20260320-1000

0:00We are Modern Ghanians and he said, this is great. Who are you and where are you from? And they started to connect. He said, I want to hear more of your songs. Maybe we can make an album. I'll take you to my studio. We record. And that's how King Aishbhai and Panji, as a producer and a label owner, started to work together. And when I was in Ghana, setting up actually a studio for some other musicians in Medina, outside of Accra, I thought, I have to find this guy, King Aishbhai, and his music, because he should come and play in Europe. Everybody will like it. And then I connected to Panji. It was easy to reach him. It was like very hard to reach King Aishbhai himself. And at the time when I was there, he was in Mali. So, okay, finally, I met Panji, went to his house where his studio was and we spoke and I said, well, can we arrange something? And he said, okay, I'll speak with King Aishbhai and then we met and then we decided to do a tour, 2012.

1:03That was the beginning, yeah. Right. You know this, I know it's actually the first time my son saw him, Alia, when he was about two. He was watching him, sound check. And then suddenly King Aishbhai did this thing where he goes, guy, guy, with this other voice. And Alia was like, whoa, like you could see that he was a bit scared as well. What is that? What is that guy, guy? Because it really sounds like a different voice coming out Yeah, that's what, well Aishbhai, I've heard him answer this question quite a few times so I think I can more or less answer it for him. What he says is it's the voice of the animals that he got from his grandfather. His grandfather used to sleep in the forest when he was hunting, when he was out hunting. And then in his sleep he would connect to the spirits of the animals and he would take those voices. And then this was the voice that his grandfather used

2:06and King Aishbhai inherited that voice from his grandfather. So he said, yeah, yeah. Fuba was Fuba. Fuba actually, it comes with a lot of power but it actually means relax. Oh, the opposite. OK, I'm going to play some solo colloquial music OK, I'm going to play some solo colloquial music

3:22I'm going to play some solo colloquial music I'm going to play some solo colloquial music

4:22I'm going to play some solo colloquial music I'm going to play some solo colloquial music Men rock'n'roll Come on, come on, come on

5:22Come on, come on A fascia, a man in the room, a fascia, a man in the room, a man in the room, a fascia, a man in the room, a man in the room, a babies flying in the air come by, in the room, This track is by Prince Bougie which you also released. It's one of the first times I was in Ghana, back then I was living in a house in the North of Akra and not Kanishi.

6:35He started a bar there called the Afrika Bar and Prince Bougie was always the Call of Go player and an amazing singer. So I met him very often and then in the night when darkness comes we would also sit around and he was the one who most often would be the first one to pick up the Call of Go and start just playing and playing his songs. And really this sort of trance kind of kind of thing that is more than... maybe more a pop song of writer than what I heard in Prince Bougie's music was this sort of trance kind of thing and I thought it was amazing. And he had a cassette and so at one point I collected his cassette and he sent me a few other tracks actually later when I was back in the Netherlands and we made this in the war album and put it out.

7:38I think that was already in 2013.

8:52It's been a while since I wrote the song. I think it was very nice.

10:40So that track actually I got from YouTube. And it's a really great YouTube site called MyBolga Online. And I don't know who the guy is. It says exciting, Collego music from Taboo, Logra Congo. I don't know if that's the name of the guy or the name of the place, Logra Congo. And before that was Prince Buju, and the song was called Afashi, and it was originally released on his, was that CD or an LP? Cassette. Cassette also, we are in the war, which later on released on Collego Power,

11:46a ball, gatanga compilation, which is a great release as he has, tons of, tons of Collego music with really different styles. And the first track was a blind musician. I think he got blind from getting a bad case of the measles when he was quite small. And his name is Aluta, and he was, the song was called Who Knows Tomorrow. On a release on Bangkok called Upper East Untouch. And, well, I noticed, I mean, I chose those three tracks just because the styles are so different. Like, can you talk a bit about other styles? And also the last one, which was really fast, but also the one of Prince Buju. Yeah, well, definitely, this is what you hear is just, just the Collego, which is like the Calabas goat skin on top of it, a stick sticking in it, and then two nylon strings. Two strings. Two strings. That's it. And then what they use are like a big rubber thing. Like, well, yeah, yeah, well, okay, sorry about that.

12:50But it's interesting. Anyway, everybody pay attention. It's not a plectrum, like a pig, guitar pig. It's much bigger, and they cut it out of shampoo bottles. It's hard plastic. Yeah. And they cut them out, and they can play really fast with those kind of big rubber things. Great. Anyway, so this is a traditional style that exists for, I don't know, for thousands of years, I think. I mean, this is how King Aisha by his grandfather was playing Collego. I mean, but of course, everybody has his own style. Even the tunings can be different. They don't use all the same tunings. They tune also with their voice, because voice is the message. It's what starts first, and then they will tune their Collego connecting to their voice. And then it also depends on how big is the kalabas of the Collego that you are using. That also defines the sound as well. And also, in a way, how fast can the sound be?

13:52How fast can you play? It's also regional, because you also have it in neighboring countries this instrument now. That's right. And the tunings different there, or it's like they might use different tunings anyway, but also like in Burkina Faso, which is like the Upper East region of Ghana, where all these Collego musicians are from, is connected, is on the border of Burkina Faso. So in Burkina Faso in the south, you'll find a lot of Collego players as well. And they'll mostly play with their fingers instead of with a big rubber thing. So the next track I'm going to play, to me, this style of it, it's a really more modern track. It came out in 2020 by a lost man. It's called Minus Me. And for me, the Collego playing, it was really similar to the last track that we just played. Ah, get in, huh? Why you got a feeling?

15:17You know I'm going to make up for my car, but I don't follow it. You know I'm going to make up for my car, but I don't follow it. You know I'm going to make up for it. If I don't handle it, I ask how to give it to the rich. If I don't handle it, I ask how to set me quick and wide. If I don't think where I ask how to take me, where do I go?

18:40So that was a lost man again. They say we are a lost man because we were lost in the street, the forgotten people. And it's this guy called Stivo Atambira, which seems to be a producer and singer. Where is he from originally? Also from the Upper East. I mean he's a great Collego player and singer and performer. He used to be with King Aishoba. Like as a young boy touring, being on the road with King Aishoba, a lot. And then he started working on his own. He has a lot of releases under the name Stivo. And then working together with the rapper became a lost man produced by one love, the Kubbalar, from fucking boys, who also worked a lot with King Aishoba.

19:52So I mean it's one big community somehow. But this stuff has more hip life in it and sort of high life. You hear, I mean in the way, I think what I hear a lot is as soon as you take the Collego music and you start mixing it with beats and baselines. And you hear the inspiration, you hear the lines coming from the hip life and the high life, which are actually more from the south of Ghana, from the Gah and the Far region. Where Akra is, the Ashanti region where Kumasi is. And of course these guys, these musicians, they all also live in Akra and Kumasi. So they mix a lot and with the producers they are working with, they might very much well be also from these other regions, putting other styles into the music. Okay. You released another CD, I guess also LP of this guy, Ayuna Sula, which I'm going to play after an Atamina track.

20:58I played Atamina last week. It's great. He's really kind of funny guy as well. Dr. Professor Atamina. I saw him on YouTube and he's wild. I mean in much wilder than in the recordings. So I'm going to play two tracks from this. I'm going to play two tracks.

22:17Okay. Okay.

23:17Okay. Okay.

24:17Okay. Okay.

25:17Okay. Okay.

26:17Okay. Okay.

27:17Okay. Okay. Okay. So this track is Ayun Sula, which you put out on your label. And for me, some of the stuff, these last two tracks, I've heard kind of Ethiopian music, the production of it. Maybe they, like you said, they use the same gear, but the production of it and the rhythms they're using is really similar. Who's the guy producing this and like? Well, a lot of music that I put out on my label is produced by Francis Ayamga.

28:20He has a studio called Top Link Studio. It's in Bongo, a small town outside of Bulkatanga in the Upper East region. And we've been, like he's also a drummer in the band of King Aishoba. And so he's also been in Europe here, like we've been always helping each other to set up the studio and I've been there many times also sleeping in the studio and just being there and hearing all the musicians helping out with producing the stuff for the compilations are for the albums and he's really developing his own sound as well, which I really love and I think it's fantastic. And so more and more stuff is coming from his studio that, I mean, I wish I had the money and the time to release everything basically, but we'll get there. And a compilation came out a while ago called Frafra, and Frafra is the group of people

29:22that are playing this music here. It's actually the name of the, well, what do you say, tribe, but then I should pronounce it as Fara Fare and well, and it's the name of the language, but actually that word comes from the time, the first time the English people went to the north of Ghana and met the people who were living there in this area in the Upper East region and then this word actually came from what the English interpreted as, oh, this sounds like they call themselves Fara Fare or Frafra or something like that. So that's how the word stuck. So it's a bit like Faranghi. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and so that's, yeah, well, anyway, they still use that and King Aishibar will say we are Frafra people and because I wanted to make a compilation with also other music from the region that wasn't definitely only Cologo music, also some

30:30more vocal music, our traditional women group singers and everything. So that became the, this is Fara Fare compilation. Okay, and that, and that all that stuff is also produced by, most of it produced by Francis who were all of it. Yeah, all of it came from the studio of Francis at Yamagana, the top link.

38:00So that track was a ragazir called Matalegri, Matalegri. What does it mean? I've got money. I've got money. It's really gonna sort of Cologo rap, it's brilliant, it's really one of my favorite tracks I heard. And the one before that was, by Madame Fausti, Amoa Mabila. So this ragazir guy, what's he doing, he's gonna make more stuff because it's, well, what happens actually, and what I see a lot in the people, the young people hanging around the studio, the top link studio, they all have like one song in their head, many of them they have like one song, one set of lyrics that they wanna do. And they just have to find a time slot, basically, when Francis has time to make them a beat.

39:06And then as soon as Francis says, okay, I've got time for you now. They'll jump in the vocal box and they'll do their thing. And then, I mean, because it costs money to produce your track, and basically you wanna have one track to have on your phone and to share with everybody, that's how it starts. And then, okay, then you'll see what comes after that, what new songs are. But it's really a lot of young kids hanging around the studio, just finding out if there is any short moment of time for them to do their song. Okay. And this guy, ragazir, is like, as he tried to make other stuff, is he? I think he's been, yeah, but Francis, he still has to send me the new stuff, but, yeah. It's really worth putting it. I'm looking forward to hear more, definitely. And this, I mean, so this came out on the, this is for a, for a power, L.P., also CD. I still have some of these in my Machem Records done in L, so please help me with this, people, people. Okay. I'm gonna play another Prince Boogie track, because we do have time.

40:09Great. And it's, it's a really recent one, I think it came out about a week ago or something. And it's very, you don't hear much collego on it, and it's very different. There's a lot of sort of reggae production in it. He's a rustler. He is a rustler. Yeah, yeah. Full on.

41:20Yeah.

42:20So this is Prince Boudreau again for Passover and it's also produced by Francis, so he's really doing tons of stuff, also really different stuff. This last track that we played for the end of the show is by King Aisha Bagan and it's features Lee Perry, how did how did King Aisha Bagan meet Lee Perry? Did he know who he was? They met on the airport. Actually the whole band King Aisha Bada, they were all hanging around on the airport waiting for the next plane. King Aisha Bada and

43:22Matt Professor were passing by and Gert Sound Engineer for King Aisha Bada said, hey King, that's Lee Perry, he's the one who worked with Bob Marley. Bob Marley is like the biggest hero fucking Aisha Bada next to a fellow Kuti and he heard about we've been playing Lee Perry music in the car and everything, so he knew about the legend of Lee Perry, but he didn't know how what he looked like, but he thought he looks like a spirit and then they met and actually Matt Professor knew the music of King Aisha Bada, he had the wicked leaders and the modern Garnians LP and he said, hey Lee, that's King Aisha Bada from Ghana, great music, so took a picture together, they talk a little and then everybody had to go their own way, but then later on when we started producing, when I started producing the Thousand Can Die album, there came the idea to invite Lee Perry for featuring on one of the tracks. So what did you do, you just he recorded it or he came like he sent you? First I sent some, I was emailing with Lee Perry's wife and about it

44:26and then she said yeah Lee is up to it, great, but send the beat, so I sent everything, then it took a long time and I thought okay what's going to happen and then at one point they were on tour, they were in Jamaica, I got an email, Arnold Lee is in Jamaica, he's in a studio now, scratch is ready to do something, send the beat now, like an email, okay and then a few hours later I got six vocal tracks back from Lee Scratch Perry in my inbox and they said this is from Lee Perry for King Aisha Bada and I could just use it for the song and cut it up and use it as I wanted and was amazing. I also played this track because recently probably people know that Lee Perry died and for me he was really one of the best producers in the universe.

47:37And I feel it's right, he is right people, thickness is dead, he is right people, if you want to know about the sugar, I'll get your unless, I'll get your unless, get it, he would say that we don't have sugar, he would say that we don't have sugar, he would say that we don't have sugar, he would say that we don't have sugar,

48:53The song is called 1,000 Kinder Man, you're working so hard so hard You're finally meant to be full of For mind on the body Get rid of the weak you lead as you Bless you I've got a pure family of eyes I've got black and pure family of eyes But you're saying to be away from me Well, I've been a pretty bleak laugh And you'll not be sleeping, but now Be a little bit pizarre, pizarre Rich on pizarre, pizarre Dream they turn on, too choose the love Not so chewy, never again on The next day, it'll be ours, pizarre It will be us, pizarre, pizarre

50:17one . . . . .

51:22. . . . . . . . .

52:25. . . . . . . . .

53:28. . . . . . . . .

54:31. . . . . . . . .

55:34. . . . . . . . . . .

56:37. . . . . . . . . . .

57:42. . . . . . . . . .

58:50. . . . . . . . . . .

59:55.