Awesome Tapes From Africa, the long-running blog, turned into a record label late last year with the release of Mali's Na Hawa Doumbia's La Grande Cantatrice Malienne Vol 3. Awesome Tapes' second release is due this spring, a record by Bola from Ghana, Volume 7. Bola plays the kologo, a sort of lute, and has a gritty voice, backed by the steady chop of a light drum machine and peppy digital piano. It's a mesh of sounds, far from the joyful guitar-based Ghanaian music of highlife or its rap offspring, hiplife. It just has a heavier groove. Volume 7, which was originally released in Ghana in 2009, will be available April 3rd.
Stream: Bola “Abayetidu Ma”
