Essiebons Special 1973-1984: Ghana Music Power House

The recently departed Ghanaian producer and label-owner Dick Essilfie-Bondzie was digitising his recording vaults right up until his death, discovering six unreleased instrumental classics during the process. He opened West Africa’s first record pressing plant in 1967, in partnership with Philips Records, and subsequently went on to form Essiebons, a prime home for quality highlife dance motivators. When Analog Africa’s Samy Ben Redjeb finished compiling this collection, it had become a celebration of Essilfie-Bondzie’s lifetime achievements.

The governing sound of these lengthy Afro-funk workouts is a spread of vintage, almost kitsch keyboard sounds, mostly organ, and operating in the tinny zone. The keys might be trebly, but their clipped attack is always thrilling, and the bass guitar sounds are invariably fulsome. On some cuts, there are thin-weeble synths intertwining, usually with choppy guitars and cutting hi-hats or tight horns, all sprung for dancing. The album’s first single was understandably Seaboy’s rousing ‘Africa’ singalong, but two of the best debuts here are Joe Meah’s two jewels, ‘Dee Mmaa Pe’ and ‘Ahwene Pa Nkasa’. Ernest Honny gets a double feature on the compilation with ‘Say the Truth’, with its more jazzed soloing, and ‘Odo Mfram’, a total organ feast, surrounded by grooving percussion layers. Many of these tunes become even catchier upon repeated spinning.