More recently, the music of Bongo, Ghana-area Fra Fra kologo player King Ayisoba has received global attention, due in part to the work a local producer Francis Ayagama, but also due to the interest of Arnold de Boer, a musician who is not only a recent addition to the long running Dutch avant-punk band The Ex, but is also the owner of Makkum records, a label that has released a number of records specifically from Ghana’s north. In fact, well before de Boer joined them, The Ex had been incorporating sounds from sub-Saharan Africa into their own music, introducing the west to the Congo’s DIY electro-traditional Konono No 1 and giving Ethiopian sax legend Mekuria Getatchew some late career global attention as well via a series of collaborations. So it makes sense that Ayagama’s production, along with de Boer’s visits and encouragement, would result in sounds that feel a long way from Oliver’s vision of Fra Fra traditions as blues-beginnings.

Yet, the music’s past always informs its present. Even though many of the beats here are created by Ayagama on a midi keyboard, and some of the featured singers grew up with rap, the rhythms are all traditionally based and are sometimes accompanied by the kologo, the Northern Ghanaian banjo-like lute, found in one form or another all over West Africa. Big Gad’s track “Socre,” is a perfect example of this. Linda Ayupuka’s track “Ndaana Eera Ymah” is decidedly modern, auto-tuned and driven entirely by Ayagama’s production. Yet, her background is firmly in the Christian churches of Soe, and her music still deals with religious themes.

Finally, there is “Sugri,” by Sugri Hajia Zenabu, a more directly traditional call and response vocal and percussion ensemble, a band whose name means “peace.” Here, Ayagama stays out of the way and the track sounds like something performed outdoors in the region’s arid flatlands. Ultimately, Makkum records has brought listeners a sampling of this rural area’s rich, ongoing musical creations. - Bruce Miller