The first-ever reissue of the classic 1981 debut album from this much revered Ghanaian band. Vibrantly produced by British sound explorer Brian Eno in Accra, Ghana. Highlife meets afro-funk. Spirited, horn driven & trailblazing. Almost four decades after a coup d'état in Ghana prematurely halted their career, Edikanfo's surviving band members are at last gearing up to reissue and tour "The Pace Setters."
'Led by Gilbert Amartey Amar, Edikanfo comprised of Osei Tutu, Ishmael Odai “Smith”, Albert Williams “Bobo”, Paa Akrashie, George Williams, William Quist, and Kwesi Okran. The Pace Setters was produced by Brian Eno in Accra, Ghana, and originally released on E. G. Recordings in 1981. While the album was commercially successful, the 1981 coup d’état in Ghana saw Edikanfo suffering financial setbacks that caused the band to dissolve.'
Almost 40 years after its initial release, Glitterbeat reissued for the first time the debut album of the Ghanaian band Edikanfo.
'Originally released on the London-based label E.G. Records, The pace Setters is now seen as a classic. At the time, this album was an immediate international success not only thanks to the originality of their mix of highlife and afro-funk, but also thanks to the renown of their producer. Indeed, it was the British musician Brian Eno who locked himself away in the studio in Accra with the eight members of Edikanfo to give birth to this first successful attempt. A few months earlier, Brian Eno had produced the Talking Heads and had just come out of a legendary collaboration with their leader David Byrne. Equally at ease with rock and ambient, this Fela Kuti fan was at the time orienting his research towards West African music, with a certain penchant for its psychedelic side.
The pace settlers is therefore the exciting result of the collision between two worlds, which will unfortunately only last a few months. On 31 December that year, Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings overthrew the government of Ghanaian President Hilla Limann, who had been in power for two years. This coup d’état forced Edikanfo to put the brass band out of business, unable to continue producing and performing on stage, notably because of the curfews imposed throughout the country. The band then stopped prematurely and its members went into exile all over the world. So, it is almost 40 years later that the still living musicians of Edikanfo resurface to support this re-release with a tour!' -François Renoncourt
'In 1981, London based E.G. Records released the debut album from a young Ghanaian group called Edikanfo. The eight-piece band was the last group to be managed by Faisal Helwani, a charismatic impresario who was based at the popular Napoleon Club in Osu, a suburb in Ghana’s teeming capital Accra. Edikanfo quickly rose to international notoriety following the release of “The Pace Setters” because of the infectious, forward-looking highlife meets afro-funk synthesis the band committed to tape. But the album also caught an additional wind of publicity due to its producer, the already legendary British musician and sound conceptualist Brian Eno. During that time, Eno was researching and openly propagating West African musics. He often mentioned his love of Fela Kuti and called his own rhythm driven experiments the search for a “vision of a psychedelic Africa.” He had recently been collaborating with The Talking Heads on their Avant-funk masterpiece “Remain in Light” and with The Talking Heads front man David Byrne on “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts,” an album which foretold the sort of cross-pollination and global music interconnectivity that today we take for granted. Eno and Edikanfo’s work together at Studio One in Accra (Ghana) was yet another inspired morphing of soundworlds and processes and a significant touchstone for both artists.
But just when the sky seemed the limit for Edikanfo, the coup d’état in Ghana on the last day of 1981, tragically put the brakes on the band’s quickly developing fortunes. For years after that, the country endured enforced curfews at night, which of course ultimately gutted the live music scene in Accra and elsewhere. Because of this and other financial setbacks, the band ceased activity and its members spread out in exile, all over the world. It clearly seemed as though the story of Edikanfo, one of Ghana’s greatest bands of that era, had come to a premature end.
Now, almost four decades later, Edikanfo has returned. And with its surviving members gearing up to reissue and tour their classic 1981 album, “The Pace Setters,” the band is once again excitedly pointed towards the future.' -Glitterbeat
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