Today’s lp by the African Brothers is a quite rare one. It is
ungooglable so to speak, zero results, only on ‘Popsike’
where you only find the most obscure albums. Great find
by our buddy Kali from Belgium when he was in Ghana
last year. African Brothers’ albums keep coming up
once in a while, they made so many. Enjoy this
one and share it if you can.
tracks;
01 – Prodigal love
02 – Efiri fie
03 – Mepe no bi
04 – Anafranaku
05 – Ahohowa
06 – Ankonam mobro
07 – Ontuu kwan da
08 – Virtue ( the meaning )
so i guess virtue is a religious song then :)
absofuckinglutely..
Moos!!!!! you’re amazing!!!
I am always short of words whenever I see something like this here … I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me cos I havent come across this in my discography searches… you are right, its ungooglable lol … I am starting to believe nana ampadu the leader of this band when he said that he has the most songs by any artist in Africa and probably worldwide, precisely in his own words, a claim he said nobody has so far come around to challenge, about seven hundred (700) singles to his credit … the video interview is on YouTube called “Nana Ampadu Highlife” by Ghanamankofi (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N7VtFbsqCM) … he made that claim around the 56th minute into the interview…. although i personally think his number may have been exaggerated, he does seem to have the most songs so far… at least in Africa
it might also be by coincidence but just a few days ago, I was asking an old lady what does the akan word “anafranaku” mean cos I have been hearing it too often in songs and she said it had been a slang for so long that she cant really remember what it actually means… fortunately I found it on google as some type of tropical plant… and here it is on the backsleeves… even though its literally a plant, its proverbially symbolising someone with ill-fate in a family … Moos, one good thing about the global groove is that we dont just come here to enjoy the music but we learn new things everyday as well… thank you
This might be a long shot – to put it shortly, I have fallen in love with many of the African Brothers Band releases. There are a handful of albums that I particularly have a strong bond with. However, I’m caught listening to the music without understanding the stories and lyrics behind it. Would someone here be interested, or have a referral to someone that would, in transcribing/translating some of the music by African Brothers Band to english? I’m not sure how much that would go for pay, but it is something that I have been thinking of as of the past few months. Of course the music is amazing and his vocals are so melodic that I can enjoy it without knowing what he’s speaking, but reading the back of the Odo Paa Nie jacket has gotten me intrigued. thanks to anyone who is reading this
I can relate to your experience. sometime back, I became interested in Ernesto Djedje’s songs “Zibote” and then later “Zadie Bobo” … all on youtube … He was from Cote D’Ivoire and his songs was in a very beautiful local language that I did not understand but the melody was enough to get me addicted. I must say the francophone african countries have some of the finest guitar rhythms. The nigerians have some patterns that are unique to them as well… Music is indeed a universal language that we all understand.
Now back to my story, I had a perception of a love scene for that song and on one of my curious days of reading youtube comments, someone explained the “zibote” song as something else than what I had pictured all along, then I was a bit dissappointed at my initial guess. The point of this story is that sometimes the mystery behind the stories are better left unsolved. Its sometimes better to ran on with how you see it. what you dont know doesnt hurt. Imagine Moos being told that some favorite song he listens to often when translated becomes some religious pledge to God!
Apart from that, these songs are sometimes long, 17 minute medleys etc and would be a book or more if translated… nothing like the 3 minute songs of today… I even wonder how they were doing it without any drug influence or red bulls…playing those instruments, hitting the conga for 20 minutes etc… but I guess thats what made their music original and sound very much alive than these modern day studio sessions… some of these songs are long stories, philosophical views on life etc.. it even turns out a song or two ended up as childhood storybooks which I remember, so its a lot of work but am sure if u want the general summary of it, I could summarize what your favorite Ghana songs are about in a few paragraphs for you just like they do on the backsleeve notes… i wont charge you for that but then it would be nice to make your own donation to keep the Global Groove alive at your own will and time… I’ll just do my part for the beauty of the music
Thanks for sharing that. I hear what you’re saying about sometimes leaving things to the imagination to fill in the blanks. The religious example made me laugh out loud. I am guessing what has drawn me to learn the specific nature of lyrics (in general) for the high life/ABB songs is, like you were saying, to see what and how he’s filling in the gaps when he’s singing above the non-stop groove that fills an entire 15 minute side of the album. I guess from a song writing perspective, given how it’s so drastically different from music now where the standard is (and kind of always has been) your three minute song (at least here in the US).
I appreciate your offer about summarizing my favorite high life tracks, and I will definitely take you up on that in the future. I will have to be selective and decisive in the ones I am interested in. Thanks for the response and for the suggestion of helping out Global Groove with a donation
you are most welcome
Thanks greatly, Moos!
..very welcome Glinka..