Digging 4 Gold

So, one very astute patron of the site requested for an updated rip of the monstrous funk jam - “Do Your Own Thing” - by De Frank, which was uploaded back in March of 2011 as a crappy audio file.  That set of songs is still one of my favorites from the uploads I did out in Ghana, and I still intend to do some proper rips of all them in the near future.  For now though, I went ahead and decided to offer the whole De Frank album, which features said song.  

Your welcome. (truth be told, I had been thinking of ripping the album anyways just the day before… like minds, I suppose)

As for the artist himself, De Frank Kakra was born in Togo but recorded in Ghana.  His unique blend of soul, funk and disco alongside more Ghanaian instrumentations puts him right in line with numerous others featured on this blog - not to mention the western influx that was occurring in the music of Western Africa at the time.  As a result, he had a few hits with his band the Professionals, having released at least three albums (all of which feature amazingly funky numbers).  As always, some of these have been reissued on various comps, including the beautifully melodic “Afe Ato Yen Bio” (NOTE TO SELF: ask Lion to translate this) on AFRO-BEAT AIRWAYS. 

(Lion, as he listens through a whole batch of highlife and afrobeat back in 2011, including De Frank’s Baby Don’t Play Me Wayo LP)

However, surprisingly absent form these comps is this up-rocking tune. An obvious standout, “Do Your Own thing” is ladened with head-nodding drums and a killer organ solo, but the album as a whole is just as rich.  Check out my personal favorite - the islamically-inclined “Asalamalekum Rasudilahi” - a classic highlife number with beautiful vocals.