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Weekly Spectator 1986/03/29

McGod: beyond the sound

By Enimil Ashon:
ENCOUNTERS with artistes who see in their work a call beyond the lure of money occur twice or thrice a year. Artistes like this are on a search - a search for a means to change their world or add to its values. And to them, the persuit is the art.


If monetary rewards come their way, it is merely secondary. And as it so often happens, they strike gold.

To this list of artistes with a mission: this list of artistes who derive pleasure from creating in perfection to be able to change the wrongs in the system or add to society´s values. I have the pride in presenting MARK GILBERT ODURO DOKYI known throughout Africa and Europe as MCGOD.
People in Germany know him as the Ghanaian musician who, with the support of German owner of AFRICAN MUSIC recording label, has been organizing PALM WINE NIGHTS (Highlife Disco Nights) in clubs and discos there.

This artiste has a two fold mission: of helping to internationalize highlife music along with others such as George Darko, Lee Duodu, Rex Gyamfi etc. and of using this medium of irresistible sounds to change a world torn apart by wars, injustice and oppression perpetrated by the haves on the have-nots.

In Ghana we may recall "Si si si" a near hit on his first LP - `Taste Me´ recorded and waxed in Nigeria and later reproduced for distribution in Europe.
His second LP has just been released in Germany on the AFRICAN MUSIC label, owned by Gunter Gretz, one of the very few Europeans whose love for African music has gone beyond appreciation and taken the form of solid investment in recording for the ears of the world.
Titled "HIGHLIFE AGO-GO", this album is an international blockbuster, a hit whose strength lies in its potential ability to make the world sit up and look at itself.

TO BE CONTINUED