The Palm Wine music of Ghana at it's best.

12 MP3 Songs in this album (49:44) !
Related styles: World: World Beat, World: Highlife, Featuring Guitar

People who are interested in Carlos Jobim Koo-Nimo S. G. "Papa" Rogie should consider this download.


Details:
MUSICIANS
Tumi Ebow-Ansa - Acoustic guitars, lead vocals, percussion and background vocals.
Kobby Inkumsah - Keyboards, and special effects.
Nana Frempong - Toungue Drum, tekre chin and percussion.

"'True Identity' makes good on my dream to play my little part to render some of the classical folkloric music forms popular during my childhood days in Ghana. In a mold relevant to the taste of a new world. The music you will hear says volumes about the universal utility of African music. Music is the language we all speak if through the tunes I am able to conjure up once again for those who already know, the spirit of a time gone by and for the rest who hear them. An acquaintance with the way things used to be, I recall the effort a success. Special thanks to the supreme God, the divine creator and indweller of all beings. To my spiritual guru, sri sri ghananand saraswati of the divine monastery of Ghana. For his unconditional love and friendship. Thanks to the founding fathers and mothers of our nation. The incarnate and disincarnate." - T. Ebow-Ansa

Tumi is a minstrel and has many a time plucked his fingers through sub-layers of the Ghanaian musical tapestry, to bring us often nearly forgotten but totally enjoyable nuggets. Once you crack them, they also render in stark vividness life as it was lived then, both in its charm and in its awfulness. If the name "human" fits, then listen; Listen a little more carefully to the "True Identity" album than you normally would. You will not loathe this messenger for taking a stand. You will love him.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
TUMI EBOW ANSAH, a native of Ghana, is an actor, composer, ethno-musicologist and researcher. He is also a folk musician and poet whose compositions are deploy rooted in ancient African Traditions. His lyrics draw on social issues as well as the common joys of life.

As an actor, he was featured in many television series' in England including No Hiding Place, Danger Man, Man In SuitCase, and has played leading roles in several feature films in Europe and Africa such as Farewell to Dope, Genesis Chapter X, His Majesty's Sergent and the award winning film Heritage Africa in which he played Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana.

Mr. Ansa wrote the film scores for Farewell to Dope and His Majesty's Sergeant and composed scores for an entire season of African plays performed at the Royal Court Theatre in London. He won first prize in composition for Song for Peace and an award for the music of the stage play The Raft.

He came to the United States in 1990 and worked as a freelance research and scholar at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC. While there, he researched the folkways of ethnic minority groups living in the area. As a researcher and curator, his work included photographs, interviews and documentation of folk life for the Smithsonian Black Mosaic Exhibition. He has also completed research for the exhibition entitled Building A Home Away From Home: African Immigrant Folk Life for the Festival of American Folk Life.

Mr. Ansa is well rooted in the African tradition and culture. One of his many projects involved organizing the Ties that Bind Ceremonial event to receive ancestral remains of the first black settlers in America. These historical remains, found in a hidden burial ground in New York City, were brought to Howard University for anthropological research.

His varied musical career on the East Coast includes performances at Howard University Theatre, at the Museum of African Art, and at the inauguration of Mayor Marion Barry, as well as numerous workshops on African Music at Goucher College.

While in Los Angeles, Mr. Ansa has been invited to perform for the American Guitar Society; California State University, Northridge; African Extravaganza at the University of Southern California; and at the California Institute of Technology. Mr. Ansa also performed at the opening ceremony of Black History month at California State University, Northridge. By pouring libations, he paid tribute to the ancestors and also played African folk music to traditional African stories. Most recently, he lectured and performed at Brown University in Providence Rhode Island. Mr. Ansa is a graduate of Putney College, London England, London School of Film Technique, and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.