Peter Somuah – Highlife

ACT

Although Ghanaian-born trumpeter Peter Somuah‘s latest release has the title Highlife, his is a unique interpretation of the musical style.

Born in Accra, he is now settled in Rotterdam and with a group of four Netherlanders and a Dutch-Surinamese percussionist, plies a pan-continental version that shows its love of the African tradition while happily melding it with European influences. Recording the album in Berlin only adds to the constant sense of movement.

This is his third album in as many years and with a diverse group of guest vocalists including legends Pat Thomas and Gyedu Blay-Ambolley, you really have the feeling that he is settling into an impressive career. In fact the album opens with a spoken word from another Ghanaian legend, Koo Nimo, who orated a history of the term highlife; and once the scene has been set, the band starts and never lets up for the next forty minutes.

The jaunty, shuffling rhythms are charming right off the bat and mixed with the cheap-sounding keyboards and warm horn melodies, it is really evocative of where the sound originated; but with an intriguing shift of key here or a jazzy double bass riff there, we are always being reminded that Peter’s songs are coming from an ever-fresh direction. The rhythms have a way of shimmering that puts you in mind of a heat haze and the laid-back gentle sweep of the horns is like honey. It has the kind of soothing feeling in places of Freddie Hubbard, but with a transcendental edge.

The group is more than happy for Peter to extemporise and he uses this as an opportunity to be a little freer with a touch of abstraction. As this happens so the group becomes a little more rambunctious, the groove becoming a touch more assertive and the hips of all concerned start to swing. It is dance music after all and with players of this calibre each adding their own ingredient to a heady stew, it feels rather special and is particularly resonant when Anton de Bruin brings out the Rhodes and sets out a blanket for the trumpet to embroider.

There is a little more structure for the vocal-led tracks and it is real joy to hear these voices in a more modern setting again, as well as hearing Peter’s, which has a similar lightness to his trumpet playing, and Lamisi Akuka who has a youthful sweetness. Musically, where the jazz influences do permeate, they are more genial; it is very much music for assisting people onto the dancefloor and then keeping them there, and the sheer charm that flows through is intoxicating.

Peter Somuah clearly knows what he is doing and with such an understanding group as well as some fine guests, the world would seem to be his oyster.

-Mr Olivetti-