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The first-ever reissue of the classic 1981 debut album from this much
revered Ghanaian band. Vibrantly produced by British sound explorer
Brian Eno in Accra, Ghana. Highlife meets afro-funk. Spirited, horn driven
& trailblazing. Almost four decades after a coup d'état in Ghana
prematurely halted their career, Edikanfo's surviving band members are
at last gearing up to reissue and tour "The Pace Setters." The LP & CD
feature exclusive liner notes from Brian Eno and an extensive interview
with Edikanfo band leader Gilbert Amartey Amar. In 1981, London-based
E.G. Records released the debut album from a young Ghanaian group
called Edikanfo. Edikanfo quickly rose to international notoriety following
the release of "The Pace Setters" because of the infectious, forwardlooking highlife meets afro-funk synthesis the band committed to tape. But
the album also caught an additional wind of publicity due to its producer,
the already legendary British musician and sound conceptualist Brian
Eno. During that time, Eno was researching and openly propagating West
African musics. He often mentioned his love of Fela Kuti and called his
own rhythm-driven experiments the search for a "vision of a psychedelic
Africa." He had recently been collaborating with The Talking Heads on
their Avant-funk masterpiece "Remain in Light" and with The Talking
Heads frontman David Byrne on "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts," an
album which foretold the sort of cross-pollination and global music
interconnectivity that today we take for granted. Eno and Edikanfo's work
together at Studio One in Accra (Ghana) was yet another inspired
morphing of soundworlds and processes and a significant touchstone for
both artists. As Brian Eno recently noted: "the actual recording sessions
were joyful - the band played with such verve that you couldn't resist."
But just when the sky seemed the limit for Edikanfo, the coup d'état in
Ghana on the last day of 1981, tragically put the brakes on the band's
quickly developing fortunes. For years after that, the country endured
enforced curfews at night, which of course ultimately gutted the live music
scene in Accra and elsewhere. Because of this and other financial
setbacks, the band ceased activity and its members spread out in exile,
all over the world. It clearly seemed as though the story of Edikanfo, one
of Ghana's greatest bands of that era, had come to a premature end.
Now, almost four decades later, Edikanfo has returned. And with its
surviving members gearing up to reissue and tour their classic 1981
album, "The Pace Setters," the band is once again excitedly pointed
towards the future.