KING BRUCE AND THE BLACK BEATS HIGHLIFE DANCE BAND

KING BRUCE & Black Beats 1952

Listen: Music Clip 1 | Music Clip 2 | Music Clip 3

The Accra born King Bruce composed many highlifes, particularly in his native language Ga. He had a particular ability to write  his Ga lyrics in a poetic way and put to haunting and relaxed melodies. When he died in  1998 Ghana lost one of its greatest highlife exponents.  His musical experiences started early and were varied. His family introduced him to traditional women's singing, piano, palm-wine guitar-styles like "fireman" and "dagomba wire." At the same time and much against his parent's wishes, King was a keen follower of the Accra street music, such as the alaha (also called adaha), kolomashie, tsibode, koyin, and other popular dance-styles played by the local Ga-Adangme ethnic group.  At the prestigious Achimota College secondary school, King continued to be inspired by music, particularly by some of the teachers who taught there, including Phillip Gbeho, who composed Ghana's national anthem.  It was at the end of his schooldays at Achimota that King developed a taste for swing and dance-band music, for as he told me these "were the war years and we had British and American army units stationed here. They had bands for their entertainment and so ballroom music progressed very much…”

In 1952, King Bruce and tenor saxist Saka Acquaye formed the Black Beats band. This name as King explains "just came out spontaneously. One evening when were coming home from rehearsals Saka asked me what name we were going to use. Without hesitation I said Black Beats. The reason was that Doctor Amu at Achimota had impressed on us the necessity for doing things African. At the same time as a group we were very much enamoured with jazz, swing and music with a beat. So we were all interested in playing good dance-band music, but keen on giving everything a recognisable African beat."  Unlike the other Ghanaian dance-bands, the Black Beats vocalists (the Black Birds, Lewis Wadawa, and Frank Barnes) dominated the instrumental line-up; and in this they were influenced by the swing and "jump" music of Afro-American Louis Jordan.

Besides being a senior civil servant, composer, band leader, manager, and teacher of the hundred or so musicians who have passed through his groups, King Bruce has also found time to help organise all three of Ghana's music unions: the 1950s Gold Coast Association of Musicians, the short-lived (1960-1966) Ghana Musicians Union - also short-lived and  the present-day MUSIGA that was formed in 1974

BOOKOR STUDIO 1987 King Bruce and John Collins

BOKOOR STUDIO 1987. King Bruce and John Collins.