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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZMENSAH, E.T.(b Emmanuel Tettah Mensah, 1919, Accra, Ghana; d 19 July 1996) African singer, composer, trumpeter and bandleader; 'the King of Highlife', without doubt the single most important leader in the genre. Father was an amateur guitarist; he played in an elementary school fife band, studied organ and saxophone in high school, on leaving school formed the Accra Rhythmic Orchestra with his brother Yebuah. By this time he had picked up trumpet; when WWII came to Africa with thousands of Allied troops, he joined with Scottish saxophonist Jack Leopard in the Black and White Spots, playing army camps and clubs. Another result of the war was the influence of the Swing Era on African music; after the war, following spells with the Kumasi Philharmonic Orchestra etc he joined the Tempos, then incl. drummer Guy Warren, Joe Kelly on trumpet. The band entered a period of reorganization and was relaunched as the first fully professional highlife dance band; with trumpet, trombone, reeds, double bass, drums, congas, bongos/clips and maracas, the twelve-piece outfit began recording for Decca c.1950: hit singles and early albums established E.T. Mensah and the Tempos as the top band in Ghana. They sang in several West African languages as well as English and Spanish; they played calypso, charanga, merengue, chachacha etc but it was in highlife in the golden age of African dance music that they made a permanent reputation, touring West Africa and particularly in Nigeria. He also toured with Nkrumah, acting as Ghana's musical ambassador. The band's albums included Tempos On The Beat, A Saturday Night (including the classic 'Yaa Amponsah'), Tempos Melodies, King Of Highlifes; they also featured on Decca highlife compilations in the '60s. As with all the best African bands, there were spin-offs from the Tempos as musicians graduated from the ranks, including the Red Spots and the Rhythm Aces; new recruits brought in elements of R&B and the Twist as the decade wore on. LP The King Of African Highlife Rhythm '69 marked an era drawing to a close; the bigger bands disappeared (having lasted much longer than they did in the West) and Mensah gave up music, turning to government work as a pharmacist. He came back in the mid-'70s with a roots revival under way, making six albums of which only E.T. Mensah: The King Of Highlife Music '77 and E.T. Mensah Is Back Again '78 were released, on Afrodisia; he went to Lagos '83 to record Highlife Giants with Victor Olaiya, the 'evil genius' of highlife. He performed in a wheelchair in London and Amsterdam '86; All For You that year on London's RetroAfric label was a generous compilation of '50s hits: sweet music with an African lilt. |