I Have my Liberty: Gospel Sounds from Accra, Ghana

May 1st, 2012

Title: I Have My Liberty: Gospel Sounds from Accra, Ghana

Artists: Various

Formats: CD, MP3

Release date: November 22, 2011

When I first slipped it into my CD drive, the diversity of sounds on I Have My Liberty: Gospel Sounds from Accra, Ghana surprised me. It shouldn’t have, of course. As recordist Calpin Hoffman-Williamson reminds me in the liner notes, Accra is a bustling, sprawling city where at least a half-dozen languages are spoken regularly. The sounds on the album range from the guitar and bass-driven highlife of “Onyame Ye” to the contemplative a cappella rendering of “Trust and Obey” to the synth-heavy, shuffling beat of the song that welcomes listeners to Great Grace Church.

The album is culled together from field recordings made in 2008 but, unlike many commercial releases of field material, there are no jarring problems with underlying sound quality, microphone bumps, or other audio imperfections. Happily, the CD does retain some congregational noise and, importantly, the slight buzzy vocal and instrumental distortion from the sound system that is an essential part of the sound in many churches.

The musical tracks are knit together by spoken tracks or ambient noise, such as the one excerpted in the following preview from Dust to Digital, called “Good Things For Ghana” on the CD, followed by an excerpt of a rollicking performance of “Onyame Ye” at the Divine Healer’s Church:

While the highlife-tinged tracks, like the one above, are infectious and the a cappella songs fascinating, the track I keep coming back to is an excerpt from a children’s Sunday School lesson at Great Grace Church. Hearing the teacher and children sing a simple melody backed by a slightly distorted electric piano is endearing:

I love to come to Sunday School!
I love to study the word of God!
I love to be on time
It’s good for children, it’s good for youth and adults too!
I love to come to Sunday School!

Between verses, the song leader giggles as she tries to get the kids to clap together before they go into another repetition of the verse. For me, this track represents the best of what commercial releases of field recordings can be: musically interesting and, in this case, earnestly devoted to God, but at the same time so human and touching that you, as a listener, are immediately drawn in. Whether you are religious or not, this compilation is bound to provide you with moments as engrossing as the one above was for me.

Reviewed by David Lewis

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Review Genre(s): World Music