MM Concerts: Gyedu-Blay Ambolley feat. Peter Somuah
Few people can justifiably claim to have created a new style of music. But the Ghanaian singer and saxophonist Gyedu-Blay Ambolley is one of those who can. A veteran in the band of the legendary Ebo Taylor, Blay Ambolley came up in the 1970s with a totally new take on the highlife music, which he called simigwa-do.
Unsurprisingly, he achieved immediate success with it. His music swings like no other, and the ingenious fusion of influences from funk and jazz gives the group sound its catchy character. But that’s not all. Blay Ambolley writes melodies that lift everybody out of the doldrums, and his rocking rhythms make even the stiffest hips start to shake. And then there’s that deep, deep, dusky voice that made people call him the James Brown of Ghana.
He got the whole crowd on their feet at Music Meeting 2023 with his funky, jazzy version of highlife. Joining him as special guest was the Ghanaian trumpetist Peter Somuah, who lives and works in the Netherlands and is one of the biggest jazz talents around.
