Songs of Paapieye

SK Kakraba is a Ghanaian musician living in Los Angeles, and his instrument is the gyil. This pentatonic xylophone of the Lobi people gets its distinctive sound from the spider-web silks stretched over the sound-gourds. This creates a rasping sound, and sonically, it’s not an amazing leap to think of this as an acoustic equivalent of Konono No 1’s electric likembé (thumb piano). This aesthetic of the buzz is found all over the continent, especially in West Africa, but it’s becoming rarer as musicians and producers strive towards the cleanest sound possible.

This is the very first original album by Awesome Tapes from Africa; unlike the label’s other releases, it is not a reissue of an African cassette, but was recorded specially for this release. Songs of Paapieye consists of six instrumentals – half an hour of solo gyil. It’s the perfect amount of time to be able to meditate on the instrument’s timbre and Kakraba’s skill and mastery. Together, the layering of harmonics that the buzz allows and the cycles of slightly varying repetition create a hypnotic resonance that gets into your head and allows you to fall into it completely for the duration of the album.