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“As fine a thing that has ever come out of his homeland”
– Huffington Post
“Taylor hasn't lost a bit of the spark that made his old records
good” - Pitchfork
“I
wanted to go back to a highlife feeling with this album,” explains Ebo Taylor. “The songs are very personal and
it is an important part of my music to keep alive many traditional Fante songs, war chants and children’s rhymes.”
Appia Kwa Bridge, released this April, is a strident return from the Ghanaian highlife guitar legend. Featuring six
new compositions, his sound is more dense and tightly locked than ever with the group of musicians with whom he records, Berlin-based
musicians Afrobeat Academy. Ebo and the Afrobeat Academy have formed a rock solid unit, having toured worldwide following
their Love And Death album in 2010, including a string of dates for WOMAD. Jochen Stroh works his analogue magic once more
from his base at Berlin’s Lovelite Studios.
The album covers a variety of themes dear to Taylor. The title
track references a small bridge in Ebo’s hometown of Saltpond on the Cape Coast. “It is a tiny bridge but a place
known in the town where people meet, where lovers get together.” The fiery, rousing "Ayesama," first demo-ed
during the Love And Death sessions, is a Fante war cry, a taunt: “what’s your mother’s name?” "Nsu
Na Kwan," based on a Fante proverb, asks “Which is older – the river or the old road,” the sub-text
encouraging respect for your elders. The brilliant "Abonsam" carries the message that Abonsam (The Devil) is responsible
for evil in the world and that we should follow the Christian message.
Elsewhere, the album features a new version
of highlife anthem "Yaa Amponsah," first recorded during the ‘20s by Jacob Sam’s Sam’s Trio before
becoming a popular standard in Ghana, and a cover of an original track from Taylor’s time with Apagya Show Band during
the ’70s, "Serwa Brakatu," re-titled here as "Kruman Dey." The closer, the acoustic "Barrima,"
is a poignant tribute to Taylor’s first wife and one true love who sadly passed away during Summer 2011. “Ebo
wrote the song following her passing and recorded this in one take during our last day in the studio,” reflects bandleader
Ben Abarbanel-Wolff. “He was very emotional.”
The album features a number of special guests within
the credits including incomparable drummer Tony Allen, original Africa 70 guitarist Oghene Kologbo and conga maestro Addo
Nettey a.k.a. Pax Nicholas. Representing the younger players, keyboard genius Kwame Yeboah, son of Ghanaian legend S.K. Yeboah,
makes full use of Lovelite’s famed collection of Farfisa and Wurlitzer organs.
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