FOR many new bands, Covid had a devastating effect, particularly for those promoting new releases. None more so than young bands such as Santrofi from Ghana, who play a mix of West African Highlife, Afrobeat and music from the scorching streets of Accra.

Their debut set Alewa on Outhere Records was released in April 2020. Taking a do-it-yourself approach, the band composed, arranged, produced and recorded in Ghana — getting rave reviews in the music media.

Alewa is a local black and white striped sweet, symbolising the need to embrace racial diversity.

Santrofi had also gone down a storm at festivals, including Womad in the UK, Denmark’s Roskilde, Portugal’s FMM Sines, Germany’s Fusion and Womex in Finland but touring plans to promote the album were halted.

As with many bands from Africa Alewa contained political songs, notably the track Africa which starts with the iconic speech from Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president after winning independence from Britain in 1957 — the speech was delivered to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1963. The US instigated his overthrow in July 1966.

Emmanuel Ofori, Santrofi’s leader and bass player, explains: “Back in the 1960s and ‘70s we had so many bands in Ghana. If you go to a pub to have drink there isn’t a DJ — there is a band playing — and they are playing their own music. Ghana is one of the richest places when it comes to music. Hugh Masekela, Fela Kuti and Orlando Julius came to Ghana to learn.”