"Funky Pangolin" - Kyekyeku & Super Opong Stars

• artist:Kyekyeku & Super Opong Stars
• featured artist:Kyekyeku & Super Opong Stars
• region:West Africa
• release year:2022
• style(s):Afro, Pop
• country:Ghana
• formats:Audio File / Digital
• record posted by:Estúdio Medusa
• label:The Blue Hedgehog
•   buy this record

Links

• https://open.spotify.com/album/32gDtQiulvblQk2UoQQaYC?si=7q-4ZwLkRZ6p6UgH6V

Analogue sound is beautiful but is this album written for it?
Funky pangolin is influenced by discourse arising from the global health crises, as a name the album reaches into the conspiracies that sprung up out of the Covid pandemic where one of the blames was pinned on the innocent and largely endangered animal, the Pangolin, itself native to Ghana. We at Super Opong Stars thought that was quite unfortunate, we think this overly hunted animal was too Funky to be blamed, hence our tribute by naming the album after it. Sonically, it was a journey of searching for purity and looking for satisfaction and so wechased after the luxuries of the all too talked about analogue sound that has become so much of a thing in the last coupleof years without realizing the harsh realities of achieving that sound. Wemanaged to get into the studios of Philophon records (Alogte, Guy One, Jimmy Tenor) where we recorded. Terms like ‘Warmth’ ‘Organic’ and ‘Non linearities’’ have been used by audiophiles to define and dive into nostalgia, we thought we would go looking for that sound as well whatever it was. We soon found out it was luxury, one that is not opened to a world of scarce resources and above all, music has to be written to fit the processes of capturing that sound, but our songs had already been written, performed at festivals and stages yonder and we wanted to capture that energy. After recording, we found out it was not as we envisaged it and by no fault of the studio or engineers but by ourperformance and the how the music was written. What we came to discover and accept is to use the resources of the moment to capture the time period that we are in through music and sound; for which in a while to come could be sought after as much as the days of analogue is chased after now. Sadly ,we discarded the initial recordings. What we came to have that makes up this album now are compositions that pay homage to what the style of highlife music has largely come to be known as recorded in way that is true to what is available to us. The beautiful swing and bop of Highlife music still remains, its dynamism ,intensity and nuance is all laid out in the open and a wide epoch of the Highlife music itself is captured through songwriting and arrangement and beautifully performed by agroup of 7 musicians from Accra, Ghana who call themselves Super Opong Stars led by Guitarist Kyekyeku.