Young Longman Chooses Highlife

With the hiplife scene looking more and more attractive to the youth everyday, and the rate at which most of them have hopped onto the band wagon, it is a bit surprising to meet an aspiring musician choosing to do highlife, which is one of the unattractive music genres to the youth.

Mr Longman aka Nana Kwame Abekah is one such artiste, According to Mr Longman, ?I want to be a highlife artiste because I love highlife and I am very good at it?.

?That is why my strength lies. I do not want to join the group because everybody is doing that, besides I do not think that hiplife will survive as long as highlife has, it does not have a very bright future in my estimation, I want longevity which I think hiplife will not provide?.

As a new artiste, that does not seem to be a very good idea since hiplife seems to be an easy ticket to stardom, but he says he will make it because he believes that the patience he has had all these years will pay off. His hard work will be rewarded.

He had to wait for a good six years, to come out with his debut album, Suban Pa even though he has been singing for a while. It was not of his own volition to wait but due to major problem; lack of a producer. He could not land any producer and since he did not have the financial wherewithal, he had to chill and wait for the right moment.

That moment came when he went to his current producers? studio to record his demo. Says Mr Longman, ?They were impressed enough by my songs to want to help me and that is how my problem was solved?.

Suban Pa is an eight track album with some very good songs on it and mostly has love themes with majority of the songs focusing on women.

Suban Pa opens the album and has good sound arrangement along with good backing vocals. According to the musician the song is in praise of his ex-girlfriend, who he says was very good to him.

He sings romantically using sweet words to describe how she makes him feel, and how she is. He praises her beauty and her character and says that he will not hesitate or delay in making her his.

One noticeable thing is that in certain portions of the song, the instrumentations seems to go on and on usually. The musician explains that the late Terry Bonchaka was supposed to have done a rap there, but he died before it could be done so they left that portion blank because they did not know what to do. All the same it does not take anything away from the quality of the song.

Adee Oye is also another track that serenades a woman and her exceptional qualities. He sings of how good she has been to him, how helpful she has been in his time of need.

He uses quite a lot of proverbs on his track and thanks her for all that she has done for him. It is a danceable song that also has good backing vocals along with a great rhythm.

Another good song is Efata No which has a very traditional rhythm. It is slow paced and the effect of the drums and other instruments combine to create a harmonious effect. Again on this track which is another love song about a woman and her beauty and character, he uses a lot of proverbs.

Amanehunu is also another song close to his heart. It talks of how difficult he is having it in life. Slow paced, he sings about how difficult it is to make it in life without beneficiaries and of all the things that he is going through.

He says that he had to try his hands at different jobs from being a flower pot maker to a skidder operator to being a carpenter to survive so this song is one that really touches him.

Other songs on the album include Akyere Meso another love song. Obaa Yi a slow paced track in the reggae vein, Obaatanpa and Ahomatea.

The album was produced under the anvil records label with George K. Abban as producer with Julius Amenyewu and Kafui Dey as co-producers.   

With the hiplife scene looking more and more attractive to the youth everyday, and the rate at which most of them have hopped onto the band wagon, it is a bit surprising to meet an aspiring musician choosing to do highlife, which is one of the unattractive music genres to the youth.

Mr Longman aka Nana Kwame Abekah is one such artiste, According to Mr Longman, ?I want to be a highlife artiste because I love highlife and I am very good at it?.

?That is why my strength lies. I do not want to join the group because everybody is doing that, besides I do not think that hiplife will survive as long as highlife has, it does not have a very bright future in my estimation, I want longevity which I think hiplife will not provide?.

As a new artiste, that does not seem to be a very good idea since hiplife seems to be an easy ticket to stardom, but he says he will make it because he believes that the patience he has had all these years will pay off. His hard work will be rewarded.

He had to wait for a good six years, to come out with his debut album, Suban Pa even though he has been singing for a while. It was not of his own volition to wait but due to major problem; lack of a producer. He could not land any producer and since he did not have the financial wherewithal, he had to chill and wait for the right moment.

That moment came when he went to his current producers? studio to record his demo. Says Mr Longman, ?They were impressed enough by my songs to want to help me and that is how my problem was solved?.

Suban Pa is an eight track album with some very good songs on it and mostly has love themes with majority of the songs focusing on women.

Suban Pa opens the album and has good sound arrangement along with good backing vocals. According to the musician the song is in praise of his ex-girlfriend, who he says was very good to him.

He sings romantically using sweet words to describe how she makes him feel, and how she is. He praises her beauty and her character and says that he will not hesitate or delay in making her his.

One noticeable thing is that in certain portions of the song, the instrumentations seems to go on and on usually. The musician explains that the late Terry Bonchaka was supposed to have done a rap there, but he died before it could be done so they left that portion blank because they did not know what to do. All the same it does not take anything away from the quality of the song.

Adee Oye is also another track that serenades a woman and her exceptional qualities. He sings of how good she has been to him, how helpful she has been in his time of need.

He uses quite a lot of proverbs on his track and thanks her for all that she has done for him. It is a danceable song that also has good backing vocals along with a great rhythm.

Another good song is Efata No which has a very traditional rhythm. It is slow paced and the effect of the drums and other instruments combine to create a harmonious effect. Again on this track which is another love song about a woman and her beauty and character, he uses a lot of proverbs.

Amanehunu is also another song close to his heart. It talks of how difficult he is having it in life. Slow paced, he sings about how difficult it is to make it in life without beneficiaries and of all the things that he is going through.

He says that he had to try his hands at different jobs from being a flower pot maker to a skidder operator to being a carpenter to survive so this song is one that really touches him.

Other songs on the album include Akyere Meso another love song. Obaa Yi a slow paced track in the reggae vein, Obaatanpa and Ahomatea.

The album was produced under the anvil records label with George K. Abban as producer with Julius Amenyewu and Kafui Dey as co-producers.