The Black Album

Description

Soundway revives two highlife gems by K. Frimpong and his Cubano Fiestas, recorded in 1976 and 1977 - peaks of West African musical tradition and audacity. Known today as the Blue Album and Black Album, these legendary records reveal two facets of Frimpong's art: the Blue, a vibrant reinvention of Ghanaian melodies driven by the classic Kyenkyen Bi Adi M'awu ("Come back, my love"), covered and sampled by major names; the Black, more futuristic, culminating in the hypnotic trance of Adam Nana, where serpentine guitars, throbbing keyboards, and celestial percussion weave a quarter-hour of pure musical intoxication - a Ghanaian response to the Afro-jazz explorations of the era. Never distributed outside Ghana, these albums became extremely rare collector's items, briefly reissued in 2011 before disappearing again, fueling their legend.