The cycling guitars of highlife are sometimes tinged with a bit of wah pedal, and wild analog synthesizers rub shoulders with hand drums whose design hasn't changed in centuries. The influences range from local rhythms and age-old songs and the divergent palm-wine and big band highlife styles of Ghana itself to American blues, soul, and funk, European and American rock and psych (the Barbecues quote 'Black Magic Woman' in the organ solo of 'Aaya Lolo'), Cuban pachanga, and Nigerian Afrobeat. Where Ghana Soundz focused on heavy funk and Afrobeat, this draws from a much wider spectrum, providing a panorama of the country's pop music. So now Soundway gives us Ghana Special, a two-disc, 33-track companion to the Nigerian volume and a successor to the label's two Ghana Soundz compilations from several years ago.
