Various Artists - Women's Music Ghana / Various - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Among the Ewe of southeast Ghana, drummers must also be proficient dancers, and dancers are often required to become musicians as well. As evidenced on this recording, Ewe instrumentation is largely percussion-based and includes talking drum, double or single gong, and gourd rattle played in complex, polyrhythmic patterns. Instrumentation varies depending on the nature of the occasion (festival, funeral, etc). Liner notes include further cultural commentary from Seth Ladzekpo, the former drum-and-dance instructor at the Ghana Institute for Art and Culture.

Vinyl LP pressing. 2012 album from the British singer/songwriter, who has reunited his original band the Rumour for their first album together in 31 years. Produced by Dave Cook and Graham Parker, the collection's 12 original tracks of driving and confessional rock and roll were recorded in upstate New York and feature the classic Rumour line-up of Brinsley Schwarz and Martin Belmont on guitars, Steve Goulding on drums, Andrew Bodnar on bass and Bob Andrews on keyboards. 'After a hiatus of over 30 years, it was extraordinary to hear the Rumour backing my material again,' says Parker. 'We've finally made an album of true musical collaboration that we're all very proud of.Inch

Music of the Dagomba from Ghana introduces listeners to music from one of the largest ethnic tribes in the northern region of Ghana. Drums are featured most prominently in Dagomba music, followed by stringed instruments. One of these, the gondze, is made of a hollowed gourd and covered with reptile skin. The characteristic feature of Dagomba gondze music is the repetitive melodic and rhythmic time lines that are played by both fiddlers and rattlers. Other instruments such as flutes are used less frequently, often as background to drum and string ensembles. The album includes harvest songs, praise and entertainment music, and warrior music. Liner notes explain the instrumentation, rhythmic structure, and social context.