#1

Growing up herding goats and cows in a remote area of northern Ghana, Guy One had no schooling, taught himself to sing and built his own instruments such as the two-stringed kologo. Several years ago, on a trip to Ghana, Max Weissenfeldt of Germany's Philophon label heard him playing his own unique brand of the regional highlife style known as Frafra and invited him to record his first international album. Leaving his country for the first time, Guy One arrived in Berlin in 2013 for his first sessions; he returned to Europe to make further recordings in 2015 (when he also performed at Denmark's Roskilde festival). The album has taken five years, from conception to realisation, and the finished product is something of a gem. It opens with the sound of a scratchy, skipping kologo jam from his home town of Bolgatanga but then opens out into a bold fusion of the traditional and modern. Vibrant Frafra grooves are given a majestic power by Weissenfeldt's jazzy horn arrangements, bass, drums, synthesizers, flute and vibraphone – with Guy One's soulful voice soaring uncompromisingly over the top. This album is global funk at its most fantastic and futuristic.