Customer Reviews

Ghana Soundz Vol.1: Afrobeat Funk & Fusion in 1970's Ghana

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This CD is a gem! I bought a lot of great African music this year but this CD stands out as the best overall. There are a lot of amazing songs here - and you'll never hear these played on a commercial radio station...

Compilation is the result of 2 years of crate digging in Ghana for 1970s afro funk nuggets. Booty shaking good times for all. If afro funk with horns is your thing, this is well worth acquiring. Put on your most colorful dashiki, prepare some african foods and take some friends on a journey to the heart of funkiness. Ghana Soundz was Soundway's first entry, in what has become a catalog rich with facinating and entertaining african obscurities.

You've got to get this. From Fela-inspired Afrobeat to bizarre attempts at psychedelia to flat out dance craziness, this cd has it all. Wonderful package (including an amazing cover), but more importantly, this is absolutely great music.

Christina Roden is wrong when she says that Fela Kuti's "priapic" moves sometimes seem tame by comparison with what's on this CD - nothing here is as fierce as "Zombie", "Gentleman" or "Roforofo Fight" - but some songs come close and the CD is a wonderful introduction to some of Ghana's prime booty movers. Nothing here closely resembles the highlife sounds usually associated with Ghana, the juju sounds of King Sunny Ade (except for K Frimpon), or the Senegalese-Cuban rhythms of Orchestra Baobab; if anything, it's the spirit of James Brown that can be felt all the way through.

There is a second volume called Ghana Soundz Volume II. It compliments Volume I perfectly and that also comes highly recommended.