Smilin' Osei
Alarm Blo
Dakar Sound, 2001
On his second CD--the first to reach international audiences--Smilin' Osei of Ghana thanks Bob Marley, The Comodores, James Brown, the Bee Gees, and Otis Redding. He also lists his prior bands, a selection of Ghanaian and Nigerian gospel and highlife outfits. Out of all this, he culls the music he calls Afro Konkoma, essentially a rich, revelatory new take on classic highlife with brisk horn work, and great Congo-inflected guitar arranging. This is one of a handful of recent records out of Ghana that put the lie to the growing perception that highlife is dead.
The opener, "Daanase (Praise the Lord)" pays some hommage to Smilin's gospel past, but the sound is solid highlife with chattering guitars and punchy horns worked around a pretty, hymn like vocal melody. It's clear from the start that the guitarists have studied their Congo music. The palm-wine derived "Kyere Wo Do (Show Me Your Love)" features a harmonized, Franco-like lead guitar riff, and the guitar interplay on the album's best dance track, "Afrinhyiapa (Happy New Year)," recalls classic Kinshasa boogie, as does the brass section assault in the song's boogieing final section, which has uplift and texture worthy of Franco's great TPOK Jazz.
But don't get the idea that Smilin' is indulging in mere Congo music imitation. That, along with R&B and reggae flavors, is just ornamentation on his strong highlife base. Smilin's sweet, strong vocals are full of highlife's pleading character, marked by sensuous sliding pitches and poignant phrasing. Especially fine is "Akwantu (Song of Moaning)," wich unfolds in a seductive and mysterious 6/8 feel, as it dreamily contemplates the inevitability of death and mentions beloved ancestors: Selassie, Marley, Kenyatta, and others. Smilin' has produced one of the best records out of Ghana in years. Let's hope the trend holds.
Contributed by: Banning Eyre for www.afropop.org
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