Hewale Thrills Guinea Fans

Distinctive rhythms from the Ghanaian neo-traditional group, Hewale Sounds, recently charmed an enthusiastic audience at the Centre Culturel Francais in the Guinean capital, Conakry. With an assortment of traditional instruments such as gonje, gyile xylophones, prempremsiwa, atenteben flutes, atumpan, gome, kpanlogo and giant fontonfrom drums, the group turned the stage into a groove that paraded rich indigenous Ghanaian rhythms in their contemporary versions.  With the flute magician Dela Botri in the saddle, Hewale Sounds surprised a number of musicologists in the audience with a dramatic blending of traditional and contemporary rhythms that created new syntheses that mesmerised and dazzled the cheering crowd.  The crowd went into a state of extreme joy as the group began playing its explorations into the music of Malian living legend Salif Keita. A number of artistes including some members of the famous National Ballet of Guinea joined the group on stage as cheers and applause flowed freely from the audience.  “It is a memorable occasion – the music of Hewale Sounds is breathtaking, it is purely traditional but definitely part of the world music phenomenon. I did not take a seat throughout the performance”, said Rouguiatou Camara, an actress with the Belica Theatre Company in Conakry.  “I danced and jumped right till the end of the show. I was completely overwhelmed by the energy that emanated from the stage. The rhythms are highly refreshing and infectious - I will surely like to perform with the group”, added Sekou Gibirine, a Kora player in Conakry.  Currently based at the W.E.B. Dubois Centre in Accra, Hewale Sounds has been involved in a subtle appropriation of the elements of Ghanaian traditional music to create a new synthesis by a dramatic extension of rhythms and chord progressions. It has won the hearts of African music lovers with numerous magical performances in Ghana and beyond.  With two albums to its credit, the group has performed for highly enthusiastic audiences in Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Jordan, Egypt, Norway and the United States. In Ghana, the group has enchanted audiences at the Alliance Francaise, Goethe-Institut and residencies of ambassadors to Ghana from France, Germany and the United States.  The performance, which formed part of a tour of Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Togo, was initiated by the Alliance Francaise and the French Embassy in Accra and sponsored by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs/French Cultural Centres in West Africa.