Captain Newman's Gay Brothers

For the next selection on the highlife turntable I have selected the track Owu Aye Me Bone by Captain Newman's Gay Brothers. I came across my first Captain Newman Gay Brothers LP by accident when a cover did not match the record, but I liked the sound and started to collect everything I could find. It was hard to learn anything concrete about the band until I came across this Polydor release Adakam. Captain Newman was a vocalist for the African Brothers and then joined Adu Kwesi (who is the gentleman on the left in the picture) and Oscar Tawia to form the nucleus of the Gay Brother's band.

The liner notes go onto say That: In this album an attempt has been made to cross the rhythm on the Preprensua or Ashewa Box as played by Uncle Awotwi with the bass guitar featuring guest performer Eddie Donkor Snr. The resultant of this experiment is that much room is created for the bass guitarist to manoeuver and this is amply demonstrated on both sides of this album. And with a touch of lead guitar work by S.K. Oppong the exercise I would say is complete.

I appreciate the patience of the Ghanaian music lover who follow this blog. I know it has been a while since I posted a Ghanaian track, but I hope this tune makes up for the delay.

Thanks for listening.

Joe Ekele and his superstars

For the next selection on the highlife turntable I have chosen the track Uwa Na Ekwu Ka by Joe Ekele and His superstars off their 1979 Namaco release Madu Ka Eji Aka. I do not have any information about Mr. Ekele and the liner notes don't list any of the musicians, but I like the song. The spacey guitar lines and great muted horn solos, especially in the beginning, really exemplifies the changes the highlife idiom had undergone in the 70's. Instead of a big band approach, Mr. Ekele has reworked the amplified sound of the horn and guitar sections into a more open down tempo rhythm, that also features some super drum breaks, which all play nicely against Mr. Ekele's languid vocals. Checkout the beautiful horn playing at the beginning and the real nice horn and guitar work that starts at the 6.30 mark. Solid stuff. I hope you like it.

Patrick Ojo and his International Brothers Band

For the next selection on the highlife turntable I have chosen a track by Patrick Ojo and his International Brothers Band titled Ebe Ukpenwu. The track is off an Ogugwa records release and is a Ukwauni song that features the guitar playing of the great guitarists Bob Fred and Franco Lee. It is a laid back tracks that features some beautiful guitar solos and the stripped down vocals help carry the haunting melody. There is no date, but judging from the pictures I would put it in the early 80's. I hope you like it.