Squeezeband tours Ghana

By William Yaw Owusu

Saturday October 17, 2007
Squeezeband, one of the world’s renowned jazz music groups during the week staged splendid performances at the residence of the Switzerland Ambassador and the Alliance Françoise all in Accra, in the effort to rekindle jazz music in the country.

They were flown into the country through the collaboration between the Switzerland Embassy and Mr. Walter Esposito, former Managing Director of Akosombo Textile Limited who himself is a jazz music enthusiast.

Squeezeband made up of Reto Weber (Switzerland), a master percussionist; Chico Freemen (United States), a real jazz giant; Michel Alibo (France), an accomplished and influential guitarist; Dany Martinez (Cuba), a celebrated Latin guitarist; and Nino G (Italy), the best in human beat box, were all in town to dazzle jazz music lovers.

Supporting Squeezeband was Ayekoo, a Ghanaian ensemble which is fast establishing itself as one of the best drummers in the world.

As a group of students from the School of Performing Art at the University of Ghana, Ayekoo currently performs in many music festivals across the world and fascinate the audience with pure rhythm, coupled with sweet melody.

At the Ambassador’s residence, the use of music to build social bridges and bring political opponents together was clearly demonstrated. Ministers of state, politicians, diplomats, the academia heads of organisations and other individuals were all in attendance to ‘feel’ the music of jazz.

Welcoming the crowd, Mr. Nicolas Lang, the Swiss Ambassador, said apart from promoting economic ties between Ghana and Switzerland, the embassy was working hard to strengthening cultural ties between the two countries.

He said “Squeezeband is an example of how Switzerland is using music to promote healthy global relations among countries.”

“We are open to the world and we want to do everything together with the rest of the world. In doing this, countries such as Ghana cannot be overlooked”.

He said once culture transcends beyond borders it is critical to harness the potential it brings in order to create wealth for the people.

Mr. Lang expressed bemoaned the neglect of jazz music in the country saying “it appears to me jazz music is a music of a certain generation. There seems to be no contemporary jazz musician in the system.”

“I know that jazz music is a pretty intellectual music which appeals to the elite in society but we can get everybody on board to sustain the interest in it”.

He praised Ayekoo for advertising Ghana’s cultural potential across the globe, saying “they have the necessary discipline to reach higher heights.”

“They count among the best that Ghana has to present to the world and they need to be supported and encouraged”.