Ghana Freedom (1/5) | Ghana, the first sub-Saharan African nation to gain independence, was like a guiding star for those dreaming of freedom.

64 years ago Gold Coast won its freedom and became Ghana. We look back on the music surrounding this event, a glimpse of independence for the whole continent.

Each week during Black History month PAM will be celebrating by looking at a seminal piece of black American music that helps tell the story of the United States. Today its “Georgia On My Mind” by Ray Charles.

PAM looks back at landmark works of American black music that are enmeshed in the country’s history. Today, the album Roots, Curtis Mayfield’s fine tuning of his allegiance to Black Power.

As Canadian label We are Busy Bodies reissues Obi Agye Me Dofo (1977), one of the most famous LPs of the glorious highlife Ghanaian band Vis-a-Vis, PAM reached Isaac Yeboah, singer and original member of the band. Interview.

Amha Eshèté was Ethiopia’s first independent record producer. It is to him that we owe the first recordings (and the following two hundred) of the golden age of Ethiopian music, later resurrected by the famous Éthiopiques series. He confesses it all to PAM in full detail (Part one).

PAM met the founder of the group Urban Village, a guitarist and art researcher born in Soweto. In a few vinyls, he retraces a slice of South African music history (60-80s), all the way from their village to Soweto, the great cultural shaker.

We celebrate Suriname’s 45th year of Independence, recounting the story of the rich Pan-African origins of Surinamese music shaped in the hearth of political turmoil.

On October 2, 1958, Guinea became independent. Ten years later, the country paid tribute to the towering figure of Samory Touré, a hero of the anti-colonial struggle, in a masterful work, crafted by the Bembeya Jazz National.

On October 2, 1979, Bob Marley & The Wailers released Survival. A Pan-Africanist work like never seen before, which included the seminal hit “Zimbabwe”.

Whatever its shape, the flute stands firmly rooted in most African music. This is an insight into the role of the instrument, with a focus on the musicians who made it famous and those who place it in the spotlight today.