![\"hammond\"](\"http:\/\/maischna.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/hammond.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/b>Starting out in Germany
\n<\/b><\/p>\n
A German-based band called\u00a0Roots Anabo<\/i>\u00a0heard my music and came out to meet me in Ghana in the 80s. They told me they were looking for a bass player to join them in Berlin. I agreed to do 6 months and now I’ve been here 26 years.<\/p>\n
Growing up<\/b><\/p>\n
I grew up in a very sheltered upbringing. My father was a first minister in Ghana right after independence. So I went to private schools and all that. So you’re a bit removed from the real foundation of the African culture, because of a pseudo European upbringing.<\/p>\n
A turning point for me …<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2026 was meeting one of the last greats of Nubian folk music in the 80s, Ali Hassan Kuban whom\u00a0I would eventually produce.<\/p>\n
The experience started a new, conscience me. Back in Berlin, I did some research on African folk music. I was\u00a0upset to discover\u00a0that there was African history in Western archives which we ourselves did not have. I felt that we had not always protected our history and culture as we should have.<\/p>\n
Message of my music<\/b><\/p>\n
I am a romantic at heart so I sing a lot of love songs. But it is also important for me to sing about black consciousness like I did for\u00a01884<\/i>.<\/p>\n
1884 …<\/i><\/b>\u00a0is one of the most wonderful things I have done\u00a0in my life. The\u00a0Werkstatt der Kulturen<\/i>\u00a0in Berlin\u00a0put together a music-history-project on occasion of the 125th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversary of the\u00a0‘Berlin Africa Conference’. This conference laid the foundation for the partition of Africa. The\u00a0Bundeszentrale f\u00fcr politische Bildung<\/i>\u00a0has now licensed the project and it is going to be shared nation-wide.<\/p>\n It irks me<\/b><\/p>\n That African women do not seem aware of their special beauty at times. ‘Let it go’ is a track I have on one of my albums. I write, for example, \u201cI can’t even find a sister with a ‘fro no more because they are all trying to look like Marilyn Monroe\u201d.<\/p>\n That\u00a0African leaders talk and talk about changing things but never do.<\/p>\n That\u00a0Black music on MTV,\u00a0or some forms of Afro-pop,\u00a0sometimes reduce women to their ‘booty’. I am not saying it is all bad, but that we need to think about what we communicate and keep our pride and dignity.<\/p>\n Just a thought<\/b><\/p>\n One of my favourite German sayings is\u00a0von nichts kommt nichts<\/i>. I feel the black diaspora needs to cultivate a certain pride in who we are for younger generations \u2013 teach them that it is something you do for yourself within you, it is not about where you are.\u00a0I am 52 now and I discovered my true consciousness when I was maybe 40. It’s always a process.<\/p>\n Don’t miss out:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Jamestown available for download on ITUNES!<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Listen to Hammond’s sound on\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Reverbnation\u00a0<\/a><\/i><\/b>or watch him perform\u00a0<\/i><\/b>‘You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down’<\/i><\/b><\/a>\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n