{"id":10831,"date":"2021-11-14T03:31:49","date_gmt":"2021-11-14T03:31:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/uncategorized\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house"},"modified":"2021-11-14T03:42:35","modified_gmt":"2021-11-14T03:42:35","slug":"music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house","title":{"rendered":"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Ghana. <\/strong><\/span>Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House<\/p>\n

Proof that highlife was never a musical straitjacket<\/p>\n

by Kieron TylerSunday, 14 November 2021<\/p>\n

ShareFacebookTwitterEmail<\/p>\n

\ufffc<\/p>\n

C.K. Mann, the star name on ‘Essiebons Special’, in 1978Analog Africa<\/p>\n

One of the most interesting tracks on Essiebons Special 1973\u20131984 Ghana Music Power House is Joe Meah\u2019s mysterious “Dee Mmaa Pe”. It\u2019s not mentioned in the compilation\u2019s accompanying booklet, and Joe Meah doesn\u2019t figure in any of the standard discographies littering the world-wide web.<\/p>\n

Despite this inscrutability, Essiebons Special\u2019s second cut has a surprisingly familiar touchstone. Mainly instrumental with stabbing brass, a sax solo and odd vocal interjections it has a shuffling soul vibe. But the keyboard part dominates. What\u2019s played nods so overtly to The Doors\u2019s \u201cLight my Fire\u201d that it\u2019s close-to certain Mr Meah or the keyboard-playing member of his band was paying keen attention to Ray Manzarek. This is the first release of \u201cDee Mmaa Pe”.The other thing known about “Dee Mmaa Pe” is that it is was recorded for Ghanaian producer Dick Essilfie-Bondzie, whose Dix and Essiebons labels achieved most success with highlife. C.K. Mann is the best-known name on Essiebons Special.<\/p>\n

Essilfie-Bondzie, who died at age 90 last year, was integral to Ghana\u2019s music. The booklet tells the story. He produced his first recording in 1959, then studied in London, returned home and became an employee of the Ghanaian government\u2019s Industrial Development Corporation. He opened Record Manufacturers (Ghana) Limited, the country\u2019s first record pressing plant in 1967. The Essiebons and Dix labels soon followed. In 1972, he left his government job. In 1978, he produced the film Roots to Fruits. Essilfie-Bondzie was integral to Ghana\u2019s popular culture but, as “Dee Mmaa Pe” makes clear, Essiebons Special looks at him from a new perspective. Six tracks are previously unissued.There\u2019s an emphasis on the funky, groove-based side of things. The C.K. Mann Big Band\u2019s “Fa W\u2018akoma Ma Me” was originally included on the 1976 C.K. Mann Big Band album. Featuring some warm solo guitar (maybe from Ebo Taylor), it\u2019s restrained and brings a Curtis Mayfield-esque viewpoint to highlife. “Wonnin a Bisa” by Black Masters Band (from a 1978 LP) is also grounded in highlife but, again, has this controlled feel. With at least these tracks, Essilfie-Bondzie defined a difference between the unconstrained live experience and what was released on record.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Sea Boy\u2019s “Africa” (from the 1976 album Across the Seas) feels as if it was taped at a live session. The just-about rocksteady rhythmic chassis is so direct it captures a moment which would not have lingered. Even though it\u2019s a medley \u2013 so must have had forethought \u2013 Nyame Bekyere\u2019s terrific “Medley (Broken Heart, Aunty Yaa, Omo Yaba (Nzema))” (from the 1976 album Broken Heart) has an analogous spontaneity.<\/p>\n

Obviously, Essiebons Special 1973\u20131984 Ghana Music Power House doesn\u2019t seek to be a definitive statement on Dick Essilfie-Bondzie and his labels. Instead, it emphasises that highlife has never been a musical straitjacket; that it could be the springing-off point from which any or many directions could be pursued. Which includes celebrating a fondness for \u201cLight my Fire\u201d.<\/p>\n

Next week: Lenny Kaye Presents Lightning Striking \u2013 how specific moments in rock \u2019n\u2019 roll evolution were tied to specific places<\/p>\n

More reissue reviews on theartsdesk<\/p>\n

Kieron Tyler\u2019s website<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Ghana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Ghana. Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House Proof that highlife was never a musical straitjacket by Kieron TylerSunday, 14 November 2021 ShareFacebookTwitterEmail \ufffc C.K. Mann, the star name on ‘Essiebons Special’, in 1978Analog Africa One of the most interesting tracks on Essiebons Special 1973\u20131984 Ghana Music Power House is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":10830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,7,8],"tags":[5092,5096,5526,429,5525],"class_list":["post-10831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-culture-and-art","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-ghana","tag-essiebons-special","tag-ghana","tag-music"],"yoast_head":"\nMusic Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House - Ghana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House Proof that highlife was never a musical stra ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House Proof that highlife was never a musical stra ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-14T03:31:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-14T03:42:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2021\/11\/img-6190857fe88e1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"534\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-14T03:31:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-14T03:42:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house\"},\"wordCount\":580,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2021\/11\/img-6190857fe88e1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Ghana\",\"Essiebons Special\",\"ghana\",\"Music\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"culture and art\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house\",\"name\":\"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House - Ghana\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2021\/11\/img-6190857fe88e1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-14T03:31:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-14T03:42:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House Proof that highlife was never a musical stra ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2021\/11\/img-6190857fe88e1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2021\/11\/img-6190857fe88e1.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":534,\"caption\":\"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/\",\"name\":\"Ghana\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House - Ghana","description":"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House Proof that highlife was never a musical stra ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House","og_description":"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House Proof that highlife was never a musical stra ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house","og_site_name":"Ghana","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2021-11-14T03:31:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-11-14T03:42:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":534,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2021\/11\/img-6190857fe88e1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House","datePublished":"2021-11-14T03:31:49+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-14T03:42:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house"},"wordCount":580,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2021\/11\/img-6190857fe88e1.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Ghana","Essiebons Special","ghana","Music"],"articleSection":["all news","culture and art","head lines","homepage-english"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house","name":"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House - Ghana","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2021\/11\/img-6190857fe88e1.jpg","datePublished":"2021-11-14T03:31:49+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-14T03:42:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House Proof that highlife was never a musical stra ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2021\/11\/img-6190857fe88e1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2021\/11\/img-6190857fe88e1.jpg","width":800,"height":534,"caption":"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/music-reissues-weekly-essiebons-special-1973-1984-ghana-music-power-house#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Music Reissues Weekly: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 Ghana Music Power House"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/","name":"Ghana","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}