E.T. Mensah & The Tempos

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

E.T. Mensah & The Tempos · Emmanuel Tettey Mensah was born in 1919 in Ussher Town in Accra, then still the Gold Coast, and was later known as the King of Highlife. At twelve he learned to play the flute in the school band, and in 1932 he played piccolo and flute in the Accra Orchestra, an orchestra of schoolchildren. Together with his older brother Yebuah, who led a dance orchestra, he formed the Accra Rhythmic Orchestra, which won the Lambeth Walk Dance Competition in 1939.

Music and breakthrough

The first Tempos came into being in 1946 as a jam session group of European soldiers in Accra, who played for army parties and in a club in the city. Gradually the Europeans were replaced by African musicians, until it was an entirely African band, led by Joe Kelly and then by Guy Warren. Mensah joined the band in 1947. Soon afterwards the group broke up and was re-formed with Mensah as leader. The Tempos toured widely in West Africa. One of his best-known compositions is Ghana Freedom, a song associated with Ghana's independence that celebrates the struggle and reward of the people of the Gold Coast.

Influence

Highlife is the dance music of West Africa, in which local rhythms and guitar lines are combined with brass and the dance-orchestra sounds of Western swing. In the 1960s the style fell into decline, but Mensah remained active. In 1983 he made the successful album Highlife Giants of Africa Vol. 1 with the Nigerian trumpeter Victor Abimbola Olaiya. He died in 1996.

Listening

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  Queen's Visit · E.T. Mensah & The Tempos
  Apple Music ↗