Produced by Calpin Hoffman-Williamson, I Have My Liberty! Gospel Sounds from Accra, Ghana features performances recorded live in 2008 in the churches of Ghana’s capital city. This album could be seen as the missing link between American gospel records by artists like Rev. Johnny L. Jones and traditional African artists like those featured on Opika Pende: Africa at 78 RPM.

Amid Accra’s bustling sprawl of swirling dust and exhaust, are countless havens for homegrown musical expression: charismatic and spiritual Christian churches. There, distorted PA systems, anchored by female singers, and ramshackle guitars played by a rotating cast of local men weave in and out of popular melodies bringing congregations to their feet. Singers emote in repeated phrases, lifted by tambourines, claps, and percussion, to unite their voices in praise and worship. I Have My Liberty! Gospel Sounds from Accra, Ghana takes listeners into these churches, where congregations join together to process the anxieties of their West African metropolis.

“I Have My Liberty! Gospel Sounds from Accra, Ghana combines the unconventionality of an Alan Lomax field recording with modern microphones and modern African congregations. The music is praise and worship in raw, unshackled form. Untrained but resolute voices of congregations join with amateur but determined church musicians on electric guitar, drums and tambourine to shake the rafters with their kinetic and sonic energy.” – Bob Marovich, The Black Gospel Blog

 

“Culled from live recordings made in 2008 inside the various churches of Accra, Ghana, I Have My Liberty! offers an intimate glimpse of these charismatic congregations, whose songs are an inspired fusion of American gospel and traditional African music. In sound and in spirit, these recordings serve as a missing link between raw American blues gospel and the cuts compiled by D-t-D on the great Opika Pende collection. Recent recordings, but timeless, powerful music!” – Other Music