Wicked Leaders

Ghanaian popular music is currently dominated by both religious music and the genre known as hiplife. King Ayisoba is well-known in Ghana for mixing electronic beat-driven tracks with traditional songs. However his new album Wicked Leaders is a highly energetic recording made using traditional instruments. Although based in Accra, he originally comes from the north-east region, and it is instruments from that area that dominate this recording. King Ayisoba plays kologo (lute) as well as sings. Drums, horns and xylophone make up the rest of the instrumentation.

King Ayisoba's singing is certainly striking: a strident, shrieking voice that could belong to a scary carnival clown. It is not exactly attractive or comforting, but it is certainly entertaining. He animates his songs around other guest vocalists who provide a more musical structure. The singing is a mixture of English and the Ghanaian languages Frafra and Twi. The title-track is the album's highlight: sung in English, it has a lyric worthy of Fela Kuti and an infectious rhythm.