Gyedu-Blay Ambolley - Gyedu-Blay Ambolley (Analog Africa Dance Edition No. 9) - EP '2018

Tracks list

Prepare yourself for new directions in Afro-funk. During the 1980s, ghanaian
bandleader Gyedu-Blay Ambolley began to experiment with electronic instruments,
and the result was a potent cocktail of highlife, funk, exploratory synths and
righteous vocals, the sound of a restless genius intent on pushing the
traditional sounds of highlife into a brave new future. On July 20 Analog Africa
will release a 12” containing four of Ambolley’s hardest-driving
excursions to the outer limits of eighties funk. 
By the end of the 1970s, Ambolley was already a legendary figure on the ghanaian
music scene. A drummer, turned guitarist, turned bassist, turned lead vocalist,
he rose to prominence during the late 1960s, serving with countryman Ebo Taylor
in the Stargazers and the Uhuru Dance Band before launching his own career with
‘Simigwa-do’, the 1972 hit that propelled him to West African
stardom. As a founding member of the Apagya Show Band and the Complex Soundz, he
stretched the boundaries of highlife with electric instruments, funky rhythms
and socially charged lyrics in Fante and English. 

If he had retired in 1978, Ambolley’s place in the history of ghanaian
music would have been secure. Instead, he dissolved the Complex Soundz and
embraced the synthesizer. With a new band, Zantoda Mak III, he recorded
‘The Message’, a seven minute funk workout built on a highlife
foundation, and decorated with shimmering synths. Recorded in 1980, the song
became a hit that would change the direction of Ambolley’s music: over
the next decade, electronic instruments played a much larger role in his sonic
experiments. 

‘The Message’ receives a long overdue re-release on this 12 along
with three other peaks from Ambolley’s eighties output. The futuristic
funk of ‘Akoko Ba’ strips down the rhythm, raises the intensity of
the vocals, and adds a dose of serpentine saxophone. On the B-side,
‘Simigwa Soca’ sets classic highlife horns against an unshakable
bass groove, while the incredible ‘Burkina Faso’ is Ghana’s
great lost electro-funk gem, a sleek construction of robotic bass,
call-and-response vocals, and fat stabs of slippery synth. 

Difficult, if not impossible to find for decades, Analog Africa is proud to make
Gyedu-Blay Ambolley’s extraordinary eighties recordings available to a
wider audience. 

Tracklist:
01. Gyedu-Blay Ambolley - The Message
02. Gyedu-Blay Ambolley - Akoko Ba
03. Gyedu-Blay Ambolley - Simigwa Soca
04. Gyedu-Blay Ambolley - Burkina Faso

Related artists