Eagerly awaiting Panji, Pono and Ayisoba

I know this is starting to seem like a blog about Ghana. It is not. But going there last autumn left so many leads to follow up. In this specific case though, they seem to have followed me up. A few weeks ago Clara from Stockholm Jazz Festival called after reading my hiplife text and asked for people in Ghana to invite for a panel talk and perhaps a concert. Leading to record company owner and producer Panji Anoff coming to Stockholm in a week and a half for a discussion about the music industries of Africa, traditional elements in modern music or, well, whatever we decide to talk about. See us at Clarion Sign Hotel Saturday 18/6 14.00.
I also mentioned Yaa Pono, King Ayisoba and Wanlov the Kubulor and the two first ended up accompanying Panji and will play after the discussion and are also supposed to appear in some way later the same night at the jam session at jazz club Fasching.
Also playing at the festival: Bobby Womac, Chic and Seun Kuti & The Egypt 80.
Also talking: Manny & Almou Mansar, the two touareg brothers who arranges the Festival au Desert at Essakane outside Timbuktu.


And here's Yaa Pono in a video apparently shot at the Anoff villa.

Ebo Taylor in Stockholm or The missing link

The minor news is that I decided to switch to English in this blog. Due to the visitor statistics and the quite international subject (and of course at the risk of being ridiculed). A bit more interesting perhaps is the fact that Ebo Taylor is playing in Stockholm tonight at Göta Källare. Just having an old highlife star playing here is something. But Ebo Taylor is more than that, he is also a living example of the connections between highlife and afro beat. I didn't get the chance to meet him in person in Accra but I got to hear a lot about him from mr Essiebons, a gentleman in his eighties and also head of the family run Essiebons Music, with Ebo Taylor and CK Mann as its biggest stars.

Anyway, here's Taylor talking about the development of highlife and the influence of Nigerian music in Ghana.

And a Spotify link to Life and Death, the album Ebo Taylor released last year, mixing re-recorded classics and newly written songs. All in a slightly more psychedelic setting than you would have expected.

27/5: Linking to my review. A reader has commented on me not mentioning how good the concert in fact was. I thought I did, but maybe I got too stuck in the history of afro beat and other fascinating topics. Reading this review of the same concert, it does strike me that I sound a bit theoretical. So, just to be clear about it, Ebo Taylor indeed was awesome.

African Gypsy

Wanlov the Kubolor, alternativ hiplifeartist från Ghana som jag pratade med i förra numret av Lira (reportaget finns inte på nätet). För ett par veckor sedan släpptes hans album Brown Card i Ghana. Bor man någon annanstans får man tills vidare nöja sig med det här. Fast det är verkligen inte så illa.

Wanlov The Kubolor - African Gypsy ft Keziah Jones by Wanlov

Hiplife, hiplife, hiplife

Har ni fortfarande inte fått nog av hiplife har jag faktiskt skrivit ett ännu längre reportage från Accra, i senaste numret av Lira. Lite mer historia den här gången, kopplingar till high life etc. I samma tidning finns också en intervju med mitt favoritfolkband, Siri Karlsson.

Hiplife

Sex sidor i svenskan om hiplife, en dryg producent och ghananska superstjärnor:





Reggie Rockstone. Foto Ulrika Walmark



HIPLIFE - HIPHOPHYBRIDEN SOM FÅTT GHANA ATT DANSA TILL INHEMSKA RYTMER

Soundtracket till det moderna Afrika är elektroniskt, urbant och ­globalt – men också rotat i lokala traditioner. Lars Lovén åkte till Ghana på jakt efter hiplifemusikens kärna och hittade en musikscen som återupptäckt sina egna rötter.