Funeral Songs

There's a bitter aftertaste to this album. The latest in Glitterbeat's acclaimed Hidden Musics series, it should be an absorbing entry point into the ‘lesser known’ and ‘localised sounds’ of northern Ghana's Frafra culture as advertised, but instead it feels tainted by the lack of accompanying information or artist acknowledgement.

The music is not the problem. Sparse and raw, the funeral songs are vocally driven with minimal accompaniment, and common to this kind of naked, capture-the-moment field recording, it might not be instantly accessible, but give yourself time to soften into the cadences of the chanting and it's a rewarding listen. This is especially true of the longer tracks, ‘You Can't Escape Death’ and ‘Helpless (Death Has Taken Everyone)’, where the husky vocal force of group leader Small (a nickname) brings home the bleak messages in the titles, even if you have no idea of what's being sung.

The issue here is the presentation. Aside from mention of Small, nowhere on the packaging or accompanying press information – nor could I find online – are the musicians named or credited, and there's hardly any information about the music itself. For those of us who like to know who performs the music we listen to, this leaves a frustrating and, frankly, disrespectful stain on the release.