Millionaires Release Debut

Hiplife and highlife music lovers have a new addition to the number of musicians in the two genres in a new group, which goes by the name Millionaires. They have just released their debut album entitled, ?Adwoa Donkor? ? an exciting collection outdoored last month, which is certain to upset the charts.

The album also features known artistes like Bandana, Screwface and Taliban and is currently enjoying airplay on many radio stations, particularly in Accra, the national capital.

Tracks on the new CD album are ?Adwoa Donkor?, ?Adisa?, ?Ngozi?, ?Enne Mmaa?, ?Awonye?, ?Millionaires?, ?Ye Na Bra?, ?Away?, ?Aseda? (which are all hiplife tracks) and ?Atenka? (highlife track).

Edward Addo Dombo and Divine Kwadwo Darko, the youthful duo behind the Millionaires have identical views about music. They met at the Tema Technical Institute where they were both electrical engineering students. Due to their love for music, Edward and Divine found themselves performing during an entertainment programme on campus.

Individually, they felt that they performed so well considering the applause from their fellow-students that after the show, they decided to come together to form the Millionaires music group.

Presently, Edward is doing electrical engineering at the Sunyani Polytechnic while Divine is a remedial student in electrical engineering in Tema.

Edward?s father, a band leader of a cultural troupe was a good drummer and singer, has been a great inspiration to his son.

?I got involved in music about eight years ago when I was listening and watching some foreign musicians on TV and asked myself, ?why can?t I do my own thing like my father instead of copying foreign musicians???. This was the turning point in his life, and he has never looked backed.

Similarly, Divine Kwadwo Darko, 22, who was junior to Edward at the Tema Technical Institute, felt music in his blood and was always asking himself why he was not one of the leading musicians in Ghana since he felt inside him that he was a good musician as any of the leading musicians in the country.

Urged on by his passion for music, it came as no surprise that the two young men got together, as the Millionaires to do authentic African music.

The outcome of their first effort, ?Adwoa Donkor?, is in the style of Obour, Tinny and Tic Tac and other hiplife artistes in the country. What makes them different is their distinct style which is unlike the others.

The title track, ?Adwoa Donkor? is certainly danceable music that will not fail to galvanise any listener to his or her feet. ?Adisa? which follows is also in the same vein, beauty, danceable to one?s own free style in pidgin English and Twi just as the next, ?Ngozi? in pidgin English, Ga, Hausa, Krobo and the Two languages.

One will also enjoy ?Atenka Enne Mmaa?, ?Awonye?, ?Millionaires?, ?Aseda?, ?Ye Na Bra? and ?Away?.

?Atenka?, the only hiplife piece on the album is one of my favourites. It is composed with a danceable beat and will go down well with the ?now? people and the old timers. All the hiplife tracks can also stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the leading ones on the market.

My only reservation is that over enthusiasm is dishing out good music seem to have taken the better part of the youthful duo that it seems in a few instances, where the tempo should have been reduced for the drums and instruments to blend well with the lyrics and raps to make their work more beautiful, got lost to them.

In an interview, both Edward and Divine gave the assurance that they hope like others to carry hiplife music onto the international market.