more from
Glitterbeat Records
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

The Pace Setters

by Edikanfo

supported by
Carsten Pieper
Carsten Pieper thumbnail
Carsten Pieper Ah, today the download of this pre-order became available. Just listening to it right now, as I'm self-isolating in the sunshine. Great music for that, except you can't really slouch in the garden chair and dance around very good at the same time ;-)
Thanks to Glitterbeat for re-releasing this lost afro-funk gem!
The Execrable Bede
The Execrable Bede thumbnail
The Execrable Bede Absolutely essential. Bought this LP at Crazy Rhythms in Montclair, NJ, a year after it was released, & it instantly became one of my favorite albums of any genre, as well as the ONLY album worthy of accompanying Manu Dibango's "Afrovision" on a cassette.
Bob Hill Illicit Grooves
Bob Hill Illicit Grooves thumbnail
Bob Hill Illicit Grooves A brilliant re-issue. The pre-order track is going straight into the playlists for The Illicit Grooves Radio Show and in the bag ready for gigs after the Zombie Apocalypse is over.
more...
/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      €5.99 EUR  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Deluxe 4-panel digipak with additional info and photos.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Pace Setters via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      €14.75 EUR or more 

     

  • 'THE PACE SETTERS' LP ALBUM
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Vinyl in a high quality gatefold sleeve. Includes a download code.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Pace Setters via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
Nka Bom 06:12 video
2.
3.
Gbenta 05:50
4.
5.
6.

about

The first-ever reissue of the classic 1981 debut album from this much revered Ghanaian band. Vibrantly produced by British sound explorer Brian Eno in Accra, Ghana.

Highlife meets afro-funk. Spirited and horn driven.

In 1981, London based E.G. Records released the debut album from a young Ghanaian group called Edikanfo. The eight-piece band was the last group to be managed by Faisal Helwani, a charismatic impresario who was based at the popular Napoleon Club in Osu, a suburb in Ghana’s teeming capital Accra. Edikanfo quickly rose to international notoriety following the release of “The Pace Setters” because of the infectious, forward-looking highlife meets afro-funk synthesis the band committed to tape. But the album also caught an additional wind of publicity due to its producer, the already legendary British musician and sound conceptualist Brian Eno. During that time, Eno was researching and openly propagating West African musics. He often mentioned his love of Fela Kuti and called his own rhythm driven experiments the search for a “vision of a psychedelic Africa.” He had recently been collaborating with The Talking Heads on their Avant-funk masterpiece “Remain in Light” and with The Talking Heads front man David Byrne on “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts,” an album which foretold the sort of cross-pollination and global music interconnectivity that today we take for granted. Eno and Edikanfo’s work together at Studio One in Accra (Ghana) was yet another inspired morphing of soundworlds and processes and a significant touchstone for both artists.

But just when the sky seemed the limit for Edikanfo, the coup d’état in Ghana on the last day of 1981, tragically put the brakes on the band’s quickly developing fortunes. For years after that, the country endured enforced curfews at night, which of course ultimately gutted the live music scene in Accra and elsewhere. Because of this and other financial setbacks, the band ceased activity and its members spread out in exile, all over the world. It clearly seemed as though the story of Edikanfo, one of Ghana’s greatest bands of that era, had come to a premature end.

Now, almost four decades later, Edikanfo has returned. And with its surviving members gearing up to reissue and tour their classic 1981 album, “The Pace Setters,” the band is once again excitedly pointed towards the future.

credits

released May 8, 2020

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Edikanfo Ghana

contact / help

Contact Edikanfo

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Edikanfo recommends:

If you like Edikanfo, you may also like: