Amamere come from Cape Coast, the Fante fishing port where Ebo Taylor and C.K. Mann were born, and they play highlife the way Ghana’s guitar bands played it in the 1970s. Eric Asiedu Agyekum‘s lead guitar sits out front, tenor sax and trumpet play over the top, and behind the kit is Rim Akandoh Jnr, who spent the late 2010s drumming for Taylor. Their live take on “Kokonsani”, the opening track of the 2025 debut Man Shall Be Free on Afro Urban Project, was filmed at Afrika Festival Hertme in the Netherlands on 4 July, during the eight-piece’s first tour outside Ghana.
Dominic Ansah plays Ga kpanlogo drums and congas under the kit, and the trumpet belongs to Emmanuel Adjei, grandson of Osibisa‘s Mac Tontoh. Akandoh Jnr’s father, Rim Akandoh, played in Mann’s band before leading the Prince Sparrows Band. Much of the album reworks his songs alongside osode, the fishing-community music Mann electrified, while “Kokonsani”, Twi for a gossip, carries the son’s own lyric.
Hear the studio cut of “Kokonsani” HERE and order Man Shall Be Free via THIS LINK


