Gyuedu-Blay Ambolley, One of Ghana’s Finest Flavors

I took in an exciting and rejuvenating show at the Iron Horse a few nights ago. The master of Highlife, Gyuedu-Blay Ambolley, whose show had been scheduled for last August but was cancelled, made his return. Tonight the 70-something star from Ghana finally made it to the stage, where he inquired in his soft voice, ‘What is this Iron Horse?  What kind of horse is made of Iron? Where can I find a horse like this?

I’d never heard the club’s name mocked, and it was the beginning of a little lesson for the sold-out crowd about what was coming up. Highlife.  First, it would be Afro Highlife.  Then Jazz Highlife, and finally regular Highlife, a genre he has had a lot of influence in creating. But Ambolley said that most of all, he and his band interpreted many American jazz songs and then made them into their own. “The best kind of exercise is dancing, after all,” he said, jumping the band into that familiar and irresistible groove. Locking them all in and then letting the trumpet, trombone and his own tenor sax meld solos with that killer groove.  WOW!

The relatively new Iron Horse, with its copious bathrooms, big long bar and tonight they even had an old skool DJ spinning vinyl with great African music before the openers even came on. The stage was decorated with two flags from Ghana, and Ambolley talked frequently about Africa and the music that’s made there.  He is the first musician from Ghana and the world to formally incorporate rap forms into local highlife rhythms. Ambolley created the musical genre Simigwa.

Live music is so exciting and rewarding. Click on that video and enjoy a little taste of Ghana, from Gyuedu-Blay Ambolley.