Catching up with people these days is a trip. So many people I talk to have had major life changes since 2020. Some good, some bad and some just different.
Alostmen: Kologo
As a member of the Ghanaian hip-hop pranksters, the FOKN Bois, Wanlov
the Kubolor is known for going barefoot, so as if to signal a shift,
the first single from his new group Alostmen begins with an invitation
to listeners to put on their dancing shoes. But the biggest
difference isn’t footwear listen to the backbeat percussion,
coming not from a drum machine but from the two-string, traditional
Frafra lute, the
kologo. It’s a bit of a statement of purpose:
traditional instruments twisted to their own message, own style and own ends.
Anchored by the strumming of Stevo, a member of Wanlov’s Afro Gypsy group and his go-to