GHANA: Bokoor Beats - Oldies Goodies
Bokoor Beats"Bokoor beats" comes from a life long experience, recording Ghanaian music for several decades. The name behind it all is John Collins. Musician and Professor of Musicology. He founded Bokoor Band in the 1970s. Ghana, a young nation was booming with musical excellence and Bokoor band caught the train at the right moment. It was the age of experiment.
The music was a blend of western music and native African rhythms. Bokoor Band became Bokoor Studios and John Collins became its chief Engineer. He recorded countless albums in his Studio. From Palm Wine to Early High Life, not forgetting afro-beat , Afro rock, Afro-Jazz, Gospel, Reggae and all kind of traditional music. For a long time, Bokoor studios was one of the main recording studios in Ghana. Most Ghanaian big names if not all, have been there. The album could not have been release at a better time. This year, Ghana is 50 years old.
"Bokoor Beats" is a collection of early Ghanaian’s top performers. Bands like Brekete and the Big Beats, Mangwana Stars, Oyiwam International, T.O. Jazz and of course Bokoor Band. For this release, John Collins dusted out of the vault the original tapes. Every recording was remastered. Besides the instrument arrangement that give away the age of the recordings, the old tapes were obviously very well protected.
BokoorThese songs breathe simplicity in their arrangement and pure talent in the performance. It's incredibly well balanced. A 30 year old recording sounding this good, both the mixing and mastering engineers deserve high praises for the excellence of their work. And to John, I say thank you for bringing these jewels back to life.
Source: Alain Koffi SESSI, Africagrooves.com