King Ayisoba, Work Hard, Germany, Glitterbeat, GB134 CD / vinyl LP (2023)
It might be called “Work Hard” but it could just as easily have been “Work Hard … and then Party Even Harder!”, so infectious and energetic are the music and the singing here. As it turns out, the admonition to work hard is just one of many pieces of advice Ghanaian musician King Ayisoba offers on his latest album, his sixth studio album in 17 years. Previous recordings have titles like “Modern Ghanaians”, “Don’t Do the Bad Thing” and “Wicked Leaders” so there has always been a running commentary on social, ethical and political issues in modern Ghana in King Ayisoba’s recordings. At the same time, “Work Hard” is clearly an album of pop songs, all easily digestible in five-minute pieces and many of them featuring guest singers and musicians – oh, and possessed of beats and rhythms that will have people instinctively getting up and bopping all over the dancefloor.
While the music sits squarely within the Afrobeat genre, and King Ayisoba works his kologo (a lute-like instrument used across western Africa) hard, all songs also feature considerable use of electronic instruments, most notably in their beats and rhythms. One track “Abome” may even be all-electronic in its execution, with the singing treated electronically as well. You really can’t tell what is acoustic and what has been treated or distorted. Some of the singing may be raw but the beats have a definite hard, cold edge, and the atmosphere across most tracks is amazingly clear with a bit of reverb that colours the music and singing. The production is very good especially on tracks like “Adinooma” where it seems the vocalists are singing across the seas to one another.
The entire recording is very playful, busy and urgent, in keeping with the messages it aims to impart to others, especially younger people. It might be said that, in another country’s political and cultural context, some of these messages can appear to be politically conservative: to take one example, “Kokoko Enter” advocates for strong and effective border controls to stop criminals from entering or escaping Ghana, and another song “Tribe” implores young people to learn their local languages to keep them and the cultures, histories and traditions associated with them alive. The songs are long enough to pass on their messages and to get people up and dancing, and make way for the next lesson. In all tracks, King Ayisoba imposes his musical personality and his desire and determination to guide his audiences to a better way of living.