Papa The Great Songs

[Josephina]

Sincemy knowledge of Mann could never compare to that of my parents, I figured, what better way to honor the highlife musician and learn something than by interviewing my papa. I spoke to my dad, Aggo Akyea, over the phone five days after the death of Mann. Below is our conversation, filled with nostalgia, excitement, strong opinions and reverence for Mann.

Akornefa: I heard that C.K. Mann passed on Tuesday and I was doing some research online to find out more about him but I couldn't find out a lot of things. There's not too much about him written online. Even on Joyonline they were mentioning a lot of his popular songs but they missed "Adwoa Yankey."

They didn't even mention that one. I felt like I didn't know anything about him. Anyway, I thought it would seem kind of weird for me to write something about him because I don't really know his music.

Anyway, I've been to at least three C.K. Mann dances where he and his band were performing and you go in with your friend or girlfriend or wife and you have a good evening dancing to their music. And the unique thing about him, what made him popular was, he never sang anything in English. For all I know, he couldn't even speak English. But here was a natural talent, he picked up the guitar and just sang songs of social import. I still have all his LPs in the basement!

Yes, C.K. Mann and His Carousel 7. They would give you a great night of six hours of nonstop music. And then when I was in Legon, each hall of residence [i.e. dorm]. Legon Hall, Volta Hall, Mensah Hall, and each hall had an anniversary. So everything starts like Wednesday of that week. We would have symposiums, debates, and then on Saturday morning, a brass band would come. They would bring in a truckload of plantains, set up a bonfire in the evening and they would roast plantains. [Laughs]. And then at about 10 p.m., the featured band would play. C.K. Mann was one of the featured bands. Do you know Legon?

Ok, yes. So let's say Commonwealth Hall, they are having their annual anniversary so they invite a band. Each residence hall has a huge dining room. A room that can accommodate close to 600 seated guests. So they would turn that dining hall into a dance hall with the band. And C.K. Mann would perform. So I saw him at least another two times at Legon.

It's pure highlife. Pure, unadulterated, local highlife. For example, [sings] "Lucy, this is me Kofi, I'm back home. Araba Lucy, no more sadness. I have come with joy and laughter. Araba Lucy, it's me Kofi, I'm back home." I mean, it's simple. It's almost like Bob Marley.

Exactly. So nobody who respected themselves in Ghana would ever be seen wearing an "Adwoa Yankey." But now it has become a big deal. So that song is actually mocking people who were wearing those shirts. [Sings "Adwoa Yankey" and laughs to himself]. He says "Adwoa Yankey, please look upon God and stop wearing this shirt."

Nope, he didn't dance, he didn't... he just played his guitar and sang. There was absolutely no performance. Like I described to you, most of these dances, the spectators, whoever we were, we were busy dancing. We didn't care about the musicians putting on a show."

He was able to put these things in such simplified and straightforward musical formats that it was easy for people to grab on. He was able to get his message across in his music more than these other guys. He didn't pretend to be anything like George Darko or Gyedu-Blay Ambolley. Ambolley was a stylistic guy trying to be hip.

When we started the conversation, you were frustrated that people haven't written down things about Ghanaian artists. Is there something specific you think we have lost because C.K. Mann has passed?

I think we've lost and we are continuing to lose anecdotal information. I'm just telling you what I know about the guy. But what are our universities or historians doing to preserve what we've just lost? And that's just my frustration.

What was the general vibe when you were in college and C.K. Mann came to play? It was clearly post independence. What was the feeling around that time that correlated to the sound of the music?

There was this competition between the C.K. Mann band and the Ebo Taylor/Ambolley groups, who every once in a while would travel the U.S. and bring American music back and try to copy them. You remember in 1971, the very first major musical concert titled "Soul to Soul" with Wilson Pickett, Staple Singers, Ike and Tina Turner, the Brothers Johnson, Santana, etc? It was a whole plane load of musicians who came to Accra to do a big concert. So there was that influence on local musicians to try to sound like them and copy their music. And so those dances I was talking about were going out of style, but C.K. Mann with his different approach of playing funky osode music stayed on through the '70s. And that's where C.K. Mann came from.

I see. So, there was competition for that sound from America in Ghana but then C.K. Mann kind of went against the grain and maintained a "pure" Ghanaian highlife sound?

Papa Roach is an American rock band from Vacaville, California, formed in 1993. The original lineup consisted of lead vocalist Jacoby Shaddix, guitarist Jerry Horton, drummer Dave Buckner, bassist Will James, and trombonist Ben Luther.

In 1994, Papa Roach released its first EP, titled Potatoes for Christmas. Drummer Dave Buckner was temporarily replaced by Ryan Brown, as Buckner was spending the year in Seattle studying art. In 1995, the band released a demo at Sound Farm Studios titled Caca Bonita. By this time Buckner was back. In 1996, the group replaced original bassist Will James with longtime roadie Tobin Esperance, as James' involvement in a church summer camp would limit the band's summer practicing and touring.

After signing with DreamWorks Records in October 1999, they immediately entered the studio to record their major-label debut album titled Infest.[4][5] The album included old songs from their independent releases, these being "Infest", "Last Resort", "Broken Home", "Dead Cell" from the Warner Bros. demo CD; "Revenge In Japanese" as "Revenge" and "Thrown Away" from their 5 Tracks Deep EP; "Legacy", "Binge", "Snakes", and a softer version of the originally heavier "Tightrope" from the Let 'Em Know EP; which were re-recorded, and three additional newly written songs: "Obsession" (later known as "Between Angels and Insects"), "Blood Brothers", and "Never Enough". Infest was released on April 25, 2000, and sold 30,001 copies in its first week of release.[6]

With their second album released, and the music video for "Last Resort" recorded, they embarked on the Vans Warped Tour and numerous other large tours, including the Anger Management Tour with Limp Bizkit and rap acts such as Eminem, Xzibit, D12 and Ludacris, X-Ecutioners.[7][8] They embarked on their headlining "Master Bay" tour in 2000, with support from Linkin Park and Hed PE.[9] The band was nominated for "Best New Artist in a Video" at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards for "Last Resort".[10]

In late 2000, they toured the United Kingdom, highlighting how quickly their popularity had spread worldwide. In 2001, the band toured Ozzfest, where they performed on the prestigious main stage, on both the United States and United Kingdom tours.[11] The song "Blood Brothers" was also featured on the popular video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2.[12]

After touring worldwide, the band returned to the studio to record their third album which was to be titled Born to Rock, but was later renamed to Lovehatetragedy.[13] The album was released in the United States on June 18, 2002, and though it did not outsell Infest, it managed to chart higher in both the United States and United Kingdom album charts. The album has sold over 500,000 copies and has been certified gold.[14] The album featured a focus on singing over rapping, though the band retained their nu metal sound. The album had two singles: "She Loves Me Not" and "Time and Time Again," both of which featured rapping as well as the rap metal sound of Infest.[15] The music video for "Time and Time Again" was featured on the Pepsi Blue commercial.[16] That same year, the band embarked on a tour in support of Lovehatetragedy, including playing the second Anger Management Tour. It was co-headlined by Eminem & Papa Roach, along with Ludacris, Xzibit, X-Ecutioners and Bionic Jive.[17]

In late 2003, Papa Roach wrote and recorded their third album with the working title Dancing In the Ashes, but released as Getting Away with Murder.[18] The band worked with well-recognized producer Howard Benson.[18] After completion, the band filmed a music video for the title track, "Getting Away with Murder", and went on a small summer club tour to warm-up for the tours that would follow.[19] The album introduced a different approach for the band, becoming their first album not to feature the nu metal style of their previous albums.[20] It was also the band's first album not to feature rapping.[20] Getting Away with Murder outsold Lovehatetragedy, mainly due to the popularity of the album's second single, "Scars". To date, the album has sold over one million copies and has been certified Platinum. On November 9, 2004, the band released their fifth EP, Rolling Stone Original, an EP only available digitally.[21] On November 22, 2005 they released their first live album, Papa Roach: Live & Murderous in Chicago.[22]

In 2005, the band spent much of their time on tour. This included a full United States and European tour alongside bands such as Dead Poetic, Trust Company, Chronic Future, Skindred, 311 and Unwritten Law.[23][24][25]

On September 12, 2006, Papa Roach released their fourth album The Paramour Sessions.[26][27] The band named the title after the recording location, the Paramour Mansion.[28] The band came up with the idea of doing an album in a mansion while they were recording Getting Away with Murder,[29] "...To Be Loved" was the first single to be released from the album, and was the official theme song for WWE Raw from 2006 to 2009.[30] The album debuted at No. 16 on the Billboard 200 Charts.[31]

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