja Addy ‘Tsui Anaa Live Refreshment’  Weltwunder.

26.     The Yaw Dwene and Yaa Adusa Pokuaa Nnwonkro Group ‘The Legends’.

27.     The  Ehekye Collective ‘Womba’, WOM001,UK,  2004.

28.     Sensational Wulomei ‘Sani Masye Eko’. Tropic Vibe, US, 2001.