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| Wulomei Re-Visited |
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| Posted on: 2007-Apr-12 GNA |
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Just as the glimmer in the 50th Independence anniversary celebrations begins to pale, in wades Creative Storm, a multi-media communications company, with what it describes as a special gift of Ghanaian music to Ghanaians as part of the celebration.
The reference is to new albums by the famous Wulomei group and one of Ghana’s great guitarists, Kari Bannerman.
The Wulomei album, called Wulomei Returns, is a collection of vamped-up versions of some of the group’s best-known songs like Aklowa, Kaagba, Jalelele, Meridian, Takoradi and Akosua Serwa.
Recorded and mixed here and in London, they have been re-arranged and given more contemporary flavours to move them out of the kind of groove they appear to have been stuck in for sometime now.
“We felt we should not simply present how the group sounded in the 1970s but rather refashion things to be more exciting. So we assembled some of the best Ghanaian musicians here and the United Kingdom for the project. Each song has its own modern signature and I’ll always remember the joy on Nii Tei Ashitey’s face when the reworked tracks were first played to him,” says Kwesi Owusu, CEO of Creative Storm.
Musicians on Wulomei Returns include Ray Allen on saxophone, Osei Tutu and John Bilson on trumpet and Kari Bannerman on guitar. Hiplife artistes, Tinny and Kaseem Bebe, as well as promising singer Elivava are also featured.
Kari Bannerman’s album is titled Elmina. The guitarist, very versatile and conversant with all styles of music, has been known over the last several years for his work with Osibisa.
This collection came about when Creative Storm approached him with an idea to record his interpretation of some popular Ghanaian songs.
It was then that he said he already had a bunch of tracks he was already working on and would prefer to get them out of the way before tackling anything else. The result is the ten-track collection, Elmina.
An intriguing thing about the title track is that it is delivered in Xhosa, a South African language, by Bannerman’s good friend, Elliot Ngubane. It gives the song a certain international seasoning.
Also impressive is Bannerman’s interpretation of the Ghana national anthem. It is a rousing piece of work reminiscent of the late rock legend, Jimi Hendrix delivery of the American anthem, Star Spangled Banner.
Elmina has input from extremely talented musicians like Pat Thomas, Kwame Yeboah, Nana Yaa Thomas, Francis Fuster, Ray Allen, Pauline Oduro and Emmanuel Rentzos.
“Bannerman is a world-class player and we were not considering just the Ghanaian market as we crafted the album,” says Owusu. “He is also known around the world and the product is good. Those elements should help generate kick up some international interest in the work.”
The albums, together with a re-edited DVD version of Ama, the film made by Owusu and Kwate Nii Owoo in 1991, will be launched at the British Council in Accra this Friday. A live bash by Bannerman and Wulomei will precede the launch at Bywel, Osu tonight.
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