E.T.MENSAH & HIS TEMPO'S BAND rare Afro Hilife 1958 10"
£
91
$
121
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Description
This 1950's Decca release (WAL1001) introduced Ghanian saxophonist and bandleader Emmanuel Mensah and his Tempo's Band to British listeners. Through the 1940s and 50s Mensah developed a sound comprising elements of jazz, calypso, latin, and his native Ghanian folk music - the result filled West African nightspots with excited dancers, dancing in sheer abandonment to the rhythms of highlife and the calypso.
Mensah's band used set arrangements but worked the solo spots into those arrangements, so allowing the soloists the free expressive improvisations of jazz. The rhythm section followed the Latin American style - bongoes, maracas, congas, guitar, and string bass - but merged that style with the complex percussive harmonies of the Ghanaian Highlife. The resulting sound made the Tempo's Band the leading outfit in West Africa.
This rare copy of this groundbreaking album is in near mint condition. There is just a little fading to the outer edge of the sleeve, the disc itself is perfect.
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