Best of two ‘lifes’

When two notable names in highlife and hiplife decide to collaborate on an album, one can expect nothing but an impressive outcome.

That’s why the two 10-track Best of The Lifes Vol. 1 album released last year by A.B. Crentsil and Obuor has caught on so well with the public.The album is a collection of re-worked hits from the duo.

Apart from the massive support they gained from fans during their nation-wide tour to promote the album, Crentsil and Obuor were also nominated in the Best Collaboration of the Year category at this year’s Ghana Music Awards (GMA) festival.

The two artistes are already well known in popular music circles in this country. A. B. Crentsil is a celebrated highlife musician. He has played with bands like El Dorados, Lantics, Sweet Talks and Ahenfo. His all-time hits include Osookoo, The Lord’s Prayer, Moses, Toronto By Night, Devil and Soso.

He has won several industry awards including the the GMA Fontonfrom Evergreen Recognition. The Kunde Awards in Burkina Faso also honoured him last year.

His younger friend, Obour, also known as Bice Kuffour, is a hiplife artiste with four hit albums under his belt since he came onto the scene in 2000.

His first album, Atentenben, fetched him the GMA 2001 New Artiste and Best Hiplife Song of the Year awards. The music video of Nanabour, the title song of his second album, won another award in 2001. Apart from sweeping five awards at GMA 2005, he has featured in several live concerts in and outside Ghana.

According to representatives of Family Tree Entertainment, producers of the album, the project came about as a result of Obour’s desire to unify hiplife and highlife of old. His ardent desire is to collaborate with older musicians whom he adored during his childhood.

A. B. Crentsil was more than glad to work with Obuor when contacted and their agreement resulted in the Best of The Lifes Vol. 1 album. They hope to follow it up soon with another collection.

A song on the album which has gained massive popularity is Juliana. This piece is a fast-paced danceable highlife song originally composed by A. B. Crentsil. It has been given a new flavour by the addition of Obuor’s raps.

The song talks about the beautiful features of a girl called Juliana in the Pidgin English and Twi. It brings out the best in Crentsil who seems to be as good as he was many years ago. Apart from the good instrumentation, the line which goes “bottom power, shegee” is sure to get anybody dancing.

Anyen was another Crentsil hit in the 1980s. It uses a fusion of highlife and pop beats and is spiced with Obuor’s raps. In the song, the artistes indicate that white folks use their witchcraft to improve their societies whilst blacks always use theirs for destructive purposes.

A slow-tempo piece on the album is Gyae Su. Though originally created by Crentsil, this version has more of Obour’s raps. As the title suggests, the song offers condolence to victims of life’s miseries.

A song on the album which seems to trigger laughter among many is Moses. It begins slowly but gradually gathers pace towards the end. The song has very funny lyrics with clever allusions to the Biblical story of Moses leading the Israelites through the Red Sea.

Other songs on the album are Adwoa, Aponkyereni, Aburokye Nkomo, I Don’t Know Why, Okoaba and Our Father.