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4CD
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RETRO 024CD
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Restocked; featured on NPR Fresh Air! E.T. Mensah was the first King of Highlife, and although he died in 1996, he's still -- and forever will be -- the King of Highlife, the mainly Ghanaian dance music that he made popular around Africa and beyond in the 1950s and '60s. E.T. (as everyone called him) played a variety of instruments but especially saxophones and the trumpet, composed hundreds of songs and dance tunes, and led the best band on the West African Gold Coast, The Tempos. Modeled on the great American swing bands of the 1930s and '40s, The Tempos blended re-Africanized jazz, Latin music, and calypso with various local dance styles. With their records and tours over the two decades following their recording debut for Decca in 1952, they spread the highlife dance-band sound throughout West Africa (particularly Nigeria, where the young saxophonist Fela Kuti was deeply influenced by E.T. Mensah) and on to the Congo, East Africa, and Southern Africa, everywhere inspiring new dance-band styles. RetroAfric's 4-CD compilation includes all of The Tempos' hits as well as recordings that haven't been available since the days of shellac 78s, all 69 tracks remastered from the best available sources. It is the most comprehensive collection of E.T. Mensah recordings ever released. The 64-page booklet is filled with historical photographs and a biography by John Collins, the Ghana-based record producer and highlife scholar, and the package features specially-commissioned art by Kofi Ankroba.
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