African Connection to release Queens and Kings album

Inspired by the late Nigerian Afrobeat progenitor Fela Kuti, the album will be available on streaming services like Spotify, Deezer, SoundCloud and YouTube.

African Connection comprises Frank Ankrah, a Ghanaian drummer who played for Fela in the 1980s, Abdulai Issaka Kyemtore (Ghana), Kwesi Dankwah (Ghana), Maggie Cawley (US), Lasse Aagaard (Denmark), Martin Robert Madsen (Denmark), Lasse Enøe (Denmark) and Olaf Johannes Brinch (Denmark).

Queens and Kings is sung in English, Ewe, Ga and Hausa and some of the songs include ‘Matanbaye’, ‘Gbemegiwo’, ‘Womba’, ‘Danmalio’ and ‘Babanato’, which cover a wide range of social topics such as the role of women and their oppression. The album is a fusion of highlife, funk, Afrobeat and rock and roll.

“We write our own different parts of songs and arrange all the songs together,” African Connection lead guitarist Lasse Aagaard told Music In Africa. “The songwriting and lyrics are mostly done by Abu [Abdulai Issaka Kyemtore] and Dankwah. Olaf Brinch and I produced the album. The inspiration of the album’s production comes from the sound of the 1970s.

“We wanted the sound of the album to have the warmth from the ‘70s but still with a modern high-quality sound. There is a lot of inspiration from Fela Kuti, Tony Allen, Mulatu Astatke, Ebo Taylor, but also Western genres like The Meters, The Who, The Doors and Led Zeppelin.

Aagaard said the band was planning to tour the album after its release. “We currently have a small release tour planned for Germany and later this year in Scandinavia. We want to take the band and album to both Ghana and the US next year. For now we will focus on Europe.”

Aagaard also spoke about how African music was being received in Europe.

“Africa is a big continent with various music genres, so it is hard to say. I think the interest for quality musicians who play with their heart and make people dance is on high demand,” he said.

“We definitely feel that the interest for world music in general is growing and there is especially a focus on West Africa at the moment. Lots of the styles that are played have an Afro element.”

Pre-order Queens and Kings here.