Funky Pangolin

The Ghanaian guitarist Kyekyeku – pronounced Tche-tche-kou – formed the Ghanalogue Highlife project in Accra a decade or so ago, although his band have since adopted the name Super Opong Stars. Funky Pangolin is Kyekyeku’s third album and it’s a rather thrilling update on vintage Ghanaian palm-wine and highlife styles, punchy horns and pulsating rhythms spiced with dashes of Afrobeat.

You can hear the influence of the likes of pioneers such as Ebo Taylor and Ambolley in the propulsive dance grooves and infectious melodies but more than anything this reviewer was reminded of the 70s British-Ghanaian rock band Osibisa. The urban, rocked-up arrangements of traditional folk styles swing and bop with a classy sophistication, the only complaint being the horrible use of a vocoder on several tracks. Standouts include the swaying opener ‘Nakupenda’, the slower, minor-key blues of ‘Africa Till I Die’ and the throbbing intensity of ‘Kukru Me’. The album’s title, by the way, is a reference to COVID-19 and the discredited theory that the pangolin was the original vector of the virus. Kyekyeku decided that the animal, which is native to Ghana, was far too ‘funky’ to be blamed, and named the album in defence of the pangolin’s unfairly maligned reputation.