02:10 GMT 25th October 2010
Originating between the 17th and 18th centuries, it was favoured by the founder of the Ashanti kingdom, King Osei Tutu, and his successor, Opoku Ware, who wrapped a replica of it in gold leaf to join other symbolic objects that represented the soul of the Ashanti nation.
The seprewa’s use spread to other Akan speaking peoples of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire as an integral part of weddings, funerals and religious gatherings. Some sources suggest that it was played by workers on Ghanaian farms, pointing perhaps to the origins of the American blues.
But over the years, musicians increasingly turned to the guitar, which went on to become the core instrument of highlife. As the big highlife dance bands began to dominate the music scene, the seprewa receded into the background, so much so that many young Ghanaians had never heard of it.
Then by chance in 2002, Kari Bannerman, one of Ghana’s best known guitarists and former member of afrorock group Osibisa, heard the seprewa at a world music festival in Switzerland, played by Osei Korankye.
Thrilled to have at last heard an instrument that he had only read about, he teamed up with Korankye, who had been taught to play the seprewa as a child by his grandfather, and another seprewa player, Baffuour Kyerematen, to make an album.
Initially recorded in Ghana and finished in London, the result several years down the line is Seprewa Kasa – ‘Seprewa speaks’ – a unique collection of songs in which the gentler seprewa replaces the full sounding guitar chords normally heard in highlife. Another traditional instrument has been brought into the mix, the aprenprensua, which is similar to a thumb piano and plays the bass or percussive bass on most of the tracks.
The lilting, wistful sound is reminiscent of sikyi highlife, pioneered by the grandly named Dr K Gyasi and his Noble Kings in the 1970s, which itself was a revival of classic dance music.
Among the eight tracks is ‘Adowa’, the name of a traditional dance performed at funerals and other special social occasions, an apt context for the seprewa. ‘Dagomba’ points to another of highlife’s musical roots – that of Kru sailors from Liberia who introduced musical styles along the whole of the West African coast where they plied their trade. Meanwhile, the title track Seprewa Kasa is a sweet love song – to the instrument itself.
As with most traditional highlife, the lyrics (translated in the sleeve notes), sang with lovely harmonised vocals, are a philosophical take on life – the need for unity, the transience of life, the certainty of death, friendship – adding to the album’s undoubted charms.
There is a definite appetite outside of Africa for ‘roots’ music but until now Ghanaian musicians have not figured much on the world music scene. Could Kari Bannerman and co be the first to break into it in a big way?
Amother artist hoping to tap into the world music market is Tony Matola from Mozambique. His debut album Extra Terrestrial, on Marrambique Music, is far from traditional though, with all 11 tracks featuring unusual guitar instrumentals which sound, well, extra terrestrial.
The Mozambique xylophone, the marimba, makes an entry but on the whole the vibe is futuristic. We find out why from the sleeve notes. Matola is described as a ‘devoted spiritual seeker’ who has practiced transcendental meditation for decades.
A virtuoso guitar player, his journey to musical self-realisation was a difficult one. His father was a pastor and frowned on what he regarded as the musical frivolity of the guitar. Matola went on to learn classical piano but found enjoying the likes of Chopin and Beethoven made him the odd one out among his peers.
With the encouragement of his sister, he was eventually able to find his path and fuse his many musical influences into a highly individual style. Having played lead guitar for Afro beat group Osibisa and soul diva Chaka Khan, among many others, he has decided to go it alone.
Seprewa Kasa is released on the World Music Network.
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