Ghanaians carry on Coltrane

Two musicians from Accra, Ghana, are performing in UNM music classes this week.

Nii Otoo Annan and Nii Noi Nortey are visiting UNM at the request of music professor Steven Feld.

Feld met Annan and Nortey three years ago in Ghana. Together they formed a group called Accra Trane Station.

Nortey said this is his and Annan’s second time in New Mexico.

“On both occasions we enjoyed ourselves very much,” he said. “Our favorite spot is the Outpost where we perform our music.”

Feld said they have a great coming-to-America story.

“We were in Chicago going through the place where you go through customs and immigration and get your passports stamped,” he said. “Nii Noi and Nii Otoo came out, and they had big smiles on their faces, a really big smile on their face.”

Feld said he was worried they were going to get hassled because it was their first time in the U.S., and Homeland Security can be difficult with foreign travelers.

“I said, ‘What happened?’ And Nii Otoo said, ‘The girl at the desk asked me - she saw my name Annan, and she asked if I was related to (former Secretary General of the United Nations) Kofi Annan,’” Feld said. “He said, ‘Yeah, yeah. He’s my cousin,’ and she stamped his passport real quick. The name Annan is a famous Ghanaian name. That’s my favorite coming-to-America story, getting the stamp of approval.”

Feld said Nortey and Annan were recommended to him as musicians he should know who are doing far-out things.

“We shared this deep interest in the music of John Coltrane,” he said. “John Coltrane’s sounds, his spiritual quest, the way he extended and developed the language of jazz and, particularly, his way of reaching out to African music.”

He said Coltrane had a musical and spiritual connection to West Africa.

“We love John Coltrane so much,” Nortey said. “Who’s this guy who makes so much reference to Africa, you know? We follow that curiosity, and then you get to love his music. And then you find his references are African, and then it makes you go into your own to find out what you have. It’s a process of self-discovery to listen to the music of Coltrane.”

Nortey plays the saxophone and homemade instruments. The woodwind instruments he invented are fixed with saxophone mouthpieces.

“Those instruments we call afrifones,” he said. “Afrifones are meant to reproduce the sounds of the saxophone in an African context. So, we use that a lot in our improvisations.”

Nortey said he and Annan combine traditional African music with contemporary developments in music.

“We didn’t go to school for it because our school is the environment in which we grew up, which is a very musical environment,” he said. “(Annan) is a traditional drummer. He, especially as a drummer, grew up with that tradition. I’m more of a contemporary musician.”

The group has a CD called “Another Blue Train,” which will be available at their Saturday performance at Outpost Performance Space.

They will also be assisting Feld in his classes throughout the week.

Feld said it was a dream come true for him.

“They have shared so much of their resources and stories and their home and Accra and introduced me to people and everything there,” he said. “Now, finally, I have a chance to do something here on this side where they can see my place and meet my friends who are musicians here. They can see the situation here with the music students at UNM.”