Jazz

 

KOFI GHANABA

Kofi Ghanaba holding his staff bearing the sankofa symbol

Warren Gamaliel Akwei (Guy Warren, later to be known commonly as Ghanaba) in the mid 1900s became that gong-gong (talking drum) that sounded African American Jazz musicians and music lovers back to their roots.

All his lifetime achievements can be summed up by the one Ghanaian symbol and proverb he still stands by “SANKOFA, wonkyir” which translates “There’s nothing wrong with going back to your roots”.

This 84 year old musician lives in isolation and yet touches many hearts with his life’s work. He has a son, Glenn, who he is close to. Otherwise he is somewhat reclusive and lives in isolation.

On the 4th of May, 1923, Ghanaba was born in Accra, of the then Gold Coast, to the Headmaster of Ghana National School, Richard Mabuo Akwei and the beautiful Susuana Awula Abla Moore. His proud parents named him after the American president Warren Gamaliel Harding.

His love for the arts and sports got him leading the school band of Government Elementary Boy’s School, playing lead roles in the pantomime “Zacariah Fee”, produced by Governor Sir Arnold Hudson, and playing drums for the Accra Rhythmic Orchestra led by Yeboah Mensah, whilst a student of Odorgonno Secondary School in 1940.

Ghanaba after his Achimota College years, worked as an Undercover for the Office  of Strategic Services ( a United States Agency dealing with overt and covert operations during the Second World War).

He also worked for the Gold Coast Radio Broadcasting Services as a DJ, a reporter for the Spectator Daily Newspaper, he was editor for the Daily Echo, Gold Coast Independent and Star of West Africa from 1950-1952. He did a series of Jazz programmes for  the British Broadcasting Service.

He is a founding member of the Tempos, where he played drums, Joe Kelly, clarinet and tenor saxophone, E.T Mensah (younger brother of Yeboah Mensah) on trumpet, Pa Hughes, alto saxophone, Baby Nelson and Pete Johnson, guitar, Adolf Doku and Johnny Dodds Schall, piano, James Bossman and Serious Amarfio, bass. The Tempos was considered by many to the epitome of African Jazz ensemble.

He formed his own Afro-Cubist ensemble in Ghana which performed at the 1953 inauguration of President William Tubman of Liberia, where he remained to become Assistant Director and resident DJ at station ELBC, the National Broadcasting Service of Liberia.

In 1955,  he moved to Chicago and joined Gene Esposito band as co-leader, percussionists and arranger.

This ensemble recorded his best known album, Africa Speaks, America Answers in 1956 for Decca Records. He joined ASCAP as a composer in 1957 and that same year, he moved to New York City where he is to form the Zoundz ensemble, and continue developing a musical style combining African musical elements with Jazz which he called African Jazz.

He had contact or performed with such Jazz greats as Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhom, Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, Max Roach, Buhaina Art Blakey, and Louis Armstrong. He’s recorded for RCA Victor, Regal, Columbia and his own Safari label.

Since the 1950s, he has gradually modified the Jazz drumset, replacing western instruments with traditional African drums.

Ghanaba has written many articles and essays, starred in movies, such as Haile Gerima’s 1993 film Sankofa, and still thrives.

Although he lives in isolation, he cannot be ignored or forgotten in neither Ghana’s musical nor political history. He will be remembered for his friendship and support for Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, and for being a father figure and mentor for the man he affectionately calls “Jack”, Jerry John Rawlings, Ghana’s immediate past president.

Today, the New York University intermittently marches their students to sit at his feet and to learn from him. His message of Sankofa continues. It does seem he’s been abandoned and deliberately forgotten for political reasons but someday soon, Ghana will go back, dig through his work and learn from the living legend… if he still lives by then.

The Jazz Society of Ghana

The Jazz Society of Ghana (JSG) is a non-profit, all volunteer organization supported by membership dues and donations, dedicated to promoting jazz music in Ghana. JSG was started in 2004 by a group of dedicated jazz enthusiasts with a determination to spread the appreciation of jazz music both among the youth and adults and to support live jazz by local musicians. Membership of JSG is open to all who meet membership requirements. Your support is needed to maintain active programs that will include publication of a newsletter, sponsoring of live jazz and education programs in schools.

 

Kakraba lobi

Kakraba Lobi is considered to be the one of the great African musicians of his time. He has gained international acclaim as being the first to take the gyil (a complex and obscure West African marimba) from his village folk tradition to the international classic concert stage as a solo and chamber music medium. Kakraba is from the Lobi nation, known for their musical abilities, and was born into a family of gyil players/makers in Kalba Saru, in Ghana's upper-west. He moved to Accra in his early 20s, where he began his performing career doing broadcasts for "Radio Ghana". From 1962 until 1987, he was a full-time member of the staff at the University of Ghana's Institute of African Studies, and is currently an advising member. Kakraba was one of the musicians in Ghana's first National Dance Company and has since taught at universities and colleges throughout the Americas and Europe, and has performed in many countries, including the Czech Republic, Sweden, Denmark, England, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Malawi, Senegal, Nigeria, South Africa, and Togo. His repertoire and technique have been studied by ethnomusicologists from around the world, and his original music has been performed by leading artists on various instruments worldwide.

Dr. Billy Taylor and his Band