Gordon Odametey
Power to the SoulGamton Records CD GAM 003, 2000
01. Power To The Soul 4'15
02. Assase 3'54
03. Warrior - Kpalogo Live Solo 3'35
04. Okemi Ekpe 3'52
05. Noko Ye Dzen - Djembe Live Solo 5'07
06. Flying Gods 5'01
07. My Hometown 7'48
08. The Queen Is Born 4'00
09. Jungle Walk 8'53
10. Aseriso 7'26
11. Nana 2'44
12. Ogidi Gidi 4'28
13. Wala Aba 5'01
Also from Gamton but a different order of thing entirely, Gordon Odametey's album just exploded out of my speakers like several simultaneous earthquakes, frightening the dog and me out of our skin. I have to say that the title track - violent, visceral and explosive - is one of the most thrilling demonstrations of percussion I've heard. And so it proceeds - it's rare for a drumming album to approach the spiritual, and anyone who's ever tried to assemble a band knows the difficulty of finding a drummer who also understands music. But this prodigious Ghanaian ( based in Berlin for 15 Years ) provides a glowing lesson of what can be achieved by holdness, intuition and good hands. At times, the effects are thunderous, other times more conversational. But always I think the riffs and rhythms derive directly from spoken phrase and sentence, the mind leading the hand. Rattling beads, a backdrop of human voices, barking dogs, and didgeridoo - this is a beautifully recorded aural canvas that just might do your head in. - Rick Sanders
With his second album "Power To The Soul" Gordon Odametey summarizes his experience as a drummer and presents an artistically well balanced result of 20 years of drumming. The 'classical' use of traditional patterns of rhythm is accentuated, however, the musician' s preference for free drumming is easily to be recognized. Gordon Odametey has been living in Germany for 15 years.
He comes from a Ghanian family of musicians and healers and combines experiences made in the diaspora with those of the origins of drumming. In addition to the aesthaetic effect of sounds "Power To The Soul" deals with the power inherent in music: the freeing of emotions and being aware of them. Gordon Odametey works with the music's effects on the soul and feelings of his audience. His music translates and causes emotions: "You feel that you are being cured ... in a way that you cannot describe and you feel happiness ... , an overwhelming joy of life."
320 kbps mp3, including full booklet scans
http://rapidshare.com/files/113969302/GO-PttS.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/113971638/GO-PttS.part2.rar
