VOLUME 7 by BOLA

Bola’s (Ghana) music combines the age-old mode of griot story-telling and the kologo—a two-stringed traditional lute with a calabash gourd resonator—with drum machines, synths and bone-shaking bass. The album follows the new label’s first release Nâ Hawa Doumbiaʼs La Grande Cantatrice Malienne Vol 3, which received critical praise from the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, SPIN, The Wire, The Guardian, Dazed and Confused, PRI’s “The World,” BBC World Service, Village Voice and eMusic, among others.As a teenager in the Upper East Region of Ghana, where he grew up herding livestock in the savannah, Bola made his first kologo out of a plastic gallon tub. Traditionally, kologo performances occur at pito (local beer made from fermented millet or sorghum) bars, weddings, funerals, festivals or spontaneous jams on the street. Bola honed his craft in these environments. Inspired by Ghanaian kologo pioneers including Atongo Zimba, King Ayisoba and his primary mentor Guy One, the 27-year-old is helping evolve music from his native Frafra-speaking region into something new for the 21st century. Volume 7, which came out in 2009, is part of a large catalog of recordings Bola has released on CD and cassette in last few years.