Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Športna dvorana / Bled / Slovenia
Concert date: 03.09.2011
Attendance: 150
Ticket price: €5.00
The traditional, now 21st Okarina etno festival in Bled serves up plenty of high-quality, renowned acts from all corners of the world every year. Yet it’s rare for a band of the caliber, tenure and reputation of the legendary Ghanaians Osibisa to turn up at this festival, which is always a draw for music connoisseurs and this year took place in Zdravilski park. In a magnificent 42-year career they’ve recorded more than 20 studio and live albums, and they were a key act in popularizing Afrobeat-jazz-rock fusion in the early seventies.
One of the most important jazz rock bands of all time, led by its boss and founder, multi-instrumentalist Teddy Osei, has been inspiring people for decades with its unique blend of jazz, funk, fusion, r’n’b, African, Caribbean and Latin rhythms and traditional, ‘shamanic’ vocal harmonies, so plenty of Slovenian music gourmets decided they simply couldn’t miss this concert.
While the band’s traditional fans usually come from the fusion and world music crowd, Osibisa are also of interest to some diehard rockers, who know them best for their contribution to the Uriah Heep classic “Look At Yourself”, even though over their long career they also worked with other famous rock names like Free and Thin Lizzy. Their music, mostly built on the astonishingly rich rhythms of all sorts of percussion and drums, which have always been a hallmark of traditional African music, is steeped in a positive atmosphere that goes hand in hand with its consciousness-raising, pacifist-leaning lyrics.
The whole evening unfolded in that same spirit. From the very first minute, after a short tune-up, when the instrumental intro to the classic “The Dark” kicked in, the ten-piece band radiated positively charged vibes, and later, during the more commercially minded numbers, some in the crowd even gave in to the dance rhythms, which in their case have both African and Caribbean roots. It’s worth noting that several past and present members of this superb band come from the Caribbean islands.
Besides multi-instrumentalist Osei, who talked to the crowd throughout, kept urging them with humor to get more involved, and, despite being confined to a wheelchair (which briefly brought to mind the legendary drummer Robert Wyatt, who shares a similar fate yet still makes great music), diligently watched over his rich array of African drums, tenor sax and flute while occasionally handling vocals too, we were also wowed by original guitarist/singer Wendel Richardson, who hails from Antigua, guitarist/singer Gregg Kofi Brown, trumpeter Colin Graham, organist/singer Emmanuel Rintzos, drummer Alex Kwaku-Boateng, keyboardist Kwame Yeboah, bassist Emmanuel Afram and percussionist Kofi Ayivor. Colin Graham replaced the original Osibisa trumpeter Mac Tontoh, who sadly passed away last year.
It was fascinating to watch the sonic contrast and the division of duties between the two keyboardists. While Rintzos dazzled with rustling passages on the Hammond organ, Kwame Yeboah thrilled with the orchestral sound of his synths, which also successfully covered for the absence of a soprano sax. It would be seriously negligent to call Osibisa’s style ‘merely’ jazz fusion, yet the trumpet parts are an important piece of their sonic vocabulary, as Graham’s solo masterpieces proved. Every single band member except bassist Afram and percussionist Ayivor tried their hand at singing, with Kofi Brown, who mostly played rhythm guitar, and Richardson shining brightest. The two also delighted us with their guitar chops, and in the solos the older, more experienced Richardson, whom some rock fans know as the replacement for Paul Kossoff just before Free broke up, was the more convincing. The great boss, philosopher and entertainer Osei, with his shorter flute spots and creative handling of the African drums, kept proving that he’s well on his way to becoming the African Ian Anderson, a comparison many are happy to make.
As expected, besides newer material, the Ghanaian masters mostly played hits from the first three albums, “Osibisa” (1971), “Woyaya” (1971) and “Heads” (1972), which most music connoisseurs also know best. Among other things, we got to hear classics like the opening “The Dawn”, “Ayiko Bia”, their first hit single “Music for Gong Gong, “Beautiful Seven”, “Y Sharp”, the peace anthem “Woyaya” and “Kokorokoo”. From the newest, otherwise excellent studio album “Osee Yee” they showed off the title track and “My Sweet Lord”, a cover of the quiet Beatle George Harrison. The other cover of the night was “Pata Pata”, originally sung by the famous South African singer Miriam Makemba.
For a short while, Osibisa’s unique fusion of jazz, rock, funk and world music transported us to the heart of the African savannas and jungles, with a brief stopover on the Caribbean islands. The excellent concert by this legendary band, who many people that followed them back in the early seventies don’t even realize are still active (which is sad), was over far too soon, and when the descendants of ancient African peoples said goodbye to the small but enthusiastic crowd, their complex shamanic rhythms went on echoing in our ears for a long time.
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
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