Sunny Afrika

After his professional musical start in Ghana in the 1970s as a member of the group Basa Basa at Faisal Helwani's club in Accra, the bass guitarist Herman Asafo-Agyei moved to London. He became co-founder of the group Hi-Life International, the first group signed to the Sterns label. In 1985 he joined celebrated Afro-rock group Osibisa, with whom he toured until 2011. During that period he worked as a regular session musician and also formed his own group Native Spirit, who were active in Canada. These days he is a reverend minister in a Baptist church outside London.

This album contains five songs from Native Spirit's 1987 LP release plus three tracks from the Hi-Life International period – all composed by Asafo-Agyei. The music is a joyous mix of highlife combined with funk. It's a tried and tested formula that worked well throughout the 70s and 80s and still sounds good today. It is essentially African disco played by musicians who can easily switch from a commercial disco beat into a more refined guitar-band highlife style. Asafo-Agyei's characteristic slap-bass funk style of playing is highly evident throughout.