Akwasi Returns With ?Adamu?

Kwasi Kyereme Reggae is not the kind of music that is taken seriously in this country as other kinds of music are. The number of reggae musicians we have in Ghana can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

But one man says he is in the country to change all that. Kwasi Kyereme is a Berlin, Germany based Ghanaian musician who is just about to release his fourth album.

Adamu is the title of Kyereme?s eight-track album, which comes with a mixture of roots reggae, pop reggae, dance hall and even one gospel style reggae. Akwasi, who worked with Nigerian musical legend Fela Kuti during the 70s and 80s, has been domiciled in Germany for many years.

In 1993 he formed his own repertory and, together with a band made up of Ghanaian musicians called Root B Tama, they went out of their way to rock the African communities in Germany with good reggae music. His first album was Esi Wano and he followed it up with Saa Netie, then the maxi single Money no Dey.

Akwasi Kyereme told Showbiz that his new album Adamu: Reggae Life is ?meant to advise brothers and sisters to live well since whatever they do will follow them wherever they go.?

The album opens with a dance hall style track called Bantama and it is for me the one track that could fulfil Akwasi?s desire for his music to catch on very well with the Ghanaian listening public. It opens with that military song that goes like ?Bantama, Bantama, Kumasi Bantama....? After this Akwasi surges into singing the praise of a lover he calls Adwoa Mansa.

The beating of the bass drum and the strong bassline are the strengths of the song. His voice on this track reminds the listener of the days when jungle music was in vogue since he sings very deep from the throat.

The title track Adamu is one that seeks to advise listeners that they should live amicably with others since those who do good will be rewarded well. Reggae musicians have a way of stringing words to form a nice lyrical structure for their music, and the gentleman does it well in Adamu.

The beat represents a style between pop reggae and something Caribbean. It would have been better had Akwasi taken time to work on the synchronisation of lyrics and beat since what presently obtains leaves much to be desired.

One gospel track is thrown into the album for a good measure. Yesu Sanbra is the song in question and it goes to praise God for the good things He has been doing for mankind as well as asking Him to come back to save man from his toils. He tries a very good roots reggae on this track and unlike Adamu, the track enjoys a coherent blend between rhythm and words.

Whether or not Akwasi will be able to win the crusade he has set for himself to do will be known when the songs on his album start to hit the airwaves. He may not come as one who has any following in Ghana but time will tell how he can get to them. Adamu was produced by Akwasi Kyereme together with good old Lee Dodou who, according to the former, is also based in Germany.