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How Louis Armstrong shaped the sound of Ghana
You can still hear echoes of the trumpeter's 1956 visit in Accra's clubs today.
The homegrown musical genre, a blend of local indigenous melodies and rhythms with elements of jazz, all played on Western instruments, became a voice of the emerging nation thanks in large part to Armstrong’s visit, and it is now experiencing a resurgence within the country, as Ghana reexamines the legacy of the slave trade and the African diaspora. Around me sat couples grooving to the music while dining on plates of lamb kebabs and kelewele —fried plantains spiced with ginger and hot pepper—and large, well-dressed parties of friends sipping on bottles of Ghana’s own Club beer while together, we rocked and swayed to the tunes of +233’s all-female Lipstick Band. But along with technological advances in sound production came song streaming apps like Spotify, online clubs spanning all sorts of musical genres, and YouTube video recordings highlighting everything from early 20th-century ragtime songs—a jazz forerunner—to Armstrong’s 1956 Accra visit.
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