{"id":47409,"date":"2020-04-28T17:02:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T15:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/?p=47409"},"modified":"2020-09-27T13:23:09","modified_gmt":"2020-09-27T11:23:09","slug":"stonebwoy-diamond-dancehall-made-in-ghana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/stonebwoy-diamond-dancehall-made-in-ghana\/","title":{"rendered":"Stonebwoy, diamond dancehall made in Ghana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Following collaborations with the likes of Sean Paul, Sarkodie and Burna Boy, the Ghanaian singer continues his popular ascent with Anloga Junction<\/em>, a star studded album riding the inspired waves of The Black Atlantic without forgetting Stonebwoy’s hometown of Anloga.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, Ghana surpassed South Africa in becoming the largest producer of gold on the African continent, whilst also going into competition with Nigeria, in establishing Ghanaian musicians on a global scale. Amongst this fountain of talent that turned Ghana into an intensive musical laboratory, a name stood out from the top of the charts for several months: Livingstone Etse Satekla, aka Stonebwoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Anloga <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Following the raw debut productions of #Grade1<\/em> (2012) and Necessary Evil<\/em> (2014), and then Epistles of Mama<\/em> (2017), a more intimate double album dedicated to his mother, the singer seems to have found the perfect formula in creating his “afro-dancehall or African dancehall”<\/em>, a fusion of Afrobeats and dancehall sprinkled with touches of reggae, soca, R&B and hiplife. Whilst openly claiming responsibility for the creation and success of the genre \u2013 at the risk of provoking his rivals, Shatta Wale in the first instance \u2013 Stonebwoy also recognizes that he has somewhat matured: his new opus Anloga Junction<\/em> is proof, made clear as early as the opening track “Le Gba Gbe”. “I\u2019m like a diamond being refined now. I\u2019m at the junction of my influences, inspirations, identity and ambitions. In the last ten years, I have found a way to grow up spiritually alongside with my music, it\u2019s a growth process. Today I\u2019m able to celebrate my ethnicity. From being a son of the soil of Africa, in this world where people are lost, you really have to know where your roots are, to acknowledge them and to spread the diversity of our cultures.”<\/em> With a clue in the title of the album, Stonebwoy’s roots are in Anloga, a fishing town made of sand in Keta Lagoon, 160 kilometers from Accra. “That’s where my parents were born, where the elders and ancestors live. It’s not far from Accra so we used to go there a lot and we always loved it. This countryside is very beautiful and wild. It\u2019s a big inspiration for me,”<\/em> he explains. Naturally, he puts his family in the spotlight for the “African Party” video. Whilst Stonebwoy has sung the majority of his hits in English, he now takes it back to Ewe, the language of the Anlo people, which holds a certain magic. More surprisingly, the record also features a few songs… in Jamaican Creole!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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