Kweku Ananse bears it all

Music does not indeed come naturally to this civil engineer, who lives another life as a producer. Ananse, also known as Nas found his calling by creating beats in the blooming days of hiplife. His decision to begin producing was heavily influenced by his introduction and subsequent reverence for the work of old school highlife and afro beat greats like E. T. Mensah, Fela Kuti, Ojantanaa Band and Bunzu Bands.

A lot of Ananse’s work is based on African music from the 60’s and 70’s, when Ghanaian music had a place on the world market.

“The kind of music they were doing back then was very instrument based; almost orchestral, it had so much texture. You talking about eight plus people in a band, and a lot of different guitars, drums and congas, it was kept very organic. I mean it was just rich. With the music from the 80s and 90s; a lot of them have become computered and computer sounds just don’t do it for me. Synthetic music doesn’t have the same ambience as a ten-man band. But that is not always true sometimes you get some amazing shit that is done with computer stuff”.

There certainly might be a whole theoretical explanation for that sonic disparity Ananse talks about but that’s a subject for another story. Not too many Ghanaian producers know their music like he does but he still chose to operate under the radar for a long time.

Ananse thinks being a family man and having a job that takes care of bills leaves little room for consistent production. In other words he can afford to create music as artistic stimulation as against having to earn a living off it.

The system is catching up to his spider funk so much now because of Wanlov’s album, which was heavily sample based with unique blend of hiphop, funk  and afro beat reminiscent of early Black Eyed Peas. The music is catchy and innovative and an energetic fun delivery.

“The bulk of the sample that I used are from that era of authentic highlife and afro beat. It’s much easier to get a fully textured sound with those beats. People have done and are still doing fusions; I don’t think I’m the first. Rab Bakari, Panji, Mensa and MA have all done those kinds of fusions in the past and are still doing it. Some of it was happening in the late 80s and 90s which was pretty out of the curb. The only reason people don’t know about these guys is because they seem to be out of the public sphere. My face is not out there because I have nice job and to be honest I hardly find time to do music consistently. My productivity as for making music sort of goes up and down depending on the work load I have to deal with”.

Maybe if the music made him as much money as his real job did Ananse thinks he might consider. But there’s a certain type of music that makes money in Ghana; the type he is not interested in. so maybe he might never get to DJ full time or have a permanent spot on Vibe FM. In the end he gets t o practice as an artiste, producing some ground breaking material and trading money for respect.

“The luxury of having a job that brings you some income and a family that gives you some stability is that you can do whatever you want with your music. I don’t have to worry about whether my beat is going to be better that Jay Q’s last beat or whether I can sell as many copies as Hammer’s or whether it can burn the dance floors like MA’s”.

“I don’t have to worry about all that stuff because this is not my bread and butter. I do this for the sound; as long as it makes me happy it’s ok. And that’s how I contributed to Wanlov’s album; I didn’t have to go out looking to get my tracks. He heard my beats and loved them; he refined those instrumentals into something I never imagined”.

There seems to be some kind of creative energy that is slowly changing the face of Ghanaian music, artistes like Kwaw Kese, Ayisoba, Asem and Wanlov are doing music that was mainstream but broke out regardless.

Now it’s ok to sing in Frafra backed by Kolgo (two-stringed instrument) tunes or rap in Fante over grimy hiphop beats. There is a whole subculture we are not aware of because the media has gotten complacent with the provision of quality content.

Ananse’s take on the future of his new projects are strictly deep, groovy tracks that will inspire complacent dancers. Look out for breakdown rhythms and dubbed-out live instruments on the radio.

It just might be the infectious shuffling rhythms of this great producer transforming basic elements into riffing but tidy breaking beats. With just enough triggered percussion and samples to keep you wanted more. Being a DJ too, Ananse is too familiar with what has become urban radio’s most effective system of suppression; Payola.

“We don’t go out there to check out the music and the art and we just think that the scene is dead. It is not dead. There is this guy – Lord Wumpini, I don’t remember the name of the song but it was fucking amazing. He’s from the north and this is his sophomore album and nobody knows him. If we will take the time to go to the music stores or Rawlings Park and get old records and new CDs out there, we would realize there’s a lot of material out there.

A big part of the reason musicians feel like there is no future for their art is because of Payola. Payola makes DJs fucking lazy, they sit on their asses waiting for you to bring them music and pay them. But DJs should be out there, seeing what’s coming out and giving everybody a fair chance. Why wouldn’t you want to taste the full spectrum of music favours out there? Why would you limit yourself to what has cash behind it. A lot of big DJs are out there, collecting money from artistes and doing disservice to musicians and the general public”.

A lot of the music on radio is the stuff that has money behind it – there’s no art to it. The artistes who can’t afford the standard $2,000 fee to cut off, never heard and never seen. DJs have an obligation to inspire their audience because that’s, makes the DJ a gimmick and Accra alone has too many of them in positions of influence unfortunately. Ananse’s real name is Nana Osei Manu, he lives in Accra with his wife and two kids.