Difference between revisions of "E.T. Mensah and the Tempos"
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| + | E.T. Mensah (1919-1996) led the Tempos from 1948 onwards. | ||
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| + | Just after the war, E. T. joined the Tempos, set up by Ghanaian pianist Adolf Doku and an English engineer and sax player called Arthur Harriman. | ||
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| + | At first the band included some white soldiers, but after the war the Europeans left and the band became completely African. Joe Kelly became the leader, followed by Guy Warren and ultimately in 1948, by E. T. | ||
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Bob Johnson notes: | Bob Johnson notes: | ||
Revision as of 12:30, 25 September 2007
E.T. Mensah (1919-1996) led the Tempos from 1948 onwards.
Just after the war, E. T. joined the Tempos, set up by Ghanaian pianist Adolf Doku and an English engineer and sax player called Arthur Harriman.
At first the band included some white soldiers, but after the war the Europeans left and the band became completely African. Joe Kelly became the leader, followed by Guy Warren and ultimately in 1948, by E. T.
Bob Johnson notes:
“The Tempos jazzy highlife sound became the sound-symbol or zeitgeist of the early independence era as its use of a western jazz-combo format to play African music reflected independence itself, when the western socio-economic colonial format became Africanized”.
For an example of highlife's Ghanaian social commentary, infused by American-Cuban musical style, listen to the Inflation Calypso.
Mensah composed over forty highlife tunes in support of Ghana's first leader, Kwame Nkrumah, provide music at major CCP rallies and accompany the leader on State visits to neighboring countries.
E.T. Mensah composed the following songs in support of Ghanaian nationalism, utilizing the highlife idiom, strongly influenced by jazz, even as nationalism was influenced by African-American intellectual figures, such as WEB Dubois.
