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Santrofi’s ‘Alewa’ adjudged one of the Biggest Albums in 2020

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9 months ago

January 14, 2021

Highly reputable music critics have already declared Santrofi’s ‘Alewa’ to be one of the best albums of 2020. Now, the numbers have spoken, the data has assembled into integers and decimal points in Pan African Music’s (PAM) end-of-year music review.

PAM is a France-based major music digital distributor for independent music dedicated to promoting music from the African continent and diaspora.

“Alewa” was named among other albums from gigantic artistes on the continent encompassing Stonebwoy (Ghana), Hailu Mergia (Ethiopia), L’esprit de Nyege (Uganda) and Burnaboy from Nigeria.

Santrofi, devised from the mythological precious bird from the Akan language — is a collective of spirited and celebrated young musicians assembled around bass player Emmanuel Ofori whose credentials include playing with highlife heavyweights Ebo Taylor, Pat Thomas and Kwashibu Area Band.

The album, “Alewa” is an organic and well-crafted experiment, in an era where many African musicians attempt to seduce a Western audience by making their music pop.

While Ghana still predictably serve as home to flourishing highlife music, the genre’s worth saving still need practitioners and advocates who are willing to propel it forward. Highlife music boasts a long, rich history — about 100 years — of transformation, adaptation, tumult and triumph. From radical-bashing pundits to brave and bold composers, highlife music has remained alive even as prognosticators routinely predict its demise.

Santrofi, the vintage-inspired Ghanaian highlife band, gives us a glimpse into a serene world, a real breath of fresh air that reminds us to uphold Ghanaian highlife.

The debut album is a mixture of culturally rich and authentic Ghanaian highlife music brewed with melodic beats, blues, jazz, funk, groovy percussion and silky vocals served in a Ghanaian pot.

Alewa is an album of love songs—the oldest subject in the book—but it’s filled with other significant themes – racial segregation and discrimination, unity in diversity, jealousy, economics and other cultural happenings in society. In it, ‘Alewa’ builds a self-contained world that luxuriates love—both sonically and lyrically—while still hinting at some of our age’s deep-seated flaws.

Last year was without question one of the most challenging years for the music industry. Santrofi had its share as the band’s booked concerts in over 20 European countries were cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic; this was after a successful tour in 2019.

Source: Emmanuel Jewel Peprah Mensah

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Multiple Grammy award winner, Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo, is expected to perform at this year’s Grow, Unite and Build Africa (GUBA) Awards.

The awards are slated for November 7 and 8, 2021, and would mark a centenary of the passage and resilience of Nana Yaa Asantewaa, the influential warrior and Queen mother of Ejisu, who rose to lead an Asante army against the British.

Speaking at a media briefing on Monday at Kempinski hotel in Accra, Chief Executive Officer, (CEO) of GUBA, Ms Dentaa Amoateng said, the celebrated African musician who hails from Benin would be honoured on the day.

She noted that the ceremony would be attended by prominent people of various background including former President of Liberia, Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,the seventh Director–General of the World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, market women among many others.

Dentaa Amonteng further noted that Nana Yaa Asantewaa’s ravery,immensely contributed to the country’s independence story, because it shaped the psyche of the nation, that they could stand up for the country regardless of the apposition.

She said for this reason, there was the need to throw more spotlight on her and celebrate the amazing performance of women and empower young ladies to strive to the top.

According to her the two-day event, would first be a durbar at Manhyia palace in Kumasi on November 7, and followed by the rest of Awards the next day at the Grand Arena, Accra International Conference Centre.

Prince Anthony Bart, a member of the team said it would help instill the spirit of patriotism in the youth, “we need to learn about history of leaders who have contributed to our struggle.”

The Year 2021 marks exactly 100 years of the death of Yaa Asantewaa, the last African woman to lead a major war against colonial powers in 1900, where she played the role of the Commander-in-Chief of the powerful Asante Empire.

These events will observe an important moment in African history, one that is unique to the relations between the Republic of Ghana and the Republic of Seychelles and is expected to host several high-profile personalities from the diaspora.

While celebrating Yaa Asantewaa, the awards will also recognize the contribution of Black women in the diaspora and Africa. The 2021 GUBA Awards will also raise awareness on maternal mortality and call for measures to ensure safe child delivery across the continent. GUBA Enterprise believes that every child, born and unborn, has a great potential and must be given the opportunity to fulfill this potential