The Wazumbians
The man died before any of them was born but members of the Wazumbians Afro-fusion band says Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, is their undisputed hero.
To buttress their point, the band has dedicated a track, aptly titled ‘Kwame Nkrumah’, to the great Pan-Africanist on their newly-released 10-track album called ‘Takonasi’.
Composed by the group’s leader, Francis Chapman Abban-Hagan, known in music circles as Wazumbi, the song eulogises Nkrumah for the great things he did for Ghana and Africa. It even directly quotes some of his well-known sayings about Ghana’s political independence and the ability of black people to manage their own affairs.
“Above all things, he was a great lover of the arts and did a lot to support that area. One cannot imagine how much better the state of our arts would have been had he been in power for a longer period than he was allowed to,” Wazumbi said.
‘Takonasi’ is a Fante expression meaning ‘under the big tree.’
Wazumbi’s contention is that big trees in Africa provide shade for a variety of activities including storytelling and music making. So what they do on the album is to tell stories about contemporary matters, set to a blend of rhythms from Ghana and elsewhere.
On tracks such as ‘Ye WoAdziaa Oye’, ‘Ayakataa’, ‘Soro Nyimpa’, ‘I Love You Babe’, ‘Teacher and I No Go Mind’, the Wazumbians tell tales of the deceitful ways of politicians, the difficulties of daily survival and the need for Africans to appreciate their environment and make the best of their natural endowments.
The band’s key aim is to take music from Africa to worldwide audiences like was done some time ago by Osibisa and Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
With inspiration from those icons of African popular music, carefully worked-out horn arrangements propel the band’s sound as it floats on a solid foundation of percussion.
Seen by many music lovers as one of the most exciting live acts in the nation, the Wazumbians hope to keep up their high level of musicianship and the desire to keep up the tag as an extremely entertaining outfit.
The band was formed in 2016. It has played at festivals in Nigeria, Togo and Benin.
They have gigs lined up in the United States, Canada and Australia, which would be played when the COVID-19 situation eases up much better in those places.
The group’s leader was grateful to the management of ASK-TK Sounds in Accra for their support and also thanked Panji Anoff, Kyekyeku and Dela Botri for their regular invaluable advice to the band.
The ‘Takonasi’ album is available on a variety of digital platforms including iTunes, Spotify, Deezer, Napster, Soundcloud, Boomplay, YouTube Music, Tidal and OK-Amazon.