Veteran Ghanaian musician Ebo Taylor last week mesmerised highlife music fans at the Alliance Française in Accra with tunes from his latest album titled ‘Yen Ara’.
In a magnetic performance with the Saltpond City Band, Taylor charmed the crowd with a compelling voice alongside a dramatic fusion of highlife, Afrobeat, a cool dose of jazz and traditional Ghanaian rhythms.
With a distinctive style, the elderly musician went into his own world and delivered magical guitar lines through refreshing solos that drew cheers and applause from the audience while delivering subtle messages through well-packaged lyrics.
An internationally acclaimed guitarist, composer, arranger and producer, he led the band, who appeared impressively relaxed to rock the Alliance Française with interlocking rhythmic patterns that surprised the audience.
Undeniably, his compositions, arrangements alongside an outstanding guitar style has shaped Ghanaian music and in particular highlife in an extensive manner. Indeed, it has resulted in performance tours in over 30 countries in recent years.
Significantly, he has created his own, remarkable style of African music: a unique synthesis of highlife, jazz and Afrobeat that is currently creating waves all over the world as he continues to enthrall audiences wherever he goes.
The concert was opened by the dynamic musician Fatau Keita, who equally entertained the crowd with a cool blend of Dagomba rhythms with highlife and jazz.
By John Owoo