Our friends at PRI The World have done it again and produced another fascinating documentary on forgotten music from across the globe. This time they explore the music of Sweet Talks and the influence they had on the Ghanain music scene in 1970s.
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This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio. MARCO WERMAN: We leave you today back in the 1970s in Ghana, in West Africa, and with one band in particular, The Sweet Talks. But first a bit of background. In every country, in every culture’s pop music, there’s always a style and a scene that dominates for awhile. In the ‘50s in the US, it was rock and roll. In the ‘60s in France, it was yeye music, their version of go-go. In the ‘60s and ‘70s in Ghana it was highlife. In the early ‘70s in Ghana, the old brass traditional highlife music had morphed into mellow guitar band jams. Highlife groups like these guys, the City Boys Band, were hugely popular in Ghanaian nightclubs, and on record. At some point though, with every scene, a new band comes along that changes all the rules, and the shape of the whole style, forever. In Ghana, the musical casserole had been filling up with big chunky bits. Musicians were feeling the need to make a more authentically African sound. At the same time, influences were pouring in from the west, electric guitar and experimental rock were shaping the outcome of Ghanaian music. So was funk. So artists in Ghana were feeling the freedom to innovate. And the talented ones were finding each other. That’s essentially how the ground-breaking group The Sweet Talks got started. And, they had a nightclub owner outside Accra who was happy to give them a residency and let them grow. The Sweet Talks lasted until the end of the ‘70s. At that point, they had become the feeder band for other cutting edge Ghanaian ensembles, most notably the band Osibisa. But that’s another story. Today though, we give you the smoking sounds of The Sweet Talks, one of Ghana’s most successful and innovative groups. And we get to play them for you because one of their seminal recordings, The Kusum Beat, has recently become available on CD. Good thing The Kusum Beat has come out on CD. The original edition on vinyl could put you in triple digit dollars if you can find it in good condition on eBay. Plus, The Kusum Beat is just a super-groovy album. This track, “Kyekye pe Aware” taps into an Ashanti expression that talks of the marriage between the North Star and the Moon. Normally, that would fall into Ashanti folklore tradition in Ghana. But musically, The Sweet Talks interpret it cosmically, layering Ghana’s well-known polyrhythmic percussion under a stabbing organ. We leave you with The Sweet Talks today. Eric Goldberg composed The World’s theme music. From the Nan and Bill Harris studios, I’m Marco Werman. We’ll be back next week, and so will Lisa Mullins. Welcome back Lisa. And you listeners, have a great weekend.*
http://www.theworld.org/2010/09/the-sweet-talks/
so much material being uncovered.
the interweb does have benefits.
